JPH0799301B2 - Ice ball making equipment - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ice ball producing apparatus for producing spherical ice (hereinafter sometimes referred to as ice ball) used for deburring, shot blasting, liquid honing and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a type of ice sphere manufacturing apparatus, a liquid cooling medium and a container containing a liquid separation medium on the cooling medium, a cooling means for cooling both of these media, and water droplets in the cooling medium. Water supply means for supplying water in a state of being formed, the water supplied into the cooling medium is solidified while rising in the cooling medium to form ice, and the ice is transferred into the separation medium. There is an ice sphere manufacturing apparatus that separates from the cooling medium to obtain spherical ice, and an example thereof is JP-A 1-210.
773 publication. In the ice ball manufacturing apparatus of this type, as shown in the above publication, a CFC liquid is used as the cooling medium and water is used as the separation medium.

[0003]

By the way, in the above ice sphere manufacturing apparatus, the ice spheres formed in the Freon liquid as the cooling medium are placed in the water as the separation medium located in the upper layer of the Freon liquid. The water should be kept at or near 0 ° C. so that it does not bind to each other and clump together and to prevent the ice from melting in the water. Therefore, as a means for coping with these problems, in the ice ball manufacturing apparatus described above, a heater, a stirrer, and a temperature control device are provided to precisely control the temperature of water as a separation medium. It is the actual situation. For this reason, the apparatus becomes complicated and large-sized and expensive, and since the water as a separation medium has a temperature of 0 ° C. or close to it, the ice in the water further freezes or melts and the ice bonds to each other. It is inevitable to present a lumpy state. Therefore,
The purpose of the present invention is to address such problems.

[0004]

According to the present invention, in an ice ball producing apparatus of the above-mentioned type, mercury is used as the cooling medium, and the separating medium has a melting point lower than that of the ice and a specific gravity higher than that of the ice. It is characterized in that a hydrophobic liquid smaller than the mercury is adopted. Therefore, castor oil, cyclohexyl acetate, trichlorethylene, perchlorethylene, etc. are preferably used as the separation medium.

[0005]

In the ice ball production apparatus according to the present invention, both media in the container are set to a predetermined temperature of 0 ° C. or lower prior to the production of ice balls, and the water is supplied into the cooling medium by the water supply means. The formed water droplets solidify while rising in the cooling medium to reach the separation medium, and are separated from the cooling medium. The ice that has moved into the separation medium further rises in the separation medium and floats on the surface of the medium.

[0006]

As described above, in the ice ball producing apparatus according to the present invention, mercury having a large specific gravity (specific gravity 13.
Since 5 g / cm ³ ) is adopted, the ice balls solidified in the cooling medium are hard and have a fine grain. Further, since the hydrophobic liquid is used as the separation medium in the upper layer of the cooling medium, the ice balls in the cooling medium can be smoothly transferred into the separation medium and can be easily separated from the cooling medium. Moreover, since the separation medium does not wet the surface of the ice balls, the ice balls do not bond with each other to form a large lump. Furthermore, since the melting point of the separation medium is equal to or lower than the melting point of ice, the ice balls do not melt, and easily prevent the separation medium from freezing or the entire separation medium from freezing at the boundary between the two media. Therefore, it is not necessary to attach a heater for preventing freezing and to provide a temperature control device for performing precise temperature control as in the case of using water as the separation medium. Since the separation medium has a smaller thermal conductivity than mercury, which is a cooling medium, heat transfer between the outside and the cooling medium is prevented, and energy loss is prevented.

[0007]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an ice ball manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention. The ice ball manufacturing apparatus includes a cooling tank 10 and a water supply mechanism 20.
And an ice unloading mechanism 30. Cooling tank 10 is inner cylinder 1
1 and an outer cylinder 12, and a cooling coil 13 is arranged between these cylinders 11 and 12. In the cooling tank 10, the inner cylinder 11 corresponds to the container of the present invention, and the cooling coil 13 corresponds to the cooling means of the present invention. The cooling coil 13 is connected to a known cooling mechanism (not shown), and the cooling medium is circulated and supplied from the cooling coil during operation of the cooling mechanism.

The inner cylinder 11 is provided with a recess 11a at a substantially central portion of the bottom, and a nozzle 23 constituting a water supply mechanism 20 described later is disposed in the recess 11a and is close to the tip of the nozzle 23. Then, the heater 14 is provided. The cooling medium 15 and the separation medium 16 are housed in the inner cylinder 11. In this embodiment, mercury is used as the cooling medium 15 and castor oil is used as the separation medium 16. Castor oil, which is the separation medium 16, corresponds to the hydrophobic liquid of the present invention, and is located in the upper layer of the cooling medium 15 due to the difference in specific gravity from the cooling medium 15, which is mercury.

The water supply means 20 comprises a water tank 21, a water supply conduit 22, a nozzle 23 and a compressed air conduit 24, and a predetermined amount of water is always stored in the water tank 21, and the compressed air conduit 24 is provided. The water in the water tank 21 is supplied to the bottom of the inner cylinder 11 from the nozzle 23 in a set amount in the form of water droplets by the action of the pressurized air. The air pressure in the water tank 21 is controlled by the solenoid valve 25.

