JPH08233418A - Method for controlling supercooled water type ice-making device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To eliminate a freezing tendency that freezing repeatedly happens in a heat-exchanger by a method wherein when specified times of freezings of one part of water to be cooled in the heat-exchanger are detected within a specified period of time, a refrigerator is stopped for a specified period of time. CONSTITUTION: When one part of water to be cooled is frozen in a heatexchanger 2 during an operation of an ice-making device, a pressure switch 8 detects the freezing, and the information is notified to a controller 14 by a circuit 13. The controller 14 stops the operations of a refrigerator 1 and water supply pump 10 by a signal from the pressure switch 8, and at the same time, totally opens a solenoid valve 12, and feeds replenishing water of a normal temperature into the heat-exchanger 2, and releases the freezing in a short period of time. By doing so, the controller 14 resumes the operation of the refrigerator 1 by driving the water supply pump 10. Then, specified times of freezings in the heat-exchanger 2 are detected within a specified period of time, the generation of a freezing habit in the heat-exchanger 2 is judged, and the operations of the refrigerator 1 and water supply pump 10 are stopped at the next occurrence of freezing, and the replenishing water of a normal temperature is fed into the heat-exchanger by totally opening the solenoid valve 12, and the freezing tendency is eliminated.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an operation control method of a supercooled water type ice making device for supplying cold water to, for example, an air conditioner or a food cooling device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional supercooled water type ice making apparatus, as shown in FIG. 5, an ice storage tank 31 and a supercooled water heat exchanger 32 are connected by a circulation path 33, and the supercooled water is cooled. The water heat exchanger 32 and the refrigerator 34 are connected by a refrigerant circulation path 35. This supercooled water type ice making device,
Ice is stored in the ice storage tank 31 by using late-night electric power, which has a low electricity rate, and defrosting water is supplied from above the ice storage tank 31 and chilled water is supplied from the lower portion of the ice storage tank 31 in accordance with load demand. I try to take it out.

By the way, in the operation of this ice making device, after the ice storage tank 31 is filled with water, the refrigerator 34 is started to supply the cooling medium into the heat exchanger 32 for circulation, and
The water to be cooled in the ice storage tank 31 is sent into the heat exchanger 32 for heat exchange, and the supercooled water is supplied into the ice storage tank 31. When ice making starts in the ice storage tank 31, the temperature of the water to be cooled, which circulates and flows into the heat exchanger 32, lowers and freezing easily occurs in the heat exchanger, and especially the water temperature is 0.4.
When the temperature is lower than ℃, it often freezes in a short time.

[0004] Therefore, the patent applicant has proposed various methods and devices for releasing the freezing in the heat exchanger in the shortest possible time without wasting energy when the inside of the heat exchanger is frozen. Then, as a result of further research and experiment, when the inside of the heat exchanger begins to freeze, "freezing habit" is attached,
It was discovered that the freezing was repeated many times. Therefore, the ice making efficiency is lowered because the freeze releasing operation is performed each time.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above problems, the present invention is a "frozen gusset" which is repeatedly frozen in a heat exchanger.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an operation control method capable of solving the above problem.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems and provides a supercooled water type ice making device comprising a refrigerator, a heat exchanger for supercooled water and an ice storage tank. A method for controlling the operation of releasing the freezing when a part of the water to be cooled in the heat exchanger is detected to be frozen during the operation of the ice making device, the method being a predetermined number of times within a predetermined time. When freezing is detected, the refrigerator is stopped for a predetermined time.

[0007]

According to the present invention, when the freezing is detected a predetermined number of times within a preset time during the operation of the ice making device, the operation of the refrigerator is stopped for a certain period of time. Then, after a certain period of time has passed, the operation of the refrigerator is restarted.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic explanatory view of a supercooled water type ice making device according to the present invention. The ice making device includes a refrigerator 1, a supercooled water heat exchanger 2 (hereinafter referred to as “heat exchanger 2”) and ice storage. It is composed of a tank 3. The refrigerator 1 uses a method in which, for example, a liquefied refrigerant (for example, freon) is decompressed by the expansion valve 1a, and then the water to be cooled is directly cooled by the latent heat of vaporization of the refrigerant via the heat exchanger 2. And
A plurality of units (not shown) in which the refrigerator 1 and the heat exchanger 2 are unitized are installed in the ice storage tank 3.

As shown in FIG. 1, the heat exchanger 2 includes an outer tube 2
a has a double tube structure in which a is formed in a spiral shape (which may be a straight shape depending on the implementation), and an inner tube 2b made of, for example, a flexible tube is inserted therein, and the outer tube 2a and the inner tube 2b are The water to be cooled supplied from the ice storage tank 3 flows in the meantime, and the refrigerant supplied from the refrigerator 1 flows in the inner pipe 2b. Therefore, the cooling water is cooled from the outer circumference of the inner pipe 2b to produce supercooled water.

The refrigerator 1 and the inner pipe 2b of the heat exchanger 2 are connected to each other via the expansion valve 1a using the refrigerant supply passage 4 and the refrigerant return passage 5 to circulate the refrigerant. On the other hand, the lower portion of the ice storage tank 3 and the inlet of the outer pipe 2a of the heat exchanger 2 are connected by the cold water supply passage 6, and the outlet of the outer pipe 2a of the heat exchanger and the ice storage tank 3 are recirculated with supercooled water. A pressure switch 8 is connected to the cold water supply passage 6 via a passage 7 and serves as a detection mechanism for detecting that part of the water to be cooled is frozen.
A check valve 9 and a water supply pump 10 are inserted. A make-up water passage 11 as a freeze release mechanism is connected between the pressure switch 8 and the check valve 9 of the cold water supply passage 6, and a solenoid valve 12 is inserted in the middle thereof. The refrigerator 1, the pressure switch 8, the water supply pump 10, and the solenoid valve 12 are connected to the controller 14 via the line 13, respectively. In the figure, reference numeral 15 is a deicing channel, and a solenoid valve 16
Is provided. Further, reference numeral 17 in the drawing denotes a cold water intake passage, and an electromagnetic valve 18 is provided in the middle thereof.

