KR101443611B1 - Manufacturing method of heat generating material, heat generating device including the heat generating material and refrigerator including the heat generating device - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a heating element, a heating device including the heating element, and a refrigerator including the heating device. Specifically, it is possible to determine the thickness of the heating element, which can make the surface temperature of the heating element equal, based on the path length of the current flowing through the heating element and the length of the equipotential line.

In addition, the heating element manufactured by the manufacturing method of the heating element according to the present invention may constitute a heating device together with the current supplying device. In one embodiment of the heating device, the icemaker having the ice- It is possible to easily separate ice from the ice-making tray.

Heating element, refrigerator, tray, deicing

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a heating element, a heating device including the heating element, and a refrigerator including the heating device. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention [0001]

The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a heating element, a heating device including the heating element, and a refrigerator including the heating device. Specifically, the present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a heating element by determining a thickness so that the surface temperature is the same based on the path length of the current flowing through the heating element and the length of the equipotential line.

The principle of heat generation of the heating element of the present invention is to use a principle in which heat is generated by the internal resistance when electricity is conducted to a conductive metal object. In the heating element of the present invention, when designing a heating element having an arbitrary shape, the thickness of the heating element is determined so that the surface temperature of the heating element becomes the same when a current is applied to the heating element.

The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a heating element that maintains a surface temperature of a heating element constant by taking into account the heat transfer performance between the heating element and the surroundings using the length of the current path and the length of the equipotential line of the heating element to which the contact pressure is applied, And a refrigerator including the heating device and the heating device.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, the method including: supplying a current to a heating element having an arbitrary shape by applying a voltage; And a thickness determining step of determining a thickness of the heating element for making the surface temperature of the heating element uniform based on a path length of the current flowing through the heating element and an equipotential line.

In this case, the thickness of the heating element in the thickness determination step may be determined by the following equation (1).

[Equation 1]

Where t is the thickness of the heating element at an arbitrary position, t _o is the thickness of the heating element at the reference position, S _o Is the path of the current in the reference potential equalization line length at the position, L _o is the reference position length, S is the isoelectric line of a length at a certain position, L is the path length of the current at any position, n is the heat value of the heating element and It is an experimental value which is determined considering the heat transfer between the heating element and the surroundings.

Further, it is preferable that the value of n is larger than 0 and smaller than 1.

When the length of the current path is the same in the thickness determination step, the thickness of the heating element may be determined by the following equation (2).

&Quot; (2) "

Where t is the thickness of the heating element at an arbitrary position, t _o is the thickness of the heating element at the reference position, S _o Is the path of the current in the reference potential equalization line length at the position, L _o is the reference position length, S is the isoelectric line of a length at a certain position, L is the path length of the current at any position, n is the heat value of the heating element and It is an experimental value which is determined considering the heat transfer between the heating element and the surroundings.

Further, the present invention provides a heating element having an arbitrary shape; And a current supplying device for supplying a current to the heating element so as to maintain the surface temperature of the heating element uniformly. The thickness of the heating element is determined by a path length of a current flowing in the heating element, Device.

Here, the current supply device may include electrodes provided at both ends of the heating element, and a switch for selectively supplying a voltage to the electrodes to control a current supply time flowing to the heating element.

In this case, the current supply time is preferably set periodically.

The thickness of the heating element may be determined by the following equation (1).

[Equation 1]

Where t is the thickness of the heating element at an arbitrary position, t _o is the thickness of the heating element at the reference position, S _o Is the path of the current in the reference potential equalization line length at the position, L _o is the reference position length, S is the isoelectric line of a length at a certain position, L is the path length of the current at any position, n is the heat value of the heating element and It is an experimental value which is determined considering the heat transfer between the heating element and the surroundings.

In addition, when the length of the current path is the same, the thickness of the heating element may be determined by the following equation (2).

&Quot; (2) "

Where t is the thickness of the heating element at an arbitrary position, t _o is the thickness of the heating element at the reference position, S _o Is the path of the current in the reference potential equalization line length at the position, L _o is the reference position length, S is the isoelectric line of a length at a certain position, L is the path length of the current at any position, n is the heat value of the heating element and It is an experimental value which is determined considering the heat transfer between the heating element and the surroundings.