The ice transport mechanism 30 uses the separation medium 16 as a transport medium, and includes a separation medium tank 31, a circulation conduit 32,
A circulation pump 33 and ice separating and conveying means 34 are provided.
In the ice transport mechanism 30, the action of the circulation pump 33 causes the separation medium 16 to circulate in the circulation pipe 32 through the layer of the separation medium 16 of the inner cylinder 11 and the tank 31.

In the ice ball manufacturing apparatus thus constructed, both the media 15 and 16 in the inner cylinder 11 of the cooling layer 10 are about -1.
Circulation pump 33 of the ice transport mechanism 30 which is set to 5 ° C
Drive the separation medium 16 into the separation medium 16 in the inner cylinder 11.
Circulates through the layers. Cooling medium 15 in this state
Water drops 1 from the water supply mechanism 20 through the nozzle 23
7a. The water droplets 17a supplied into the cooling medium 15 gradually rise in the cooling medium 15 layer, and during this period, the cooling medium 15 cools and solidifies to form ice balls 17b, and thereafter moves to the layer of the separation medium 16. The ice balls 17b that have moved to the layer of the separation medium 16 float to the surface of the layer. Separation medium 16
Ice balls 17b floating on the surface of the
The separation medium 16 which has flowed out of the inner cylinder 11 to the outside, reaches the separating and conveying means 34, is conveyed to a predetermined position by the conveying means 34, and has separated the ice balls 17b is circulated and supplied again.

In the ice ball producing apparatus, however, mercury having a large specific gravity (specific gravity 13.5 g /
cm ³ ), the ice balls 17b solidified in the cooling medium 15 are hard and have a fine grain. Also,
Since castor oil (specific gravity: about 0.95 g / cm ³ ) which is a hydrophobic liquid is used as the separation medium 16 in the upper layer of the cooling medium 15, the ice balls 17b in the cooling medium 15 are separated from each other by the separation medium 1
6 can be smoothly transferred into the layer 6 and can be easily separated from the cooling medium 15, and since the separation medium 16 does not wet the surface of the ice balls 17b, the ice balls are bonded to each other into a large lump state. In this way, the ice balls 17b having a desired shape and a desired size can be obtained, and the ice balls 17b can be easily taken out from the cooling tank 10.

Further, since the melting point of the separation medium 16 is extremely lower than the melting point of ice (pour point −20 ° C.), the ice balls 17b do not melt, and the separation medium 1 is formed at the boundary between the two media 15 and 16.
6 can be easily prevented from freezing or the separation medium 16 as a whole can be prevented from freezing, a heater for preventing freezing is attached as in the case of using water as a separation medium, and a temperature for performing precise temperature control. There is no need to provide a control device. Since the separation medium 16 has a smaller thermal conductivity than mercury as the cooling medium 15, heat transfer between the outside and the cooling medium 15 is prevented, and energy loss is prevented.

In this embodiment, a recess 11a is provided at the bottom of the inner cylinder 11 which constitutes the cooling tank 10, and the recess 1a is provided.
A nozzle 23 for supplying water droplets and a heater 14 are provided in 1a to prevent freezing of water in the nozzle 23 and to minimize heating of the cooling medium 15 by the heater 14. ing. Further, the ejection amount and ejection speed of the water droplets 17a pressurized by the pressurized air and supplied from the water tank 21 are finely adjusted so that an ice ball of a desired size can be obtained. The pressure is detected by the pressure sensor 26, and the solenoid valve 25 is controlled based on the detected value to finely adjust the opening / closing amount. Further, when the production of the ice balls 17b is stopped, the pressure of the pressurized air is balanced with the pressure on the side of the cooling medium 15 so that water droplets are not jetted and the cooling medium 15 is kept in a state of not flowing backward.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an ice ball manufacturing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 ... Cooling tank, 11 ... Inner cylinder, 12 ... Outer cylinder, 13 ... Cooling coil, 14 ... Heater, 15 ... Cooling medium (mercury), 16 ...
Separation medium (castor oil), 17a ... water drop, 17b ... ice ball,
20 ... Water supply mechanism, 21 ... Water tank, 23 ... Nozzle, 2
5 ... Electromagnetic valve, 30 ... Ice transport mechanism, 31 ... Transport medium tank, 32 ... Circulation pipeline, 33 ... Circulation pump, 34 ... Separation transport means.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A container containing a liquid cooling medium and a liquid separation medium on the cooling medium, cooling means for cooling both of these media, and water supply means for supplying water in the form of water droplets into the cooling medium. The water supplied to the cooling medium is solidified while rising in the cooling medium to form ice, and the ice is moved into the separation medium and separated from the cooling medium to form a spherical shape. In the ice sphere manufacturing apparatus for obtaining ice, it is preferable to use mercury as the cooling medium and a hydrophobic liquid having a lower melting point than the ice, a specific gravity larger than the ice and smaller than the mercury as the separation medium. Characterized ice ball manufacturing equipment.