JPH06241626A - Automatic ice making device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To permit uniform water supply for respective ice making pans, and obtain transparent water easily by a method wherein heating means are provided on the bottom of a water receiving body in opposition to ice making pans while at least one piece of fine hole for supplying water are provided at positions, immediately above the ice making partitions of respective ice making pans. CONSTITUTION:A water receiving body 5 is provided with single hollow section 10 therein while independent water supplying means 4 are connected to the hollow sections. A heating means or heaters 6 are provided on the bottom side of the water receiving body 5 so as to oppose to ice making pans 2 while one set or more of fine holes 7 for supplying water are provided at positions corresponding to the immediately upper positions of respective ice making partitions of respective ice making pans 2. Accordingly, water in the water receiving body 5 is supplied gradually into respective partitions of the ice making pans 2 as water drops 11 through the fine holes 7 in the water receiving body 5 whereby the water is supplied uniformly substantially. On the other hand, the heaters 6 are excited intermittently by a temperature control means whereby freezing is advanced gradually from the bottom side of the ice making pan 2 toward the water surface side of the same and ice blocks, high in transparency, can be obtained.

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, and more particularly to an automatic ice making device incorporated in a refrigerator for home use for automatically producing ice.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an automatic ice-making device provided in a conventional domestic refrigerator, water supplied from a water supply device is stored in an ice-making tray to make ice, and after the ice-making, the drive mechanism is rotated to turn the ice-making tray upside down. A means for repeating the operation of carrying out the above, storing the ice obtained by separating the ice in the ice storage box, and then supplying water to the ice making tray again to make the ice is used. 5 and 6 are views for explaining the configuration and operation of such a conventional automatic ice making device, FIG. 5 is a perspective view thereof, and FIG. 6 is a front sectional view thereof.
Among these conventional devices, these exemplified devices are examples of those developed in consideration of downsizing of the ice making device, particularly the size of the ice making device, and the miniaturization of the refrigerator.

In these FIGS. 5 and 6, reference numeral 1 denotes a drive device, and a drive motor (not shown) therein,
Built-in gears, switches, etc.
It is designed to give a twisting action for rotation and ice removal. The ice tray 2 is divided into a plurality of pieces by the partition wall 8 according to the size and the number of ice blocks to be produced, and in the example of FIG. 5, two ice trays are divided into four compartments. These ice trays 2 and 2 are configured to rotate around rotary shafts 9 and 9 driven by a motor (not shown) incorporated in the drive device 1. Further, 3 is an ice storage box. Further, 4 and 4 are water supply pipes for the ice trays 2 and 2, respectively, and a partition 8 for dividing the inside of the ice tray 2 is provided with a groove 8a, and water is supplied by the water supply pipe 4. At this time, a passage through which water moves from one compartment in the ice tray 2 to an adjacent compartment is formed. The water supply pipes 4 and 4 are configured so that water is supplied by being guided into the refrigerator by a water supply device (not shown) provided outside the refrigerator.

Next, a series of operations of the conventional automatic ice making device having the above-mentioned structure will be described mainly with reference to FIG. As for FIG. 6, (a) shows an outline of ice making, and (b) shows an outline of ice removing. First, as shown in FIG. 6 (a), the ice trays 2 and 2 are kept horizontal during ice making. As shown in FIG. 5 described above, water is supplied to the ice trays 2 and 2 through the water supply pipes 4 and 4. In this case, ice tray 2
First, the partition closest to the water supply pipe 4 has a predetermined amount of water. At this time, however, an excessive amount of water flows into the adjacent partition from the groove 8a provided in the partition wall 8, and thus adjacent to each other in this way. The compartments sequentially reach a predetermined amount of water, and the ice tray 2 as a whole finally finishes water supply. After that, ice making is performed, and after the ice making is completed, the drive device 1 is activated by an electric signal, and the rotating shafts 9 and 9 shown in FIG. 5 cause the ice making tray 2 to move as shown in FIGS. , 2 is about 160 from the horizontal position in the direction of the arrow
After being rotated by ° to remove ice, the produced ice block is dropped into the ice storage box 3, and then returned to the horizontal position in FIG. 6 (a). Such an operation is repeated to make ice.