The present invention also provides a tray having an arbitrary shape which provides space for ice formation; And,

A current supplying device for supplying current to the tray that generates heat while maintaining a surface temperature of the tray in contact with the ice uniformly;

And an ice making device for removing the ice from the tray after the ice surface contacting the tray is melted. The thickness of the tray provides a refrigerator determined based on the path length of the current flowing through the tray and the equipotential line .

The heating element according to the present invention can raise the temperature of the surface evenly according to the application of the electric current.

The heating element may be included in the heating device together with the current supply device, and the supply of the current may be intermittent or periodic, depending on a previously input method. By the supply of this current, the surface of the heating device can be raised to a constant temperature.

According to the ice making device of the refrigerator configured by the above-described heating device, it is possible to easily separate ice from the ice-making tray after the ice-making process is completed.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described herein but may be embodied in other forms. Rather, the embodiments disclosed herein are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the concept of the invention to those skilled in the art. Like reference numerals designate like elements throughout the specification.

Since the heating element of the present invention is designed to have the same surface temperature at the time of current application, the method of manufacturing a heating element according to the present invention includes: a current supplying step of applying a voltage to a heating element having an arbitrary shape to supply a current; And a thickness determining step of determining a thickness of the heating element to make the surface temperature of the heating element uniform based on the path length of the current flowing through the heating element and the equipotential line.

The current supplied to the heating element having an arbitrary shape in the current supply step generates heat by the internal resistance. Since the heating element of the present invention must be designed so that the temperature at the surface of the heating element is the same, the thickness of the heating element is determined in the thickness determination step of determining the thickness in consideration of the heating value generated by the current supplied in the current supplying step.

Hereinafter, a method for determining the thickness of the heating element will be discussed. A method of determining the thickness of a heating element in the present invention is characterized in that the thickness is determined in consideration of the heating value of the heating element and the heat transfer between the heating element and the periphery.

First, in order to determine the thickness of a heat-emitting body that dissipates heat by electric resistance and current, the size of the heat-generating body and the ability of heat transfer must be considered.

In order to design a heating element having the same temperature at the surface, the following assumption is made.

If the heating value of the heating element is small or the heat transfer ability with the heating element is large, the thickness of the heating element should be designed so that the heating value per unit area is the same.

On the other hand, if the heating value of the heating element is large or the heat transfer ability of the heating element is low, the thickness of the heating element must be designed so that the heating value per unit area becomes equal.

The heat generation of the heating element is caused by the internal electric resistance. The calorific value of the heating element is determined by variables such as internal resistance and shape of the heating element. And, the heat transfer ability is a value determined according to the substance in contact with the heating element. The above assumptions are verified by the following experiments.

In the experiment, the surface temperature of the heating element was measured while varying the heating amount of the heating element having a certain thickness and the heat-exchange amount according to the application of the electric current, and the deviation of the surface temperature in the heating element under the same condition was measured.

1 is a graph showing a surface temperature deviation of a heating element in the above experiment. In Fig. 1, the surface temperature deviation is a difference value between the maximum temperature and the minimum temperature among the surface temperatures of the heating element.

In the graph shown in Fig. 1, p represents the calorific value per unit volume of the heating element, and t is the thickness of the heating element. In addition, as an experiment to measure the surface temperature deviation of the heating element, the substance in contact with the heating element surface was performed for both ICE (air) and air (air). The thickness of the heating element was 2 mm.

The assumption described above is that p * t ⁿ at any point in the heating element = Constant, the surface temperature of the heating element can be made uniform.

The n value is a value determined according to the heat transfer performance with the heat exchange material contacting the surface of the heating element.

1 (a), 1 (b), 1 (c) and 1 (d) show the heat exchange material with the heating element is ice (ICE) The heat exchange material is air. In the case where the material in contact with the heating element that is heated by the current is ice, the heat transfer performance is higher than when it is in contact with the air.

Since the vertical axis of the graph shown in Fig. 1 shows the temperature deviation value of the heating element, when the temperature deviation is small, it means that the surface temperature of the heating element is uniform.

In order to determine the desirable n value according to the heat transfer performance, n values were 0 and 1 according to the heat value, the thickness and the heat exchange material.

