JPH063006A - Ice-maker in refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To effectively produce high quality ice without air bubbles therein, by a method wherein a driving pin being in contact with an ice tray is loosely fitted to part of a refrigerator through a bush and the bush is allowed to oscillate by a motor-driven eccentric cam. CONSTITUTION:When it is detected by a fully stored ice-detecting arm 16 that ice in an ice tray 8 is not in the state of full storage, a definite amount of water is supplied in the ice tray 8 through a vessel with a definite amount of voltage, and the ice tray 8 is refrigerated for a definite time by chilled air blown into an ice-making chamber through a cooling fan, and thus the water therein is allowed to freeze. At this time, an eccentric can 22 is allowed to rotate by a motor 21 and a connecting member 23 is allowed to oscillate, and thus the ice tray 8 is shaked by the laterally oscillating movement of a bush 24 through a driving pin 25 fitted into the bush 24. In this way, the water is frozen while being deaerated and the transparency of the ice is heightened. In order that it is promoted to deaerate the water, a heater panel is provided at the above part of the ice tray 8 and the surface water in the ice tray 8 is allowed to freeze last.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

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

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an automatic ice making device provided in a freezing room and an ice making room of a refrigerator, an ice making tray is rotatably provided on a frame having a rotating mechanism through a bearing. Then, the water supplied from the water supply device provided in the refrigerating room is ice-made, and when it is detected that the ice-making is completed, the ice-making tray is twisted and rotated by the rotating and twisting mechanism to forcibly release the ice. Further, the released ice is stored in an ice storage box arranged below the ice tray to complete a series of operations.

By the way, since the ice produced by the above-mentioned structure contains air bubbles inside, it becomes opaque and cloudy, which is not good as ice for drinks and is soft because it is easily melted. Therefore, in order to increase the transparency of ice, techniques such as JP-A-2-122178 and JP-A-3-158668 are disclosed. One of these technologies is one in which the ice making tray is swung around the axis of the ice making tray to swing the stored water, and the other is the method of applying reciprocal vibration in the axial direction to the ice making tray to vibrate the water and degas it. However, it is a method of freezing and improving transparency.

[0004]

However, in the conventional configuration, when ice is made in the ice tray within a predetermined time,
Since the freezing speed is fast, air bubbles in the water remain depending on the rocking method, making it difficult to produce high-quality transparent ice. In addition, it is necessary to combine the drive device for ice removal and the drive device for vibration by vibrating the plate in the axial direction, which makes the structure of the device complicated and large, and is very expensive. I will end up. Furthermore, since the dish is vibrated in the axial direction, the load on the drive device is relatively large, and the operating noise is large.

The present invention is intended to solve such conventional problems, and makes it possible to provide an apparatus for producing high-quality transparent ice with a simple structure, at low cost, and efficiently. Is.

[0006]

In the present invention, in order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a refrigerator for freezing water periodically supplied to an ice tray and twisting and rotating the ice tray to release ice produced by the refrigerator In the above ice making device, a drive shaft that comes into contact with the ice tray is loosely inserted into a part of the refrigerator via a bush, and the bush is rocked by an eccentric cam driven by a motor. Further, a means of constantly pressing the tip of the moving shaft against the ice tray with a spring is also selectively used.

Further, a heater panel that can be opened and closed is provided above the ice tray. Furthermore, a gear provided on the rotating shaft center of the ice tray, a cam gear pivotally supported by a part of the refrigerator and meshing with the gear, and a side surface of the cam gear, and the heater when the heater panel is closed. A means is also used, which has a pin located immediately below the bottom surface of the panel, the cam gear rotates with the rotation of the ice tray, and the pin pushes up the heater panel.

[0008]

The output of the motor is transmitted to the eccentric cam, and the eccentric cam uniquely performs the function of giving the ice tray a vibration of a constant cycle. Then, bubbles of soluble gas or the like contained in tap water or the like are degassed to produce high quality transparent ice. Actually, the motion of the eccentric cam is transmitted to the drive shaft via the bush, and the drive shaft vibrates the ice tray directly. In addition, the bush also has a function of preventing noise, and acts to buffer the impact noise caused by the direct contact between the eccentric cam and the drive shaft. Further, the spring also has a function of preventing noise, and the collision noise is avoided by constantly contacting the tip of the drive shaft with the ice tray.

Next, the heater panel has a function of facilitating deaeration and producing more completed transparent ice, and is intended to diffuse bubbles by freezing the water in the ice tray from below. . The two gears and the pin serve to automatically open the heater panel when the produced ice is released from the ice tray, and the movement of the pin by forcibly rotating the cam gear causes the heater to move. The panel will open relatively.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a basic configuration of a refrigerator / freezer in which the configuration of the present invention is adopted. 1 is a refrigerator / freezer, 2 is a freezer compartment, 3 is a refrigerator compartment, 4 is an ice making compartment, 5 is a machine compartment, 6 is a compressor. , 7 is a cooler, 8 is an ice tray, 9 is a cooling fan, 10 is an ice storage box, 11 is a water supply hose, 12 is a water supply pump, 13 is a metering container, 14 is a water supply tank, 15 is a drive device, 16 is full ice It is a detection arm. Then, when the detection arm 16 is driven to detect that the ice storage box 10 is not full of ice, the water supply pump 12 is driven to supply a fixed amount of water from the fixed amount container 13 to the ice tray 8. The stored water is cooled for a predetermined time by the cool air blown from the cooling fan into the ice making chamber 4, and the freezing is completed. When the completion of ice making is detected, the ice tray 8 is twisted at a predetermined angle by the drive device 15, falls off the ice tray, and is stored in the ice storage box 10. After that, the above operation is repeated until the ice storage box 10 becomes full of ice.

