JPH0541328Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] a. Industrial application field This invention relates to an ice dispenser, and in particular, the invention relates to an ice dispenser, and is particularly concerned with changes in ambient temperature depending on the season and the time between the end of an ice dispensing operation and the next ice dispensing operation. The present invention relates to an ice dispenser that prevents fluctuations in the amount of stored ice released due to intervals.

b. Prior art There are various mechanisms and control methods for improving the ice discharging characteristics of ice dispensers that have been used in the past, but a typical one is the Utility Model Application No. 56-67591.
There are some that are disclosed in the publication. That's the 4th
As shown in the figure. In the figure, ice made by an ice making mechanism 1 is stored in an ice storage 2, and when the ice storage 2 is full, an ice storage switch (not shown) detects that the ice storage 2 is full and stops the ice making operation.

When taking out the ice stored in the ice storage 2, that is, when performing an ice discharging operation, an ice discharging instruction is issued, and a drive motor (not shown) rotates the stirring device 4 for a certain period of time to stir the ice. After a certain period of time, the ice releasing door 7 is opened for a certain period of time to release a certain amount of ice.

When the interval between one ice discharging operation and the next ice discharging operation, that is, the time interval between ice discharging operation stops, becomes longer, the ice may stick to each other due to the surface tension of the ice melting water, or a slight arching state may occur due to the weight of the ice, which may cause the stirring device to In the early stages of operation, it becomes difficult for ice to come out and the amount of ice released decreases. To prevent this, the ice discharge door is opened after the stirring device is operated as described above.

c Problems that this invention aims to solve However, in the conventional configuration, the ice discharging door is opened after rotating the stirring device for a certain period of time each time the ice discharging operation is performed, so the time required for the ice discharging operation is As the time becomes longer, the time during which the ice is stirred by the stirring device also increases, resulting in a disadvantage that a large amount of powdered ice is generated and the quality of the ice deteriorates. Further, there was a problem that the lower the ambient temperature, the lower the amount of ice released could not be prevented.

d. Means for solving the problem The ice dispenser according to this invention counts the total stop time of the drive means for ice discharge operation such as a drive motor, and when the ice discharge operation signal is generated, this cumulative time is calculated for a predetermined time. In the above cases, the opening time of the ice release door is lengthened.

Specifically, according to this invention, there is provided a driving means for driving an ice discharging means for discharging ice stored in an ice storage for a first predetermined period of time; and counting the stop time of the driving means; a second timer (TM ₂ ) that determines whether the counting time is less than or greater than _a second predetermined time; an ice dispenser is provided, comprising: second means (TM ₃ ) for performing the ice discharging operation for a third predetermined time that is greater than or equal to the first predetermined time when the ice dispenser is greater than or equal to the first predetermined time.

e Effect In the above configuration, when performing the ice release operation,
If the ice discharging operation stop time interval (stopping time of the drive motor, etc.) becomes longer than a predetermined time (for example, 2 hours), the ice discharging operation stop time can be changed by increasing the door opening time, etc. (ice discharging operation time). Regardless of the interval, variations in the amount of ice released can be kept to an extremely low level.

In addition, by controlling the door opening time, etc. (ice release operation time) as necessary as mentioned above, it is possible to suppress the rotational operation of the corresponding rotating stirring device to the necessary minimum, which is different from the conventional method. Since there is no need to rotate the ice stirring device in advance when discharging ice, the time required for discharging ice can be shortened, and
Generation of powdered ice can be minimized.

f. Embodiment A preferred embodiment of the ice dispenser according to this invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

In FIG. 1, ice made by the ice making mechanism section 1 is stored in an ice storage 2, and when the ice storage 2 is full, an ice storage switch 3 detects that the ice storage 2 is full, and the compressor and drive motor 5 (not shown) are stopped. . A stirring device 4 in the ice storage 2 is fixed to an auger 1a in the ice making mechanism 1 and rotated by a drive motor 5. The ice release door 7 is operated by a solenoid 7a attached to the lower side of the ice storage 2.

Next, FIG. 2 shows a control circuit section 20 for controlling the operation of the ice dispenser, and a high voltage section 21.
and a low voltage section 22, and a control board 27 shown in FIG. 2A is further connected to the low voltage section 22 via board terminals 27a and 27b.

In the high voltage section 21, the solenoid 7a connects to the power supply via the switch 2a to the normally open contacts of the relays X ₃ and X ₄ (FIG. 2A), which will be described later.
X _3-1 and X _4-1 are connected in series, and the drive motor 5 is connected to relays X ₁ (Figure 2A), X ₃ and
connected in series with _{the respective normally open contacts X 1-1 ,} X _3-2 and X _4-2 of X 4 and in parallel with relay X ₅ ,
The compressor 23 and fan motor FM are connected in series with a normally open contact X _2-1 of a relay X ₂ (FIG. 2A), which will be described later.