The meaning of setting the n value to 0 and 1 according to the heat exchange performance between the heating element and the heat exchanging material is p * t ⁿ Is a variable that determines whether the value refers to calorific value per unit volume or calorific value per unit area. In other words, when n = 1, the unit [mm] of the thickness t is canceled by the product of [MW / m ³ ], which is the unit of p, which means the calorific value per unit volume, and p * t ¹ means the calorific value per unit area In the case of n = 0, the unit of p * t ⁰ is [MW / m ³ ], so p * t ⁰ means the calorific value per unit volume.

Therefore, in the design of the heating element for determining the thickness to make the surface temperature of the heating element uniform, the heating value of the heating element and the material to be heat-exchanged with the heating element among conditions under which the heating value per unit volume is made constant, The appropriate n value will be determined according to the heat transfer performance of the heat exchanger. The thickness of the heating element was 2 mm.

1 (a) shows a case where n = 1 and p * 2 ¹ = 30 MW / m ³ * mm.

1 (b) shows a case where n = 1 and p * 2 ¹ = 3 MW / m ³ * mm.

1C shows a case where n = 0 and p * 2 ⁰ = 15 MW / m ³ .

1 (d) shows a case where n = 0 and p * 2 ⁰ = 1.5 MW / m ³ .

1 (e) shows a case where n = 1 and p * 2 ¹ = 30 MW / m ³ * mm.

1 (f) shows a case where n = 1 and p * 2 ¹ = 3 MW / m ³ * mm.

1 (g) shows a case where n = 0 and p * 2 ⁰ = 15 MW / m ³ .

1 (h) shows a case where n = 0 and p * 2 ⁰ = 1.5 MW / m ³ .

In the case of n = 1, p * 2 ¹ = 30 MW / m ³ * mm and p * 2 ¹ when the thickness t = 2 mm = 3 MW / m ³ * mm. Here, when p * 2 ¹ = 30 MW / m ³ * mm, it means that the calorific value is relatively large, and when p * 2 ¹ = 3 MW / m ³ * mm, it means that the calorific value is relatively small do.

In the case where p * 2 ⁰ = 15 MW / m ³ and p * 2 ⁰ = 1.5 MW / m ³ in the case of n = 0 in the case where the material to be heat-exchanged with the heating element is ice (ICE) In the case of 2 ⁰ = 15 MW / m ³ , it means a relatively large amount of heat generation, and in the case of p * 2 ⁰ = 1.5 MW / m ³ , it means a relatively small amount of heat generation.

First, comparing FIG. 1 (a) with FIG. 1 (c), when the calorific value per unit volume of the heating element is relatively large, the n value of n = 0 means that the variation of the surface temperature of the heating element is small do.

1 (b) and FIG. 1 (d), when the calorific value per unit volume of the heat generating element is relatively small, the case where the n value is n = 1 means that the surface temperature deviation of the heat generating element is small do.

1 (a) and 1 (b) indicate that the heating element having the same thickness has a small heating value per unit volume, and the case (b) means that the heating element surface temperature difference is small.

1 (c) and 1 (d), it can be seen that when n is 0, the surface temperature deviation of the heating element is smaller than the case where the heating amount per unit volume of the heating element is small.

In the case where the heat exchange material with the heating element is air, the case where n = 0, regardless of the heating value of the heating element, in other words, the heat exchange ability between the heating element and the external material is relatively small, This is a condition that can be made.

From these experimental results, the following conclusions can be drawn. When n is 0, it means that the surface temperature of the heating element can be controlled in the same manner by considering only the heating amount per unit volume.

Further, in the case where the material that is heat-exchanged with the heating element on the outer surface of the heating element is ice, the heat transfer from the heating element is a great condition. 1 (a), 1 (b), 1 (c) and 1 (d) show that the heat transfer performance is higher than the experimental conditions of FIGS. 1 (e) . 1 (a) corresponds to (e), Fig. 1 (b) corresponds to Fig. 1 (f), and Fig. 1 (c) shows the heat transfer performance on the surface of the heating element, 1 (d) corresponds to (h) in FIG. Therefore, the experimental conditions in which the temperature deviation of the heating element is small among the conditions of the respective corresponding pairs are (a), (b), (g) and (h) of FIG.

