KR100983281B1 - Apparatus for separating slush and Refrigerater including the same - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a slush separator and a refrigerator including the same. The present invention is a tray containing a container that contains the slush; Drive means mounted to one side of the tray to rotate the tray to be inclined; And a receiving container for selectively dividing any one of slush and water discharged from the container according to the rotation direction of the tray.

Therefore, according to the present invention, water and slush can be separated when storing the slush, which is convenient when storing the slush or providing the slush to the user.

Slush Separator, Slush, Refrigerator, Tray

Description

Apparatus for separating slush and Refrigerater including the same}

The present invention relates to a slush separating apparatus and a refrigerator including the same, and more particularly, to a slush separating apparatus and a refrigerator including the same, which can separate only the slush after removing water that may be generated from the slush.

There are many ways to make a slush. Among them, a method of manufacturing a slush using the supercooled state of water and supplying the slush to a user is also used.

Subcooling means that a liquid such as water maintains a liquid state without phase transition even below a phase transition temperature to a solid. In the natural state, for example, the supercooling water drop (supercooling water drop) is an example, even in the conventional refrigerator, the water or the drink may not be frozen by chance to the supercooled state.

On the other hand, as the principle of subcooling is applied to a refrigerator, there are mentioned the freezing method disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. S59-151834 and the freezing method disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-086967 and a refrigerator.

Slush produced through such supercooling is difficult to keep the temperature constant so that some of the slush does not melt. That is, when the storage temperature of the slush is out of the proper temperature, water is generated while part of the slush is melted.

In this case, even when the user wants to receive only the slush, there is a problem in that the slush and water are supplied to the user so as not to satisfy the user's preference.

In addition, ice may be generated in the feeder or the rotary blade of the device for supplying the slush while the water generated from the slush is buried in the device for supplying the slush. There is a problem that the device for supplying the slush may wear or operate in an unstable state by the ice generated in this way.

In addition, there is a problem that it is difficult to store the slush while maintaining the solid state of the slush as some of the slush located near the water by the water contained in the slush is dissolved by the water and gradually increases.

The present invention is to solve the above problems, the present invention is to provide a slush separator and a refrigerator including the same that can supply the slush from which the water is removed.

In addition, the present invention is to manage to be able to remove the water generated from the slush, so that the state of the slush can be maintained smoothly.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a tray comprising a container containing a slush; Drive means mounted to one side of the tray to rotate the tray to be inclined; And a receiving container for selectively dividing any one of slush and water discharged from the container according to the rotation direction of the tray.

In addition, the accommodation container is provided on one side of the tray, it is possible to include a first container for receiving the slush and the second container for receiving water provided on the other side of the tray.

The second container may further include a filtering member having a plurality of openings.

Of course, the filtering member may contact the opening of the container and prevent the slush from being discharged from the opening of the container when the tray is rotated.

On the other hand, the filtering member may be installed inclined at the same angle as the maximum rotation angle of the tray.

The driving means rotates the tray in both directions, and the maximum rotation angle is different according to each direction.

In particular, the drive means, the maximum rotation angle when discharging the slush is 90 degrees or more, the maximum rotation angle when discharging water may be characterized in that the rotating the tray to 90 degrees or less.

The present invention is a tray containing a container that contains the slush; Drive means mounted to one side of the tray to rotate the tray to be inclined; And a receiving container for selectively dividing any one of the slush and water discharged from the container according to the rotation direction of the tray.

The accommodation container may be provided on one side of the tray, and may include a first container for receiving slush and a second container for receiving water provided on the other side of the tray.

The drive means rotates the tray in both directions, the maximum rotation angle may be different in each direction.

In addition, the drive means, the maximum rotation angle when discharging the slush is 90 degrees or more, it is possible to rotate the tray to 90 degrees or less when discharging water.

According to the present invention described above, it is possible to supply a slush that does not contain water to the user.

In addition, it is possible to provide the slush from which the water has been removed, thereby extending the time for the slush to be converted into water by the water contained in the slush, so that the slush can be stored for a long time in the slush state.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings, preferred embodiments of the present invention that can specifically realize the above object will be described.

