JPH08296935A - Ice-making equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To return water in a piping route to a supply water tank after supply of the water and thereby to prevent freezing of the water and occurrence of decomposition or an offensive smell. CONSTITUTION: An ice-making tray temperature detecting means 17 is connected to an input of a control means 14, while a means 18 for driving an inverting device 3 of an ice-making tray and a drive means 19 for driving a pump 6 are connected to an output thereof. This equipment has a supply water tank, the pump 6, the ice-making tray and a piping connecting them. The pump 6 is a gear pump.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ice making device incorporated in a refrigerator or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, an ice making machine is often used by incorporating it into a refrigerator. As this type of ice making device, for example, the configuration disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 51-3082 is known.

The conventional ice making device will be described below. FIG. 5 is a block diagram of the control means of the conventional ice making device, FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the operation of the conventional ice making device, and FIG.
FIG. 4 is a schematic view of a conventional ice making device.

The conventional ice making device 300 is roughly divided into an ice making tray 301, an inverting device 302, a pump 303, a measuring tank 304, a water supply tank 305 and a pipe 306.

Among these, the ice tray 301, the reversing device 302,
A part of the pipe 306 is in the freezer compartment of the refrigerator, and the other members are arranged in the refrigerator compartment.

The ice tray 301 is a tray for freezing the water inside. The reversing device 302 has a gear train built therein, and functions to reverse the ice tray 301 and to twist the ice tray 301 to remove ice.

The measuring tank 305 is a water tank divided into a measuring chamber 307 and a water storage chamber 308. A small hole is provided in the partition wall that separates the two, so that when the water level in the measuring chamber 307 decreases, water slowly flows from the water reservoir chamber 308. The top surface of the weighing tank is
It is open.

The pump 303 is composed of a motor unit 309 and a pump unit 310. In the conventional ice making device 300, the pump 303 does not have self-priming property, so the pump part 31
0 was directly inserted into the weighing chamber 307.

The water supply tank 305 is a hermetically sealed tank body provided with a lid 311. The lid 311 is provided with an opening / closing valve. The water supply tank 305 is filled with water, and the lid 311 is placed below the water supply tank 305.
Is located above the water supply tank 3
The bottom of the water storage chamber 308 of No. 05 contacts.

In the conventional ice making device 300, the water supply tank 3
The water in 05 falls into the measuring tank 304,
After that, the measuring chamber 307 is filled with water. And the water is
The water is pumped up by the pump 303 inserted into the measuring chamber 307 and supplied to the ice tray 301 through the pipe 306.

In FIG. 5, reference numeral 312 is a control means of the ice making device 300 including an external information storage means 313, an operation order determination means 314, etc., and its input is an ice tray 301.
The ice tray temperature detecting means 315 for detecting the temperature of the ice tray is connected, and the output is connected to the driving means 316 for driving the reversing device 302 of the ice tray 301 and the driving means 317 for driving the pump 303.

The operation of the conventional ice making device 300 will be described with reference to FIG. When the power is turned on, in step 301, the temperature of the ice tray 301 is checked and waited until the temperature becomes sufficiently low.
When the temperature becomes low, the process proceeds to step 302 and the ice removing operation is performed.

In this ice removing operation, like the known ice making device, the ice making tray 301 is inverted by the reversing device 302 to remove the ice, and the ice is dropped into the ice storage container.

After that, the timer 301 is started in step 303, and the motor 309 of the pump 303 is started in step 304.
Is rotated normally and water is supplied to the ice tray 301 until the time is up in step 305.

At this time, the ice tray 301 is filled with water. Step 3 when the timer 301 expires
If it is confirmed in 05, the rotation of the motor 309 is stopped in step 306, the process returns to step 301 to freeze the water in the ice tray 301, and thereafter a series of ice making operations is repeated.

[0016]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION Prior art ice making device 3
00 is widely used as a device incorporated in a refrigerator. However, the ice making device 300 does
There is a problem that water remains in 06 and causes freezing.

The water supply to the ice tray 301 is not always performed, and depending on the amount of ice consumed, the water may not be supplied to the ice tray 301 for a considerable period of time. There is a problem that the water in the sea rots and the offensive odor is transferred to the ice.

In view of the above-mentioned drawbacks of the prior art, the present invention provides an ice making device capable of reducing the chance of water remaining in the water supply path and preventing freezing, spoilage and offensive odor of water. It is intended.