1 (a) and 1 (b) illustrate the case where the heat transfer performance is high, and FIGS. 1 (g) and (h) show the case where the heat transfer performance is low. When n = 0, In order to minimize the variation in temperature, the condition that the calorific value per unit volume is equal to the calorific value should be used. In the case of n = 1, the length unit is offset to set the thickness of the heating element so that the calorific value per unit surface area of the heating element is equal.

Therefore, as can be seen from the results of FIG. 1, in the case where the heat transfer performance is large (when the heat transfer material is ice), the thickness of the heating element should be set to a thickness condition in which the heating amount per unit area is the same (n = 1) It is preferable to set the thickness of the heating element in such a condition that the amount of heat generated per unit volume is the same (n = 0) when the heating element is air (when the heat transfer material is air).

As shown in FIGS. 1 (e), 1 (f), 1 (g) and 1 (h), when the heat exchange material that is heat-exchanged at the surface of the heat generating element is air, The amount of heat generated on the surface of the heating element is small. Therefore, when the heat exchanging material is air, the calorific value per unit volume of the heating element is a parameter for determining the surface temperature of the heating element.

Therefore, the above-described assumption is based on the experimental results shown in Fig. 1 that if the calorific value per unit volume of the heating element is small or the heat transfer capability is large, the thickness of the heating element should be set so that the calorific value per unit area of the heating element is constant over the heating element.

Conversely, when the amount of heat generated per unit volume of the heat generating element is large or the heat transfer ability is small, the thickness of the heat generating element should be set so that the amount of heat per unit volume of the heat generating element is constant throughout the heat generating element.

However, in actuality, the calorific value of the heating element and the heat transfer ability depend on various variables, so it is preferable to determine the value of n as a value between 0 and 1.

In summary, the temperature of the surface of the heating element can be made constant by controlling the product of the heating value of the heating element and the product of the square of the thickness of the heating element to be constant throughout the heating element in order to keep the surface temperature of the heating element constant. The n value at that time is an experimental value that can be determined from the above-described experiment or the like, and the experimental variables are the heating value and the heat transfer performance of the heating element. Therefore, the value of n can be determined in consideration of the use of the heating element and the like.

p * t ⁿ = Schedule (0? N? 1)

Therefore, in the method of manufacturing a heating element according to the present invention, the thickness condition of the heating element is such that the heating condition is such that the heating amount per unit volume of the heating element is equal to the heating condition per unit area .

In this equation, the value of n which makes the surface temperature of the heating element constant can be obtained experimentally. The n value is determined in consideration of the purpose of use of the heating element and the heat transfer environment. Using the determined n value, the value of p * t ⁿ = If the value of p or t is controlled to be constant, the temperature at the surface of the heating element becomes equal.

Hereinafter, a method for determining the thickness of a heating element, which can be the same temperature on the surface of a heating element, using an experimentally determined n value, a length of a current path of the heating element, or a length of the equipotential line.

2 is a conceptual diagram of a heating element through which a current flows. A denotes an arbitrary point of a certain volume of the heating element. S is the length of the equipotential line at a certain point of the heating body of a certain volume, t _o is the thickness of the heating body at the reference position of the heating body of a certain volume, S _o Represents the length of the equipotential line at the reference position of the heating body of a certain volume, and L _o represents the path length of the current at the reference position of the heating body of a constant volume.

The voltage applied to both ends of the heating element causes a current to flow into the heating element due to the potential difference. The current path is a line through which current flows. And the length L of the current path to an arbitrary point of the heating body of a certain volume. The current path through which current flows is perpendicular to the equipotential plane. The equipotential surface means a virtual curved surface having the same potential from the charge having an electrical load, and the current path is perpendicular to the equipotential surface. It can be assumed that the equipotential surface consists of a large number of equipotential lines, and the length is denoted by S.

If the current path is all straight in the heating element, the equipotential line is also shown as a straight line, but if the current path is a curve, the equipotential line also forms a curve. In the heating element shown in Fig. 2, the thickness direction of the heating element is a direction perpendicular to the paper surface.

The calorific value of a heating element occupying an arbitrary volume at a certain point in a heating element of arbitrary shape is determined by the current path length L and the area of the equipotential surface at that point (or the length S of the equipotential line).