1 is a view showing a refrigerator according to the present invention. A description with reference to FIG. 1 is as follows.

The refrigerator 100 according to the present invention includes a top mount type in which the freezing compartment 120 and the refrigerating compartment 130 are divided up and down, and the refrigerating compartment 130 and the freezing compartment 120 are divided up and down. Also applicable to the Bottom Freezer-Type.

However, in the present embodiment, for convenience of description, the freezer compartment 120 and the refrigerating compartment 130 will be described based on side-by-side type refrigerators, which are divided into left and right sides.

The refrigerator has a freezing compartment 120 on the left side and a refrigerating chamber 130 on the right side. In general, the freezing chamber 120 maintains a temperature below freezing, and in the refrigerating chamber 130 stores the food while maintaining a relatively higher temperature than the freezing chamber 120.

The refrigerator 100 forms an exterior of the refrigerator by a main body, and seals and protects a mechanical device accommodated therein from the outside.

The refrigerator 100 generally maintains the freshness of foods that are stored at a low temperature by using a refrigerant cycle device accommodated in a machine room (not shown) formed at the bottom of the main body.

Cold air that has fallen to low temperatures is supplied to the freezing chamber 120 by using an evaporator (not shown) which phase-converts a liquid refrigerant into a gas phase to exchange heat with the outside. The cold air keeps the freezing chamber 120 in the freezing state.

In addition, the refrigerator 100 includes a refrigerator compartment door 132 to open and close the freezer compartment 122 and the refrigerating compartment 130 to open and close the freezer compartment 120. The freezer compartment door 122 and the refrigerating compartment door 132 are rotatably installed in the main body of the refrigerator.

On the other hand, the freezing chamber door 122 is provided with a slush supply device 124 so that the user can receive the slush generated by the refrigerator 100. Of course, the slush supply device 124 is provided in the freezing chamber 120, it is also possible to install only a nozzle in which the user can receive the slush in the freezing chamber door 122.

On the other hand, the slush supply device 124 may be able to put the slush in the cup and the like when the user draws in a container such as a cup while pushing the lever.

In addition, the slush separator 126 may be embedded in the freezer compartment 122. At this time, the slush separator 126 is a device for selectively separating the slush and water in the slush containing water will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.

In other words, when the user operates the slush supply device 124, the slush and the water may be separated from the slush separator 126, and the slush from which the water is separated may be supplied to the user.

In addition, the slush separating device 126 is generally installed on the top of the slush supply device 124, so that the slush supplied from the slush separating device 126 is smoothly transferred to the slush supply device 124. It is possible.

Hereinafter, the slush separator 126 described above with reference to FIGS. 2 to 6 will be described in detail.

2 is a view conceptually showing how the supercooling is performed according to the present invention.

According to the present invention, first, a liquid 4 to be subjected to subcooling is placed between the electrodes 2. Next, in the state where cold air is supplied, the electric field is applied to the liquid 4 using the AC power supply 6. As a result, the liquid 4 does not freeze below its phase transition temperature (for example, 0 ° C. in the case of water under 1 atm) and maintains a supercooled state. It is known that the freezing of water composed of oxygen and hydrogen is prevented because external energy such as an electric field is supplied, thereby preventing hydrogen bonding of water.

When an external force is applied to the supercooled liquid thus produced through the phase converter 8, for example, an electric force is applied using an igniter, and the energy applied to the supercooled liquid by this force or The supercooled state maintained by the applied energy (which means that depending on the condition may be maintained after the energy is applied for a certain period of time) can be disturbed, forming a freeze nucleus, and the supercooled liquid rapidly forms a solid phase. A slush is formed as it transitions. At this time, the temperature of the supercooled liquid is changed from the temperature of the supercooled state to the phase transition temperature.

Of course, in order to maintain supercooling, various methods, such as a method using a magnetic field, may be used. In the present invention, the apparatus for separating slush produced by this method from water will be described below.

3 is a block diagram of a slush separating device according to the present invention. 4 is a side view of the slush separator of FIG. 3. 3 and 4 illustrate a schematic configuration of the slush separator, and a description of the specific configuration will be omitted for convenience of description.

