JPH0746006B2 - Ice makers such as refrigerators - Google Patents

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ice making device arranged in a freezer or the like of a refrigerator and capable of producing particularly transparent ice.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a refrigerator for a garden or the like, an ice making device for accommodating an ice making plate is arranged in one part of a freezing room, and the water in the ice making plate is frozen by the cooling action of the cold air flowing through the ice making device. It is common practice to produce ice.

However, with such an ice production method, freezing of water in the ice tray during ice production proceeds from the contact surface between the ice tray and water and the contact surface between cold air and water to the central portion. Therefore, the gas component dissolved in water is contaminated with impurities in the center of the ice, resulting in opaque ice with a cloudiness in the center, which is organoleptically suitable for beverages such as whiskey. Was not.

Therefore, there is a need for transparent ice from the past, and an apparatus for producing it has been considered as a method shown in FIG. 5, for example. The contents will be described below with reference to the drawings.

Reference numeral 1 denotes a refrigerator main body, which is divided by a partition wall 2 into a freezer compartment 3 at an upper portion and a refrigerating compartment 4 at a lower portion. 5 is a cooler for the refrigeration cycle, 6 is a blower for forced ventilation, and each is the freezing chamber 3
Is located on the back of. Reference numeral 7 denotes an ice making device arranged at the bottom of the freezing compartment 3, and a first ice making compartment 8 for producing transparent ice in an upper stage and a second ice making compartment for producing ordinary ice in a lower stage. 9 is provided. The outer wall of the first ice making chamber 8 excluding the bottom surface and the front surface is surrounded by a heat insulating material 10, and a heating plate 12 made of aluminum having a heater 11 arranged on the back surface is provided on the top surface and an aluminum plate is provided on the bottom surface. Cooling plates 13 made of aluminum are respectively arranged. Reference numeral 14 is a ventilation passage formed in the lower portion of the second cooling plate 13, and reference numerals 15 and 16 are the first ice tray and the second ice tray housed in the first ice making chamber 8 and the second ice making chamber 9, respectively. This is an ice tray. Further, 17 is a discharge duct for forcibly ventilating the cool air cooled by the cooler 5 to the ice making device 7 by the blower 6, and the ventilation ducts are respectively formed by the discharge ports 18 formed at the lower end portion.
14 and the second ice making chamber 9 communicate with each other. Reference numeral 19 is a return duct for returning the cool air discharged into the freezer compartment 3 to the cooler 5. Further, reference numeral 20 is a transparent ice making switch, which is configured to energize the heater 11 for a predetermined time when the switch is turned on once.

In such a configuration, the cool air cooled by the cooler 5 is supplied to the freezing chamber 3 and the refrigerating chamber 4 by the forced ventilation of the blower 6, and at the same time, the second air in the ice making device 7 is discharged through the discharge port 18 of the discharge duct 17. It is discharged to the ice making chamber 9 and the ventilation passage 14.
Then, the cold air introduced into the second ice making chamber 9 directly cools the second ice making tray 16, and the water in the inside is sequentially frozen from the water surface and the remaining surface in contact with the second ice making tray 16. Generates normal ice. However, as described above, the ice thus produced is cloudy and does not become transparent ice. On the other hand, the cold air introduced into the ventilation passage 14 cools the cooling plate 13. So the first ice tray filled with water for the user to make clear ice
When 15 is housed in the first ice making chamber 8 and the ice making switch 20 is turned on, a heating plate by the heater 11 is applied from the upper surface of the first ice making tray 15.
The heating action is started via 12 and the cooling plate 13
The cooling or freezing action via the is initiated. Further, since the outer wall of the first ice tray 15 excluding the lower surface is covered with the heat insulating material 10, it is not affected by the cooling from the freezer compartment 3, and the unidirectional freezing action progresses from the lower surface to the upper surface. This freezing action is an indirect cooling through the cooling plate 13 and a heating action by the heater 11 having a predetermined capacity is added, so that the freezing speed is extremely slow. That is, the gas components are released with freezing, but there is a margin to diffuse into the upper water, so that ice production proceeds without bubbles being taken into the ice. If the freezing speed is controlled to about 3 mm / h or less in this way, the gas components in the water are degassed from the surface of the water that freezes last to the outside air, and the ice that is finally generated contains almost no bubbles. Clear ice is obtained. In addition, the heater 11 has a certain margin in the time required to complete the ice making, and the power supply is automatically stopped when a predetermined time elapses.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, at the same time when the ice making switch 21 is turned on,
That is, when energization of the heater 11 is started from the time when the first ice tray 15 filled with water is stored, until the water in the first ice tray 15 reaches 0 ° C. and starts freezing. Since the heating action of the heater 11 is performed from the upper surface even during the so-called water state, the icing is started by a very gradual cooling action, and sometimes the icing does not start even when the temperature reaches 0 ° C. It may be in a state. If the state is prolonged and it is delayed to return to the normal freezing state, bubbles are dispersed and opaque ice is contained.

