KR101407003B1 - Apparatus and method for supplying water to icemaker using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a water supplying and draining apparatus of an icemaker and a water supplying and draining method of the icemaker which are capable of opening or closing the opened lower side of an ice making tray by the buoyancy of supplied ice making water and which are capable of supplying water into the ice making tray. The water supplying and draining apparatus according to the present invention comprises: an ice making unit (1) having an evaporator (12) and a submerged pipe (11) integrated with the evaporator (12), and allowing a refrigerant to be circulated in a refrigeration cycle of evaporation, compression, condensation, and expansion; an ice making tray housing (20) positioned at a predetermined height from the lower side of the submerged pipe (11), and having an opened upper and lower sides; a water supplying and draining unit (21) having a bottom surface (211), a water supplying pipe (212), and a floating body (214) which are integrated with each other and which are integrally moved up and down; and a buoyant tank (3) having a water supplying path (32) on one surface thereof, and having a space in which the water supplying and draining unit (21) is housed to be moved up and down by buoyant pressure due to the supplied ice making water, wherein the bottom surface (211) adhering to the bottom part of the ice making tray and opening or closing the bottom part of the ice making tray has a through-hole (213) communicating with the water supplying pipe (212) which is connected to the lower side thereof and which penetrates the floating body (214) to the lower side thereof to form a through-hole (215). According to the present invention, the floating body (214) moved up by the supplied ice making water so that the lower side of a water tray can be blocked and the water can be supplied into the water tray through a water supplying hole.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ice-

More particularly, the present invention relates to an ice-maker water-drainage apparatus and method thereof, and more particularly, to an ice-making machine for ice- The present invention relates to a water supply /

Generally, the known water supply / drainage system of ice maker is a tray type water tank structure in which the bottom of ice tray (water tray, ice tray) is integrated.

Due to the structure of the ice-making dish, there is a problem that when the ice in the water dish is de-iced, the water level at the time of water supply is sensed and controlled, the ice is released after icing, and the water- It was tried.

Conventionally, the ice-making water supply and drainage system of the ice maker is used to supply and discharge de-iced water through the top of an ice-making dish (an ice-making tray, a water dish, an ice- It is known that the dish is turned upside down to discharge deicing water and residual water. The ice-making water discharging method of the ice-making dish itself has a disadvantage in that the discharge trajectory is wide and the space of the ice-making device is wide.

Also, since the known ice maker, the water supply / drainage structure of the water dish of the ice maker, the ice maker, and the water treatment system of the residual water treatment system is a method of reversing or moving the dish itself, And many improvements were required.

Recently, an ice maker disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-2012-0064026 and an ice making method using the ice maker are known.

This is a method of cooling the ice as an evaporator outside the size and shape of the box to form ice in the box, then opening the floor to freeze and drop the ice. In this method, since the cool air of the evaporator is transmitted to the box body, there is a disadvantage that the cooling efficiency is lowered.

An object of the present invention is to improve the structure of the ice tray for opening the bottom of the ice making box to improve the cooling efficiency.

The present invention provides a new water supply and drainage structure and method for improving the cooling efficiency by improving the disadvantages of the conventional method of opening the bottom of the ice making dish, and supplying and discharging water by simply using the buoyancy of the iced water without a separate up / down mechanism It has its purpose.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an ice-

An ice making unit consisting of an evaporator of an immersion tube through a process of evaporating, compressing, condensing, and expanding the refrigerant by circulating the refrigerant in a refrigeration cycle; An ice-making dish housing positioned at a predetermined height below the immersion tube and having upper and lower openings;

A water supply pipe connected to the bottom of the housing to connect the bottom of the housing to the bottom of the ice-making dish housing and to open and close the bottom of the ice-making dish housing, the water supply pipe extending downward from the floating body, A water supply and drainage mechanism for raising and lowering the bottom surface, the water supply pipe and the floating body integrally; And a buoyancy tank which forms a water channel on one side and forms a space for receiving the water drainage mechanism so that the water drainage mechanism (21) forms a negative pressure as the supplied deicing water to raise and lower the water, .

In order to achieve the above object, it is preferable that the bottom surface of the water supply and drainage device of the present invention is inclined in one direction, and the water of the buoyancy tank is supplied by the pumping means, and the level of the ice- Means for controlling the pumping of the pumping means.

According to an aspect of the present invention,

A water supply step of supplying ice water to the buoyancy tank; an ice tray bottom floor step of blocking the bottom of the ice tray so that the bottom surface of the floating article is raised as the water level in the buoyancy tank rises and the water level rises; A water supply step of supplying water to the ice making dish through the water supply pipe by continuing the water supply by the pumping means in a state where the water is supplied by the pumping means, A step of discharging the residual water in the ice making tray by moving the water drainage device downward when ice is grown to a predetermined size after a predetermined time; The glacier is accomplished by an ice-maker-class drainage method that includes a de-icing stage.