A description with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4 is as follows.

The slush separating apparatus 126 according to the present invention includes a tray 20 including a container 10 in which slush is accommodated, a driving means 30 for rotating the tray 20 to be inclined, and rotation of the tray 20. It includes a receiving container (40, 50) for selectively dividing any one of the slush and water discharged from the container 10 in accordance with the direction.

The container 10 may store slush generated by the manner described in FIG. 2. In this case, the slush may be generated in the container 10. It is also possible to store the slush contained in the container 10 after it has been produced elsewhere.

In addition, although the slush is stored in the container 10, the slush also turns into water because some of the slush melts because the water is frozen. Therefore, the container 10 may be stored in water.

The container 10 is open to the upper surface only, it is possible to have a general shape, such as a cup. That is, the opening 12 is formed on the upper surface of the container 10 so that the slush or the like contained in the container 10 can be separated from the container 10.

The container 10 is mounted to the tray 20. Therefore, when the tray 20 is rotated in various directions, the container 10 is also rotated in the same direction. Of course, the container 10 and the tray 20 may be configured integrally.

The tray 20 is in the form of a rectangular flat plate, and the container 10 may be mounted in an opening formed on the surface of the tray 20. Of course, the container 10 is provided with a plurality, it is possible to be equipped with a plurality of containers 10 in one tray 20 in a row. When a plurality of containers 10 are mounted and rotated together in one tray 20, a larger amount may be processed at a time when separating slush or the like than when one container 10 is mounted.

Of course, both sides of the tray 20 may have a shaft fixed to both sides so that the tray 20 can be rotated in both directions. The tray 20 is rotated so that the tray 20 can be tilted about the axis.

On the other hand, one side of the tray 20 is provided with a driving means 30 for rotating the tray 20 in both directions. For example, the driving means 30 may be a motor capable of forward rotation and reverse rotation. In this case, the driving means 30 may rotate the tray 20 clockwise or counterclockwise.

At this time, the plurality of containers 10 mounted on the tray 20 are also rotated according to the rotation direction of the drive means (30).

In addition, the slush separation device 126 may further include a receiving container (40, 50) that can be accommodated by dividing the slush and water. In this case, the accommodation containers 40 and 50 are provided at one side of the tray 20 and include a first container 40 to accommodate the slush. In addition, the accommodation containers (40, 50) is provided on the other side of the tray 20, and includes a second container (50) for receiving water.

Alternatively, water may be accommodated in the first container 40, and slush may be accommodated in the second container 50. When the plurality of containers 10 are mounted on the tray 20, the accommodation container 10 has a shape that is long in the longitudinal direction so that slush and water accommodated in the plurality of containers 10 can be accommodated. It is desirable to have.

In addition, since the amount of slush is greater in the container 10 than water, the first container 40 containing the slush may be deeper than the second container 50 containing the water.

In particular, the second container 50 may further include a filtering member 60 having a plurality of openings 62. The filtering member 60 performs a function such as a net, and when water and slush are discharged from the container 10, only the water is filtered out, and the slush is prevented from being discharged. That is, the filtering member 60 performs a function of separating the water and the slush.

The filtering member 60 may be fixed to an upper surface of the second container 50. The filtering member 60 is formed with a plurality of holes 62. At this time, the size of the hole 62 may pass through the water, but the size of the slush may not pass.

On the other hand, the filtering member 60 also has a long shape in the longitudinal direction when there is a plurality of the container 10, like the container. According to this, there is an advantage in that water can be filtered out from the plurality of containers 10 at once.

In addition, the filtering member 60 is installed on the upper portion of the second container 50, the water falling from the filtering member 60 is preferably accommodated in the second container (50).

The accommodation containers 40 and 50 may have a metal material or a plastic material, but are not limited thereto. In addition, the accommodation containers 40 and 50 may have a bottom and side surfaces thereof closed and an upper surface thereof open.

Of course, a drain hole (not shown) may be formed in the first container 40 so as to smoothly discharge the slush contained therein, and the second container 50 may smoothly discharge the received water. In this case, water or slush stored in the accommodation containers 40 and 50 may be discharged to the outside of the accommodation containers 40 and 50 depending on whether the drain hole is opened.