Assume that a virtual line through which a current flows in a heating element formed of a conductor is referred to as a current path. The length (L) of the current path is understood to be the length of the current path to an arbitrary point of the heating body of a constant volume.

If the density of the current along the current path (the magnitude of the current flowing in the unit area of the conductor (unit: A / m 2) is the same, the following expression holds.

식(1)

Equation (1)

That is, the ratio of the unit voltage (V) drop to the length (L) of the unit current path is constant.

The equation (1) can be modified as shown in the following equation. The variables used in the following equations are as follows.

here,

is the resistance constant of the heating element,

and a is the area of the equipotential surface perpendicular to the current path of the heating element.

L is the current path length, which is the length of the path through which the current per unit volume flows.

Q is a calorific value of a heating element having a certain volume at an arbitrary point,

P means the calorific value per unit volume of the heating element at an arbitrary point.

식(2)

Equation (2)

The square of the ratio of the unit voltage (V) drop to the length (L) of the unit current path can be developed as described in equation (2).

According to equation (2), the calorific value per unit volume is calculated when the current path length is constant within the heating element.

는 발열체의 임의의 지점의 일정부피에서의 전기저항을 의미한다. 전기저항은 도체의 전류방향 길이에 비례하고 면적에 반비례하므로 위와 같은 식이 성립한다.

Means the electrical resistance at a certain volume of any point of the heating element. Since the electrical resistance is proportional to the current direction length of the conductor and inversely proportional to the area, the above equation is established.

a · dL means a certain volume of an arbitrary point of the heating element and corresponds to Vol. Also, since the amount of heat Q generated by the current and the resistance is proportional to the power consumed in the heat generating element, Q can be transformed as follows.

Therefore, the square of the ratio of the unit voltage (V) drop to the length (L) of the unit current path of the equation (2) can be converted into the resistance constant and the product per unit volume of the heating element.

Returning to equation (2), again, the calorific value P per unit volume means that the calorific value of the heating element per unit volume is kept constant along the current path, if the current density (voltage drop per unit length) is kept constant.

However, in order to keep the current density (the amount of voltage drop per unit length) constant (maintain a constant amount of heat per unit volume), the thickness s of the heating element and the length of the equipotential line (s) with the following formula.

tα 1 / s (3)

The length of the equipotential line, which is one of the straight lines forming the equipotential plane formed by the current flowing in the current path, is s.

Therefore, if the length (L) of the current path is the same in the heating element made up of conductors, if the length (s) of the equipotential line is long, the thickness must be thinned. The calorific value P per unit volume is constant, and consequently the surface temperature of the heating element can be made constant.

The calorific value per unit volume in equation (4) below is a formula that can be used when the current path inside the heating element composed of a conductor is constant.

식(4)

Equation (4)

According to equation (4), it can be seen that the calorific value per unit volume of the heating element at an arbitrary point is inversely proportional to the square of the length L of the current path.

Further, as shown in formula (4), it is confirmed that the calorific power per unit volume at any two points becomes equal to the calorific value per unit volume in the heating element only when the length L of the current path is the same .

Therefore, when the length of the current path is not constant, the calorific value P per unit volume is not constant, so the calorific value per unit volume is changed according to the length L of the current path. Therefore, not using the equation (4) to calculate the thickness becomes the same condition, the surface temperature, the re-expression (4), p * t ⁿ = Determine the thickness in relation to the schedule.

As described above, in order to make the surface temperatures of the heating elements have the same value, it is sufficient to design the following equation. The following equations are derived from the experimental results shown in Fig. 1 by the experiments already described.

식(5)

Equation (5)

Here, n is a value determined in consideration of the heat generation amount of the heating element and the heat transfer rate to the outside. By combining equations (4) and (5), the following equations can be obtained.

식(6)

Equation (6)

As described in formula (6)

t ⁿ ? L ² Equation (7)

The square of the thickness (t) of the heating element and the length (L) of the current path in the heating element are proportional.

In equation (3), the thickness of the heating element and the length (s) of the equipotential line are inversely related. Therefore, the thickness (t) of the heating element that satisfies both the equation (3) of tα 1 / s and the equation (7) of tαL ^{2 / n} is tα 1 / s · L ^{2 /} Specifically, the thickness of the heating element is

식(8)

Equation (8)

Can be determined in the manner specified in equation (8).

