JPH0523350B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to a falling ice making machine, and more specifically, during a deicing operation, ice is formed on the ice making surface of the ice making plate by causing deicing water to flow down to the back surface of the ice making plate. The present invention relates to an arrangement structure of evaporator tubes that can ensure uniform flow of deicing water on the back surface of the ice-making plate in a falling-down type ice-making machine that promotes the peeling of the ice-making plate.

BACKGROUND TECHNOLOGY An evaporation tube communicating with a refrigeration system is disposed on the inner surface of a pair of vertically facing ice-making plates, and the ice-making plates are cooled by circulating a refrigerant through the evaporation tubes.
A down-flow ice maker is configured to freeze the ice-making water that flows down onto the ice-making surface of the ice-making plate to form ice sheets, peel off the resulting ice sheets, and drop them into the ice storage. It is also widely used because it is inexpensive.

Since the present invention relates particularly to the arrangement structure of the evaporator tubes of this down-flow ice maker, the general structure of the down-flow ice maker will first be explained in order to facilitate understanding thereof. In the down-flow ice making machine shown in FIG.
Evaporation tubes 12 and 12 led out from a refrigeration system (not shown) are closely disposed on the opposite back surfaces of the tubes 0 and 10, respectively. The evaporation tubes 12 are arranged in a meandering manner in the horizontal direction over the entire surface of each ice-making plate 10, and cool the entire ice-making plate 10 uniformly by circulating a refrigerant through the evaporation tubes 12. do.

The upper and lower ends of each ice-making plate 10 are bent at a required angle toward the opposing ice-making plate 10, and a water sprinkling plate 24 having a roof-shaped cross section is disposed above both ice-making plates 10, 10. There is. Above the water sprinkler plate 24,
An ice-making water sprinkling pipe 22 having a large number of watering holes 22a for ice-making water sprinkling cloth is arranged horizontally.
2 is connected to an ice making water tank 16 (described later).
Further, a deicing water sprinkling pipe 26 having a number of watering holes 26a for dispersing and supplying deicing water is disposed at the middle upper part of both the ice making plates 10, 10.
It is connected to a deicing water tank (not shown).

An ice-making water tank 16 is disposed below both ice-making plates 10, 10, and during ice-making operation, ice-making water in this tank 16 is supplied to an ice-making water sprinkling pipe 22 via an ice-making water circulation pump 18 and an ice-making water supply pipe 20. The water spray plate 24 is fed under pressure through the large number of water spray holes 22a.
After being scattered, the ice is supplied to the ice-making surface 10a of the ice-making plate 10. Since each ice-making plate 10 is cooled to below freezing by an evaporator tube 12, the ice-making surface 10 on the front side
Some of the ice-making water flowing down a freezes here,
An ice layer gradually forms. The ice-making water that has not been frozen even after being supplied to the ice-making plate 10 is collected by a water collecting member 28 disposed below the ice-making plate 10, and then returned to the ice-making water tank 16 and stored therein. and is pumped again by the pump 18.

When the ice making operation progresses and sheet ice 14 of a required thickness is generated on the ice making surface 10a, this is detected by a sensor, and the ice making operation is stopped and switched to the deicing operation.
That is, while supplying hot gas to the evaporation tube 12, deicing water from a deicing water tank (not shown) is injected and supplied from the deicing water sprinkling pipe 26 toward the back surface of each ice making plate 10. This deicing water flows down the back surface of the ice-making plate 10 and the surface of the evaporation tube 12 arranged in a meandering manner, thereby melting the frozen surface between the ice-making surface 10a and the ice sheet 14, and the ice sheet 14 falls due to its own weight. and stored in an ice storage (not shown). Furthermore, ice making plate 1
The deicing water that has flowed down the back surface of the ice cube is collected by the water collecting member 28, and then returned to the deicing water tank and stored therein.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention In the above-described down-flow ice maker, the ice making plate 10 is selected to have a thickness as small as possible in order to improve thermal conductivity. Therefore, the strength of the ice-making plate 10 itself is not sufficient, and as a result of long-term use, the ice-making plate 1
There is a problem in that distortion inevitably occurs in the ice making surface 10a, making it impossible to produce ice sheets 14 uniformly on the ice making surface 10a. In addition, there are two evaporation tubes 1 between the ice making plates 10 and 10.
2 and 12 are arranged correspondingly to each other, disadvantages have been pointed out, such as an increase in the width dimension, an increase in space for assembly to the ice maker, and a complicated piping system.