5 is a schematic side view illustrating a state in which water is separated from FIG. 3. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating unnecessary configuration for convenience of description.

A description with reference to FIG. 5 is as follows.

5 shows that the tray 20 is rotated in one direction by the driving means 30. 5 illustrates a state in which the tray 20 is rotated at the maximum rotation angle a1 during rotation in one direction.

That is, when the tray 20 is rotated at the maximum rotation angle a1 in one direction, the filtering member 60 and the opening 12 of the container 10 contact each other. At this time, the slush contained in the container 10 through the opening 62 of the filtering member 60 is not discharged, only water is discharged and received in the second container 50.

In particular, the filtering member 60 is preferably installed according to the maximum rotation angle a1 of the tray 20. When the filter member 60 is installed with an inclination of an angle smaller than the maximum rotation angle a1 of the tray 20, the tray 20 cannot be rotated smoothly, so that the efficiency of separating water from the slush is inferior.

In addition, when the filtering member 60 is installed with an inclination of an angle greater than the maximum rotation angle a1 of the tray 20, the slush contained in the container 10 may be discharged from the container 10. It may be contained in the second container (50). That is, not only water but also slush are accommodated in the second container 50, and the object of the present invention that separates water and slush cannot be achieved.

Furthermore, the maximum rotation angle a1 of the tray 20 is preferably smaller than 90 degrees. Because, when the maximum rotation angle a1 of the tray 20 is greater than 90 degrees, slush and water may be discharged together from the tray 20 in a section in which the tray 20 rotates beyond 90 degrees. At this time, the slush discharged from the container 10 is mounted on the filtering member 60, it is impossible to flow back into the container 10. That is, because the slush already discharged from the container 10 is difficult to be accommodated back into the container 10 again.

When the maximum rotation angle a1 of the tray 20 exceeds 90 degrees, some of the slush accommodated in the tray 20 is placed on the upper surface of the filtering member 60, and some of the slush is filtered again. This is because it is placed on the member 60.

Therefore, it is preferable that the tray 20 rotates with the maximum rotation angle a1 such that the slush is not placed on the filtering member 60.

FIG. 6 is a schematic side view illustrating a state of separating the slush in FIG. 3. FIG. 6 is a diagram in which a configuration unnecessary for convenience is omitted.

A description with reference to FIG. 6 is as follows.

6 shows the tray 20 rotated in one direction by the driving means 30. In FIG. 6, if the tray 20 is rotated clockwise in FIG. 6 in a direction opposite to that in FIG. 5, the tray 20 is counterclockwise in FIG. 6. Is rotated. 6 illustrates a state in which the tray 20 is rotated at the maximum rotation angle a2 during one direction of rotation.

The first container 40 does not include a filtering member 60, unlike the second container 50. Therefore, when the tray 20 is rotated at the maximum rotation angle a2, the slush accommodated in the container 10 is discharged to the first container 40.

In particular, when the tray 20 discharges the slush contained in the container 10, the maximum rotation angle a2 is preferably 90 degrees or more. This is to pour all the slush contained in the container 10 to the first container (40).

If the maximum rotation angle a2 of the tray 20 is 90 degrees or less, the slush contained in the container 10 is difficult to be discharged to the first container 40.

At this time, it is possible to adjust the rotation angle of the tray 20 to adjust the discharge amount of the slush accommodated in the container 10.

As can be seen in Figures 5 and 6, the drive means 30 to rotate the tray 20 in both directions, the maximum rotation angle (a1, a2) is preferably different in each direction. This is because the water and slush separately accommodated according to the container, but the present invention is to focus on supplying the slush to the user rather than water.

The above-described slush separator and the refrigerator including the same operate as follows.

First, the slush is accommodated in the container 10. In addition, some of the slush in the container 10 may be converted to water. In addition, when some of the water originally stored in the container 10 is not converted to slush, some water may exist in the container 10.

In order to remove the water stored in the container 10, the driving means 30 rotates the tray 20 in the direction in which the second container 50 is located. When the tray 20 is rotated by the maximum rotation angle a1, the opening 12 of the container 10 contacts the filtering member 60. Then, the water discharged from the container 10 is received in the second container 50 after passing through the opening 62 of the filtering member (60).

At this time, if some of the slush in the container 10 may be discharged from the container 10, it does not pass through the opening of the filtering member 60, it is blocked by the filtering member (60). Then, since the filtering member 60 is inclined at an angle smaller than 90 degrees, slush is not discharged to the outside of the container 10, and the filtering member 60 may be sealed by the filtering member 60.

Therefore, only water, not slush, is accommodated in the second container 50, and only slush is stored in the container 10.

Subsequently, the tray 20 is rotated in the direction in which the first container 40 is located. At this time, the container 10 is rotated together at the same angle as the tray 20. The tray 20 is rotated by the maximum rotation angle a2. In this case, the maximum rotation angle (a2) is greater than 90 degrees, so that when the tray 20 is rotated at the maximum rotation angle (a2), the slush contained in the container 10 is discharged to the first container (40). do.

On the other hand, when the slush separator 126 is provided in the refrigerator 100, as shown in Figure 1, the slush accommodated in the first container 40 by a separate tube or slush moving means (not shown) The slush feeder 124 is transferred.

Then, when a user operates by using a lever or a switch provided in the slush supply device 124, the slush is supplied to the user from the slush supply device 124.

Of course, in this case, the method of separating water from the slush follows the same method as described above.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and as can be seen in the appended claims, modifications can be made by those skilled in the art to which the invention pertains, and such modifications are within the scope of the present invention.

1 is a view showing a refrigerator according to the present invention.

2 is a view conceptually showing a supercooling method according to the present invention.

Figure 3 is a perspective view briefly showing a slush separator according to the present invention.

Figure 4 is a side view of the slush separator in Figure 3;

Figure 5 is a side schematic view showing a state of separating the water in FIG.

Figure 6 is a side schematic view showing a state of separating the slush in Figure 3;

<Description of Signs for Main Parts of Drawings>

2: electrode 4: liquid

6: AC power 8: phase converter

10: container 20: tray

30: drive means 40: first container

50: second container 60: filter member

100: refrigerator 120: refrigerator compartment

130: freezer 124: slush feeder

126: slush separator

Claims (11)

A tray comprising a container for containing slush and water; Driving means mounted to one end of the tray to rotate the tray to be inclined; And And a receiving container for selectively dividing any one of the slush and water discharged from the container according to the rotation direction of the tray. The method of claim 1, The container is provided on one side of the tray, the first container for receiving the slush and The slush separating apparatus provided on the other side of the tray, comprising a second container for receiving water. The method of claim 2, The second container is a slush separator further comprising a filtering member having a plurality of openings. The method of claim 3, And the filtering member is in contact with the opening of the container when the tray is rotated to prevent slush from being discharged from the opening of the container. The method of claim 3, The slush separating apparatus is characterized in that the filtering member is installed at an angle equal to the maximum rotation angle of the tray. The method of claim 1, The driving means rotates the tray in both directions, Slush separator, characterized in that the maximum rotation angle is different in each direction. The method of claim 6, The driving means includes: The maximum rotation angle when discharging the slush is in the range of right angle or obtuse angle, the maximum rotation angle when discharging water is rotated the tray in the range of acute angle or right angle. A tray comprising a container for containing slush and water; Driving means mounted to one end of the tray to rotate the tray to be inclined; And And a receiving container for selectively dividing any one of the slush and water discharged from the container according to the rotational direction of the tray. The method of claim 8, The container is provided on one side of the tray, the first container for receiving the slush and A refrigerator provided on the other side of the tray, the refrigerator including a second container for receiving water. The method of claim 8, The driving means rotates the tray in both directions, A refrigerator, characterized in that the maximum rotation angle is different in each direction. The method of claim 10, The driving means includes: And a maximum rotational angle when discharging slush is in a range of right angles or an obtuse angle, and a maximum rotational angle when discharging water rotates the tray in a range of acute angles or right angles.

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