JPS6141391B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (A) Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an auger ice maker, and more particularly to an improved structure of an ice compression passage formed on the outer periphery of an upper bearing.

(b) Prior art and its problems Conventionally, in this type of ice maker, when a compression passage is formed to increase the degree of compression of ice, the air contained in the ice scraped in the cooling cylinder is discharged from the compression passage. As the amount of air increases, the evaporation temperature decreases until the ice making operation becomes supercooled. He was playing a flaw that made it impossible to continue.

(c) Objective of the present invention To discharge the air contained in the ice scraped inside the cooling cylinder to the outside of the cooling cylinder without impairing the ice compression function, thereby preventing overcooling operation and performing stable ice-making operation. Do it like this.

(e) Embodiments of the present invention Figure 1 shows the internal structure of an auger ice maker according to the present invention in longitudinal section. A lower shaft 3 of a motor (not shown) housed in a motor cover 2 placed on the upper surface of the outer wall is protruded, and its tip is formed into a first helical gear 4 .
A second helical gear 6 that meshes with the helical gear 4 and transmits the rotation of the motor is fixed to the upper part of the first gear shaft 5 rotatably supported between the bottom wall and the top wall of the casing 1. A first small gear 7 is fixed to the lower part. A second gear shaft 8 is spaced apart from the first gear shaft 5 and between the bottom wall and the top wall of the casing 1.
A second small gear 9 is fixed to the upper part of this gear shaft 8, and a first small gear 7 is fixed to the lower part of this gear shaft 8.
The central gear 10 that meshes with is fixed. Further, the gear shaft of the large gear 11 that finally meshes with the second small gear 9, that is, the output shaft 12, has an upper housing 13A press-fitted into the lower part of the shaft 12, a lower housing 13B press-fitted into the bottom wall of the casing 1, and a lower housing 13B press-fitted into the bottom wall of the casing 1. A lower cylindrical roller bearing 13 composed of a roller portion 13C interposed between the two, a lower housing 14B press-fitted into the upper part of the output shaft 12, an upper housing 14A press-fitted into the upper wall of the casing 1, and an upper housing 14A interposed between the two. Roller part 14C
The upper cylindrical roller bearing 14 is supported by an upper cylindrical roller bearing 14. The output shaft 12 is provided with an oil seal 15 above the upper cylindrical roller bearing 14, and then penetrates the casing 1 and projects upward. The output shaft 12 that protrudes in this way is formed by a low wall 16 that is formed integrally with the casing 1 and a high wall 18 that is also formed integrally with the casing 1 so that a water leakage groove 17 is formed on the outside of this low wall 16. Be surrounded. Therefore, the tip of the output shaft 12 has a water leak receiving groove 1.
Fit the umbrella-shaped draining member 19 so as to face 7,
Leakage water that has passed through the draining member 19 and fallen into the leakage receiving groove 17 is guided to the outside by a low drainage passage 20 that communicates with the receiving groove 17 by cutting out or making a hole in the high wall 18. casing 1
Prevents water from entering the interior. The output shaft 12 is placed on the high wall 18 of the casing 1 and is fixed to the high wall 18 with bolts 21 at the upper end of the output shaft 12 located inside the hollow support base 22. A vertical groove 23 is formed.

On the other hand, on the support stand 22, there is a cooling cylinder 2 around which an evaporation tube 25 of the refrigeration system is wrapped, the outer surface of which is covered with a heat insulating wall 24.
6 is inserted, and the two are connected by a bolt 28 with an O-ring 27 interposed at the lower end. As a result, the auger 29 is rotatably arranged inside the cooling cylinder 26 that stands upright on the support stand 22, and the lower end of the lower shaft 29A of the auger 29 is connected to the output shaft 1.
2, a large number of vertical grooves 30 are formed in the axial direction. A spacer 31 is placed between the opposing surfaces of the output shaft 12 and the lower shaft 29A of the auger 29 in order to absorb vertical dimensional errors when the auger 29 is placed inside the cooling cylinder 26. The output shaft 12 and the lower shaft 29A of the auger 29 are arranged in mutual longitudinal grooves 23 and 3 inside the support base 22.
The spline joint 32 is connected by a spline joint 32 that matches the angle 0, and the spline joint 32 is supported on its outer surface by a sliding bearing 33 press-fitted into the support base 22, and is rotated downward by a washer 34 fitted to the output shaft 12. Prevents it from coming off. In addition, a mechanical seal 35 supported on the support stand 22 is applied to the lower part of the cooling cylinder 26 to seal water, and the water in the cistern (not shown) is connected to a water supply pipe connected to the lower part of the cooling cylinder 26. 36 to a predetermined level of the cooling cylinder 26.