Next, a method for controlling the operation of the ice making device having the above-mentioned structure will be described. First, the electromagnetic valve 16 of the deicing water channel 15 to the ice storage tank 3 is opened, and the electromagnetic valve 16 is closed in a state where a sufficient amount of water is stored in the ice storage tank 3 to operate the refrigerator 1. The water supply pump 10 is driven to start the production of supercooled water. Then, the water in the ice storage tank 3 is cooled through the heat exchanger 2, the water temperature becomes 0 ° C. or lower at the outlet of the supercooled water return passage 7, and ice will start to form in the ice storage tank 3 for a while. The water temperature of the circulating water flowing into the heat exchanger 2 from the cold water supply passage 6 drops to near 0 ° C. Since the water temperature of the circulating water is low, the inside of the heat exchanger 2 is likely to freeze. Therefore, the electromagnetic valve 12 of the replenishment water passage 11 to the cold water supply passage 6 is slightly opened to mix room temperature water and supply it to the heat exchanger 2. Predetermined water temperature (about 1 ° C)
To prevent freezing in the heat exchanger 2.

Nevertheless, it is not impossible for some of the water to be cooled to freeze in the heat exchanger 2 during the operation of the ice making device. In that case, since the flow rate of the cooled water to be supplied decreases due to freezing, the discharge pressure of the water supply pump 10 provided in the cold water supply passage 6 rises, and the pressure switch 8 detects it, and the information is sent to the line 13. To the controller 14 via. The controller 14 receives the signal from the pressure switch 8
The operation of the refrigerator 1 and the water supply pump 10 is stopped, the electromagnetic valve 12 of the makeup water passage 11 as a freeze release mechanism is fully opened, and makeup water at room temperature (about 15 ° C.) is fed into the heat exchanger 2 for a short time. Freeze in time. Then, when the freezing is released and the pressure switch 8 detects a predetermined pressure (OFF state), the signal is sent to the controller 14, and after a predetermined time (about 3 minutes) has passed, the solenoid valve 12 is closed and the water supply pump 10 is connected. To drive. Then, after a further predetermined time has elapsed, the operation of the refrigerator 1 is restarted. (See Fig. 4)

However, when the freezing (see FIG. 2) in the heat exchanger 2 occurs a predetermined number of times, for example, 3 times within a preset predetermined time (about 30 minutes), and the freeze release mechanism operates. It is determined that the heat exchanger 2 has "freezing", and at the time of the next freezing, the operation of the refrigerator 1 and the water supply pump 10 is stopped, and the electromagnetic valve 12 of the makeup water passage 11 is kept for a predetermined time (about Fully open for 30 minutes, and feed makeup water at room temperature into the heat exchanger 2. The predetermined time (30
As shown in FIG. 3, since the inner tube 2b is a flexible tube, there is unevenness on the outer peripheral surface, and the freezing starts from this concave portion to form smooth ice. The smooth ice formed on this outer peripheral surface grows and the heat exchanger 2
The inside will be boring. Therefore, in the above-described short-time freezing release, the smooth ice does not completely melt, resulting in “freezing”. Therefore, time is required to melt the smooth ice.

As described above, when a heat exchanger with "freezing" freezes, the operation is stopped for a predetermined period of time to completely release the freeze and alternate with the normal heat exchanger 2 in another unit. Or drive ice at the same time. When the predetermined amount of ice is stored, the ice storage operation ends and the operation is stopped. Further, the deicing operation is performed by the solenoid valve 1 of the deicing channel 15 depending on the load demand.
6 is opened and water is sprayed from above the tank to thaw the ice, and the electromagnetic valve 18 of the cold water intake passage 17 is opened to supply cold water to the load.

[0015]

As described above, according to the present invention, when it is detected that part of the water to be cooled in the heat exchanger is frozen during the operation of the ice making device, the operation for releasing the freezing is performed. When the freezing is detected a predetermined number of times within a predetermined time, the refrigerator is stopped for a predetermined time.Thus, the freezing section in the heat exchanger is completely thawed and the heat Eliminate the “freezing” of the exchanger. Therefore, the ice making device can be efficiently operated.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic explanatory view of a supercooled water type ice making device showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view showing a state in which a part of water to be cooled is frozen in the heat exchanger of FIG.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view showing a state in which a part of the water to be cooled has become smooth ice in the heat exchanger of FIG.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a procedure for freezing part of the water to be cooled in the heat exchanger of FIG. 1 and releasing the freezing.

FIG. 5 is a schematic explanatory view of a conventional supercooled water type ice making device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 refrigerator 2 heat exchanger 3 ice storage tank

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A supercooled water type ice making device comprising a refrigerator 1, a supercooled water heat exchanger 2 and an ice storage tank 3, wherein the water to be cooled in the heat exchanger 2 is in operation during operation of the ice making device. A method of operation control for performing an operation of releasing the freezing when it is detected that a part of the freezing has occurred. When the freezing is detected a predetermined number of times within a predetermined time, the refrigerator 1 is stopped for a predetermined time. A method for controlling operation of a characteristic supercooled water type ice making device.