To solve this problem, a down-flow ice maker has been proposed in which a single evaporator tube 12 is sandwiched between a pair of ice plates 10, 10 in a sandwich-like manner, as shown in FIG. This ice making machine has increased strength compared to the conventional type shown in FIG. 4, and can prevent the ice making plate 10 from deforming. Also, the evaporation tube 12 is 1
Being a book has the advantage of simplifying piping and reducing the installation area.

However, on the other hand, in the down-flow ice maker having the configuration shown in FIG. Separate processing is required to ensure a flow path for ice water. That is, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the ice-making plate 10 includes:
A plurality of vertical ribs 11 protruding toward the ice-making surface 10a are formed at predetermined intervals in the lateral direction of the ice-making plate 10, and a vertical groove 13 is formed on the back surface of each of the vertical ribs 11 over all of the ribs 11. As a result, as clearly shown in FIG. 7, each ice-making plate 10 and the evaporator tube 12 are not in close contact with each other at the portion where the vertical groove 13 is formed, and therefore, the ice-making plate 10 and the evaporator tube 12 are not in close contact with each other at the portion where the vertical groove 13 is formed. The ice water flows down through this vertical groove 13.

However, in actual use, most of the deicing water does not flow down uniformly over the entire back surface of the ice-making plate 10, but flows down only along the vertical grooves 13.
As a result, it takes time to uniformly melt the entire frozen surface of the ice sheet 14 with the ice making plate 10, resulting in a disadvantage that the overall daily ice production volume decreases. Furthermore, since the vertical ribs 11 are formed to protrude toward the ice making surface 10a, it has been pointed out that this type of ice making machine cannot produce large ice cubes.

Purpose of the Invention The present invention was proposed in order to solve the above-mentioned drawbacks inherent in the falling ice making machine according to the prior art. The purpose of this invention is to provide a new means that can shorten the deicing time.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to overcome the above-mentioned problems and suitably achieve the intended purpose, the present invention provides evaporation tubes that are arranged vertically opposite each other and are connected to the refrigeration system, tightly sandwiched on each back side. A pair of ice-making plates, and a de-icing water sprinkling pipe disposed above both ice-making plates and supplying de-icing water to each back surface of the ice-making plates during deicing operation, the upper end of each surface of both ice-making plates In a flow-down ice maker in which an ice making surface is defined between the ice making plate and the lower end thereof, the evaporator tube is arranged in a meandering manner in the vertical direction of the ice making plate, and the meandering direction of the evaporator tube is changed by 180°. The upper and lower curved parts,
It is characterized in that it is configured to extend from the defined end portions of the ice-making surfaces of both ice-making plates.

Embodiments Next, preferred embodiments of the down-flow ice maker according to the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. The basic configuration of the down-flow ice maker in which the present invention is implemented is the same as that described in connection with FIGS. 4 and 5, so the same members will be designated by the same reference numerals. FIG. 1 shows a longitudinal section of an arrangement structure of evaporation tubes in a down-flow ice maker according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 shows a side view of FIG. 1.

A pair of ice-making plates 10, 10 formed in the shape shown are arranged vertically facing each other at a predetermined interval, and these ice-making plates 1
Ice-making surfaces 10a, 10a defined between the upper and lower ends of each surface at 0 and 10 (described later)
An evaporation tube 12 communicating with the refrigeration system is tightly sandwiched on the back surface of the tube. This evaporation tube 12 is connected to the ice making plate 1
Upper and lower curved portions 12a, 12 are arranged in a meandering manner in the vertical direction of 0, and the meandering direction is changed by 180°.
a extends vertically and outwardly from the ends of the ice-making plates 10, 10, respectively.

