JPS58168865A - Controller for thickness of ice of ice machine - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an automatic ice maker that circulates ice making water in a water storage tank to an ice making member constituting a refrigeration device using a pump device to generate sheet ice on the ice making member, and particularly relates to an automatic ice making machine that generates sheet ice on the ice making member. This invention relates to an ice thickness control device that arbitrarily changes the ice thickness of sheet ice.

As an ice thickness control device for a conventional ice maker, there is one in which a water level detection device is provided in a water storage tank, and an ice thickness adjustment plate constituting the water level detection device can be slid up and down within the tank. In other words, in this device, when increasing the ice thickness, the ice thickness adjusting plate is lowered, and when decreasing the ice thickness, it is raised to change the amount of ice-making water that should be circulated over the ice-making member, and the resulting ice thickness increases. is made variable.

It also has the disadvantage of being mechanically complex and prone to failure.

In view of the above, the present invention provides a water level detection device having an upper limit setting switch and a lower limit setting switch in the water storage tank, and the lower limit setting switch is activated to generate ice having a constant standard ice thickness. After that, the desired ice thickness setting value and outside temperature are detected, the ice making time is set, and the ice making operation is continued for this set time to change the ice thickness, thereby making the ice thickness adjustment mechanically complicated. An object of the present invention is to provide a control device for an ice maker that can obtain any desired ice thickness.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below based on the drawings. 1st
The figure shows an example of an ice maker equipped with the control device of the present invention. 1 is an ice maker main body formed of a heat insulating wall, and is composed of an ice maker 2 and a machine room 3. An ice-making member 5 equipped with an evaporator 4 is installed at an angle, and a water storage tank 6 for storing ice-making water and a circulating water pump device 7 are installed in this tank 6 to form a running water circulation type ice-making system. has been done. Below the ice-making member 5, there is provided a water storage chamber 8 and a heater device 9 for cutting ice cubes that cuts the dehydrated ice cubes into blocks of ice of a predetermined size. In addition, an evaporator 4 is installed in the machine room 3.
An electric compressor 1o and a condenser 1 that together form a refrigeration circuit
Reference numeral 512 in which 1 is disposed is an air cooling fan for the condenser 11. Reference numeral 13 denotes a water storage amount detection device having a temperature sensing portion for detecting a predetermined amount of water in the water storage chamber 8, and is provided to sense the contact temperature of the ice block and stop all ice making operations.

A water supply valve 14 electrically opens and closes a water supply pipe 16 connected to a water source to introduce ice-making water into the water storage tank 6. Inside the water storage tank 6, a water level detection device 26 is disposed, which includes a drain pipe 16 for maintaining a predetermined water level, and an upper limit setting switch 18 and a lower limit setting switch 19 for detecting the water level 17.

20 is an evaporator 4 when dehydrating the ice generated in the ice making member 6;
This is a solenoid valve that electrically controls the hot gas flowing from the electric compressor 1o.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a control device for the ice making machine. Reference numeral 21 denotes a volume that determines the desired ice thickness setting value for the plate water produced on the ice making member 5. This output is the output signal 0 of the microcomputer 22 in order to detect the setting value.
1 to an analog value as well as the output of the digital/analog conversion (hereinafter referred to as D/A conversion) circuit 23, the comparison circuit 2
4 is entered. The input signals of the microcomputer 22 include, in addition to the output of this comparison circuit 24, an outside temperature sensing device 25 that detects the outside temperature during ice making, and a water level sensing device 26 that detects the water level 17 (as described above, an upper limit setting switch 17). and a lower limit setting switch 18), and a dehydration detection device 27 attached to the evaporator 4 to detect the end of dehydration.
There is an output of On the other hand, each relay 2B, 29, 30.degree. 31 is operated by the output of the microcomputer 22. That is, the relay 28 is connected to the circulating water bong device 7. Electric compressor10.
The air cooling fan 12 is driven, the relay 29 drives the solenoid valve 2o, the relay 30 drives the water supply valve 14, and the relay 31
is for driving the ice sheet cutting heater 9. Also 32
33, 34, and 35 are drive circuits corresponding to the respective relays 28, 29, 30, and 31.

Needless to say, the microcomputer 22 outputs operation signals according to each circuit and the detection devices 24 to 27 by well-known means, and also uses a built-in timer device to adjust the ice thickness set value by the volume control 21 and the outside temperature sensing device 25. It is programmed to output a predetermined output depending on the detected value. In other words, in general, in the above-mentioned ice making machines, when producing ice of the same thickness, the ice making time varies depending on the outside temperature, and if the outside temperature is high, it may take longer to produce ice of the desired thickness. The ice making time required is long, and becomes shorter if the temperature is low. Therefore, the microconbeater 22 is programmed to vary the output time from the output signal 02 in order to change the ice making continuation time depending on the outside temperature once the desired ice thickness is set.

