JPS6028945Y2 - Ice machine overflow control device - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] The invention consists of a water storage tank that is equipped with a water level detection device and an overflow device to secure the amount of water necessary for ice-making operation and overflow the amount of water necessary to discharge impurities, and an ice-making plate. This invention relates to an overflow control device that can adjust the overflow amount of an ice maker that mainly cuts ice sheets by forcedly circulating water between the ice maker and the ice maker.

A running water circulation type ice maker that circulates water between a water storage tank and an ice-making plate installed obliquely in the direction of the water storage tank to form ice sheets on the surface of the ice-making plate can be used in combination with an ice plate cutting device. In recent years, it has come into use as an ice cube making machine.

This ice maker is equipped with an overflow device in the water tank because if the water in the water tank is not replaced, impurities in the remaining water will mix into the ice, making it unhygienic and cloudy. The system is installed so that a portion of the water overflows and the water is replaced when water is supplied for each cycle of ice-making operation.
For example, a water supply control device is provided by Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. 57-44387.

As shown in Fig. 4, this device operates the ice-making end thermometer 31, energizes the second relay 32, switches the ice-making operation to the water-separating operation, and at the same time sends the water necessary for the next ice-making operation to the water storage tank. water supply valve 1 via contact 33a of delay relay 33.
6 opens, and as the water level rises, the water level detection device 1
When 1 detects the water level, the delay relay 33 is activated by closing its contact, and after a predetermined period of time, the contact 33a is opened to close the water supply valve 16 and stop the water supply. .

In this case, the delay time of the delay relay 33 is set to a time sufficient for the water level detection device 11 to detect a predetermined water level, the water level to further rise, and a small amount of water to overflow from the overflow pipe. However, once the delay time is set, in areas with poor water quality, as the ice making cycle is repeated, impurities contained in the water may become concentrated due to the small amount of water exchange, causing the ice to become cloudy. On the other hand, in areas with good water quality, it is inevitable that water will be wasted unnecessarily, resulting in uneconomical results, and therefore there is a problem in setting the delay time uniformly.

In addition, when municipal water is used as raw water in urban areas, the quality of the water naturally varies due to the amount of disinfectant it contains depending on the season. Another drawback was that devices with fixed delay times could not cope with changes in water quality throughout the year.

The present invention was developed by focusing on the problems of the conventional devices, and it is possible to easily adjust the amount of water exchange depending on areas with poor water quality and areas with good water quality, and it is possible to easily adjust the amount of water exchange depending on areas with poor water quality and areas with good water quality. The purpose is to make it possible to produce transparent ice and save water at the same time by being able to cope with changes in water quality.

Therefore, the present invention is particularly suitable for ice-making operation for a water storage tank equipped with a water level detection device that detects an upper limit water level commensurate with the amount of water required for ice-making operation, and an overflow device that opens at a level slightly lower than the upper limit water level. In an ice maker that automatically supplies water in preparation for the next ice making operation after the water supply valve is opened upon completion of the water takeoff operation, the logical product of the closing of the manual switch and the closing of the relay contact in response to the water takeoff operation. By adopting a configuration in which a forced overflow circuit for opening the water supply valve was added, the desired objective could be achieved.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below based on the drawings.

The ice maker shown schematically in Fig. 1 has a free-standing, compact form like a general household electric refrigerator, and is partitioned into two upper and lower chambers inside a vertically long casing 1, with the upper chamber being the ice maker and the lower chamber. The chamber 1b constitutes a machine room 1b in which refrigerator equipment such as a compressor 5, a condenser 6, a fan 8, and an accumulator 7 are housed.

The ice making compartment 1a includes an ice making plate 2 formed by an obliquely installed evaporator, a raw water circulation device for circulating raw water to the ice making plate 2, and an ice storage bin 3 provided below the ice making plate 2. ,
A horizontal cutting grid 4 is housed directly above the ice storage bin 3.

The above-mentioned raw water circulation device includes a water storage tank 9 disposed near the lower edge of the ice-making plate 2, and a circulation pump 1 provided in the water storage tank 9.
2, a water spray nozzle 13 attached to the upper edge of the ice-making plate 2,
It consists of a water supply pipe 115 that connects the water storage tank 9 and the water spray nozzle 13 via a circulation pump 12, and an electromagnetic valve 1 as a water supply valve to supply raw water to the water storage tank 9.
6 is connected to the water supply pipe 14, and after the raw water stored in the water storage tank 9 flows down to the smooth lower surface of the ice-making plate 2 in divisors, it is dripped into the water storage tank 9 and circulated again. pump 1
2 is configured to feed the water to the water spray nozzle 13.

