JPH11201603A - Icemaker - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To effectively prevent a water supply fault to an icemaking tray by finishing a reverse rotation of a recovery control of a residual water, and then adding a draining control of a water supply pump in one cycle of three operations of stopping the pump, forward rotating and reversely rotating the pump in case of recovering the residual water in a water supply pipe to a water supply tank. SOLUTION: In case of icemaking, first a water in a water supply tank 6 is sucked by forward rotating a pump 5, and poured in an icemaking tray 2 through a water supply pipe 7. When the tray 2 is fully filled, the pump 5 is stopped, and then reversely rotated. In this case, to recover a residual water of the pipe 7 to the tank 6, the pump 5 is forward rotated in a short time (about 0.2 sec), the air of a suction pipe 8 is supplied to the pipe 7, the residual water gathered at an outlet 13 of the pipe 7 is drained by an air pressure. Then, the pump 5 is reversely rotated for about 1 sec, and the water adhered to an inner surface of the pipe 7 is effectively drained.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a refrigerator having an ice making device having a water supply function.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, many refrigerators equipped with an ice maker have been produced. A conventional ice making device for a refrigerator will be described. FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view schematically showing an ice making device provided in a typical refrigerator according to the related art. Reference numeral 101 denotes an ice making device incorporated in a refrigerator, and the ice making device 101 includes an ice tray 102, a reversing device 103, an ice storage container 104, a pump 105, and a water supply tank 1.
06, water supply pipe 107, and suction pipe 108
It is composed of Ice tray 1 of the above components
02, the reversing device 103, and the ice storage container 104 are located in the lower freezer compartment 109, and the pump 105 and the water supply tank 10
6 is arranged in the upper refrigerator compartment 110. The pump 105 is, for example, a gear pump, and water is drawn directly from the water supply tank 106 through the suction pipe 108 simultaneously with the rotation of the gear. The water supply pipe 107 serves as a path for guiding water between the pump 105 and the ice tray 102. On the other hand, the suction pipe 108 is
06 or between the water in the water supply tank 106 and the pump 105. Here, in the water supply pipe 107, a nozzle 111 provided at the end of the outlet of the water supply pipe 107 is opened in accordance with information on the ice tray 102, and the ice tray 1 is
02 is injected. On the other hand, the tip of the suction pipe 108 is submerged in the water in the water supply tank 106.

[0003] Among the components of the ice making device 101, an ice making tray 102 is a dish for freezing water inside. Reversing device 1
A gear train 03 is built in and functions to invert the ice tray 102 and to release ice in the tray from the ice tray 102.
The ice storage container 104 is located below the ice tray 102 and the ice tray 1
It is a container for storing ice that has fallen from 02.

[0004] The ice making operation of the ice making device having the above-described configuration will be briefly described. First, the pump 105 is rotated forward to draw water in the water supply tank 106 into the pipe 108, send water to the water supply pipe 107, and inject water into the ice tray 102 from the nozzle 111 provided at the end of the water supply pipe. When the ice tray 102 is filled with a substantially full amount of water, the pump 105 stops,
Thereafter, the pump 108 is rotated in reverse to return the water remaining in the water supply pipe 107 to the water supply tank. The reason for rotating the motor of the pump 105 backward for a certain period of time is as follows.
This is for collecting the water remaining in the water supply pipe 107 into the water supply tank 106 via the pump 105. Ice tray 10
When the ice making is completed in 2, the ice tray 102 is turned by the reversing device 103.
Is inverted to release the ice from the ice tray 102 and the ice tray 10
2 is dropped to the ice storage container 104 below, and the series of ice making operations ends.

The above-mentioned prior art is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 7-260305.

[0006]

In the above prior art, the water supply pipe on the water supply side of the pump has an ice making structure opened on the upper surface of an ice tray, and water remaining in the water supply pipe after water supply is passed through the pump. For the purpose of collecting the residual water in the water supply tank, the following problems are considered in the ice making device that controls the recovery of the residual water by reversing the motor of the pump for a certain period of time after the water supply to collect the residual water. I didn't.