Since the opening portion of the first ice making chamber 8 is only the front surface, the water vapor evaporated during the formation of the transparent ice stagnates in the first ice making chamber 8 and adheres to the cooling plate 13 having the lowest temperature as frost. If the attached frost develops, the first ice tray 15 cannot be inserted or the cooling from the cooling plate 13 is insufficient.

The present invention solves the problems described above, and an object thereof is to prevent a supercooled state and prevent frost formation on a cooling plate.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve the above problems, an ice making device such as a refrigerator of the present invention is provided with a vent hole on the outer periphery of a cooling plate.

Operation According to the present invention, cold air is introduced into the ice making chamber from the ventilation holes on the outer periphery of the cooling plate by the above-described configuration, and the cold air is applied to the water surface to surely start freezing to prevent a supercooling state. Since some of the cold air flows along the cooling plate and flows from the front opening, it does not frost on the cooling plate during ice making.

Example An ice making apparatus such as a refrigerator according to an example of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4. It should be noted that the same components as those of the related art are designated by the same reference numerals and detailed description thereof will be omitted.

Reference numeral 21 denotes an ice making device provided in the lower portion of the freezing compartment 3, which is framed by a box 21a, and has a first ice making compartment 22 for producing transparent ice in the upper stage and a first ice making chamber for producing normal ice in the lower stage. Two ice making chambers 9 are provided. The outer wall of the first ice making chamber 22 excluding the bottom surface and the front surface is surrounded by the heat insulating material 10, and the heater 11 is arranged on the top surface on the back surface and the heating plate 12 made of aluminum is used.
Are arranged. Reference numeral 23 is a ventilation hole provided between the cooling plate 13 and the periphery of the ice making chamber 22, and in this embodiment, it is provided at both ends except the back. Reference numeral 24 is a support piece for the cooling plate.

In such a configuration, the user needs to make transparent ice first.
When the first ice tray 15 is housed in the ice making chamber 22 and the ice making switch 20 is pushed, the heating action is performed from the upper surface of the first ice tray 15 through the heating plate 12 of the heater 11 and the lower surface. Then, cooling is started via the cooling plate 13.

On the other hand, most of the cool air passing through the ventilation passage 14 flows along the bottom surface of the cooling plate 13 to cool the cooling plate 13. And some are vents 23
Through the bottom of the first ice tray 15 (top of the cooling plate 13) and the first
Passing over the ice tray 15 (water surface), pass through the front opening and return to the return air passage 19. Further, the amount of cold air flowing over the first ice tray 15 is small, and the freezing does not proceed from the water surface more than the heating amount of the heating plate 12.

The water temperature of the ice tray 15 reaches 0 ° C. from the initial temperature (for example, 30 ° C.), but a slight amount of wind is flowing on the water surface at this time, so that freezing surely starts. Freezing is more likely to occur when water reaches physical shock or thermal shock at 0 ° C. Without those shocks, below 0 ℃ (eg -5 ℃)
However, there are many cases where it becomes a supercooled state that does not freeze.

When the freezing starts, the freezing gradually progresses only from below, and the transparent ice is generated while discharging the gas components dissolved in the ice from the water surface.

On the other hand, the water vapor evaporated during the formation of the transparent ice cannot adhere to the heating plate 12 because it has a high temperature, and thus flows to the bottom surface of the first ice tray 15, but the cold air from the ventilation holes 23 slightly flows to the bottom surface. Water vapor flows to the opening of the first ice making chamber 22 due to the presence of the cooling plate.
It will never frost on 13.

Effects of the Invention As described above, according to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained.

1) When the water temperature reaches 0 ° C, a slight amount of wind is flowing on the surface of the water, so freezing will occur reliably due to the vibration caused by the wind.
That is, the transparent ice is steadily generated without being supercooled.

2) A small amount of cold air flows on the bottom of the ice tray, but the water vapor generated by the formation of transparent ice due to this cold air does not flow to the opening of the ice making chamber and is discharged, so that it does not frost on the cooling plate.

[Brief description of drawings]

1 is a front view of an ice making device such as a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a sectional view of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is FIG.
4 is a sectional view of a refrigerator equipped with the ice making device of FIG. 1, and FIG. 5 is a sectional view of a refrigerator equipped with a conventional ice making device. 13 ... Cooling plate, 14 ... Ventilation passage, 22 ... First ice making chamber (ice making chamber), 10 ... Insulation material, 15 ... First ice making tray (ice making tray), 11 ... Heater (heating) Equipment), 12 ... Heating plate, 21 ...
… Ice making device, 23… Vent.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A cooling plate, an ice making chamber having the cooling plate as a bottom face and opening at the front face to form a compartment, an ice making plate housed in the ice making chamber and placed on the cooling plate, and an upper face of the ice making plate. A heating plate provided with a heating device such as a heater provided in, a ventilation hole provided on the outer periphery of the cooling plate, an air passage provided below the cooling plate, and an outer wall excluding the bottom surface and the front surface of the ice making chamber. An ice-making device such as a refrigerator that consists of a heat insulating material placed inside.