That is, in the upper part of each ice-making plate 10, when both ice-making plates 10, 10 are arranged facing each other as shown in the figure, there is a plate bent in a direction away from the other ice-making plate 10 located opposite to each other and extending diagonally upward. A vertical portion 10d is formed that extends vertically upward from the upper limit horizontal line of the slope portion 10b. The upper limit horizontal line of each vertical portion 10d is further formed with an inclined portion 10f that is bent in a direction away from the other ice-making plate 10 and extends diagonally upward to form an upper open end. Further, at the bottom of each ice-making plate 10, there is a slope portion 1 that is bent in a direction away from the other ice-making plate 10 and extends obliquely downward.
0C, and a vertical portion 10e that transitions vertically downward from the lower limit horizontal line of this inclined portion 10c and becomes an open end. An ice-making surface 10a for producing ice sheets is defined on the surface of each ice-making plate 10 and between the horizontal bending line of the upwardly inclined portion 10b and the horizontal bending line of the downwardly inclined portion 10c. has been done.

The evaporator tube 12 sandwiched between the pair of ice-making plates 10, 10 has an upper and lower curved portion 12a whose meandering direction changes by 180 degrees at the defined end of the ice-making surfaces 10a, 10a of both ice-making plates 10, 10. (that is, the horizontal bending line of the upper inclined part 10b and the horizontal bending line of the lower inclined part 10c) by a predetermined length. Here, the above-mentioned inclined portions 10b, 1
As a result of the formation of 0c, the evaporation tube 1
The upper and lower curved portions 12a of 2 are spaced apart from the ice-making plates 10, 10. As a result, as shown in FIG. 3, on the back surface of the ice-making plate, a deicing water channel 15 is defined between the adjacent vertical parts 12b, 12b of the evaporation tube 12, communicating from the top to the bottom of the ice-making surface 10a. . That is, the entire portion of the ice-making plate 10 except for the evaporation tube 12 becomes a de-icing water channel 15, so that the de-icing water supplied to the back surface of the ice-making plate 10 flows down uniformly over the entire ice-making surface 10a.

An ice-making water sprinkling pipe 22 is disposed above the ice-making plate 10, and a water-sprinkling plate 24 is disposed below the ice-making water sprinkling pipe 22 in relation to both ice-making plates 10,10. This sprinkler plate 24 is connected to both ice-making plates 1.
When the ice making plates 10 and 10 are arranged in relation to each other, the ice making plates 10 and 10 are bent so as to straddle the two ice making plates 10 and 10 from the outside. Then, using the top S as the bending part as a dividing line, the curved parts 24c, 24c converge inward after gently bulging outward to the left and right, respectively, and the curved parts 24c are inclined at a required angle from each curved part 24c. An inclined portion 24b toward the lower end edge is formed. As can be seen from FIG. 1, the water sprinkling plate 24 has a vertical cross-sectional shape that bulges outward to the left and right with the top S as a bending line, and then converges inward. The distance between the open ends of the inclined portions 24b, 24b that meet each other is set to be slightly smaller than the distance between the outer surfaces of the vertical portions 10d, 10d formed on both ice-making plates 10, 10, respectively.

When attaching the water sprinkling plate 24 to both the ice making plates 10, 10, the inclined portions 24b, 24b formed on the water sprinkling plate 24 are slightly expanded in the direction of separation, and in this expanded state, the ice making plate 10, After sandwiching the outer surfaces of the vertical portions 10d and 10d of No. 10, the expansion stress is released. As a result, the free ends of the inclined portions 24b, 24b of the water sprinkler plate 24 elastically come into close contact with the outer surfaces of the vertical portions 10d, 10d of the ice making plates 10, 10, and are held in a substantially flat state.

In addition, a deicing water sprinkling pipe 26 is arranged in the space defined by both ice making plates 10, 10 and the water sprinkling plate 24, and during deicing operation to be described later, deicing water is distributed through a large number of holes drilled in this water sprinkling pipe 26. The water is sprayed and supplied from the water sprinkling holes 26a to the back surfaces of the ice-making plates 10, 10.

Effects of the Embodiment Next, the behavior of water when the evaporation tube arrangement structure according to the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 is used will be explained. When ice-making operation starts, refrigerant is circulated and supplied to the evaporation tube 12 from the refrigeration system (not shown), and the ice-making plate 1
0,10 are cooled to below freezing point. Furthermore, the ice-making water circulation pump 18 shown in FIG. be dispersed. The ice-making water sprayed on the top of the water sprinkling plate 24 swells outward to the left and right, then travels through the curved parts 24c, 24c and the sloped parts 24b, 24b, which converge inward, and is rectified here before reaching the ice-making plate. 10,10 and flows down.