On the other hand, an automatic ice making device for covering the upper portion of an ice making tray with a heating means to produce transparent ice is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-15.
It is proposed by Japanese Patent No. 8669. According to this technique, the ice tray 14 is connected to the lid 18 via the connecting portion 22, as shown in the schematic explanatory view showing the series of operations (a) to (d) at the time of ice removal in FIG. A heating means (not shown) is attached to the inner surface of the lid 18, and a locking portion 27 for locking the lid 18 in an open state is provided when the ice tray 14 is turned over to perform ice removal. It has a structure. Since the apparatus of FIG. 7 has such a configuration, it is said that by covering the upper surface of the ice tray 14 with the lid 18 having a heating means during ice making, it is easy to make transparent ice satisfactorily.

[0006]

By the way, there are various problems in the above-mentioned prior art, and no solution has been found yet. First, referring to FIG.
With regard to the technique shown in FIG. 6, it is necessary to provide an independent water supply pipe 4 for each ice tray 2, and since water is distributed to each section of the ice tray 2, a water channel is provided in each partition wall 8. Since the groove 8a is provided, the corresponding position of the groove 8a has a rib-like shape after the formation of the ice block, which is not visually preferable. Further, in such an automatic ice making device, it is necessary to increase the torque of the motor in the drive device 1 in order to impart the rotation and the twisting action to the ice making tray 2 at the time of ice-freezing. The amount of water supply tended to fluctuate somewhat due to variations in the motor of the device.

On the other hand, in the technique shown in FIG. 7 described above, this is to cover the upper surface of the ice tray 14 with a lid 18 containing a heating means for the purpose of obtaining transparent ice.
As can be seen in FIG. 7, it is clear that a significant space is required for opening and closing the lid 18 when performing deicing. However, in recent years, there has been a trend toward miniaturization and downsizing of refrigerators, and it can be said that having the above-mentioned configuration is disadvantageous to this tendency. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an automatic ice making device capable of uniformly supplying water to each ice making tray, easily obtaining transparent ice, and relatively easily removing ice from the ice making tray. .

[0008]

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and the gist of the present invention is to provide a plurality of independent ice trays each having a small turning radius in series and, In an automatic ice making device having means for automatically performing a series of operations for rotating and removing ice from the ice tray and storing ice, an upper portion of the ice tray is almost in contact with the ice tray and also serves as a lid of the ice tray. While the hollow water receiver is provided to be connected to a single water supply means, the bottom of the water receiver is provided with heating means so as to face the ice tray,
This is an automatic ice making device in which one or more fine pores for water supply are provided at positions directly above the respective ice making compartments of each ice making tray. In this case, as the water receiver to be used, is its bottom formed in a semicircular recess corresponding to the turning radius of the ice tray,
Alternatively, it is preferable that the water receiver itself is vertically slidable so that the water receiver itself is pushed upward as the ice tray is rotated. Further, it is effective that the volume of the hollow portion of the water receiver is substantially equal to the total volume of all the ice making compartments of the ice tray.

[0009]

In the present invention, one or more water supply pores are provided at the bottom of the hollow water receiver that also serves as the lid of the ice tray, at positions corresponding to the positions directly above the respective ice trays of each ice tray. Therefore, water is supplied from the water receiving body through these pores to each section simultaneously and gradually and uniformly. As a result, unlike the conventional ice tray, it is not necessary to provide a groove for a water channel in the partition wall, and it is possible to avoid the problem that a rib is generated in the obtained ice block. Further, since the heating means is provided at the bottom of the water receiver, it is possible to prevent the freezing of the water in the water receiver, and at the time of ice removal, the bottom of each inverted ice tray is heated by the heating means. Since it is also applied to heating, it is not necessary to increase the torque of the motor to give a twist at the time of ice removal as seen in the conventional ice tray. In this case, preferably, the bottom of the water receiver is formed into a semi-circular recess, or when the ice tray is rotated, it is vertically slidable so as to be pushed up by the bottom of the water tray and the ice tray, respectively. Since the bottom parts are kept in contact with each other after the ice tray is turned over, the heat of the heating means can be effectively used during ice removal.