That is, when the inside diameter of the water supply pipe is large, the inner surface of the pipe is rough, the pipe is inclined in the horizontal direction, or the length of the pipe is long, the residual water in the water supply pipe is recovered. Therefore, even if the recovery control of the residual water is performed, the water flow developed in the entire radial direction in the water supply pipe is cut off on the way and adheres to the inner surface of the water supply pipe, and the residual water that cannot be recovered is generated. It takes time for the residual water to collect under its own weight to the outlet of the water supply pipe after the recovery control. Furthermore, since the residual water accumulated at the outlet of the water supply pipe is difficult to fall by its own weight due to surface tension, it is not shown if the above problem is left unchecked. If the heater is turned off or the push button for quick freezing is accidentally pressed one or more times, the temperature at the outlet will also drop, and the residual water at the outlet of the water supply pipe will cause the outlet of the water supply pipe to In the case of clogging or water droplets, icing occurs with the outlet of the water supply pipe half-blocked, and due to this effect the water direction and angle change at the outlet of the water supply pipe at the time of re-watering, water is scattered, Water cannot be supplied to the ice tray.

Further, in an attempt to solve the above-mentioned problem, the pump is rotated at a normal speed to pump residual water which is concentrated at the outlet of the water supply pipe and does not fall by its own weight due to surface tension, and blows air from the suction pipe to the water supply pipe. If it is attempted to drop by the wind pressure, the water in the water supply tank is sucked in the meantime, and this water is sent again to the water supply pipe, thereby generating residual water in the water supply pipe.

Further, when the residual water collected at the outlet of the water supply pipe freezes in an abnormal condition and the water supply pipe is clogged, the reverse rotation of the pump causes a negative pressure in the water supply pipe, so that even if the pump is stopped, The water supply pipe draws water from the water supply tank, and when the abnormal operation returns to the normal operation, unnecessary water is supplied to the ice tray by the action of the siphon.

[0010] Alternatively, a large amount of residual water collected at the outlet of the water supply pipe is generated, and when the water is separated from the outlet of the water supply pipe by its own weight, a negative pressure is instantaneously generated in the water supply pipe. Even when stopped, the water supply pipe draws water from the water supply tank, and unnecessary water is supplied to the ice tray by the action of the siphon.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide an ice making apparatus which does not cause a failure in water supply to an ice tray by controlling drainage of a water supply pipe, focusing on the above-mentioned problems of the prior art.

[0012]

A feature of the present invention to achieve the above object is that a water supply tank, a pump, an ice tray, and a pipe connecting these are arranged in a refrigerator. The suction pipe on the suction side is connected to the inside of the water supply tank, and the water supply pipe on the water supply side of the pump has an ice making structure that is open on the top of the ice tray.After supplying water to the ice tray with the pump, the self-supply pump is turned on for a certain period of time. In an ice making device having a residual water recovery control for recovering residual water in a water supply pipe to a water supply tank by rotating in a reverse direction, after the reverse rotation of the residual water recovery control is completed, the pump is stopped, forward rotation, and reverse rotation. An ice making device characterized by adding a drainage control of a water supply pump with three cycles as one cycle.

In this manner, after the water is supplied to the ice tray by the pump, the pump is reversely rotated for a predetermined time to collect the residual water in the water supply pipe into the water supply tank. Water that could not be drained from the water supply pipe was made available.

[0014] In addition, three of stop, forward rotation and reverse rotation of the pump are provided.
The drainage control of the water supply pipe having one cycle of operation is performed continuously plural times.

By doing so, draining of the outlet end of the water supply pipe is performed more reliably.

Further, a water supply tank and a pump are disposed in the refrigerator compartment, an ice tray is disposed in the freezer compartment formed below the refrigerator compartment, and a water supply pipe connecting the pump and the ice tray is connected to the pump by a refrigerator. It is lowered along the back of the inner box of the room, penetrates the heat for separating the refrigerator compartment and the freezer compartment, and is disposed above the ice tray. The dimensions of the water supply pipe are 7 mm to 9 mm in inner diameter and 600 mm to 900 mm in length. And the shape is 30 ° -12
It is characterized in that there are three or more bends at 0 °.

In this manner, in the water drainage control of the water supply pipe in which the three operations of stopping, forward rotation and reverse rotation of the pump are performed in one cycle, the residual water adhering to the inner surface of the water supply pipe within the stop time of the pump is controlled. The water can be concentrated by its own weight to the outlet of the water supply pipe, and the residual water at the outlet of the water supply pipe can be dropped by wind pressure within the next normal rotation time of the pump.

