JPH0719683A - Water tray structure for icemaker - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent a recess of a slender elliptical shape in an ice cube and to obtain an ice cube of high quality by providing a slitlike fountain hole for supply icing water along a bisector for substantially equally dividing an opening of an icemaking small chamber at each icemaking small chamber. CONSTITUTION:A slitlike fountain hole 31 is provided along a bisector L for substantially equally dividing an opening of an icemaking small chamber S to two rectangular shapes to the chamber S, and return holes 32 are arranged on both sides of the bisector L to the hole 31. Thus, icemaking water spouting from the hole 31 strikes the ceiling of each chamber S to be diffused in the chamber S, and effectively guided to the corners of the cailing of each chamber S as split in the direction substantially perpendicular to the bisector L in abanded state. Accordingly, since ice is grown from a part near the cooling surface of each chamber of the fountain hole, a recess of a slender elliptical shape is prevented to obtain cubic ice of high quality.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a water tray structure of a so-called reverse cell type ice making machine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In this type of ice making machine, conventionally, one fountain hole for each cell is arranged substantially at the center of the opening of each cell, and return holes are arranged close to both sides of the fountain hole. There is. Therefore, the ice making water sprayed from the fountain holes collides with the ceiling of the cell and diffuses in a circular shape over the entire ceiling, and then flows down the side wall and is collected in the water tank through the return hole. It has become. Due to its structure,
The ice making water sprayed from the fountain holes is not easily diffused to the corners of the ceiling part of the cell, and the water pressure of the ice making water sprayed from the fountain holes is increased by increasing the size of the circulation pump to cope with it. Alternatively, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4-254175, a plurality of fountain holes are provided to deal with the problem.

[0003]

[Problems to be solved] In the former method, not only is the problem that the size of the ice making machine becomes larger when the circulation pump is made larger, but the amount of heat generated from the drive motor of the circulation pump is also increased, and the ice making water Since the temperature is raised and the atmosphere temperature of the ice making section is also raised, the growth time of ice cubes in each cell is lengthened and the production efficiency is lowered. In addition, the latter method can accurately supply the ice-making water to the ceiling corners of each cell, but since there are multiple fountain holes,
The water pressure in the cell ceiling directly above the fountain hole and in the vicinity of the fountain hole is higher than that in the corner, so it becomes an ice with an elongated elliptical dent, and the quality as ice cubes. There was a problem that caused a drop.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and it is intended to prevent the occurrence of slender elliptical dents in ice as much as possible and to provide high quality ice water for an ice making machine. It has a dish structure.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, an ice making chamber having a partition plate for forming a plurality of ice making small chambers opened downward, and having a cooler for cooling each of the ice making small chambers on an upper surface, For each of the ice making compartments, provided along an equal dividing line that divides the opening of the ice making compartment substantially equally, a slit-shaped fountain hole for supplying water for ice making, and a return hole provided near the fountain hole, A water tray that closes each of the ice making small chambers during ice making operation and tilts downward to open each of the ice making small chambers during deicing operation, a water tank provided under the water tray for storing ice making water, and this water It is intended to provide a water tray structure of an ice making machine, which comprises a circulation pump for circulating the ice making water in the tank through the fountain holes into the ice making small chambers.

[0006]

In the ice making operation, the circulation pump pumps the ice making water jetted and supplied from the fountain holes into the ice making small chambers to freeze the ice making water in the cooler, and unfreeze water that has not been frozen is returned to the ice making water. An ice making machine for collecting and circulating the water from the hole to the water tank, wherein each of the ice making chambers has a slit shape along an equal dividing line that divides the opening of the ice making chamber into two rectangles. Due to the provision of the fountain holes, when the ice making water sprayed from the slit-shaped fountain holes in each ice making small chamber collides with the ceiling of the ice making small chamber and diffuses, it is almost perpendicular to the bisector, that is, in the horizontal direction. It is divided into two parts, and is accurately guided to the corners of the ceiling of the ice making chamber, and the ice grows from the slit-shaped fountain holes near the cooling surface of each ice making chamber. Prevents the occurrence of dents as much as possible And, it is possible to provide a high quality of ice cubes.