Further, in this case, since the water receiver has a single hollow portion, water can be supplied by a single water supply means. Therefore, as seen in the conventional device, a water supply pipe is provided for each ice tray. Since it is not necessary to provide the ice making device, the ice making device can be made compact. At that time, the volume of the hollow portion is made substantially equal to the total volume of all the compartments of the ice tray, thereby eliminating the fluctuation of the water supply amount due to the variation of the motor of the water supply device, etc. Water can be supplied. Further, since the water receiver also serves as a lid, and the heating means is provided as described above so as to face the ice tray, the ice tray receives heat from the upper surface when starting ice making, It is possible to proceed with freezing from below while preventing freezing, and thereby a transparent ice block containing no bubbles or the like can be obtained.

[0011]

Embodiments of the automatic ice making apparatus of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. First of all,
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an external appearance of an embodiment of an automatic ice making device according to the present invention, in which 1 is a driving device, which has a driving motor, gears, switches, etc., which are not shown in the drawing, and is made to an ice tray 2 by an electric signal. It has a structure that gives a rotation of 180 °. Although not shown, the ice tray 2 is divided into a plurality of compartments by a plurality of partition walls like the conventional ice tray, but unlike the conventional one, the groove 8 as shown in FIG.
a is not provided. Note that the example of FIG. 1 shows an aspect having two ice trays divided into four sections.

Further, in FIG. 1, the ice tray 2 is shown in FIG.
Similar to the ice tray 2 shown in FIG. 1, the rotating shaft (not shown) rotated by the driving device 1 is configured to reverse the ice removal as described above to store the released ice. An ice storage box 3 is provided below the ice tray 2. On the other hand, in FIG. 1, reference numeral 5 denotes a water receiver, the inside of which is hollow, and water supply means (pipe) 4 is connected to the hollow portion, and water is supplied by a water supply device such as a water supply pump (not shown). To be done. FIG. 2 shows the AA cross section of FIG.
(A) It is an explanatory cross-sectional view of the essential part of the basic configuration shown in (b), in which (a) shows a state before water is supplied to the water receiver 5.
(B) shows the state where the water receiver 5 is filled with water.

That is, as seen in FIG. 2 (a),
The water receiver 5 has a single hollow portion 10 therein, and a single water supply means (pipe) 4 is connected to this. Further, a heater 6 is provided as a heating means on the bottom side of the water receiver 5 so as to face the ice tray 2, while a pore 7 for water supply is provided at a position just above each ice making section of each ice tray 2. One or more of each is provided. In this case, although not particularly shown, it is effective that the water receiver 5 is naturally covered with a heat insulator to prevent freezing. Further, in the embodiment of FIG. 2 (a), a heater 6 is provided as a heating means on the bottom side of the water receiver 5, which is of course indispensable. For the purpose, it is extremely effective to provide a heating means on the upper surface side and the side surface side other than the bottom portion if necessary.

Next, the operation of supplying water to the ice tray 2 having the structure shown in FIG. 2A will be described with reference to FIG. 2B. The hatching of the hollow portion 10 of the water receiver 5 means that the hollow portion 10 supplies water. It shows the state of being filled with water from the water receiver. As described above, the water receiver 5 has the pores 7 provided at the bottom thereof, and the diameter thereof is about 1 to 1.5 mm. When water is supplied to the water receiver 5 from the water supply means 4, the water droplets 11 immediately start to form the water droplets 11 from the respective pores 7. However, when the pore diameter is within the above range, the amount of the water droplets 11 dropped Since the amount of water supplied from the water supply means 4 is considerably larger than that of the above, the water receiver 5 is temporarily filled with water to the full capacity. Therefore, if the water receiver 5 is filled to capacity, the water supply pump (not shown) is stopped,
While the water supply from the water supply means 4 is stopped, the water in the water receiver 5 becomes water drops 11 through the pores 7 to form the ice trays 2, 2
Water is gradually supplied to each of the compartments. In this case, as described above, one or more pores 7, 7 are provided so as to open immediately above the respective compartments of the respective ice trays 2, 2, so that the water supply to the respective compartments is performed substantially evenly, Moreover, since water is supplied to each compartment individually, it is not necessary to make a channel for a water channel in the partition wall as in the conventional device.
In this case, for example, the volume of the hollow portion 10 of the water receiver 5 is
If the volume of each compartment of the ice tray 2 is set to about 75 to 85% and an appropriate pore diameter is selected, water can be effectively supplied to each compartment.