The water storage tank 9 is provided with an overflow pipe 10 as an overflow device and a water level detector 11 as a water level detection device.
a high water level detection switch lla that operates when the water level rises to an upper limit water level that is slightly higher than the opening level of 0;
It is equipped with a low water level detection switch llb which is activated by detecting the water level.

The amount of water accommodated between the high water level and the low water level for operating both switches lla and llb corresponds to the amount of ice of a predetermined thickness produced by one ice making operation.

On the other hand, the cutting grid 4 is made up of thin heating wires meshed in squares, and is constantly supplied with a low-voltage power source to maintain an appropriate temperature for melting ice.

The water storage bottle 3 is a box with an open top surrounded by a heat insulating wall, and is formed into a container capable of storing ice cubes cut by the cutting grid 4 after detaching from the ice making plate 2. A water storage amount detector, such as a switch 17, for detecting when a full amount of ice cubes is stored is installed at an appropriate position on the side wall.

The ice maker with the above configuration has a refrigeration circuit as shown in FIG. On the other hand, a hot gas bypass pipe in which the condenser 6 and the expansion valve 18 are bypassed and a hot gas solenoid valve 28 is interposed is connected to the solenoid valve 28. When activated by the opening operation, a well-known defrost cycle is formed and ice removal operation is performed.

FIG. 3 shows an electric circuit for performing the ice-making operation and the ice-removing operation alternately and automatically.

As shown in the figure, this circuit includes a motor 5M for the compressor 5, a motor 8M for the condenser fan 8, a motor 12M for the circulation pump 12, a coil for the water supply solenoid valve 16, and the like as shown in the figure. 16S1 Hot gas bypass solenoid valve 28 coil 28S1 Compressor motor 3M electromagnetic switch 19, deicing relay 21, operation relay 22, low water level detection relay 24, high water level detection relay 25, and control element. As a water storage switch 17 and ice removal completion detection thermometer 2
0, and further includes an ice making operation switch 26, a manual switch 23 for forced flow, and a cutting grid 4 to which a low voltage is applied throughout the compressor operation.

The electromagnetic switch 19 has main contacts 19-□ to 19-3 and an auxiliary contact 19-1, and when excited, the compressor motor 3M
and the cutting grid 4, and the operating relay 22 has normally open contacts 22-, . 22-2
The deicing relay 21 has a normally open contact 21-, a normally closed contact 21-2, and a switching contact 21-3, and the low water level detection relay 24 has a normally open contact 24-1 and a switching contact. 2
It has a score of 4-2.

On the other hand, the high water level detection relay 25 has a normally open contact 25-1.25
2 and a normally closed contact 25-3.

The operation of the electric circuit including the above-mentioned members will be described later, but in this electric circuit, the circuit related to the coil 16s of the water supply solenoid valve 16 is connected to the normally closed contact 25-3 of the high water level detection relay 25 as shown in the figure. In addition to being directly connected to the coil 16s, the manual switch 23 and the normally open contact 21 of the ice removal relay 21
-1 connected in series is connected in parallel to the normally closed contact 25-3. At times, the water supply electromagnetic valve 16 is opened to replenish the water storage tank 9 with raw water.

Next, the operation mode of the ice making machine will be explained with reference to FIGS. state, the normally closed contact 25- of the high water level detection relay 25
3 is closed, the coil 16s of the water supply valve 16 is energized and opened, so water supply starts, water accumulates in the water tank 9, the low water level detection switch llb opens, and the water level increases. High water level detection switch l
la is closed.

Thus, the high water level detection relay 25 is energized and the contacts 24-, .
Since it is self-maintained by the closed maintenance of 25-2,
The normally closed contact 25-3 is opened, the water supply valve 16 is closed, and water supply is stopped.

Note that the manual switch 23 is operated in the open position.
shall be.

In this way, a specified amount of water is discharged from the overflow pipe 10 until the high water level detection switch lla is closed, and furthermore, by the operation of the high water level detection switch 11a, water up to the overflow water level is discharged after the water supply is stopped. be done.

Therefore, at the same time as the high water level detection relay 25 is energized, the contact 25
- By closing □, there is less ice in the water storage bottle 3, the water storage switch 17 is closed, and the ice removal completion detection thermo 2
0 is closed, the operation relay 22 is energized and the electromagnetic switch 19 is also energized, the compressor motor 5M is driven, the condenser fan 8 motor 8M is driven, and the circulation pump Since the motor 12M is also driven, the refrigeration cycle enters the ice-making operation state, and the ice-phase raw water is transferred to the ice-making plate 2.
Flows under the surface.

