JPH06174347A - Automatic ice making device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide an automatic ice making device in which a water feeding operation for feeding water to an ice making pan when a lid of the pan is released to open, an upper surface of the ice making pan is sealingly closed by the lid so as to shield against influence of cold air to the surface of the ice making pan and then transparent ices of high quality can be efficiently manufactured. CONSTITUTION:In an automatic ice making device in which water is stored in an ice making pan 10, the ice making pan 10 is rotationally driven to apply a certain vibration to it to remove ices from the pan after freezing the water, an upper surface of the ice making pan 10 is covered, a lid 13 is provided in which one end of it is rotatably connected to a main body of the ice making device through a connecting part 16 so as to cover the upper surface of the ice making pan 10 and to heat the upper surface of the ice making pan 10, and further a free end part of a rear surface of the lid is provided with a guide groove. Further, there is provided a rib 18 which is positioned at an extremity end of an ice storing sensing lever 17 for use in sensing an amount of storing ice, moved along the guide groove of the lid 13 as the ice storing sensing lever 17 is lifted or lowered and then the lid 13 can be opened or closed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic ice making device for automatically producing high quality transparent ice in a refrigerator.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an automatic ice making device provided in a refrigerator, for example, a water supply tank for storing water for supplying water to an ice tray is provided in a refrigerating room, and a predetermined amount of water is poured from the water supply tank into a fixed quantity cup, After that, the water in the fixed quantity cup is pumped up by a water supply pump, and water is supplied to an ice tray in a freezing room (or an ice making room) through a water supply pipe to make ice. After the ice making, the ice making tray is turned upside down by the rotation driving mechanism of the automatic ice making device, and is twisted and deformed to forcibly separate the ice and store the ice in the ice storage box. After this ice-releasing operation, water is again supplied to the ice tray from the fixed amount cup, and an automatic ice making device is provided so as to automatically make ice by repeating the above operation.

By the way, in the ice produced by such an automatic ice making device, the ice making tray is cooled from the lower side and the upper side by cold air, and the water stored in the ice making tray freezes substantially evenly from the entire surface. However, only opaque white opaque water containing bubbles was not good, and it was unattractive as ice for beverages.

Therefore, various techniques have been conventionally disclosed for increasing the transparency of ice, but for the above-mentioned reason, the upper surface of the ice tray is covered with a lid and a heating function is added from the upper surface to make the transparent ice transparent. As an automatic ice-making device capable of making the above, for example, the one disclosed in JP-A-3-158669 can be cited.

FIGS. 7A to 7E show a series of operations of the automatic ice making device at the time of ice removal. That is,
This automatic ice making device is provided with a lid that rotatably covers the upper surface of the ice tray at one end of the ice tray via a connecting portion. It is configured such that the free end side of the body is automatically released by being locked by the locking portion.

[0006]

However, in the case of the conventional automatic ice making device as shown in FIG. 7, when the ice tray is to be returned to the horizontal position after the ice is removed by reversing and rotating the ice tray, the ice tray is Since the lid body rotatably connected to one end of the ice tray is also automatically closed when the ice tray is returned to rotate, when the ice tray is returned to the horizontal position, as shown in FIG. As such, the lid covers the upper surface of the ice tray. Therefore, in order to supply water to the ice tray, it is necessary to provide a water supply port in the lid,
Usually, a part (top or side) of the lid is cut out to provide a water supply port. Since this water supply port is open even after the water supply is completed, even if the lid is closed, cold air will enter through the water supply port, and the surface of the ice tray near the water supply port will be more easily affected by cold air. There was a problem in producing clear ice.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems. When the lid is opened, water is supplied to the ice tray, and after the water supply is completed, the top surface of the ice tray is almost completely sealed with the lid to make the ice tray. An object of the present invention is to provide an automatic ice making device capable of efficiently producing high-quality transparent ice by blocking the influence of cold air on the upper surface.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is an automatic ice making device for storing water in an ice making tray and, after freezing, rotationally driving the ice making tray and twisting it to remove ice. In the above, a lid that covers the upper surface of the ice tray during ice making, has one end rotatably connected to the body of the ice making device via a connecting portion, and is configured to heat the upper surface of the ice tray. A guide groove is provided on the free end side of the back surface of the lid, and the guide groove is located at the tip of the ice storage detection lever for detecting the amount of ice storage. A rib is provided that moves along and allows the lid body to open and close. Further, the lid is foldably connected to the ice tray through a connecting member (hinge) in the rotational axis direction. Further, when the lid is opened during the ice removing operation of the ice tray, water supply means is provided for supplying water to the ice tray when the ice tray returns to the horizontal position after the ice is released.