Where t is the thickness of the heating element at an arbitrary position, t _o is the thickness of the heating element at the reference position, S _o Is the path of the current in the reference potential equalization line length at the position, L _o is the reference position length, S is the isoelectric line of a length at a certain position, L is the path length of the current at any position, n is the heat value of the heating element and It is an experimental value which is determined considering the heat transfer between the heating element and the surroundings.

The thickness of the heating element determined by the above equation (8) is a relational expression of the length (s) of the equipotential line and the current path length (L).

The thickness t of the heating element defined by equation (8) is an equation used when the length L of the current path is not constant.

Next, a method for determining the thickness distribution of the heating element when the length L of the current path is constant in the heating element will be examined.

The amount of current passing through an arbitrary equipotential line is always constant and the calorific value of a heating element having a constant volume of the equipotential line is proportional to the power consumed in the heating element as shown in the following equation and has the same value as the power consumption.

Therefore, by Ohm's law,

식(9)

Equation (9)

The calorific value Q of a heating element having a certain volume at an arbitrary position can be determined by equation (9).

The area of the equipotential surface perpendicular to the current path is inversely proportional to the resistance R and can be calculated as the product of the thickness t of the heating element and the length of the equipotential line s.

In order to obtain the calorific value per unit volume using equation (9), the calorific value (Q) is divided by the volume (s * t * dl) and the equation (9) is summarized as follows.

식(10)

Equation (10)

According to equation (5), which is a conditional expression for making the surface temperature of the heating element equal to the calorific value P per unit volume calculated by equation (10)

식(11)이 성립하고,

Equation (11) holds,

The equation (11) can be summarized with respect to t

식(12)

Equation (12)

Equation (12) can be derived.

Where t is the thickness of the heating element at an arbitrary position, t _o is the thickness of the heating element at the reference position, S _o Is the path of the current in the reference potential equalization line length at the position, L _o is the reference position length, S is the isoelectric line of a length at a certain position, L is the path length of the current at any position, n is the heat value of the heating element and It is an experimental value which is determined considering the heat transfer between the heating element and the surroundings.

As can be seen from equation (12), when the length L of the current path is the same, the surface temperature can be made equal by the length s of the equipotential line of the exothermic body and the n value depending on the heat transfer performance at the surface of the exothermic body The thickness t of the heating element at an arbitrary position can be determined.

Such a heating element is used as a core component of a heating device. Since this heating device applies current to generate heat, a current supply device (not shown) is required to raise the surface temperature of the heating element to the same temperature.

FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 show an ice making device and an ice making tray of a refrigerator which is one example of a heat generating device according to the present invention.

The ice making tray 110, which is composed of the heating element of the present invention, is provided with a space for receiving ice to make ice. Specifically, the ice-making tray 110 includes at least one receiving portion 112 receiving water for making ice, and water is supplied to the upper portion and an opening for separating the ice is formed. That is, the ice-making tray 110 may be an aggregate of the accommodating portions 112 formed with a plurality of the accommodating portions 112.

Here, the ice-making tray 110 may be configured such that the plurality of receiving portions 112 are aligned in a row, and the plurality of receiving portions 112 aligned in a row may be arranged in a row. Each of the accommodating portions 112 is formed of the above-described heating element. If the thickness of the heating element is determined by the above-described method, the temperature of the surface of the accommodating portion 112 can be made uniform when a current is applied.

The receiving portion 112 may have various shapes. Specifically, the receiving portion 112 may have a hemispherical shape or a cube shape. An ice-making tray 110 having various types of receiving portions 112 may be provided so that ice having a shape suitable for a user's taste and taste can be produced. Of course, it is also understandable that a receiving portion 112 having a more complicated shape such as a star shape or a heart shape can be provided.

The ice making apparatus 100 according to the present invention includes the ice making tray 110 so as to separate ice from the ice making tray 110 when water contained in the ice making tray 110 is cooled by ice, And a moving part for moving the moving part to an idling position.