In this way, the frozen layer gradually increases in thickness on the lower surface of the ice-making plate 2, but when the ice plate reaches a predetermined thickness, the low water level detection switch llb detects a drop in the water level in the water tank 9. , the low water level detection relay 24 is activated, the high water level detection relay 25 is demagnetized by opening the contact 241, and the water supply valve 16 is opened to resume water supply. The relay 21 is energized, and the solenoid valve 28 is opened by the energization of the coil 28s, and at the same time, the condenser fan motor 8M is stopped.

Therefore, when the electromagnetic valve 28 is opened, the hot gas flows into the cooling coil of the ice-making plate 2, and due to its heating effect, the contact surface of the ice plate with the ice-making plate 2 begins to melt, and the ice-making operation is switched to the ice-removing operation.

Normally, it takes about two plows to reliably remove the ice from the ice sheet during this ice-off operation, and water supply that starts at the same time as the ice-off operation completes the water supply earlier than the ice removal is completed, resulting in high ice. The water supply valve 16 is closed by the operation of the water level detection relay 25.

Note that the ice removal relay 21 is kept energized by the closing of the contact 22-4 and the switching operation of the switching contact 21-3.

When the ice removal thermometer 20 detects the completion of ice removal and opens it, the driving relay 22 is demagnetized, so the electromagnetic valve 28 is closed and the ice removal relay 21 is demagnetized.

In this way, the ice-removing operation that sends hot gas to the ice-making plate 2 is switched to the ice-making operation, and the contact 21-2 is closed by the demagnetization of the ice-removing relay 21, and the driving relay 22 is re-energized, so that the fan motor 8M is activated. Drive and pump motor 12
M is then driven and the operation returns to the initial ice making operation.

When the ice cubes in the ice storage bin 3 reach full capacity while the automatic switching between the ice making operation and the ice removing operation is performed continuously as shown in FIG.
When the contact of the water storage switch 17 is opened, the system becomes completely stopped.

Therefore, the water supply valve 16 is opened at the same time as the automatic start of the ice-off operation, and the water supply in preparation for the subsequent ice-making operation is threatened, and during this water supply, a specified amount of water is overflowed by the overflow pipe 10. Therefore, there is no risk of impurities being deposited in the water storage tank 9, and therefore it is hygienic and transparent ice can be produced.

However, when using in areas with poor water quality or during the summer when the content of disinfectant is high, this amount of water exchange is often insufficient, and in such cases, the manual switch 23
When the water supply valve 16 is operated to the closing side, the water supply valve 16 is forcibly opened during the ice removal operation while the contact 21-1 is closed, that is, while the ice removal relay 21 is energized, so the overflow water amount is reduced. As a result, the amount of water exchange can be increased to cope with operation when the water quality is poor.

As has been clarified by the above explanation, the present invention provides water supply during de-icing operation in which water is supplied with a specified amount of overflow due to the operation of the water level detection device 11, and water is supplied with an amount larger than the specified amount due to the operation of the forced overflow circuit. By making it possible to select a water supply with overflow, the amount of overflow can be adjusted to increase or decrease depending on the water quality, so the production of clear ice is guaranteed regardless of the water quality. This has the advantage of saving water by avoiding wasteful discharge of water.

Furthermore, it is extremely easy to handle as it can be handled simply by opening and closing the manual switch 23, and it is extremely valuable as a general-purpose device in that it can handle not only regions with different water quality but also changes in water quality due to seasonal fluctuations. It is what it is.

[Brief Description of the Drawings] Figure 1 is a schematic structural diagram of an example of the ice maker of the present invention, Figure 2 is a refrigeration circuit diagram, Figure 3 is an electric control circuit diagram, and Figure 4 is a conventional ice maker. FIG. 9...Water tank, 10...Overflow device, 11...Water level detection device, 16...
...Water supply valve, 21...Relay, 23...
・Manual switch.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] When the ice-making operation ends, water is supplied to the water storage tank 9, which is equipped with a water level detection device 11 that detects an upper limit water level commensurate with the amount of water required for the ice-making operation, and an overflow device 10 that opens at a level slightly lower than the upper limit water level. In an ice-making machine that automatically supplies water in preparation for the next ice-making operation after opening the valve 16 and subsequently performing the ice-removal operation, the logical product of the closing of the manual switch 23 and the closing of the contact of the relay 21 in response to the ice-removal operation. An overflow control device for an ice maker, characterized in that a forced overflow circuit for opening the water supply valve 16 is provided.