Next, FIG. 3 shows an example of a concrete structure of the AA cross section of the automatic ice making device according to the present invention shown in FIG.
FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional explanatory view of a main part seen in (a) and (b),
(A) shows a state where the ice making is completed, and (b) shows a state where the ice block 12 is released. That is, in FIG. 3, 5 is a water receiver in which the water supply means 4 is connected and the hollow portion 10 is formed inside, as in the above description, and the pores 7 are opened at the bottom and at least the bottom thereof. Is provided with a heater 6 as a heating means. 12 is an ice block. By the way, in this case, the portion of the bottom of the water receiver 5 facing the ice trays 2, 2 is formed in a semi-circular recess corresponding to the radius of rotation of the ice trays 2, 2 as shown in FIG. It has been done. In this case, needless to say, the ice trays 2 in each series rotate the rotating shaft (not shown) by the drive motor built in the drive device 1 shown in FIG.
It is inverted by 0 °.

The operation of deicing by the device having the above-mentioned structure will be described below with reference to FIG.
First, when the ice-making is completed and the standby state is entered as shown in FIG. 3A, an ice-making completion signal is emitted to energize the heater 6 which is a heating means provided in the water receiver 5, and at the same time as shown in FIG. The rotation shaft (not shown) is rotated by the drive motor built in the drive device 1 shown in FIG.
Invert by 0 ° and stop at the position shown in FIG. 3 (b). Then, in this case, the radius of the semicircular recess provided in the bottom of the water receiver 5 is substantially the same as the radius of rotation of the ice trays 2 and 2, so that the bottoms of the ice trays 2 and 2 are the same. The two are very close to each other as shown in FIG. 3 (b), so that the bottoms of the ice trays 2 and 2 are effectively heated by the heater 6, which is a heating means, and as a result, the ice trays as seen in the conventional apparatus are produced. It is not necessary to increase the torque of the drive motor so as to give a twist to the rotation shafts 2 and 2.

In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 3 (a) and 3 (b), the ice trays 2 and 2 are constructed so that they can be rotated in the semicircular recess provided in the bottom of the water receiver 5. The water receiver 5 can be kept fixed and the ice making operation can be continued. Next, another embodiment of the present invention is shown by the schematic explanatory view of FIG. That is, FIGS. 4 (a) and 4 (b) are schematic explanatory views showing the cross section of the main part of another embodiment of the present invention.
(A) shows a state where the ice making is completed, and (b) shows a state where the ice block 12 is released. This FIG. 4 (a),
The configuration of (b) is basically the same as that of FIGS. 2 (a) and 2 (b), but in the embodiment of FIG. 4, the water receiver 5 is connected to the water supply means 4, and the hollow portion 10 and In addition to providing the pores 7 at the bottom and the heater 6 as the heating means, the support 1
3 and sliding groove 15 are provided so as to be slidable in the vertical direction.

Since it is constructed as described above, FIG.
As seen in (b), when the ice trays 2 and 2 are inverted,
As the ice trays 2, 2 rotate, the bottom portions of the ice trays 2, 2 push up the bottom portion of the water receiver 5, and the bottom portions of the two trays come into close contact with each other at a position inverted by 180 °. Therefore, when the drive motor is energized to rotate the ice trays 2 and 2, the heater 6 which is a heating means provided in the water receiver 5 is simultaneously energized so that the bottom portions of the ice trays 2 and 2 are moved. When heated, ice is easily removed without the need to twist the rotating shafts (not shown) of the ice trays 2 and 2, and the ice blocks 12 drop. Regarding the vertical sliding means, the means for sliding the support 13 up and down along the sliding groove 15 as shown in FIG. 4 is merely one example, and the same effect is exhibited. Any one may be used as long as it is one.

