JPH06331246A - Refrigerator equipped with automatic ice making device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To minimize a sharp rise in a development cost in a refrigerator which is provided with an automatic ice making device having a function to generate vibration. CONSTITUTION:An automatic ice making device-equipped refrigerator R is provided with an automatic ice making device 7 which feeds water to an ice making pan 11 installed to an ice making chamber 4 and then dehydrates water by turning over vertically the ice making pan 11 with a motor and applies specified vibrations by means of an oscillation mechanism 10 during ice making. The motor 13 is installed between the ice making pan 11 on one side while the oscillation mechanism 10 is installed to the other side.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a refrigerator with an automatic ice making device, which is equipped with an automatic ice making device for automatically making ice in an ice making chamber.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventional refrigerators for domestic use are disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-158669 (F25C1 / 18).
As shown in Fig. 1, water is supplied to the ice trays provided in the ice making chamber to make ice, and after the ice making, the ice trays are rotated by the drive device and turned upside down to remove the ice and store the ice, and then to make ice again. An automatic ice making device has come to be provided which repeats an operation of supplying water to a plate and making ice.

Further, in order to generate transparent ice in an ice tray in a short time, in the above publication, an automatic ice making device is provided with a vibration applying means, and when the ice making is performed, the vibration applying means vibrates the ice making tray to generate ice. It was configured to promote the escape of bubbles adhering to the boundary surface with water to the outside.

[0004]

However, since both the drive unit and the vibration imparting means are conventionally incorporated in one body, the internal structure of the body is extremely complicated, and the design and manufacture of the body are not possible. There was a problem that the development cost soared.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned conventional technical problems, and an object of the present invention is to suppress a steep rise in development cost in a refrigerator equipped with an automatic ice making device having a vibration imparting function. .

[0006]

A refrigerator R with an automatic ice-making device according to the present invention supplies water to an ice-making tray 11 arranged in an ice-making chamber 4 to make ice, and then a drive device (motor) 13 is used to make the ice-making tray 11. The refrigerator is equipped with an automatic ice-making device 7 that applies a predetermined vibration to the ice tray 11 by means of a vibration applying mechanism (swing mechanism) 10 during ice making and deices the ice tray. The drive device (motor) 13 is disposed on the other side, and the vibration applying mechanism (swing mechanism) 10 is disposed on the other side.

[0007]

According to the refrigerator R with an automatic ice making device of the present invention, the vibration imparting mechanism (oscillating mechanism) 10 vibrates the ice making tray 11 during ice making, so that the water in the ice making tray 11 is agitated, thereby making the ice making. The escape of bubbles adhering to the boundary surface between the ice and water in the dish 11 to the outside is promoted. Also, after ice making, the ice tray 11
Since it is reversed by the drive device (motor) 13, transparent ice can be automatically generated in a short time. In particular, in the present invention, the drive device (motor) is provided on one side with the ice tray 11 interposed therebetween.
Since 13 is arranged and the vibration applying mechanism (rocking mechanism) 10 is arranged on the other side, the structure of the automatic ice making device 7 is simplified, and thereby the development cost such as design and manufacturing can be reduced.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a plan view of an automatic ice making device 7 of a refrigerator R with an automatic ice making device of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional side view of the automatic ice making device 7.
3 is a vertical front view of the automatic ice making device 7, and FIG. 4 is a front view of the freezer compartment 2 portion of the refrigerator R (the door is removed).

The refrigerator R with an automatic ice-making device of the present invention is a domestic freezer refrigerator, in which a freezer compartment 2 and a refrigerating compartment (not shown) are formed below the freezer compartment 2 in the upper part of a heat-insulating box 1 which opens to the front. There is. An ice making chamber 4 is defined in the freezing chamber 2, and an ice storage box 3 is arranged below the ice making chamber 4 so as to be freely drawn out. Then, cold air from a cooler (not shown) is forcedly circulated in the freezer compartment 2 including the ice making compartment 4 and the refrigerating compartment.

An automatic ice making device 7 according to the present invention is housed in the ice making chamber 4. As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the automatic ice making device 7 has a rectangular box-shaped machine body 8 located in front of the ice making chamber 4 and an L-shaped machine body projecting rearward from the right end of the rear surface of the machine body 8. A support member 9, an ice tray 11 made of synthetic resin such as polyethylene or polypropylene arranged between the support member 9 and the machine body 8, and a vibration imparting mechanism located behind the ice tray 11 with the support member 9 interposed therebetween. The swing mechanism 10 and the lid 12 arranged so as to cover the upper surface of the ice tray 11.