[0018]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.
Will be described. FIG. 1 is an explanatory view of a main longitudinal section when the ice making device of the present invention is installed in a refrigerator. FIG. 2 is an explanatory flowchart of a water supply step of the present invention. In FIG. 1, 1
Is an ice making device, which is incorporated in a refrigerator, and includes an ice tray 2, a reversing device 3, an ice storage container 4, a pump 5,
Water supply tank 6, water supply pipe 7, and suction pipe 8
Composed of Among the components of the ice making device 1 described above, the ice tray 2, the reversing device 3, and the ice storage container 4 are provided in a freezing room 9 provided at the lower stage of the refrigerator. The ice tray 2 is a tray for freezing the water inside. The reversing device 3 has a built-in gear train, and functions to reverse the ice tray 2 and release ice. The ice storage container 4 is provided below the ice tray and stores ice dropped from the ice tray 2. In addition, pump 5,
The water supply tank 6 and the suction pipe 8 are provided in a refrigerating room 10 arranged on the upper stage of the refrigerator. The pump 5 is a gear pump, and water is drawn directly from the water supply tank 6 through the suction pipe 8 at the same time as the rotation. The water supply tank 6 is a container in which water for water supply is stored. The water supply pipe 7 descends along the inner box back surface 11 of the refrigerator, and penetrates a partitioning heat 12 that separates the freezing compartment 9 from the refrigerator compartment 10 and is opened on the upper surface of the ice tray 2. The outlet of the water supply pipe 7 has an outlet 13 formed by a nozzle or the like, and water is injected into the ice tray 2 from the outlet 13. The size of the water supply pipe is 7
mm-9 mm, length 600 mm-900 mm, the shape of which is 30 ° -1
It has bent portions 7A, 7B and 7C of 20 °. The suction pipe 8 is continuously connected to the suction side of the pump 5 without any gap, and its tip is submerged in the water in the water supply tank 6.

Next, the operation of ice making will be described. The water in the water supply tank 6 is rotated forward by rotating the pump 5, sucked by the suction pipe 8, sent to the water supply pipe 7, and poured into the ice tray 2 from the outlet 13 of the water supply pipe 7. When the ice tray 2 is full, the pump 5 stops, and then the pump 5 is rotated in the reverse direction to collect the water remaining in the water supply pipe 7 into the water supply tank 6. When the ice making is completed in the ice tray 2, the ice making tray 2 is inverted by the reversing device 3 to release the ice, and the ice storage container 4 below the ice tray 2 is made.
And a series of ice making operations is completed. In this case, the dimensions of the water supply pipe 7 are, as described above, an inner diameter of 7 mm to 9 mm.
mm, the length is 600 mm to 900 mm, and the shape has bent parts 7A, 7B, 7C of 30 ° to 120 ° at the upper part, middle part, lower part of the water supply pipe. Even if the recovery control of rotating the pump 5 in the reverse direction for recovery to the water supply tank 6 is performed, the water flow developed in the entire radial direction of the water supply pipe 7 is cut off in the middle, and adheres in the form of water droplets on the inner surface of the water supply pipe 7 to recover. Incapable water droplets are generated. Most of the residual water in the form of droplets collects at the outlet 13 of the water supply pipe 7 by its own weight, but it takes about 10 seconds to collect. If the residual water collected at the outlet 13 is left as it is, ice is formed and the outlet 13 is clogged. In the case of water droplets, ice is formed in a state where the outlet portion 13 is half-blocked, and scatters at the outlet portion 13 at the time of re-watering, so that water cannot be supplied to the ice tray. The reason why the residual water collected at the outlet 13 does not fall down is that surface tension acts on the outlet 13 and the water does not easily fall under its own weight. Therefore, in the present invention, the pump 5 is rotated forward for a short time (about 0.2 seconds in this example). By this forward rotation, the air of the suction pipe 8 is blown to the water supply pipe 7, the residual water collected at the outlet 13 of the water supply pipe 7 is dropped by wind pressure, and the residual water at the outlet 13 of the water supply pipe 7 is drained. Things. Here, when the pump 5 is rotated forward for 0.2 seconds, the water in the water supply tank 6 is sucked up to the suction pipe 8. During this time, the water is sucked up to the suction pipe 8 from the water surface point A of the water supply tank 6. There is an inlet B point of the pump 5. Therefore, it is necessary to return the water sucked up to the inlet point B of the water supply pump 5 to the water supply tank 6 in the next operation, and the water supply pump 5 is rotated reversely for one second. As described above, the water drainage of the water supply pipe 7 is performed by stopping the pump 5 for 10 seconds, followed by normal rotation for 0.2 seconds, and further reverse rotation for one second, as one cycle. Most of the residual water (80 to 90%) attached to the inner surface of the water supply pipe 7 is collected at the outlet 13 of the water supply pipe 7, and the water collected at the outlet 13 of the water supply pipe 7 is dropped by the wind pressure of the water supply pump 5 to drain the water. It is like that. However, in order to remove the residual water attached to the inner surface of the water supply pipe 7 to such an extent that clogging of the water supply pipe 7 and poor water supply to the ice tray 2 are not completely caused, the above-described one cycle of drainage control is repeated several times. It is necessary to do it.