The high voltage section 21 and the low voltage section 22 are the transformer 24
In the low voltage section 22, the float switch 25 is connected in series with the relay X ₆ and the contact S ₁ of the ice storage switch 3, and the water supply valve ₂₆ is connected in series with the relay It is connected in series with contact X _6-2 , and this water supply valve 26 and normally closed contact
The series connection body of X _6-2 and the series connection body of the float switch 25 and relay X ₆ are connected in parallel.

Low voltage section 2 via board terminals 27a and 27b
As shown in FIG. 2A, _the control board 27 connected to 2 has relays _X1 , _X2 , _X3 , _X4 , and
A timer TM ₁ , a second timer TM ₂ , a third timer TM ₃ , a contact S ₂ of the discharge switch 28 , a contact S ₃ of a temperature sensor 29 such as a thermistor for detecting the ambient temperature, etc. are shown connected. ing.

The operation of the ice dispenser according to the invention constructed as above will be explained with reference to the circuit diagrams of FIGS. 2 and 2A and the time chart of FIG. 3.

By turning on the power switch 20a (FIG. 3a), the water supply valve 26 opens and water starts to be supplied to the ice-making water tank (not shown). When the water is supplied to a certain level, the float switch 25 closes and the relay is activated.
X ₆ is energized, and the energization of relay X ₆ opens contacts X _6-2
is opened and the water supply valve 26 is closed, and at the same time, the contact X _6-1 is closed and the relays X ₁ and X ₂ (FIG. 2A) of the control board 27 are energized. Relay x ₁ and
When X _{2 is} energized, contact X _1-1 of relay X ₁ and contact X _2-1 of relay Figure 3 b and c).

When the ice making operation continues and the ice storage 2 becomes full of ice, the contact _S1 of the ice storage switch 3 opens (the third
Figure e), relay X ₆ is demagnetized and contacts X _6-1 are opened to demagnetize relays X ₁ and X ₂ , contacts X _{1-1 and} Machine 23
The ice making operation is stopped by demagnetizing the ice (Fig. 3 c and b). At the same time, relay X ₅ is demagnetized and the contact
_X5-1 is closed, and thereby the second timer _TM2 on the control board 27 starts accumulating the stop time of the drive motor 5 (Fig. 3h).

If the accumulated time of this second timer TM ₂ is within the second predetermined time (varies depending on the characteristics of the ice dispenser; set to 2 hours in this embodiment), the contacts S ₂₁ and ₂ of this second timer TM 2 Both S ₂₂ have fallen to the a side as shown in the figure, and at this point the release switch 28 is operated and the relay X ₇ is energized and its contacts are
When X _7-2 and X _7-3 are closed, the first timer TM ₁ is
Contact S ₁₁ of TM ₁ closes and relay X ₃ is energized (Figure 3i). When this relay X ₃ is energized, the second
Contact X _3-1 in the figure is closed for the first predetermined time,
The ice discharge door is opened by the operation of the solenoid 7a, and the contact _X3-2 is closed, thereby driving the drive motor 5 (Fig. 3c) to rotate the stirring device.
Perform ice release action.

In addition, the relay X ₅ is excited by the closing of the contact X _3-2 , and the normally closed contact X _5-1 of this relay X ₅ is opened, so the second timer TM ₂ stops integrating (the third
Figure h).

After the first predetermined time has elapsed, the first timer TM ₁
When the time-up occurs, the contact _S11 is turned off, and the contacts _X3-1 and _X3-2 of the relay _X3 are also turned off, thereby ending the ice discharging operation. When contact X _3-2 is turned off, relay X ₅ is also demagnetized, so it is a normally closed contact.
_X5-1 closes and the second timer _TM2 starts the integration operation again.

When the cumulative time of the second timer TM ₂ reaches the second predetermined time, that is, 2 hours or more (Fig. 3 h),
Contacts S ₂₁ and S ₂₂ of this second timer TM ₂ are both b
If the release switch 28 is operated at this point, the solenoid 7a and the drive motor 5
is the third predetermined time set in the third timer TM ₃ (in this example, 20 minutes longer than the first predetermined time).
% longer. ) (Figure 3 i, c and d). That is, when the release switch 28 is operated, the relay X ₇ operates and the contact X _7-2 closes, so the third timer TM ₃ operates and the contact S ₃₂ of the third timer TM ₃ closes. ,
In addition, contact X _7-3 is also closed due to the excitation of relay X ₇ , so relay _{X 4 is} energized, and normally open contacts X _4-1 and X _4-2 of relay The solenoid 7a and the drive motor will be driven.