[0019]

The present invention for achieving the above object comprises a water supply tank, a pump, an ice tray arranged in a refrigerator, and a pipe connecting them, and the pump is self-contained. It is an absorptive pump, and the pump has a control device that performs reverse rotation a plurality of times after supplying water to the ice tray.

Further, the present invention is provided with a control device characterized in that the pump is stopped for a certain period of time during the above-mentioned multiple reverse rotations.

[0021]

The ice making device of the present invention employs a pump having a self-priming property. After the water is supplied to the ice tray, the pump rotates multiple times in reverse, so even if water or foreign matter remains in the pipe, it will be reliably collected in the water tank through the pump, freezing and spoiling in the pipe. And can prevent a strange odor.

Further, by performing the reverse rotation a plurality of times, the reverse rotation time per rotation can be shortened and the reverse rotation noise can be reduced.

Further, by changing the reverse rotation time per rotation individually, the residual water can be collected in the tank without considering the influence of the pipe length.

In addition, by stopping the pump for a certain period of time between reverse rotations, the startability of the pump is improved, and even if foreign matter enters the pump or piping, it will be collected in the water tank through the pump. can do.

If the water tank is located higher than the ice tray and there is water in the pipe, the water in the water tank will naturally flow into the ice tray due to the pressure difference. Since the startability is improved, the water in the pipe can be collected in the water supply tank and prevented from flowing into the ice tray.

[0026]

EXAMPLES Specific examples of the present invention will be described below.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the control means of an ice making device according to a specific embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing the operation of the ice making device according to a specific embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a schematic view of an ice making device of a specific example, and FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a pump of the ice making device of a specific example of the present invention.

First, the basic construction of the ice making apparatus 1 of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. The ice making device 1 of the present embodiment is
It is composed of an ice tray 2, an inverting device 3, an ice storage container 5, a pump 6, a water supply tank 7, and pipes 4 and 8.

The ice making device 1 is arranged in a refrigerator. More specifically, the in-house ice tray 2, the reversing device 3, and the ice storage container 5 having the above-described components are arranged in the lower freezing chamber 9, and the pump 6 and the water tank 7 are arranged in the upper refrigerating chamber 10. It

The pipe 4 is provided with a water supply tank 7 and a pump 6.
Is to combine. On the other hand, the pipe 8 connects the pump 6 and the ice tray 2 to each other. Here, the pipe 4 is continuously connected without a gap, while the pipe 8 has a structure in which a nozzle 11 is opened on the upper surface of the ice tray 2 and water is poured from the nozzle 11 into the ice tray 2.

Among the components of the ice making device 1 described above, the ice tray 2, the reversing device 3 and the ice storage container 5 are not different from the known ones. Briefly, the ice tray 2 is a tray that freezes the water inside. The reversing device 3 has a built-in gear train and functions to reverse the ice tray 1 to remove ice. The ice storage container 5 is below the ice tray 2 and is a container for storing the ice dropped from the ice tray 2.

In FIG. 4, a pump 6 is one in which a motor 12 and a pump body 13 are integrated.

In FIG. 1, 14 is an external information storage means 1.
5 is a control means of the ice making device 1 composed of the operation order determination means 16 and the like, the input thereof is connected to the ice tray temperature detecting means 17 for detecting the temperature of the ice tray 2, and the output thereof is Drive means 18 for driving the reversing device 3 and drive means 19 for driving the pump 6 are connected.

The operation of the ice making device 1 according to the specific embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. When the power is turned on, the counter 201 starts in step 201, the timer 201 starts in step 202, the motor 12 reversely rotates in step 203, and reverse rotation continues until time up in step 204. If time up occurs, step The timer 202 starts at 205 and the motor 12 continues to stop until the time is up at step 207.

The reverse rotation and stop of the motor 12 are repeated a plurality of times until the count is up in step 208.

The pump 6 used in the ice making apparatus 1 of this embodiment is a self-priming gear pump, and even if a water failure occurs during water supply and water remains in the pipes 4 and 8, the motor By the reverse rotation and stop of the pump 12 a plurality of times, the startability of the pump 6 is improved, and the water is reliably collected in the water supply tank 7 and the freezing of the water in the water supply route can be prevented. Further, since the reverse rotation is performed a plurality of times, the reverse rotation time per rotation can be shortened and the reverse rotation noise can be reduced.