Next, the water supply step will be described in detail with reference to the flowchart of FIG. In step 1, the water supply timer 1 of the control circuit (not shown) is started, and subsequently in step 2, the motor of the pump 5 starts to rotate forward. By this forward rotation, water is directly drawn up from the water supply tank 6 via the suction pipe 8 and enters the pump 5. Then, water is discharged from the pump 5 through the water supply pipe 7 to the ice tray 2 from the outlet 13. When the water supply timer 1 expires (5 seconds in this example), the motor of the pump 5 stops, and the discharge of water from the outlet 13 stops. At this time, the ice tray 2 is in a state of being filled with water. The amount of water discharged to the ice tray 2 is controlled by controlling the motor rotation speed of the pump 5 by the timer 1. Since the pump 5 uses a gear pump, a discharge water amount almost proportional to the total number of rotations of the pump 5 can be obtained. Therefore, a desired amount of water can be obtained by setting the rotation time of the motor of the pump 5 constant.

When the expiration of the water supply timer 1 is confirmed in step 3, the timer 2 starts to start in step 4.
The set time of the timer 2 includes the stop time of the pump 5 (1 second in this example) and the reverse rotation time (3 seconds in this example), and is shorter than that of the previous timer 1. When the timer 2 starts to be started, the motor of the pump 5 is rotated in reverse in step 5 (3 seconds in this example) after the stop time (1 second in this example).
do. Thus, the motor of the pump 5 is operated for a certain time (3
The reason for the reverse rotation for (sec) is to collect the water remaining in the water supply pipe 7 into the water supply tank 6 via the pump 5.

When the expiration of the water supply timer 2 is confirmed in step 6, the timer 3 starts to be started in step 10. The set time of the timer 3 is the stop time of the pump 5 (1
0 seconds) and the normal rotation time (0.2 seconds). Then, when the timer 3 starts to start, after the stop time (10 seconds), the motor of the pump 5 is rotated forward (0.2
Seconds). As described above, the reason why the motor of the pump 5 is stopped for a predetermined time (10 seconds) is that the residual water attached to the inner surface of the water supply pump 7 is dropped by its own weight along the inner surface and collected at the outlet of the water supply pipe 7. That's why. Then,
The reason for rotating the motor of the pump 5 forward for a fixed time (0.2 seconds) is that the air in the suction pipe 8 is blown to the water supply pipe 7 and the residual water collected at the outlet of the water supply pipe 7 is dropped by wind pressure to drain the water. To do it.

When the expiration of the water supply timer 3 is confirmed in step 12, the timer 4 starts to start in step 13. The set time of the timer 4 includes a stop time of the pump 5 (1 second in this example) and a reverse rotation time (1 second in this example).
When the timer 4 starts to start, the stop time (1)
After the second), the motor of the pump 5 rotates in the reverse direction (1 second) in step 14. As described above, the reason why the motor of the pump 5 is reversely rotated for a fixed time (1 second) is that the motor of the pump 5 is normally rotated for a fixed time (0.2 second) in the previous process, and the A in the suction pipe 8
The pumping from the point (that is, the position of the water surface of the water supply tank) to the point B (that is, the position on the suction side of the water supply pump 5) is to be collected in the water supply tank 6 by the reverse rotation of the pump 5.

The expiration of the water supply timer 4 is confirmed in step 15, and the drainage control of the water supply pipe 7, which is one cycle of stop (10 seconds), forward rotation (0.2 seconds), and reverse rotation (1 second), ends. . However, clogging of water supply pipe 7 and ice tray 2
It is necessary to repeat this cycle a plurality of times in order to control the drainage of the residual water attached to the inner surface of the water supply pipe 7 to such an extent that the water supply failure to the water supply does not completely occur.

Steps 20 to 25 of FIG. 2 are the same as the steps of the draining control of steps 10 to 15 described above. Accordingly, by performing steps 10 to 25, two cycles of draining control are completed. The time required for one cycle is about 12 seconds, and even if this cycle is repeated a plurality of times, the drainage control can be completed within several tens of seconds. Thereby, it is possible to suppress the occurrence of clogging of the outlet of the water supply pipe 7 and poor water supply to the ice tray 2.

