JPS6141385B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an ice-melting device that melts ice made by an ice-making mechanism to obtain clean water with few impurities, and particularly relates to its refrigeration circuit.

Conventional ice melting devices generally heat ice with electric heating wires to obtain fresh water, but this requires a relatively large amount of electric power and increases the cost of making ice, which is not desirable. For this reason, a method has been proposed in which the ice is melted using the high-pressure refrigerant piping of the ice-making mechanism's refrigeration circuit, but when the ambient temperature is low, the amount of heat from the high-pressure refrigerant piping alone is not enough to melt the ice, and one ice-making cycle is insufficient. In some cases, the ice made in the process was not completely melted before ice was formed in the next ice-making cycle, and there was a large difference in the fresh water production capacity due to the difference in ambient temperature.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a refrigeration circuit that can minimize the difference in fresh water production capacity due to the difference in ambient temperature and can use heat effectively without increasing the cost of making ice.

For the above purpose, the refrigeration circuit according to the present invention has the following features:
a compressor; a first condenser, e.g. an air-cooled condenser;
A second condenser, that is, a main circuit consisting of a water-cooled condenser that also serves as an ice-breaking device, an expansion means, and an evaporator connected in series, has a hot gas valve, and connects the high-pressure side of the compressor and the evaporator. The hot gas side path is connected to the inlet side, and the reflux side path has a solenoid valve and connects the compressor and the water-cooled condenser. According to this refrigeration circuit, even during ice making, the high-pressure refrigerant (hot gas) in the main circuit passes through the water-cooled condenser, that is, the ice melting section, and continues to melt the ice that has already been made. If the created ice has not completely melted, the high-pressure refrigerant that has passed through the water-cooled condenser is immediately returned to the compressor via the reflux channel and continues to melt the ice until it is completely melted. It is possible to perform an operation in which the ice is sent to the evaporator via the evaporator and removed from the ice making section attached to the evaporator.

Therefore, by using the refrigeration circuit according to the present invention, ice can be completely melted even at low ambient temperatures without increasing ice making costs. In other words, during periods such as winter when it takes a long time to melt ice and ice making is completed in a short time, the shortened ice making time can be used for melting ice, so heat is used effectively - the operation cycle is equal in summer and winter. , and the difference in fresh water production capacity due to the difference in ambient temperature becomes minimal.

Embodiments of the refrigeration circuit according to the invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Figure 1 shows an example of a water purifier equipped with a refrigeration circuit according to the present invention. This water purifier employs a bottom flow type circulation ice making mechanism in which water circulates and flows down the bottom surface of an ice making plate arranged at an angle. However, any other type of ice making mechanism may be used as long as it is a circulation type. The ice-making mechanism includes an inclined ice-making plate 2 on which an evaporator 1 of a refrigeration circuit, which will be described later, is installed, and a predetermined amount of ice-making water into which a predetermined amount of ice-making water is supplied from a water source via a water supply valve 3 to supply water to the bottom surface of the ice-making plate 2. It is provided with a water tank 4 and an ice-making water circulation pipe 8 through which ice-making water in the tank 4 is sent to a water sprinkler 7 with holes by a pump 6 and is circulated and supplied from there to the lower surface of the ice-making plate 2. An ice melting section 10 is arranged below the ice making plate 2 to receive and melt the ice plate 9 that falls due to the deicing operation of the refrigeration circuit. A pipe 12 equipped with a drain valve 11 is attached to the lower part of the tank 4, and the ice-making water, which has become more impure due to circulation, is discharged after ice-making is completed. The fresh water created by melting passes through a pipe 13 attached to the lower part of the ice melting section 10, and is passed through a water storage tank 14.
It accumulates in Although the ice-breaking section 10 is box-shaped in the illustrated embodiment, it can have any other shape.

The refrigeration circuit according to the present invention consists of a main circuit, a hot gas side path, and a reflux side path. The main circuit is compressor 1
5, the above-described ice melting section 10 (hereinafter referred to as a water-cooled condenser), and an air-cooled condenser 17 having a fan 16.
An expansion means 18 for expanding refrigerant and the above-mentioned evaporator 1 are connected in series through a main pipe 19. The expansion means 18 is an expansion valve in the illustrated embodiment, but may also be other means, such as a capillary reach tube. The hot gas side path is connected to the high pressure side of the compressor 15 and the inlet side of the evaporator 1 through a hot gas valve 20 for deicing, and the reflux side path is connected to the low pressure side of the compressor 15, It is connected to the outlet side of the water-cooled condenser 10 via a solenoid valve 21.

In a fresh water machine having the above-mentioned refrigeration circuit, the refrigerant compressed by the compressor 15 normally passes through the main pipe 19 and passes through the water-cooled condenser 10 and the air-cooled condenser 17.
It is cooled and liquefied. When the refrigerant passes through the expansion means 18, the pipe resistance suddenly decreases and the pressure becomes low, so it evaporates while passing through the evaporator 1, absorbs the heat of evaporation from around the evaporator, and rapidly cools the ice-making plate 2. Further, the refrigerant that has evaporated into a gas returns to the compressor 15 through the main pipe 19, where it is compressed again and becomes a high-temperature, high-pressure hot gas.

On the other hand, the ice-making plate 2 is supplied with water from a tank 4 by a pump 6 through a water sprinkling hole of a water sprinkler 7. As the water flows along the lower surface of the ice plate, it is cooled and gradually freezes, and the water is circulated repeatedly until the ice plate 9 has a predetermined thickness.