On the other hand, the upper rotating shaft 29B of the auger 29 is supported by an upper bearing 37 inserted into the cooling cylinder 26. A plurality of ice compression passages 3 are provided on the outer periphery of the upper bearing 37.
8, which protrude from the circumferential surface 39 of the upper bearing 37 at equal intervals in the radial direction, and the lower end is tapered to allow smooth penetration of scraped ice. Total of 6 compression ribs 40
An ice break section 41 is formed at the upper part of the bearing circumferential surface 39, and these are formed integrally with the upper bearing 37. Further, the bearing circumferential surface 39 has a lower part inclined and a continuous upper part parallel to the lower part.

The upper bearing 37 is inserted into the upper rotating shaft 29A of the auger 29 and coupled to the cooling cylinder 26 by bolts 43 together with an L-shaped ice guide tube 42 inserted into the outer surface of the cooling cylinder 26. Thereby, the outer surface of the compression rib 40 is connected to the inner wall 2 of the cooling cylinder 26.
6A and is defined by the inner wall 26A of the cylinder 26, the adjacent compression ribs 40, and the bearing circumferential surface 39.
ice compression passages 38 are formed. Furthermore, an agitator 44 is installed inside the guide tube 42 to move the chip ice toward the discharge port 42A.
It is screwed onto the end of the upper rotating shaft 29B and is rotatably arranged.

A groove 45 substantially parallel to the compression passage 38 is formed in the bearing circumferential surface 39 in the compression passage 38, and the upper end of the groove 45 communicates with the outside of the compression passage 38. The groove 45 has six compression passages 38.
They are formed at every other three locations on the bearing circumferential surface 39. (A sectional view is shown in FIG. 3.) Next, the chip ice manufacturing operation and air evacuation operation will be explained based on the above configuration. When the ice-making operation starts, refrigerant flows into the evaporator tube 25 and cools the cooling cylinder 2.
6, and the water supplied to a predetermined level of the cooling cylinder 26 gradually freezes on the inner wall 26A of the cooling cylinder 26. On the other hand, the rotation of the motor is transmitted from the first helical gear 4 to the second helical gear 6, and this rotation is transmitted to the intermediate gear 10 via the first small gear 7 coaxial with the second helical gear 6. Furthermore, this rotation is transmitted to the large gear 11 via the second small gear 9. The rotation of the large gear 11 is approximately 10 times per minute.
The speed is reduced to several rotations, and this rotation is caused by the output shaft 12.
It is finally transmitted to the auger 29 via.

The ice that has grown on the inner wall 26A of the cooling cylinder 26 is scraped off by the auger 29 and transported upwards, entering the ice compression passage 38, where water is gradually removed and the ice becomes hard. The compression passage 38 is filled with ice containing almost no water.
However, due to the frictional resistance between the ice in the compression passage 38, the ice does not reach the inner part of the groove 45, and this part becomes a cavity. Therefore, the air bubbles contained in the shaved ice escape into the groove 45, and as the ice moves up the compression passage 38, it ascends inside the groove 45, and flows from the upper end to the outside of the compression passage 38. is discharged to.

In the above embodiment, the number of grooves was formed at three locations on the bearing circumferential surface 39 to obtain a good air exhaust effect, but it is of course possible to increase or decrease the number of grooves within a range that does not deviate from this effect.

Further, as shown in FIG. 4 as another embodiment of the present invention, good results were obtained by forming grooves 46 similar to those described above in the compression ribs 40.

(f) Effects of the present invention The present invention is capable of removing air contained in shaved ice by forming a groove on the bearing peripheral surface or compression rib that forms the ice compression passage, which is approximately parallel to the compression passage and whose upper end communicates with the outside of the passage. Since bubbles can be reliably discharged from the groove, overcooling within the cooling cylinder can be prevented and stable ice-making operation can be performed.

Further, the ice compression function in the ice compression passage is not impaired, and air movement is assisted by the movement of ice rising in the compression passage, so that air can be discharged more reliably.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the auger ice maker of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the upper bearing, Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view of Fig. 2, and Fig. 4 is another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the upper bearing. 38... Ice compression passage, 39... Bearing circumferential surface, 40
...Compression ribs, 45, 46...grooves.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An ice-shaving auger for scraping ice that grows on the inner wall of the cooling cylinder is rotatably arranged within the cooling cylinder, and an ice-shaving auger that supports the upper rotating shaft of the auger and protrudes radially from the circumferential surface and extends in the axial direction. An upper bearing formed with a plurality of compression ribs that abuts the inner wall of the cylinder is fixedly arranged, and the shaved ice is compressed in a passage defined by the adjacent compression ribs, the circumferential surface of the bearing, and the inner wall of the cooling cylinder to form chip ice. The auger type ice maker is characterized in that the bearing circumferential surface or the compression rib is provided with a groove within the passage that is substantially parallel to the passage and whose upper end communicates with the outside of the passage.