[0009]

In the automatic ice making apparatus according to the present invention, as described above, the upper surface of the ice tray is almost completely covered with the lid during the ice making, thereby blocking the influence of cold air on the upper surface of the ice tray, and the upper surface of the ice tray is a heater. However, since it is heated, the formation of water on the water surface side is delayed, and ice is sequentially formed from the bottom surface side of the ice tray, and the water surface side is formed last. Therefore, it is possible to efficiently produce high-quality transparent ice by allowing bubbles contained in water to escape from the water surface side.

It is necessary to open the lid covering the ice tray during ice removal and water supply operation. With this mechanism, after the ice is made, as the ice storage detection lever moves up,
The rib attached to the tip of the ice storage detecting lever moves along the guide groove on the free end side of the back surface of the lid, so that the lid is located approximately in the center of the surface in contact with the ice tray from the free end side. It is lifted while being bent at the bent portion of the lid and released from the top surface of the ice tray. In this state, rotate the ice tray
The ice removing operation due to the twist deformation and the water supply operation when the ice tray is subsequently returned to the horizontal position by rotation become possible.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is an example of a schematic sectional view showing the basic structure of a refrigerator in which the automatic ice making apparatus of the present invention is adopted.
A freezer compartment 2 and a refrigerating compartment 3 are formed inside the refrigerator body 1, and an ice making unit 11 incorporating a drive mechanism (not shown) for driving the ice tray 10 to rotate in the freezer compartment 2 via a support shaft 15. And an ice storage box 12 for storing the ice made by the ice tray 10 is provided therebelow. Also, refrigerator room 3
Is provided with a water supply tank 5 for storing water to be supplied to the ice tray 10, a fixed amount cup 6 for storing a predetermined amount of water from the water supply tank 5, and the water in the fixed amount cup 6 is passed through a water purification filter 7. A water supply pump 8 for pumping the water and supplying water to the ice tray 10 through a water supply pipe 9 is provided.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an outline of the entire structure of the automatic ice making device body of the present invention, FIG. 3 is a view seen from the back side of the device body, and FIG. 3 is a view seen from the back side of the lid portion of the device. Is shown in FIG.

First, in FIG. 2, the ice tray 10 is rotatably supported by the ice making unit 11 and the ice making holder 14 via the support shaft 15 at both ends of the center thereof. The support shaft (drive shaft) 15 on the ice making unit side is interlocked with a motor (not shown) built in the ice making unit 11, and the ice tray 1 is controlled by controlling the drive of this motor.
0 is rotated and inverted. The lid 13 is also rotatably supported at one end thereof by the ice making unit 11 and the ice making holder 14 via the connecting shaft 16 in the same manner as the ice making tray, and the inside thereof is filled with a heat insulating material. A heater (not shown) is provided on the back surface side (bottom portion).

Further, in FIG. 3, the ice making thermistor 20 is shown.
Is a temperature sensor for detecting the completion of ice making and the completion of water supply (presence or absence of water), and is attached to the approximate center of the back surface of the ice tray 10 by a heat insulating material 21.