Next, the operation of the above configuration will be explained with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

First, when the operation switch (not shown) is turned on, the output signal 02 of the microcomputer 22 is connected to the input terminal of the drive circuit 32, and the drive circuit 32 is operated to activate the relay 28 and the electric compressor 10. Ice making is started by operating the circulating water pump device 7 and the air cooling 7-amp 12.

That is, the ice-making water in the water storage tank 6 is circulated over the ice-making member 6 by the circulation pump device 7, and an ice layer is formed on the ice-making member 5.

On the other hand, in order to generate plate-shaped water with the desired ice thickness, the volume
Set the ice thickness with 1. After converting this set value into an analog value by passing the output signal 01 of the microcomputer 22 through the A conversion circuit 23, the set value is read by comparing it with the set value in the comparator circuit 24, and the input signal D1 of the microcomputer 22 is read. shall be.

Furthermore, an outside temperature sensing device 25 is provided to detect the outside temperature during ice making, and the output of this device 26 is inputted to the microcomputer 220 as an input signal D2. The ice-making time to be continued is determined by the internal processing of the microcomputer 22 based on the input signals D1 and D2.

When the ice-making operation described above is started and continues for a predetermined time, the water level 7 in the water storage tank 6 decreases, and the lower limit setting switch 19 is placed at a position where standard ice thickness is obtained.
The lower limit setting switch 19 senses this and becomes conductive, and the water level detection device 26 inputs the input signal D3 to the microcomputer 22. At this time, ice having a constant standard ice thickness is generated in the ice making member 6. After receiving the input signal D3 from the water level detection device 26, the ice thickness setting value input signal D1. The microcomputer 2 is activated by the input signal D2 from the outside temperature sensing device.
The timer device based on the internal processing in step 2 determines the ice-making end time.
After producing ice with a constant standard ice thickness, ice making can be continued until a predetermined ice making end time, thereby making it possible to obtain ice with a desired ice thickness.

After the predetermined ice-making end time has elapsed, the output signal 03 of the microcomputer 22 is connected to the input terminal of the drive circuit 33, and the drive circuit 33 is activated to output the relay 29.
is operated to open the electromagnetic valve 20 and allow hot gas to flow from the electric compressor 1o into the evaporator 4, thereby dehydrating the ice formed in the ice making member 6. At the same time, the output signal of the microcomputer 22 is 0.
4 is connected to the input terminal of the drive circuit 34, which operates the drive circuit 34, activates the relay 3o, and closes the water supply valve 14.
When the water storage tank 6 is supplied with water from the water supply pipe 15 and the water level 17 rises to the upper limit setting switch 18, the upper limit setting switch 18 becomes conductive, and the input signal D3 is input from the water level detection device 26 to the microcomputer 22, ending the water supply. do.

Next, when dehydration is detected by the input signal D4 of the dehydration detection device 27 attached to the evaporator 4, the output signals o and 5 of the microcomputer 22 are connected to the input terminal of the drive circuit 35, After activating the relay 31 to remove the ice, the ice sheet cutting heater 9 is energized in order to cut the sheet ice that has fallen onto the sheet ice cutting heater 9.
Obtain ice having the desired ice thickness.

As is clear from the above explanation, the ice thickness control circuit of the ice maker of the present invention uses a water level detection device and an outside temperature sensing device that detects outside temperature to set the ice making duration time, and during ice making, the water level sensing device sets a predetermined time. After detecting the water level, ice-making operation is performed for a predetermined period of time, so there is no need to fine-tune the ice thickness adjustment plate each time the ice thickness is changed, making it possible to easily change the ice thickness and adapt to the outside temperature. This makes it possible to obtain ice with accurate ice thickness.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of an ice maker in an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the ice thickness control device of the ice maker, and FIG. 3 is a flowchart explaining the operation of the device. 5...Ice making component, 6...Water storage tank,
7... Circulation pump device, 21... Volume (ice thickness setting device) 22... Microcomputer (means), 26... Outside temperature sensing device, 2
6...Water level detection device. Name of agent: Patent attorney Toshio Nakao and one other person Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 13 Steller ←

Claims (1)

[Claims] It includes an ice-making member that generates sheet ice, a circulation pump device that circulates ice-making water through the ice-making member, a water storage tank that stores the ice-making water, and a water level that detects the water level of the ice-making water in the water storage tank. It has a detection device, an outside temperature sensor that detects the outside temperature, a hanging device, and an ice thickness setting device that sets a desired ice thickness, and the water level detection device detects the water level based on the detection signals of the outside temperature detection device and the ice thickness setting device. An ice thickness control device for an ice maker, which is equipped with means for setting the time to continue ice making operation after operation and continuing the ice making operation.