At this time, the inclined portions 24b, 2 in the water sprinkling plate 24
As mentioned above, the free ends of the ice-making plates 4b elastically and closely hold the vertical portions 10d, 10d of the ice-making plates in a nearly flat state, so that the ice-making water that is rectified while flowing through the water sprinkling plates 24 is The ice is uniformly and smoothly supplied over the entire ice making surfaces 10a, 10a. Note that the free end of each inclined portion 24b of the water sprinkling plate 24 is connected to the ice making plate 10.
Since the ice-making water is in elastic contact with the outer surface of each vertical portion 10d of the ice-making plate 10, the ice-making water flowing along the curved portion 24c of the water sprinkling plate 24 smoothly flows to each vertical portion 10d of the ice-making plate 10.
Therefore, the ice-making water will not be wasted away from the water sprinkling plate 24.

Since each ice-making plate 10 is cooled by an evaporator tube 12, a portion of the ice-making water flowing down the front ice-making surface 10a freezes here, and an ice layer is gradually formed. The ice-making water that has not been frozen even after being supplied to the ice-making plate 10 is collected by a water collecting member 28 disposed below the ice-making plate 10, and then returned to the ice-making water tank 16 and stored therein. and pump 1 again
8.

Next, when the deicing operation is started, hot gas is supplied to the evaporator tube 12 to warm the ice making plate 10, and deicing water is injected to the back surface of the ice making plate 10 from the deicing water sprinkling pipe 26. This deicing water is first sprayed on the vertical portion 10d of the ice-making plate 10, and then flows down the sloped portion 10b formed below the vertical portion 10d. Here, the upper and lower curved portions 12a, 12a of the evaporator tube 12 are connected to the ice-making surface 1 of both ice-making plates 10, 10, as described above.
Since the deicing water channel 15 extends from the defining end of each ice making surface 10a and extends over almost the entire ice making surface 10a, the deicing water flows uniformly over almost the entire ice making surface 10a. do. As a result, the frozen surface between the ice making surface 10a and the ice plate 14 melts, and finally the ice plate 14 detaches from the ice making plate 10 due to its own weight and falls, and is stored in a water storage (not shown). The deicing water flowing down the ice making plate 10 is collected and stored in the deicing water tank via the water collection member 28.

Effects of the Invention According to the falling type ice maker according to the present invention, the deicing water sprayed and supplied to the ice making plate can be made to flow down uniformly over the entire back surface of the ice making plate. This makes it possible to uniformly melt the frozen surfaces of the ice making surface and the ice sheet, thereby shortening the deicing time. Further, since a deicing water channel can be secured without providing unevenness on the ice making surface, large ice sheets with uniform thickness can be produced on the ice making surface. Moreover, since the upper and lower curved portions of the evaporator tube do not contact the ice-making surfaces of the ice-making plates, beneficial effects such as easy cleaning of the back surfaces of both ice-making plates can be achieved.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a vertical sectional view of a downflow ice maker according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view of the watering mechanism shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a downflow ice maker according to the present embodiment. FIG. 4 is a side view of the conventional ice maker, and FIG.
6 is a side view of FIG. 5, and FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along the line -- of FIG. 6. 10... Ice making plate, 12... Evaporation tube, 12a...
Curved part, 26...De-icing water sprinkler pipe.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A pair of ice-making plates 10, 10 which are arranged vertically opposite each other and tightly sandwich an evaporation tube 12 communicating with a refrigeration system on their respective back surfaces; , and a deicing water sprinkling pipe 26 that supplies deicing water to each back surface of the ice making plates 10, 10 during the deicing operation, and ice making is provided between the upper end and the lower end of each surface of both the ice making plates 10, 10. In the down-flow ice maker defined by surfaces 10a, 10a, the evaporator tube 12 is arranged in a meandering manner in the vertical direction of the ice making plates 10, 10, and the meandering direction of the evaporator tube 12 is changed by 180° between upper and lower sides. A down-flow ice making machine characterized in that a curved portion 12a is configured to extend from the defining end of the ice making surfaces 10a, 10a of both ice making plates 10, 10. 2. The upper ends of the ice-making plates 10, 10, which are disposed opposite to each other with the evaporation tube 12 in between, are bent outward in an outwardly expanding manner so that the interval therebetween is larger than the outer diameter dimension of the evaporation tube 12. 2. A falling ice making machine according to claim 1, characterized in that: