JPS62261874A - Controller for 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 Field of Industrial Application 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 ice cubes in the ice making member, and particularly relates to This relates to control when an abnormality occurs during the ice making cycle and the ice removal cycle.

2. Description of the Related Art An example of a conventional ice making machine will be described below with reference to the drawings. Fig. 3 shows the structure of a conventional ice maker, and Fig. 4 shows a flowchart of its operation. 1 is the 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 in the ice-making chamber 2, and a water storage tank 6 for storing ice-making water.
A circulation pump device 7 is installed in this water storage tank 6 to constitute a running water circulation type ice making system. The ice making member 5
An ice storage chamber 8 and an ice sheet cutting heater device 9 for cutting ice sheets into blocks of a predetermined size after ice removal are provided below the ice storage chamber 8. Further, in the machine room 3, an electric compressor 1o and a condenser 11, which together with the evaporator 4 form a refrigerating circuit, are arranged. Reference numeral 12 denotes an air cooling fan for the condenser 11 and its motor. Further, reference numeral 13 denotes a water storage amount detection device having a temperature sensing part for detecting a predetermined amount of water in the water storage chamber 8, and is provided so as to sense the contact temperature of the ice block and stop the ice making operation. A water supply valve 14 serves as a water supply device that electrically opens and closes a water supply pipe 15 connected to a water source to introduce ice-making water into the water storage tank e. Inside the water storage tank 6, there is a drainage pipe 16 that maintains a predetermined water level, and an upper water level detection device 1 that detects the upper level water level 17.
8 and a lower water level detection device 2o that detects the lower level water level 19 is provided.

21 is an evaporator 4 used to remove 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. Reference numeral 22 denotes an ice-off detection device that is brought into close contact with the ice-making member 6 and detects ice-off by detecting a predetermined temperature of the ice-making member 5.

Next, its operation will be explained. First, ice making is started when the water storage tank 6 is filled with ice making water, and as ice is generated in the ice making member 6, the water level in the water storage tank e decreases and when it reaches the upper water level 17, the upper water level detection device 18 is activated. Operate. Further ice is generated and the water level is lowered, and when it reaches the lower water level 19, which is set to a predetermined ice thickness, the lower water level detection device 2° is activated to stop the ice making cycle and switch to the ice removal cycle. In the ice removal cycle, hot gas flows to the evaporator 4 by switching the electromagnetic valve 21 to release ice sheets formed in the ice making member 6, and ice making water is supplied to the water storage tank 6 by the water supply valve 14. Ice making water is at upper water level 1 of water storage tank 6
When it reaches 7, the supply is stopped after a certain amount of OHA flow. At this time, when the material 6 reaches a predetermined temperature, the ice-off detection device 22 operates to stop ice-off and switch to the ice-making cycle. The released ice sheet is cut by an ice sheet cutting heater device 9 provided at the lower part of the ice making member 6 and stored in the water storage chamber 8.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, in the ice making machine having the above configuration, the ice sheets are not cut due to breakage of the ice sheet cutting heater device, etc., and eventually water leaks from the ice making member due to the ice sheets being overlapped on the ice sheet cutting heater device. death,
Since no warning is given to the user of the ice maker, the stored ice may melt due to the leaked water, or depending on the way the water leaks, water may leak outside the ice maker itself and wet the area around the ice maker. In addition, if the ice removal detection device becomes defective, it will not be able to detect the completion of ice removal and will alert the user of the ice maker even if it is in an abnormal state where the next ice making cycle cannot be started. As a result, it was difficult to determine what was wrong with the ice making machine, or whether the ice maker was malfunctioning.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides an upper water level detection device for detecting an upper level water level in a water storage tank, a lower water level detection device for detecting a lower level water level, and an ice making system. Equipped with an ice-off detection device that detects when ice has detached from a component, and an inspection lamp that warns of abnormalities in the equipment, and during the ice-making cycle, the operation of the above-mentioned upper water level detection device to the operation of the lower water level detection device is performed. a counter 1 that counts the ice making time, a counter 2 that counts the ice making time from the start of ice removal to the operation of the ice removal detection device during the ice removal cycle, and the ice making time and ice removal time counted by these counters. and a comparator that compares the pre-stored time, and the ice-making time is determined by the result of this comparator and the check lamp is turned on or blinks 1 depending on the pre-stored time. If the ice-off time exceeds the pre-stored time, the inspection lamp will flash 2, and the display method of the inspection lamp will be changed depending on when the abnormality occurs to issue a warning.

Operation The present invention has the above-described configuration, so that when water leaks from the water circulation system of ice-making components etc. during the ice-making cycle, the inspection lamp turns on, or when the lower water level detection device fails, the inspection lamp blinks 1 or turns off. If the ice removal detection device malfunctions during the ice cycle, the inspection lamp will blink 2 (longer than blink 1), so the ice maker user or maintenance worker should
By visually checking the status of the inspection lamp display, equipment abnormalities can be detected, and because the warning display method has been changed, it is easy and quick to check the status of the inspection lamp display.
This makes it possible to identify abnormalities.

Embodiment Hereinafter, a control device for an ice maker according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that the configuration of the ice maker main body except for the control device and inspection lamp is the same as the conventional one, so a description thereof will be omitted. Note that an inspection lamp 23 indicating an abnormality in the equipment is attached to the surface of the ice maker body 1 and is visible from the outside.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a control device for an ice maker according to the present invention. FIGS. 2 and 3 are flowcharts showing the ice maker control device of the present invention. The main part of the control device is composed of a microcomputer (CPU) 24. This microcomputer 24 stores a well-known program for the ice making machine (water supply → ice making → ice removal operations), and during the ice making cycle, the operation signal of the upper water level detection device 18 is input and then the lower water level detection device 2o The ice making time until the operation signal is input (hereinafter referred to as the count time T
1); a memory circuit 26 that stores a preset time (hereinafter referred to as set time T2); a comparator 27 that compares ice making time T1 and set time T2; It is equipped with a counter 28 that counts the time from the start to the operation of the ice-off detection device, and a comparator 29 that compares the preset time.
When the count time T1≦set time T2, the microcomputer 24 outputs an output to turn on the inspection lamp 23. Here, the set time T2 is set so that in normal ice-making operation, the count time T1>the set time T2. If water leaks from the ice-making member 6 etc. during the normal ice-making cycle, the water level in the water storage tank θ will drop rapidly, so the count time T1 will be very short compared to the normal ice-making time. As a result of various studies, it has been found that 3 to 5 minutes is appropriate for the set time T2. Also, during the ice making cycle, if the lower water level detection device 20 malfunctions (the lower water level detection device determines that there is no water even though there is water at the lower water level), the count time T1
is determined to be 0 minutes because it is immediately after the operation of the upper water level detection device (determined that there is no water). Conversely, the upper water level detection device 18
If the timer malfunctions, the count time cannot be calculated and is determined to be 0 minutes. In this case, the inspection lamp 23 blinks (
cycle of 1 second on and 1 second off).

During the break-off cycle, if the break-off time exceeds 60 minutes as a result of the counter 28 and comparator 29, it is determined that the break-off detection device is malfunctioning, and the check lamp 23 blinks (on for 1 second, off for 4 seconds). Microcomputer 2
Output from 4.

Regarding the ice-off time of 60 minutes, it has been found that in normal ice-off operations, the ice-off time is normally 30 minutes.

Effects of the Invention As is clear from the above explanation, the ice making machine of the present invention counts the time from the operation of the upper water level detection device to the operation of the lower water level detection device during the ice making cycle, and calculates this count time T1 in advance. Memorized setting time T2
As a result, the count time T becomes the set time T
If it is 2 or less, it is assumed that there is a water leak and the inspection lamp is turned on.

Further, if the count time T1 is 0 minutes, it is determined that the upper water level detection device or the lower water level detection device is malfunctioning, and the inspection lamp is blinked (with a cycle of 1 second on and 1 second off). During the ice-off cycle, if the ice-off time is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, it is determined that the ice-off detection device has failed, and the inspection lamp is blinked (with a cycle of 1 second on and 4 seconds off). In this way, in the event of an abnormality such as water leakage or equipment malfunction, by providing a check lamp display and changing the warning display method, maintenance and service maintenance, which was previously troublesome, can be done quickly and easily, and the user can This also has the effect of making it easy to know if there is an abnormality in the equipment, and making a service call more reliably.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing a control device for an ice maker according to an embodiment of the present invention, Figs. 2 and 3 are flow charts showing the operation of the control device, and Fig. 4 is a sectional view of the ice maker according to the present invention. , FIG. 6 is a sectional view of a conventional ice maker, and FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the operation of the conventional ice maker. 6...Ice making component, 6...Water storage tank,
7... Circulation pump, 17... Upper level water level, 18... Upper water level detection device, 19.
... lower level water level, 20 ... lower water level detection device, 22 ... ice-off detection device, 23 ...
...Inspection lamp, 26...Counter 1.
27...Comparator 1.28...Counter 2.29...Comparator 2゜Figure 1Figure 2Figure 3Figure 4Figure 5

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) An ice-making member that generates ice blocks, a circulation pump device that circulates ice-making water to the ice-making member, a water storage tank that stores the ice-making water, an inspection lamp that indicates an abnormality in the equipment, and an inspection lamp provided in the water storage tank. An upper water level detection device for detecting a water level at an upper level, a lower water level detection device for detecting a water level at a lower level, and an ice removal detection device for detecting that ice has been removed from the ice making member, and the ice making device is provided with a counter 1 that counts the time from the operation of the upper water level detection device to the operation of the lower water level detection device; and a counter 1 that counts the time from the start of ice removal to the time when the ice removal detection device detects the end of ice removal during the ice removal cycle. A counter 2 counts the time, comparators 1 and 2 compare the count time counted by these counters with the time stored in advance, and the ice making time and ice removal time are calculated based on the results of these comparators. A control device for an ice maker that warns of an abnormality by lighting and blinking the inspection lamp according to the pre-stored time. (2) The control device for an ice maker according to claim 1, wherein the abnormality warning display method of the inspection lamp is changed depending on the abnormality occurrence timing or abnormal state during the ice making cycle, during the ice removal cycle, and during the ice removal cycle. .