Further, as shown in FIG. 4, the free end side 13 of the back surface of the lid body that closes the upper surface of the ice tray 10 during ice making.
A guide groove 19 for guiding the lid 13 to open and close is provided in a, and the bent portion 13b of the lid that abuts the lateral center of the ice tray 10 is connected via a hinge 22 that is a connecting member. The lid 13 is configured to be bent in the axial direction when the lid 13 is opened and closed. As shown in FIG. 2, the ice storage detecting lever 17 is attached to the side surface of the ice making unit 11 so as to be able to move up and down, and has a tip portion along a guide groove 19 provided on the free end side 13a of the lid back surface when the ice making unit 11 is raised and lowered. Ribs 18 are provided for moving and opening and closing the lid 13.

Next, a series of operations of the automatic ice making device having the above structure will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIGS. 5 (A) to 5 (F) are operation explanatory views showing a series of lid opening / closing and ice removing operations of the automatic ice making apparatus of the present invention, and FIG.
Among the series of operations of this automatic ice making device,
It is a flow chart limited to the water supply operation part.

First, in the transparent ice making process, the ice tray 10 is used.
Since the water supplied inside normally freezes from the surface due to its physical properties, the air bubbles contained in the water are trapped and cloudy and opaque ice forms. Therefore, in order to avoid this, it is necessary to freeze the water surface at the final stage. In the present invention, since the upper surface of the ice tray 10 is almost completely covered with the lid 13 at the start of freezing of water, the influence of cold air on the upper surface of the ice tray can be blocked, and the upper surface of the ice tray can be covered with the lid 13. Since it is heated by a heater (not shown) provided at the bottom of the ice, formation of ice on the water surface side is delayed, and ice is sequentially formed from the bottom surface side of the ice tray. At this time, bubbles contained in the water can be expelled upward and escaped from the water surface side, so that high-quality ice with high transparency is generated (FIG. 5A).

Then, in the ice removing process, step S in FIG.
After the completion of ice making in step 1, first, the drive mechanism (not shown) in the ice making unit 11 raises the ice storage detection lever 17, and the rib 18 attached to the tip thereof is provided on the free end side 13a of the back surface of the lid 13. The guide groove 19 is engaged (FIGS. 5A and 5B).

The ice storage detection lever 17 is further raised, and the rib 18 at the tip moves along the guide groove 19, so that the lid body 13 is located at approximately the center of the surface in contact with the ice tray 10 and the bent portion of the lid body. While being bent at 13b, it is lifted from its free end side, and the upper surface of the ice tray is released from the closed state (FIG. 5 (C), step S2 in FIG. 6).

Then, in step S3 of FIG. 6, the open state of the lid is determined by whether or not the ice storage detecting lever 17 has been completely lifted. If it is determined that the ice has been lifted, the process proceeds to step S4.

In step S4, a motor (not shown) is driven by a motor drive circuit (not shown) in the ice making unit 11.
Is energized and rotated, and the ice tray 10 is driven through its drive mechanism.
Is rotated, turned upside down, and further twisted, so that the ice in the ice tray 10 is released into the ice storage box 12 below (FIGS. 5D and 5E).

Further, when the twist position of the ice tray 10 is detected by the twist position detection switch (not shown) of the ice tray 10 in step S5, the process proceeds to step S6.

In step S6, the ice tray 10 is reversely rotated to the horizontal position by rotating the motor through the motor drive circuit in the direction opposite to that in the normal rotation (steps S4 and S5) (see FIG. 5 ( F)).

In step S7, when the horizontal position detecting switch (not shown) of the ice tray 10 detects that the ice tray 10 is in a predetermined horizontal position, the motor stops and the process proceeds to step S8.

In the water supply process of step S8, since the lid 13 is in the open state as shown in FIG. 5C, the water supply pump 8 is operated for a fixed time to make ice from the fixed quantity cup 6 through the water supply pipe 9. A predetermined amount of water is supplied to the plate 10.

After the water supply operation is completed, in step S9, after a certain time (for example, 5 minutes) has elapsed, the temperature is detected by the ice making thermistor 20 attached to the back surface of the ice tray 10, and the detected temperature is the water supply completion temperature (for example, -9). When the temperature is lower than (° C), it is judged that water is not being supplied (water is not supplied to the ice tray 10 because there is no water in the water tank 5), and the water supply abnormality lamp is turned on (step S10), and ice making is stopped. (Step S11). On the other hand, when the temperature is higher than the water supply completion temperature (for example, -9 ° C), it is determined that the water supply to the ice tray 10 is completed (there is water), and the process proceeds to step S12.