The icemaker and the drainage apparatus of the present invention can improve the ice making efficiency by changing the icemaker structure in which the ice is dropped after the icemaker is opened by immersing the evaporator in the icemaker of the ice maker.

In the ice-maker water supply and drainage system and method of the present invention, the evaporator immersion means is located inside the ice-making dish to improve the ice-making efficiency, and the floor opening and shutting system can be blocked by the negative pressure of the ice- The water supply in the ice-making dish is naturally watered while the rising and lowering of the water supply and drainage mechanism using the buoyancy is blocked, the structure of the separate water supply pipe for supplying the iced water in the ice tray has been omitted, It has an improved effect.

1 is a schematic sectional view showing a cross-sectional structure of a conventional icemaker,
2 is a perspective view illustrating an evaporator, an ice-making dish housing, and a bottom of an ice-maker in accordance with the present invention.
FIG. 3 is an assembled cross-sectional view of the water supply /
Figs. 4A to 4E are schematic cross-sectional views illustrating a water supply and drainage system and method of the present invention,
5 is an exploded perspective view of another embodiment of the water supply and drainage device for an ice-maker of the present invention.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

2 is a perspective view illustrating an evaporator, an ice-making dish housing, and a bottom of an ice-maker in accordance with the present invention, and FIG. 3 is an end view of the ice-maker.

According to the present invention, there is provided an ice-

A freezing unit (1) composed of an evaporator (12) integral with an evaporator tube (11) through a process of evaporating, compressing, condensing and expanding the refrigerant circulated largely in a freezing cycle; A water supply and drainage mechanism 21 for opening and closing the bottom portion of the ice-making dish housing, and a water supply and drainage mechanism 21 for housing the water supply and drainage mechanism 21, And a buoyancy tank 3 in which a water channel 32 is formed.

The water supply and drainage mechanism 21 has a bottom surface 211 inclined to one side and a floating body 214 formed at a lower portion thereof and connected to the floating body 214 by a water supply pipe 212, A water hole 212 is connected to the lower part of the water hole 211 in the lower part of the water hole 211 and a water hole 215 is formed in the lower part of the water hole 212, (214).

The bottom surface 211 of the water supply and drainage mechanism 21, the water supply pipe 212 and the lifting body 214 are integrally formed and the bottom surface 212 is preferably in the form of a plate.

The water supply and drainage mechanism 21 may be any of a bottom surface 212, a float body 214 and a water supply pipe 212 which are integrally formed in the buoyancy tank 3 as an ice-making water level.

When the ice-making water is supplied to the buoyancy tank (3) through the water supply path (32) by the pumping means (4), the ice-making water is supplied to the buoyancy tank (3) The bottom surface 211 of the floating body 214 integrally rises to block the bottom of the ice tray and keep the water supply to the pumping means 4 while the bottom of the ice tray is blocked, The water in the dish is supplied and the water is stopped and the water supply is stopped and the refrigeration cycle of the evaporator 1 which is an integral part of the immersion tube 11 is operated to grow ice in the irrigation pipe 11 When ice is grown to a predetermined size after a predetermined time, the water drainage mechanism 21 is moved downward to discharge the remaining water in the ice tray, and the ice formed in the irrigation pipe 11 is drained after the residual water is discharged.

The ice-making water supply and drainage process of the ice making machine of the present invention will be described as follows.

4a to 4e, the ice-making water supply and drainage process of the ice making machine of the present invention includes a water supply step 1, a floor cutoff step 2, a water supply step 3, an ice formation step 4, A residual water discharge step (5), and a rinsing step (6).

(1) In the water supply step, the water supply is started by supplying cold water cooled by the contact ice in the cold / hot water purifier to the water supply path (32) through the pumping means (4).

(2) In the bottom closing step, as the water level in the buoyancy tank 3 is filled and the water level rises, the water supply and drainage mechanism 21 of the floating body 214 rises and the bottom surface 211 of the water drainage mechanism 21 rises And is raised from the bottom of the ice-making dish (20) to close the bottom of the ice-making dish (20).

(3) In the water supplying step, the pumping of the continuous pumping means 4 in the state where the bottom of the ice-making dish 20 is blocked by the bottom surface 211, the rising of the floating body 214 by the water supply is stopped, So that the ice water is supplied to the side of the water pipe 212 and the ice making water in the ice-making dish 20. In the early stage of the water supply process, the pumping operation of the ice water operates by buoyancy to float the water supply and drainage mechanism 21 integrally with the floating body 214, but from the moment when the rising of the bottom surface 211 of the water drainage mechanism 21 stops The pumped de-iced water is supplied to the water supply pipe (212).