In this way, by controlling the ice release time using the third predetermined time that is 20% longer than the first predetermined time, a reduction in the amount of ice released after a long-term stop is prevented, so the ice release Variations in quantity can be kept low.

On the other hand, in order to prevent the tendency for the amount of ice released to decrease when the ambient temperature is around 10°C, the first timer TM ₁ is equipped with a correction circuit CH for correcting the first predetermined time of the first timer TM ₁ . It is included. A temperature sensor 29 (in this example, a temperature controller set to turn on when the ambient temperature is 10°C and turn off when the ambient temperature is 12°C) is connected in series to this correction circuit CH. Then, the contact point of the temperature sensor 29
The closing of S ₃ activates the correction circuit CH, which extends the pulse interval of the ice release timer, ie, the first timer TM ₁ , by, for example, 20%. In this way, when the ambient temperature drops below 10°C, the ice discharging operation time is extended, and therefore a substantially constant amount of ice can be discharged without being affected by the ambient temperature.

As described above, the amount of ice released varies depending on the ambient temperature and the time interval between ice release and the next ice release, that is, the ice release operation stop time interval (substantially the stop time of the stirring device). By correcting the discharge operation time (that is, the operation time of the stirring device when ice is discharged), it is possible to always discharge a substantially constant amount of ice, and furthermore, the stirring device is configured to be driven only when necessary for ice discharge. Therefore, it is possible to minimize the generation of powdered ice.

In this example, the ice discharging operation time is corrected by dividing the ambient temperature into two categories: ambient temperature of 10°C or more, ice discharging operation stop time of 2 hours or more, and ice discharging operation stop time of 2 hours or more. If the ice discharging operation time is corrected by increasing each of them, it is possible to further suppress the variation in the amount of ice discharged.

Further, in the above embodiment, the third timer TM ₃ and the correction circuit CH are provided separately, and in either case, the first predetermined time, that is, the ice release operation time in the first timer TM ₁ is increased by 20%. However, as in this example, the ambient temperature is 10°C or higher, the discharge operation stop time interval is 2 hours or more,
If you use only the following two divisions and set the first predetermined time to the same 20% increase in both cases, you can add the third timer TM ₃ with a simple circuit change.
Those skilled in the art will readily understand that either the correction circuit CH or the correction circuit CH can be deleted.

g. Effect of the invention As described above, the ice dispenser according to this invention has the characteristic that the longer the stirring device is stopped, the less the amount of ice released within a certain period of time is. By correcting the stirring time of the stirring device, we have suppressed the variation in the amount of ice discharge regardless of the ice discharge operation stop time interval, so it is possible to obtain a nearly constant amount of ice and also to maintain the amount of ice necessary for ice discharge. Since the stirring device is driven for a certain period of time, it is possible to reduce the generation of powdered ice and prevent a deterioration in the quality of the ice.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a vertical sectional view showing an ice dispenser according to an embodiment of the invention, FIGS. 2 and 2A are electrical circuit diagrams showing a control circuit for controlling the ice dispenser according to an embodiment of the invention, Figure 3 shows
FIGS. 2 and 2A are waveform diagrams for explaining the operation, and FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view for explaining the conventional ice dispenser. In the figure, 1 is the ice making mechanism, 2 is the ice storage, 3 is the ice storage switch, 4 is the stirring device, 5 is the drive motor, 7 is the ice discharge door, 7a is the solenoid, 20 is the control circuit, and 23 is the compressor. ,
FM is a fan motor, 25 is a float switch,
26 is a water supply valve, TM ₁ is a first timer, TM ₂ is a second timer, TM ₃ is a third timer, 28 is a discharge switch, 29 is a temperature sensor, and CH is a correction circuit.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claim for Utility Model Registration] (1) Driving means for driving an ice discharging means for discharging ice stored in an ice storage for a first predetermined period of time, and counting the stopping time of the driving means. , a second timer (TM ₂ ) that determines whether the counting time is less than or greater than a second _{predetermined} time; 2, the first
an ice dispenser comprising: second means (TM ₃ ) for performing the ice discharging operation for a third predetermined time that is greater than or equal to the third predetermined time; (2) The ice discharging means includes an ice discharging door operated by a solenoid.
Ice dispenser as described in section. (3) The ice dispenser according to claim 1, wherein the ice discharging means includes an ice stirring device operated by a drive motor and an ice discharging door operated by a solenoid. (4) The drive means includes a discharge switch that is operated to drive the ice discharge means when taking out the ice stored in the ice storage, and a discharge switch that is operated to drive the ice discharge means when the ice discharged from the ice storage is operated. 4. The ice dispenser according to claim 1, further comprising: first timer means (TM ₁ ) for setting the first predetermined time to be driven.