[0007]

Embodiments will be described with reference to the drawings. Figure 1
1 schematically shows an ice making mechanism part of an inverse cell type ice making machine, and the ice making mechanism part is constituted by an ice making chamber 10, a cooler 20, a water tray 30, a water tank 40, a circulation pump 50 and the like. The ice making chamber 10 is substantially horizontally arranged and fixed above the inside of an ice making machine body (not shown).
As shown in FIG. 5, the upper plate 11, the side plate 12, and the partition plate 13 are formed, and a plurality of ice making small chambers S that are open downward are formed. In addition, on the upper surface of the ice making chamber 10,
A cooler 20 connected to a refrigerating device (not shown) is closely arranged in a meandering manner, and cools each ice making small chamber S during ice making operation and supplies ice making water jetted and supplied by a mechanism described later to each ice making small chamber S. It can be frozen in. Water dish 3
No. 0 is arranged immediately below the ice making chamber 10 and is attached to the body of the ice making machine through a pivot 39 so as to be vertically tiltable, and is tilted and returned by an actuator (not shown) to make the ice making machine. Each ice making small chamber S is closed during operation, and tilted downward to open each ice making small chamber S during ice removing operation. Further, the water tray 30 is provided with a fountain hole 31 and a return hole 32 corresponding to each ice making small chamber S, and a main water channel 33 and three branch water channels 34 branched therefrom. The water tank 40 is integrally assembled below the water tray 30 so as to tilt and move back together with the water tray 30, and a water supply pipe 60 disposed above the water tray 30.
It is designed to store the required amount of ice-making water that is supplied for each cycle from. In addition, the water supply pipe 60 is the electromagnetic opening / closing valve 6
1 to a water pipe (not shown). The circulation pump 50 supplies the ice making water in the water tank 40 with the fountain holes 3
1 for circulating supply to each small ice making chamber S, connected to the bottom of the water tank 40 via a suction pipe 51, and connected to the main water passage 33 of the water tray 30 via a discharge pipe 52. . The circulation pump 50 is driven by an electric motor (not shown) during the ice making operation. In the ice making machine configured as described above, a required amount of ice making water is supplied from the water supply pipe 60 to the water tank 40 during the ice making operation, and the ice making water is supplied to the suction pipe 51, the discharge pipe 52, and the main water passage 33 by the circulation pump 50. , Is sprayed and supplied into each ice making small chamber S through the branch water passage 34 and the fountain hole 31,
Freezing is sequentially carried out in the ice making chamber 10 cooled by the cooler 20. The unfrozen water that has not been frozen is mainly collected in the water tank 40 through the return hole 32 of the water tray 30 and recirculated by the circulation pump 50. In this embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, for each ice making chamber S, a slit-like fountain is formed along an equal dividing line L that divides the opening of the ice making chamber S into two rectangles. A hole 31 is provided, and return holes 32 are arranged on both sides of the equal line L with respect to the fountain hole 31. Therefore, in each ice making compartment S, the ice making water sprayed from the slit-shaped fountain holes 31 collides with the ceiling portion of each ice making compartment S as shown in FIG. 1 and diffuses, and as shown in FIG. It is divided into two parts in a direction substantially perpendicular to the line L to form a strip shape, and is accurately guided to the corners of the ceiling of each ice making compartment S. Therefore, the pressure of the ice making water sprayed from the fountain hole 31 can be made lower than in the conventional case,
By miniaturizing the circulation pump 50, the ice making machine can be miniaturized and the production efficiency can be improved. Further, since the water can be supplied to the fountain holes 31 arranged along each of the equal dividing lines L from each of the branch water channels 34, the water channel configuration can be simplified even though the fountain holes 31 are provided in a slit shape. It is possible and inexpensive to implement.

[0008]

EFFECTS OF THE INVENTION When ice making water sprayed from the slit-shaped fountains collides with the ceiling of the ice making small chamber and diffuses in each ice making small chamber, it is divided into two parts in a direction substantially perpendicular to the bisector, that is, in the left-right direction. It is precisely guided to the corners of the ceiling of the cell, and the ice grows from the slit-shaped fountain holes near the cooling surface of each ice-making small chamber, so the occurrence of elongated elliptical dents is minimized. Can prevent and provide high quality ice cubes.

[0009]

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing an ice making mechanism of an inverse cell type ice making machine.

2 is a plan view of the water tray shown in FIG. 1. FIG.

FIG. 3 is an operation explanatory view showing a jetting state of a water tray.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Ice Making Chamber 13 Partition Plate 20 Cooler 30 Water Tray 31 Fountain Hole 32 Return Hole 40 Water Tank 50 Circulation Pump S Ice Making Chamber L L

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An ice making chamber having a partition plate that forms a plurality of downwardly opening ice making chambers and having a cooler for cooling each of the ice making chambers, and an opening of the ice making chamber for each of the ice making chambers. The slit-shaped fountain holes for supplying ice-making water, the return holes provided in the vicinity of the fountain holes, and the ice-making chambers are closed during ice-making operation to remove ice. During operation, the water tray that tilts downward to open each of the ice making small chambers, the water tank provided under the water tray for storing ice making water, and the ice making water in the water tank passes through the fountain holes to form the ice making water. A water tray structure for an ice maker, which comprises a circulation pump that circulates the ice in a small compartment.