(4) In the ice forming step, the predetermined level in the ice-making dish 20 is sensed through the sensing means (not shown), the water supply of the pumping means 4 is controlled (the deficient iced water is supplied by ice formation) Then, a freezing cycle of the ice-making unit 1 composed of the evaporator 12, which is an integral part of the immersion tube 11 immersed, is operated to grow ice in the immersion tube 11. [

(5) When the ice is grown to a predetermined size after a predetermined time, it senses it by a predetermined sensing means (not shown), and controls (stops) the operation of the pumping means 4 as the signal, The buoyancy is weakened and moved downward so that the bottom surface 211 of the ice-making tray 20 is opened and the residual water is discharged.

(6) After the residual water is drained, the ice is deaerated by the inclined bottom surface 211 when the ice is deaerated by the de-iced water end (not shown) formed in the intestinal tract 11.

Since the above process is repeated, the water supply and drainage mechanism is raised by the negative pressure of the ice-making water in the buoyancy tank to cut off the bottom of the ice-making dish and supply water, so that the construction of the separate water- And the natural improvement of the ice is achieved.

5 is a perspective view showing an evaporator, an ice-making dish housing, and a bottom of another embodiment of the water supply and drainage device for an ice-maker according to the present invention.

The ice-maker water supply and drainage system according to the present invention has the same structure as that of the embodiment of Fig. 2 described above and has a difference that only one side is a cylindrical curved surface.

The water supply and drainage system of the present invention according to the present invention also includes a freezing unit 1 composed of an evaporator 12 integral with an idler pipe 11 through circulation of refrigerant in a refrigeration cycle and evaporation, compression, condensation, A water supply and drainage mechanism 21 for opening and closing the bottom portion of the ice-making dish housing, and a water supply and drainage mechanism 21 built in the water supply and drainage housing 21, And a buoyancy tank 3 in which water supply passages 32 are formed on one side so as to form buoyancy as the deicing ice water.

The water drainage mechanism 21 has a bottom surface 211 inclined to one side and a floating body 214 formed at a lower portion thereof and connected to the floating body 214 by a water pipe 212, And a water pipe 212 is connected to the water pipe 211 downwardly from the water pipe 211 and the water pipe 212 is penetrated to form a hole 215 in the lower part of the water pipe 212 214). The bottom surface 211 of the water supply and drainage mechanism 21 is connected to the water supply pipe 212 and the lifting body 214. The bottom surface 212 is preferably in the form of a plate, Various types of the bottom surface 212, the lifting body 214, and the water supply pipe 212 which are raised or lowered in the ice making water level in the present invention are possible and are included in the claims of the present invention.

1: an ice making unit, 11: an immersion tube, 12: an evaporator, 20: an ice tray, 21:
211: bottom surface, 212: water supply pipe, 213: borehole, 214: floating body, 215: borehole, 3: buoyancy tank,
31: space, 32: water supply,

Claims (4)

In a water and draining device for an ice maker,
A freezing unit (1) composed of an evaporator (12) integral with an immersion tube (11) through a process of evaporating, compressing, condensing and expanding the refrigerant circulating in a refrigeration cycle;
An ice-making dish housing 20 which is positioned at a predetermined height below the upright tube 11 and is opened upward and downward;
A bottom surface 211 formed with a hole 213 and a water supply pipe 212 connected to the hole 213 and connected to the bottom surface 211, The water supply pipe 212 is integrally formed with the lower portion of the lifting body 214 to form a hole 215 and the water supply and drainage mechanism is integrally formed with the bottom surface 211, the water supply pipe 212, 21); And
A buoyancy tank 3 forming a water passage 32 on one side and forming a space for receiving the water and water discharger 21 so that the water supply and drainage mechanism 21 forms negative pressure as the supplied deicing water, Including,
Wherein the floating body (214) rises as ice-making deicing water to cut off the bottom of the water dish, and water is supplied into the water dish through the water-supplying hole. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the bottom surface (211) is inclined in one direction or both directions. 2. The ice maker according to claim 1, wherein the buoyancy tank is supplied with water by pumping means, and the level of the ice-making water supplied is sensed by the water level sensing means to control pumping of the pumping means. Device. In the icemaker water supply / drainage method,
A water supply step of supplying ice water to the buoyancy tank (3);
A bottom surface of the ice tray to block the bottom of the ice tray so that the bottom surface 211 of the floating body 214 is raised as the level of the ice tray is filled with the buoyancy tank 3;
An automatic water supplying step of supplying water into the ice making dish through the water supply pipe (212) by continuing the water supply by the pumping means in a state where the bottom of the ice making dish is blocked;
An ice forming step of sensing a predetermined water level in the ice-making dish and stopping the water supply, and operating a freezing cycle of the evaporator of the immersed irrigation pipe to grow ice in the irrigation pipe;
A residual water discharge step (3) for discharging the residual water in the ice tray by moving the water drain mechanism (21) downward when the ice is grown to a predetermined size after a predetermined time; And
And a de-icing step (4) of de-icing the ice with a de-icing water stage formed in the immersion tube immediately after the residual water is discharged.

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