Inside the machine body 8, for example, a DC motor 13 and a gear train forming a part of the drive device are housed, and an output shaft 16 of the DC motor 13 projects from the rear surface of the machine body 8. An ice detecting lever 18 is rotatably attached to the left side surface of the machine body 8. The ice detecting lever 18 is rotationally driven by the drive device inside the machine body 8.

The rocking mechanism 10 is composed of, for example, a step motor, and the body 8 is sandwiched with an ice tray 11 interposed therebetween.
It is housed in a case 17 provided on the front surface of the duct plate 2A of the freezer compartment 2 located on the opposite side of. The output shaft 5 of the swinging mechanism 10 projects forward from the case 17.

The ice tray 11 is in the form of a thin rectangular container having an open top surface, and the inside is divided into a plurality of recesses. The side surface of the ice tray 11 is covered with a side cover 21 with a space therebetween, and the bottom surface of the ice tray 11 projects downward from the side cover 21. by this,
The ice tray 11 is configured to receive cooling more strongly from the bottom surface than the side surface. Further, storage portions 21A and 21A that are open upward are formed in the central portions on both sides of the side cover 21, and rectangular permanent magnets MG and MG are stored in the storage portions 21A and 21A, respectively. And is fixed to the side cover 21.

The ice tray 11 has a support shaft 15 at the center of the front end.
Are connected to the output shaft 16, and the support shaft 22 at the center of the rear end is rotatably supported by the support member 9 and the rear end of the support shaft 22 has the swing mechanism. It is connected to 10 output shafts 5. As a result, the machine body 8 having the motor 13 built-in on one side (front side) across the ice tray 11 and the swing mechanism 10 on the other side (rear side) are respectively arranged. The structure inside the machine body 8 can be remarkably simplified as compared with the case where the above is incorporated into the machine body 8 together with the motor 13. Further, the support shaft 15 is connected to the output shaft 16 of the motor 13 with a clearance having a predetermined rotation angle. An ice making temperature sensor 23 is attached to the center of the lower surface of the ice tray 11.

The lid 12 is filled with a heat insulating material 33 and has a rectangular shape as a whole, and a water guiding portion 12A for introducing water from the water supply pipe 19 is formed at the left rear end of the lid 12. . A pair of arm portions 26, 26 are formed so as to project to the right side at a predetermined interval from each other at the center of the right side of the lid 12, and the front surface of the front arm portion 26 and the rear surface of the rear arm portion 26 are formed. Support pins 27, 27 projecting forward and backward are respectively formed on the. Further, thin steel plates 28, 28 as a magnetic material are attached to central portions on both left and right sides of the lid 12, and an electric heater 32 is attached to an upper surface of a lower plate 31 of the lid 12.

On the other hand, the center portion of the support member 9 in the front-rear direction is raised upward, and the engagement grooves 29, 29 extending vertically at a predetermined interval are formed relative to each other in this raised portion. It is formed facing. The support pin 27,
27 rotates in these front and rear engagement grooves 29, 29,
In addition, the lid 12 is slidably engaged, whereby the lid 12 is supported by the support member 9 so as to be rotatable and vertically movable.
This lid 12 is arranged above the ice tray 11 and
Is in the horizontal position (FIG. 3), the lower plate 31 abuts the upper surface opening edge of the ice tray 11 to close the opening of the ice tray 11. Further, in this state, the steel plates 28, 28 are the ice tray 11
Since the magnets MG of the side cover 21 and the upper surfaces of the MG are detachably attracted to the magnets MG, respectively, the closed state of the lid 12 during swinging is maintained by the magnetic attraction force.

An ice making chamber 4 accommodating such an automatic ice making device 7.
At the rear of the ice tray 11, a cool air outlet 34 is formed below and behind the ice tray 11, and as described above, cool air from a cooler (not shown) is blown from the cold air outlet 34 to the lower portion of the ice tray 11. It is configured.

Next, FIG. 5 shows a controller C of the automatic ice making device 7.
The block diagram of is shown. The control device C comprises a general-purpose microcomputer 36, and the microcomputer 36 includes the ice-making temperature sensor 23 and the ice-making tray 1
1 horizontal position detection switch 37 for detecting the horizontal position, 1 reverse position detection switch 3 for detecting the reverse position of the ice tray 11
Outputs of an ice storage detecting switch 39 for detecting the amount of ice storage in the ice storage box 3 in response to the ice detecting lever 8 and the ice detecting lever 18 are input.