In Figures 1 and 2, if the water temperature and outside temperature are constant, the ice making time is determined by the capacity of the compressor 15, so a timer TM is provided in the electrical circuit of the refrigeration circuit to set the time at a predetermined time. set and timer
When the TM is activated, the electromagnetic coil HV ₂ is energized, the hot gas valve 20 is opened, and the high-temperature refrigerant is sent to the evaporator 1 via the hot gas side path to heat the ice-making plate 2, and at the same time, the air-cooled condenser fan 16 and pump 6 are turned on. Configure an electrical circuit to shut it down. In this state, it is assumed that there is no ice in the ice-melting section 10, that is, in the water-cooled condenser.

When the temperature of the ice-making plate 2 rises in this way and the ice plate 9 detaches from the ice-making plate 2 and falls into the ice-melting section 10, the contact point of the de-icing detection thermostat 22 provided on the ice-making plate is activated.
T ₂ ′ opens and the timer TM returns to its initial state. Therefore, the hot gas valve 20 is closed, the fan 16 is activated, and ice-making operation begins again. At this time, the ice melting section 10
Ice is present in the ice, but the high temperature refrigerant is heating the ice-melting section, so the ice begins to melt. If the ice in the ice-melting section 10 is completely melted during the ice-making period, a predetermined amount of water accumulates in the water storage tank 14, and the ice-making and ice-removal operations described above are repeated until a water level switch (not shown) is activated.

If the ice in the ice-melting section does not melt during the ice-making period, when the timer TM is activated upon completion of ice-making, the temperature detection thermostat 23 installed in the ice-melting section 10 detects that the ice has not melted, and the contact point Since T ₁ is open, the electromagnetic coil HV ₂ is not energized, the hot gas valve 20 in the hot gas side is closed, and T ₁ ' is closed, so the electromagnetic coil HV ₁ is energized, and the electromagnetic coil HV 2 in the reflux side is energized. The valve 21 opens to allow the high temperature refrigerant to flow back into the reflux passage, first melting the ice in the ice melting section. When all the ice melts, contact T ₁ of thermostat 23 closes and contact T ₁ ' opens, so the high-temperature refrigerant flows through the hot gas path to evaporator 1, heats ice-making plate 2, and turns ice plate 9. make them leave.

Further, when the timer TM is activated and the ice making operation is started, the electromagnetic coil WV ₂ of the drain valve 11 is activated, the water in the ice making water tank 4 is drained, and then the timer TM is returned to the initial state. At this time, the water level switch S closes, the electromagnetic coil WV ₁ of the water supply valve 3 operates, the water supply valve 3 opens, and ice-making water is supplied to the tank 4. Although the water level switch is not shown in FIG. 1, it may be a micro switch that turns on and off using a lever attached to the float, for example, to perform the above operations.

Timer TM is a thermostat 22 for deicing detection.
When the contact T ₂ ′ of is opened, it returns to the initial state and that contact
TM′ turns ON and TM turns OFF. Then, as the ice-making operation continues, the temperature of the ice-making plate 2 drops again and T ₂ ' closes, the timer starts accumulating time, and when the set time elapses, TM' turns OFF and TM turns ON, turning the refrigeration circuit off. The ice melting section starts to melt the ice or the ice making plate starts to remove the ice.

Figure 3 shows a structure in which the ice-melting section 10 is formed by a grid-like frame 24, which melts some of the ice and subdivides the rest into rectangular pieces.The rectangular ice and water fall into a saucer 25 below. . The refrigeration circuit is constructed similarly to the embodiment of FIG. 1 and operates similarly.

Figure 4 shows a high frequency resonant circuit, a detection circuit, a DC output circuit, and a
Proximity switch operating section 2 consisting of a DC operating relay
6. A proximity switch consisting of an electrode 27, an insulating plate 28, and an ice-melting section electrode 29 is provided, and a change in capacitance between the electrodes is detected by replacing it with a change in the tuning frequency of a high-frequency resonant circuit. Also, thermostat 2
2 can also be replaced with such a proximity switch.

Figure 5 is a circuit diagram showing only the refrigeration circuit in Figure 1, and Figure 6 shows a modification of the refrigeration circuit in Figure 5. In this modification, the refrigerant passing through the main circuit is After leaving the compressor 15, first the air-cooled condenser 17
and then through a water-cooled condenser 10. Further, the reflux side passage is provided between the outlet side of the water-cooled condenser 10 and the low-pressure side of the compressor 15, and between the high-pressure side of the compressor 15 and the inlet side of the water-cooled condenser 10. It has electromagnetic valves 21, 21. Figures 5 and 6
The illustrated refrigeration circuit operates in substantially the same manner.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a fresh water machine equipped with a refrigeration circuit according to the present invention, Fig. 2 is an electric circuit diagram of the refrigeration circuit of the invention in an ice-making operation state, and Fig. 3 shows a modified example of the ice melting section. 4 is a partial sectional view showing a modification of the temperature sensing device, FIG. 5 is a circuit diagram of the refrigeration circuit shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 6 is a circuit diagram showing a modification of the refrigeration circuit. . In the figure, 1 is an evaporator, 10 is a water-cooled condenser, 15 is a compressor, 17 is an air-cooled condenser, 18 is an expansion means, 2
0 is a hot gas valve, and 21 is a solenoid valve.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A refrigeration circuit for making ice and melting the ice to obtain clean water with few impurities, including a compressor, a first condenser, and an ice breaker for melting the ice. A main circuit consisting of a water-cooled condenser that also serves as a device, an expansion means, and an evaporator connected in series, and a hot gas valve connected between the high pressure side of the compressor and the inlet side of the evaporator. 1. A refrigeration circuit comprising: a hot gas side passage having a solenoid valve, and a reflux side passage having a solenoid valve and connecting an outlet side of the water-cooled condenser and a low pressure side of the compressor.