According to the above-described structure, since the outlet of the water supply pipe 7 can be drained, the pressure in the water supply pipe 7 does not become negative when the pump 5 rotates in the reverse direction. Since the pressure in the water supply pipe 7 does not become a negative pressure due to the separation of the collected residual water by its own weight, the pump 5 absorbs water from the water supply tank 6 when the pump 5 stops, and unnecessary water supply to the ice tray 2 by the action of the siphon. Will not be performed.

Further, the residual water attached to the inner surface of the water supply pipe when the pump is stopped can be collected by its own weight to the outlet of the water supply pipe, and the air in the suction pipe is blown into the water supply pipe at the next forward rotation. In addition, the residual water collected at the outlet of the water supply pipe is dropped by wind pressure, and there is an effect that the residual water in the water supply pipe can be drained. As a result, clogging due to icing at the outlet of the water supply pipe can be eliminated, and there is no water droplet at the outlet of the water supply pipe. It is possible to solve the problem that the angle is changed and the water is not supplied to the ice tray due to scattering. In addition, since the drainage of the outlet of the water supply pipe can be performed, even if the pump is reversely rotated, the inside of the water supply pipe does not become negative pressure, or a large amount of residual water collected at the outlet of the water supply pipe, When the pump departs from the outlet of the water supply pipe due to its own weight, the pressure inside the water supply pipe does not instantaneously become negative, and when the pump stops, water is unnecessarily suctioned from the water supply tank to the water supply pipe side by the siphon action. In addition, the problem that the water is unnecessarily supplied to the ice tray can be solved.

Further, the pump is stopped, a collecting operation for collecting residual water at the outlet of the water supply pipe, a forward rotation, and a draining operation for removing residual water collected at the outlet of the water supply pipe by wind pressure, and a reverse rotation, The drainage control of the water supply pipe is performed a plurality of times in a cycle of three operations of returning the water sucked up by the suction pipe to the water supply tank in the previous process and returning the water to the water supply tank. The remaining water can be drained more reliably.

Further, in the structure of the ice making device, a water supply tank and a pump are arranged in the refrigerator compartment, and an ice tray is arranged in the freezer compartment formed below the refrigerator compartment, and the pump and the ice tray are arranged. The water supply pipe connecting with the pump is lowered along the back of the inner box of the refrigerator compartment from the pump, penetrates the heat for separating the refrigerator compartment and the freezer compartment, and is disposed on the upper surface of the ice tray. The length is 7 mm to 9 mm, the length is 600 mm to 900 mm, and the shape is a shape having three or more bent portions of 30 ° to 120 °. With such a configuration,
In the drainage control of the water supply pipe in which one cycle of the pump stop, forward rotation and reverse rotation is one cycle, the residual water attached to the inner surface of the water supply pipe within the pump stop time (10 seconds) is discharged to the outlet of the water supply pipe. Can be collected by its own weight, the residual water at the outlet of the water supply pipe can be dropped by wind pressure within the forward rotation time (0.2 seconds) of the next pump, and the reverse rotation time ( Within one second, the forward rotation (0.
In 2 seconds), the water sucked up by the suction pipe can be returned to the water supply tank.

[0030]

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide an ice making apparatus free from a problem of water supply to an ice tray.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view of a main longitudinal section when an ice making device of the present invention is incorporated in a refrigerator.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a water supply step of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view of a main vertical section when a conventional ice making device is installed in a refrigerator.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Ice-making device 2 ... Ice-making tray 3 ... Reversing device 5 ... Pump 6 ... Water supply tank 7 ... Water supply pipe 8 ... Suction pipe 9 ... Freezer compartment 10 ...・ Refrigerator room 12 ・ ・ ・ Parting heat

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A water supply tank, a pump, an ice tray, a pipe connecting them, a suction pipe on a suction side of the pump communicated with the inside of the water tank in the refrigerator, and an opening on an upper surface of the ice tray. A water supply pipe on the water supply side of the pump that is provided, and after the pump makes water supply to the ice tray, the pump is reversely rotated for a predetermined time, and then the pump is rotated for a predetermined time, then the pump is stopped and the pump is rotated forward. An ice making device that performs a pump operation with one cycle of three operations of reverse rotation. 2. The ice making device according to claim 1, wherein the operation of the pump is continuously performed a plurality of times, with one operation including stopping, forward rotation, and reverse rotation of the pump as one cycle. 3. The water supply pipe has an inner diameter of 7 mm to 9 mm.
The ice making device according to claim 1, wherein the length is 600 mm to 900 mm, and the shape has three or more bent portions of 30 to 120 degrees.