Finally, one means for producing a transparent ice block using the automatic ice making device of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. First, as described above, water is supplied from the water supply means 4 to the water receiver 5 as shown in FIG. At this time, the heater 6 as a heating means is energized, and the energization amount is such that the heat quantity of the heating means prevents the water in the water receiver 5 from freezing and warms the upper surface of the ice tray 2. It should be a reasonably low level. Then, as shown in FIG. 2 (b), water droplets 11 are gradually evenly supplied from the pores 7 of the water receiver 5 to the respective compartments of the ice trays 2 and 2, and when the water supply to the respective compartments is completed. ,
The freezing of the water in the ice trays 2 and 2 is started. On the other hand, since the heater 6 as the heating means is intermittently energized by the temperature control means, the water surface side of the ice trays 2 and 2 is initially set. It is not frozen due to the above-mentioned heating, and freezing is started from the bottom side of the ice trays 2 and 2.

As described above, since the freezing gradually progresses from the bottom side of the ice trays 2, 2 toward the water surface side, bubbles and the like contained in the water are gradually driven upward and escape, resulting in a result. As a result, a highly transparent ice block 12 is obtained, for example, as shown in FIG. Therefore, after the ice making is completed, the energization amount of the heater 6 as the heating means is controlled so that the heat amount becomes higher than that in the normal heat retention state, and is illustrated by the drive motor built in the drive device 1 shown in FIG. The ice trays 2, 2 are turned 180 degrees by rotating the rotating shafts, and the bottom portions of the ice trays 2, 2 and the water receiver 5 are brought into close contact with each other by the operation of the vertical sliding means so that the ice trays 2, 2 are made in contact with each other. The bottom of No. 2 is heated to remove the ice block 12. Therefore, as a heating means, the amount of electricity supplied is at least high.
It is effective to be able to switch to low (strong / weak) two stages.

[0021]

As is apparent from the above description, in the present invention, since water is supplied to each section of the ice tray at the same time and evenly, it is not necessary to provide a groove for a water channel in the partition wall, and the resulting ice block is obtained. It is possible to avoid the problem that a rib is generated due to the groove mark. In addition, since the heating means can be used for removing ice, there is no need to increase the torque of the motor and twist the ice tray as in the conventional case. Furthermore, since the water receiver having a single hollow portion is used for water supply also as the lid of the ice tray, only a water supply means is required, which is advantageous for downsizing the device and water supply due to variations in the water supply means. It is possible to eliminate fluctuations in quantity. Moreover, it is possible to effectively utilize the heating means to obtain a transparent ice block. As described above, the present invention exerts many excellent effects, and its practical value is immeasurable.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an appearance of an embodiment of an automatic ice making device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory cross-sectional view of a main part of the basic configuration of the AA cross section of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional explanatory view of main parts showing an example of a specific configuration of the AA cross section of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a schematic explanatory view showing a cross section of a main part of another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view for explaining the configuration and operation of a conventional automatic ice making device.

6 is a front sectional view of the device of FIG.

FIG. 7 is a schematic explanatory view showing a series of operations at the time of ice removal by a conventional automatic ice making device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Drive device 2,14 Ice tray 3 Ice storage box 4 Water supply means 5 Water receiver 6 Heating means (heater) 7 Pore 8 Partition wall 8a groove 9 Rotating shaft 10 Hollow part 11 Water drop 12 Ice mass 13 Supporting body 15 Sliding groove 18 Lid 22 Connecting part 27 Locking part

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An automatic ice making device having a plurality of independent ice trays each having a small turning radius, and having means for automatically carrying out a series of operations for storing and storing ice after the ice making is completed. In the above, in the upper part of the ice tray, a hollow water receiver which is almost in contact with the ice tray and also serves as a lid of the ice tray is provided by being connected to a single water supply means, and at the bottom of the water receiver. An automatic ice making device characterized in that, while providing heating means so as to face the ice tray, one or more pores for water supply are provided at positions corresponding to directly above respective ice making sections of each ice tray. 2. The automatic ice making device according to claim 1, wherein the bottom of the water receiver is formed in a semicircular recess corresponding to the turning radius of the ice tray. 3. The automatic ice making device according to claim 1, wherein the water receiver is configured to be slidable up and down so as to be pushed upward as the ice tray is rotated. 4. The volume of the hollow portion of the water receiver is substantially equal to the total volume of all ice making compartments of the ice tray.
The described automatic ice making device.