Next, FIGS. 2 and 3 explain the structure for removing bubbles by applying vibration to the ice tray. FIG. 2 is a partial cross-sectional plan view of the periphery of the ice tray 8, and FIG. FIG. Reference numeral 21 is a motor which is a drive unit for giving vibration to the ice tray 8, 22 is an eccentric cam directly connected to its output shaft,
Reference numeral 23 is a connecting member, and 24 is a bush formed of a flexible material such as rubber. The bush is connected to the eccentric cam 22 by the connecting member 23 and swings in accordance with this rotation. 25 is a vibration axis,
Reference numeral 26 denotes a tip end portion of the vibration shaft 25, which is a portion in contact with the ice tray 8. 27 is a spring and 28 is a housing. In such a configuration, the output of the motor 21 is transmitted in the order of the numbers described, and the ice tray is vibrated. That is, when the eccentric cam 22 is rotated by the motor 21, the connecting member 23 oscillates to give the bush 24 an oscillating drive. By the way, since the bush 24 is not tightly fitted in the housing 28 but is loosely inserted into the through hole 29 which is horizontally longer than the bush 24, the eccentric cam 22 is provided.
Is rotated to the left and right, and the drive shaft 25 is oscillated by being forced by this. The spring 27 has a function of constantly pressing the tip portion 26 against the ice tray 8, thereby preventing noise caused by detachment and attachment of the tip portion 26 and the ice tray 8. Here, since the vibration of the ice tray 8 is intended for deaeration, it is not preferable that the vibration is too rapid or too slow. Therefore, it is necessary to set the vibration within a certain range. For example, the swing amount of the drive shaft 25 is 1.5 mm and the vibration frequency is 7 to 8 Hz.
It is possible to produce good transparent ice if it is set to a certain level.

Next, FIGS. 4 and 5 explain the structure of a heater which is another requirement for producing transparent ice. Reference numeral 30 is a heater panel that closes the top of the ice tray 8 to facilitate degassing of water. That is, water freezes from the surface due to physical properties, so once the surface freezes, even if the ice tray is vibrated,
The air is trapped and deaeration becomes impossible. Therefore, in order to avoid this, we are trying to freeze the surface at the final stage. Next, 31 is a gear provided on the axis of the ice tray 8, 32 is a cam gear pivotally supported on the inner wall surface of the freezer, and the two gears 31 and 32 are constantly meshed. Three
Reference numeral 3 denotes a pin projecting from the side surface of the cam gear 32, and 34 denotes a spindle of the heater panel 30, and the heater panel 30 is fixed so as to be openable and closable around the spindle 34. Then, the pin 33 is usually located directly below the bottom surface of the heater panel 30 with a certain amount of play. With these configurations, even when the ice tray 8 is twisted and rotated to drop the ice after completion of the ice making,
The heater panel 30 can be automatically opened to prevent interference. This operation will be described. When the ice making is completed, this is detected, and the ice tray 8 starts to rotate. Then, the gear 31 also rotates accordingly, so that the cam gear 32 meshed with the gear 31 synchronously rotates. Cam gear 32
There is some play between the pin 33 and the heater panel 30 when rotating, but if the pin 33 moves a certain amount, the heater panel 30
It comes into contact with the bottom of the and gradually pushes it up.
Therefore, the heater panel 30 is relatively open,
The heater panel 30 does not interfere during ice removal.

[0013]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to efficiently produce high-quality transparent ice, and even when the ice is removed from the ice tray when the production is completed, the heater panel may interfere. Since there is no such thing, it has become possible to measure complete automation.

Further, the structure for vibrating the ice tray has a very simple structure and the number of parts can be relatively reduced, so that the cost increase for producing transparent ice can be suppressed. Became.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a refrigerator to which the present invention is applied,

FIG. 2 is a partial cross-sectional plan view showing an embodiment for applying vibration to the ice tray of the present invention,

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the same.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a main part showing a structure related to a heater panel of the present invention,

FIG. 5 is a side view of the same.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Refrigerator 2 Refrigerator 3 Refrigerator 4 Ice maker 5 Machine room 6 Compressor 7 Cooler 8 Ice tray 9 Cooling fan 10 Ice storage box 11 Water supply hose 12 Water supply pump 13 Fixed quantity container 14 Water supply tank 15 Drive device 16 Full ice detection arm 21 Motor 22 Eccentric Cam 23 Connecting Member 24 Bushing 25 Vibration Shaft 27 Spring 30 Heater Panel 31 Gear 32 Cam Gear 33 Pin

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A system for freezing water that is periodically supplied to an ice tray,
In an ice making device of a refrigerator for twisting and rotating this ice making tray to release ice produced, an eccentricity in which a drive shaft abutting the ice making tray is loosely inserted into a part of the refrigerator via a bush and driven by a motor. An ice making device for a refrigerator, wherein the bush is rocked by a cam. 2. The ice making device for a refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the tip of the drive shaft is constantly pressed against the ice making tray by a spring. 3. The ice-making device for a refrigerator according to claim 1, further comprising a heater panel that can be opened and closed on the top of the ice-making tray. 4. A gear provided on a rotating shaft center of an ice tray, a cam gear pivotally supported by a part of a refrigerator and meshing with the gear, and a cam gear provided on a side surface of the cam gear and when the heater panel is closed. With a pin located directly below the bottom surface of the heater panel, the cam gear rotates with the rotation of the ice tray,
The ice making device for a refrigerator according to claim 3, wherein the pin pushes up the heater panel.