Here, the moving unit may be provided to linearly move the ice-making tray 110, but may be provided to rotate the ice-making tray 110. That is, the moving unit rotates the ice-making tray 110 with respect to the center axis of the ice-making tray 110 in the longitudinal direction (the longitudinal direction refers to the direction in which the receiving portions 112 are arranged in a line) It is preferable that the opening upper portion of the accommodating portion 112 of the ice-making tray 110 rotates downward.

The above-described method of determining the thickness of the heating element is used to determine the shape and thickness of each receiving portion 112 of the ice-making tray 110. [ The thickness distribution of each receiving portion 112 can be determined according to the current path of the respective receiving portions 112 and the length of the equipotential lines if the same voltage is applied to both ends of the receiving portion 112 whose shape is determined.

The ice making tray 110, which can be formed of the heating body according to the present invention, can be used for the purpose of easily heating ice from the ice tray 110 by heating the tray by electric current. Therefore, The contact surface of the ice-making tray 110 made of ice and the heat-generating body is heated to easily separate ice from the tray 110 to form a thin water film layer.

When the water film layer is formed, the ice in the ice-making tray does not require a large force for separation. A large force is not required, and when the ice-making tray 110 is rotated in some cases, it can be automatically separated from the ice-making tray 110 and dropped.

Therefore, the moving unit includes a rotating member 122 that is axially coupled to both ends of the ice-making tray 110 in the longitudinal direction, and a rotating member 122, which rotates the ice-making tray 110 together with the rotating member 122 (Not shown). Accordingly, when the ice-making is completed, the motor is driven to rotate the ice-making tray 110 coupled to the rotating member 122. Of course, it is also possible that the rotating member 122 is fixed and the motor rotates only the ice-making tray 110.

When the rotation angle of the ice-making tray 110 is within the above-mentioned range, ice is separated from the ice-making tray 110 due to its own weight and stored in an ice bank (not shown) ), Ice can be received immediately in a space desired by the user.

A water supply unit for supplying water to the ice-making tray 110 is provided at one side of the moving unit. The water supply unit may include a storage container 132 for storing water and a water supply pipe 134 for supplying water stored in the storage container 132 to the ice-making tray 110.

The storage vessel 132 may be connected to, for example, a water supply lake 136 to receive water from the outside. An opening / closing unit (not shown) is provided at a portion where the water supply pipe 134 and the storage container 132 are connected to each other so that water can be controlled to flow only when water is required to the ice-making tray 110.

 Here, the ice-making tray 110 is formed of a heating body, and a current is applied to the ice-making tray 110 to dissolve the ice and separate the ice from the ice-making tray 110.

In this case, the heating unit may include a current supply unit 142 that can supply current to the ice-making tray 110. The current supply device 142 may include a power supply 143 and an input control device 144. The input control device includes a switch for controlling the application of the current.

The current supply device 142 is connected to the electrodes on both ends of the heating element to supply current to the heating element. Further, it is preferable that current is not continuously supplied to the ice-making tray in the ice-making apparatus, but current is selectively supplied when necessary.

In addition, the current applied by the current supply device can be supplied in a pulse-like current.

As described above, since heat generated by the ice-making tray 110 composed of a heating element can be used to separate frozen ice from the ice-making tray 110, no current should be applied to the heat-generating device during freezing.

Therefore, when water is supplied into the ice-making tray 110 and ice is frozen manually, the operation of separating the ice from the ice-making tray 110 will also be manually performed. Therefore, it is preferable to provide a switch capable of controlling the supply of current to the current supply device.

When the operation such as water supply and ice-making is automatically performed, the control unit (not shown) of the refrigerator uses the completion of the ice-cooling process or the consumption signal of the reserved ice as an operation signal, Can be generated.

As described above, it is preferable that the ice-making tray 110 is made of a heating element so that current can flow. That is, the ice-making tray 110 may be made of a material such as copper (Cu), silver (Ag), aluminum (Al), stainless steel, aluminum alloy or the like having high electrical conductivity. By connecting the electrode 114 to the ice-making tray 110 and applying a current thereto, the ice-making tray 110 can be uniformly heated in a short time.

In one embodiment of the present invention, it has been described that the thickness of the receiving portion made of the heating element according to the present invention can be determined by Equation (1) or (8) when the length of each current path is different.