Thereafter, in step 210, the temperature of the ice tray 2 is sufficiently lowered, and in step 211, the ice removing operation is performed. In this ice removing operation, like the known ice making device, the ice making tray 2 is inverted by the reversing device 3 to remove the ice, and the ice is dropped into the ice storage box 5.

After ice removal, the timer 203 is started at step 212, and the motor 12 is moved to step 214 at step 213.
Rotate forward until time is up. That is, water is sucked up from the water supply tank 7, the water is discharged from the pump 6 through the pipe 8 and the nozzle 11, and is poured into the ice tray 2.

Next, in step 215, the counter 201 is started, in step 216, the timer 201 is started, in step 217, the motor 12 rotates in the reverse direction, and in step 218, the motor 12 continues to rotate in reverse until time UP is reached. The timer 202 starts and the motor 12 starts step 2
It continues to stop until the time is up at 21.

The reverse rotation and stop of the motor 12 are repeated a plurality of times until the count is up in step 222. Therefore, even if water remains in the pipes 4 and 8, it is reliably collected in the water supply tank 7 through the pump 6, and it is possible to prevent freezing, spoilage and offensive odors in the pipes.

Further, since the motor 12 is rotated in reverse a plurality of times, the reverse rotation time per rotation can be shortened and the reverse rotation noise can be reduced.

Furthermore, by stopping the motor 12 for a certain period of time between the reverse rotations, the startability of the pump 6 is improved, and even if foreign matter enters the pump 6, it can be collected in the water supply tank 7. it can.

In addition, if the water supply tank 7 is located higher than the ice tray 2 and there is water in the pipes 4 and 8, the water in the water supply tank 7 will naturally flow into the ice tray 2 due to the pressure difference, but the pump 6 The water in the pipe is supplied to the water tank 7 because the startability is improved.
It is collected inside and can be prevented from flowing into the ice tray 2.

Returning to the flowchart, step 222
The motor 12 is stopped at the count UP of step 210, the process returns to step 210, the water in the ice tray 2 is frozen, and then a series of operations is repeated.

That is, in the ice making device 1 of this embodiment, the pump 6 having self-priming property is adopted, and after the water is supplied, the pump 6 is reversely rotated a plurality of times, and the pump is stopped for a certain time during the reverse rotation. Therefore, the reverse rotation time of the motor 12 per time can be shortened, and the startability of the pump 6 can be improved, so that the water in the pipes 4 and 8 can be reliably collected in the water supply tank 7.

In this embodiment, step 201
The counter of step 215, the timer of step 202, the timer of step 216 and the timer of step 205 and step 219 need not be the same. In addition, the motor 12
Is reversely rotated and stopped a plurality of times, but the reverse rotation time and the stop time may be changed every time.

In this embodiment, a gear pump is used as the type of pump 6. However, the present invention is not limited to gear pumps as the type of pump, and any other self-priming pump can be adopted.

[0048]

The ice making device of the present invention employs a pump having a self-priming property, and after water is supplied, the pump is reversely rotated a plurality of times, and the pump is started for a certain period of time between the reverse rotations. As a result, water and foreign matter in the pump and the pipe can be reliably collected in the water supply tank, and there is an effect of preventing freezing, spoilage and offensive odor in the pipe.

The reverse rotation time per rotation can be shortened, which is effective in reducing the reverse rotation noise. Furthermore, even when the power is turned on,
By inserting the same control as after water supply, even if a power failure occurs and water remains in the pipe, it is reliably collected in the water supply tank, which has the effect of preventing freezing in the route.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of control means of an ice making device according to a specific embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of the ice making device according to the specific embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of an ice making device according to a specific embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a pump of the ice making device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of control means of a conventional ice making device.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the operation of a conventional ice making device.

FIG. 7 is a schematic view of a conventional ice making device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Ice Making Device 2 Ice Making Plate 3 Inversion Device 4 Piping 6 Pump 7 Water Tank 8 Piping 9 Freezing Room 10 Refrigerating Room 12 Motor 13 Pump Main Body 14 Control Means 17 Ice Making Plate Temperature Detecting Means

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A water supply tank, a pump, an ice tray arranged in a refrigerator, and a pipe connecting them, and the pump is a self-priming pump, and after water is supplied to the ice tray, the pump is reversely rotated a plurality of times. An ice making device characterized by having a control device for controlling. 2. The ice making machine according to claim 1, wherein the pump has a control device that reversely rotates a plurality of times after supplying water to the ice making tray and stops the pump for a predetermined time between the reverse rotations. apparatus.