The electric heater 32 is connected to the output of the microcomputer 36, and water in a water tank provided in a refrigerating chamber (not shown) is pumped up to supply the water to the water supply pipe 1.
A water supply pump 41 for introducing it into the ice tray 11 from 9 is connected. Further, the output of the microcomputer 36 is a motor drive circuit 42 for driving the motor 13.
Are connected, and the motor 13 is connected to the motor drive circuit 42. Further, a drive circuit 45 for driving the swing mechanism 10 is connected to the output of the microcomputer 36, and the swing mechanism 10 is connected to this drive circuit 45.

The operation of the automatic ice making device 7 according to the present invention having the above-mentioned structure will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 to 8. 6 and 7 are flowcharts showing the program of the microcomputer 36. First, in step S1, the microcomputer 36 pumps water from the water supply tank by the water supply pump 41, and then the ice tray 1 is supplied from the water supply pipe 19.
Water is supplied into each concave portion of 1. Next, in step S2, it is determined based on the ice making temperature sensor 23 whether the difference between the temperature of the ice tray 11 before water supply and the temperature after water supply is 6 deg or more.

If the temperature difference of the ice tray 11 by the ice temperature sensor 23 does not reach 6 deg, it is judged that the water tank is empty, and the process proceeds to step S14, where the water tank is taken out of the refrigerating room and poured. Then, it is again judged whether or not it is stored in the refrigerating room. Then, it waits until the water supply tank is taken in and out, and if so, it proceeds to step S15 and waits 20 minutes thereafter until the temperature of the water in the water supply tank drops. Then, the process returns to step S1 to restart the water supply operation. After that, when the temperature difference of the ice tray 11 becomes 6 deg or more by supplying a predetermined amount of water, it is determined that the water supply is completed, and the process proceeds from step S2 to step S3.

In step S3, the microcomputer 3
6, the drive circuit 45 causes the swinging mechanism 10 to rotate forward / backward in a predetermined fine cycle, and starts swinging the ice tray 11 via the output shaft 5. At this time, the microcomputer 36
Drives the swing mechanism 10 so that the ice tray 11 repeats forward and reverse rotations around the support shafts 15 and 22 at a frequency of, for example, 6 HZ and an amplitude of 2 mm, and the other support shaft 15 of the ice tray 11 is Since it is connected to the output shaft 16 of the motor 13 with a clearance of a predetermined rotation angle, the ice tray 11
The fine swing of does not affect the motor 13. Also, the lid 1
The second steel plates 28, 28 are respectively attracted to the magnets MG, MG of the side cover 21 of the ice tray 11 as described above, and the support pins 27, 27 are also rotated in the engagement grooves 29, 29.
Moreover, since it is movable in the vertical direction, the lid 12 can smoothly follow the swing of the ice tray 11. Therefore, since the lid 12 is also swung together with the top opening of the ice tray 11 closed, no gap is created between the lid 12 and the ice tray 11 by such swing.

Next, the microcomputer 36 starts energizing the electric heater 32 in step S4, and in step S5, the temperature of the ice tray 11 is lowered by the ice making temperature sensor 23 to the ice making end temperature, for example, -12 ° C. or lower. Judge whether or not. Cold air is blown from the cold air outlet 34 to the ice tray 11 as described above, and the water in each recess of the ice tray 11 gradually freezes from the bottom surface. Here, the top opening of the ice tray 11 is closed by the lid 12 to be insulated, and even if the ice tray 11 and the lid 12 are swung as described above, the ice tray 11 and the lid 12 are closed.
There is no gap between them. Further, in addition to that, the electric heater 32 also generates heat, so that the temperature of the lower portion of each recess of the ice tray 11 is lower than that of the upper portion. Therefore, the water in each recess in the ice tray 11 freezes from the bottom surface of the ice tray 11, and the surface finally freezes.

Further, since the ice tray 11 is finely swung by the swing mechanism 10 and vibrated and agitated, the bubbles adhering to the boundary surface between the growing ice and water are easily separated from the ice. Since the surface is finally frozen as described above, the bubbles in each recess smoothly escape to the outside. As a result, transparent ice is generated in each recess of the ice tray 11 in a short time.