An ice storage detection lever 1 is provided in the ice making unit 11.
An ice storage detection switch (not shown) is provided which is turned on / off according to the lifting and lowering of 7.

In step S12, the ice storage detection lever 17 first descends, and the lid 13 is closed accordingly, and the top surface of the ice tray 10 is almost completely sealed (state of FIG. 5B). .

In step S13, the ice storage detecting lever 17 (FIG. 5 (A)) further lowered is determined by the ice storage detecting switch whether or not the ice stored in the ice storage box 12 is full, and the ice storage is full. If it is determined that it is not full ice, the process proceeds to step S14,
Start ice making again. In this way, the automatic ice making device of the present invention performs a series of operations for ice making, ice removing, and water supply,
Since it is not necessary to provide a water supply port in the lid etc. even during ice making, it is possible to reliably block the influence of cold air on the top surface of the ice making tray during ice making, and to efficiently produce high quality transparent ice. Is possible.

Further, since the lid is opened and closed by raising and lowering the ice storage detecting lever, the ice removing operation and the water supply operation can be reliably performed when the lid is opened.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and it goes without saying that many modifications and changes can be made to the above embodiments within the scope of the present invention. For example, in the above-described process of producing transparent ice, in addition to heating the heater disposed at the bottom of the lid, a vibration / swing imparting mechanism may be added.

[0034]

As described above, according to the present invention, in the automatic ice making device in which water is stored in the ice tray and the ice tray is driven to rotate after ice making and is twisted to release the ice, the upper surface of the ice tray is made at the time of ice making. By covering almost completely with a lid that can be opened and closed, it is possible to reliably block the influence of cold air on the top surface of the ice tray and efficiently manufacture high-quality transparent ice.
Since the lid body is opened and closed by the raising / lowering operation of the ice storage detection lever, the ice-breaking operation and the water supply operation can be reliably performed when the lid body is opened.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing an example of a basic configuration of a refrigerator in which an automatic ice making device of the present invention is adopted.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an automatic ice making device main body of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a back view of the automatic ice making device body of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a back view showing a lid portion of the automatic ice making device of the present invention.

5 (A) to 5 (F) are operation explanatory views showing a series of lid opening / closing / ice removing operations of the automatic ice making device of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a lid opening / closing / ice release / water supply operation part in a series of operations of the automatic ice making device of the present invention.

7 (A) to 7 (E) are operation explanatory views showing a series of lid opening / ice removing operations of a conventional automatic ice making device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 4 Automatic Ice Making Device Main Body 9 Water Supply Pipe 10 Ice Making Plate 13 Lid 13a Free End Side 16 Connecting Shaft (Connecting Part) 17 Ice Storage Detecting Lever 18 Rib 19 Guide Groove 22 Hinge (Connecting Member)

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An automatic ice-making device in which water is stored in an ice tray and, after freezing, the ice tray is rotated and twisted to remove ice, and the top surface of the ice tray is covered at the time of ice making. A lid body that is rotatably connected to the apparatus body via a connecting portion and is configured to heat the upper surface of the ice tray, and a guide groove is provided on the free end side of the back surface of the lid body, A rib that is located at the tip of the ice storage detection lever for detecting the amount of ice storage, moves along the guide groove of the lid body as the ice storage detection lever moves up and down, and enables the lid body to open and close. An automatic ice making device characterized by being provided. 2. The automatic ice making device according to claim 1, wherein the lid is foldably connected to the ice tray in the direction of the rotation axis of the ice tray via a connecting member. 3. A water supply means is provided for supplying water to the ice tray when the lid is rotated and returned to a horizontal position after the ice is released when the lid is opened during the ice releasing operation of the ice tray. The automatic ice making device according to claim 1 or claim 2.