Then, the ice making in the ice making tray 11 progresses,
When the temperature of the ice tray 11 detected by the ice making temperature sensor 23 becomes -12 ° C or lower, the microcomputer 36 determines that the ice making is completed, and proceeds from step S5 to step S6 to swing the ice tray 11 by the swing mechanism 10. To stop.
Next, in step S7, the heat generation of the electric heater 32 is stopped, and in step S13, the drive device 17 (actually, the motor drive circuit 42) lowers the ice detecting lever 18 into the lower ice storage box 3, and the angle at which it stops. It is determined whether or not the amount of ice in the ice storage box 3 is full based on the output of the ice storage detection switch 39 that responds to. If it is full, step S13
The ice detecting operation of No. is continued, and if not, step S8
Then, the motor drive circuit 42 rotates the motor 13 in the reverse direction. When the motor 13 rotates in the reverse direction, the ice tray 11 starts to rotate via the output shaft 16 (the output shaft 5 of the swing mechanism 10 also rotates at the same time).

Here, FIG. 3 shows the horizontal position of the ice tray 11, and when the ice tray 11 starts reversing, the protrusions 20 formed in front of and behind the storage portion 21A on the left side of the side cover 21, 20 contacts the lower surface of the lower plate 31 of the lid 12.
Then, the lid 12 is lifted by the protrusions 20 and 20,
Thereby, the steel plates 28, 28 are separated from the magnets MG, MG, and the upper opening of the ice tray 11 is opened. afterwards,
As the reversal progresses, the support pins 27, 27 of the lid 12 are moved upward in the engagement grooves 29, 29, and are lifted up to the top when the ice tray 11 is almost at the side (FIG. 8).

At this time, the support pins 27, 27 are engaged with the engaging groove 2.
Although it is slightly rotated within 9, 29, since it moves in the vertical direction, the lid 12 is moved upward while maintaining a substantially horizontal state. Therefore, it becomes possible to lower the position of the free end of the lid 12 (the position when the lid 12 is lifted to the uppermost position) as compared with the structure in which only the support pins 27, 27 are rotated. The vertical dimension of the ice making chamber 4 in which the automatic ice making device 7 is installed can be reduced.

The reversal of the ice tray 11 is continued until the reversal position detection switch 38 detects a predetermined reversal position in step S9. Then, when the ice tray 11 reaches a substantially inverted position, the inverted position detection switch 38 detects it,
The microcomputer 36 proceeds from step S9 to step S10. In the process of this inversion, the rear side of the ice tray 11 stops rotating first, so that the ice tray 11 is twisted, whereby the ice in each recess is smoothly removed.
Then, the deiced ice falls and is stored in the ice storage box 3 located below.

When the de-icing is completed, the microcomputer 36 normally rotates the motor 13 in step S10, and starts the normal rotation of the ice tray 11 via the output shaft 16.
Then, in step S11, the horizontal position detection switch 37
Based on the above, it is determined whether or not the ice tray 11 has returned to a predetermined horizontal position (FIG. 3).
When 1 becomes horizontal, the process proceeds to step S12 and the motor 13
To stop normal rotation. At the same time, the steel plates 28, 28 are again attracted to the magnets MG, MG, the lid 12 closes the upper surface of the ice tray 11, and this is repeated thereafter.

In this way, the automatic ice making device 7 automatically makes ice and always stores a predetermined amount of transparent ice in the ice storage box 3. In addition, in the embodiment, the swing mechanism 10 is driven by the step motor.
However, the present invention is not limited to this, and another DC motor or AC motor, a solenoid, or the like may be used.

[0031]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, the vibration imparting mechanism vibrates the ice tray during ice making to agitate the water in the ice tray to promote the escape of bubbles, and after the ice making, ice is made. Since the dish is inverted by the driving device, clear ice can be automatically generated in a short time. In particular, in the present invention, the drive device is arranged on one side of the ice tray and the vibration applying mechanism is arranged on the other side, so that the structure of the automatic ice making device is simplified, thereby significantly reducing the development cost of the automatic ice making device. It can be achieved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of an automatic ice making device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a vertical side view of the automatic ice making device.

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional front view of the automatic ice making device.

FIG. 4 is a front view of the freezer compartment of the refrigerator with the automatic ice making device of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an electric circuit of a control device of the automatic ice making device.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a program of a microcomputer.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing a program of the same microcomputer.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating the operation of the ice tray.

[Explanation of symbols]

 4 Ice Maker 7 Automatic Ice Maker 8 Machine 10 Swinging Mechanism 11 Ice Maker 13 Motor C Controller R Refrigerator with Automatic Ice Maker

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. After supplying water to an ice tray provided in an ice making chamber to make ice, the drive tray is turned upside down to remove the ice, and at the time of ice making, a predetermined vibration is applied to the ice tray by a vibration applying mechanism. A refrigerator equipped with an automatic ice-making device for applying the vibration according to claim 1, wherein the drive device is arranged on one side of the ice-making tray and the vibration applying mechanism is arranged on the other side.