Specifically, an electrode 114 is inserted at both ends of the ice-making tray 110, and an electric circuit (not shown) is connected to the electrode 114 so that current can flow through the ice-making tray 110. At this time, an electric circuit for connecting the two electrodes 114 may be installed inside the rotary member 122.

When a heat is generated by applying a pulse to the ice-making tray 110 for a predetermined period of time, a contact surface of the ice formed on the receiving portion 112 of the ice-making tray 110 and the ice-receiving portion 112, 110 from the outer surface of the ice. Then, the ice sticking to the receiving portion 112 is separated from the receiving portion 112. In the state where the ice-making tray 110 is rotated downward as described above, (110).

At this time, the heating amount of the ice-making tray 110 may be controlled by applying a current supplied by the power supply 143 to the input controller 144 in a pulse form. Here, the input controller 144 may be constituted by a resistor circuit, a Triac circuit, a coil circuit, or the like.

An icemaker, which is an embodiment of such a heating device, can be used not only for ice making but also for ice cream manufacturing equipments, etc., and can also be used when it is expected that a frozen- It is easily predictable.

Although there are many kinds of examples in which the heating device according to the present invention can be used, a refrigerator including an icemaker including a heating device according to the present invention can easily be implemented in a domestic refrigerator.

The refrigerator according to the present invention can automate ice making and can assist the ice making operation required for its automation. In addition, even when the automatic ice-making operation is not performed, the ice is selectively separated from the ice-making tray by applying an electric current to the ice-making tray when the ice-making operation is to be released from the ice-making tray.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the following claims. . It is therefore to be understood that the modified embodiments are included in the technical scope of the present invention if they basically include elements of the claims of the present invention.

1 is a graph showing an experimental result for determining the thickness of a heating element of the present invention

2 is a conceptual diagram of a heating element of the present invention

FIG. 3 is a view showing an example of the structure of the ice making device according to the embodiment of the present invention,

4 is a perspective view of an ice-making tray as an embodiment of a heating element of the present invention.

Description of the Related Art

L is the length of the current path at any point in a constant volume heating element

S: length of equipotential line at any point of a constant volume heating element

A: An arbitrary point of a constant volume heating element

t _o : heating element thickness at a reference position of a constant volume heating element

S _o : The length of the equipotential line at the reference position of a constant volume heating element

L _o : The path length of the current at the reference position of a constant volume heating element

100: Ice-making device 110: Ice-

112: accommodating portion 114: electrode

122: rotating member 132: storage container

134: water pipe 142: current supply device

143: power supply 144: input control device

Claims (10)

A current supplying step of applying a voltage to a heating element having an arbitrary shape to supply a current; And And a thickness determining step of determining a thickness of the heating element for making the surface temperature of the heating element uniform based on a path length of the current flowing through the heating element and an equipotential line, Wherein the thickness of the heating element in the thickness determining step is determined by the following equation (1). [Equation 1]

Here, t is the thickness of the heating element at an arbitrary position, t _o is the thickness of the heating element at the reference position, S _o is the length of the equipotential line at the reference position, L _o is the path length of the current at the reference position, Where L is the path length of the current at an arbitrary position, and n is the experimental value determined by considering the heat generation amount of the heat emission element and the heat transfer between the heat emission element and the periphery. delete The method according to claim 1, Wherein the value of n is greater than 0 and less than 1. The method according to claim 1, Wherein the thickness of the heating element is determined by the following equation (2) when the length of the current path is the same in the thickness determination step. &Quot; (2) "

Where t is the thickness of the heating element at an arbitrary position, t _o is the thickness of the heating element at the reference position, S _o Is the length of the equipotential line at the reference position, S is the length of the equipotential line at an arbitrary position, and n is the empirical value determined by considering the heat generation amount of the heating element and the heat transfer between the heating element and the surroundings. A heating element having an arbitrary shape; And And a current supplying device for supplying a current to the heating element so that the surface temperature of the heating element is uniformly maintained, Wherein a thickness of the heating element is determined based on a path length and an equipotential line of a current flowing in the heating element. 6. The method of claim 5, Wherein the current supply device includes electrodes provided at both ends of the heating element and a switch for selectively supplying a voltage to the electrodes and controlling a current supply time of the current flowing to the heating element. The method according to claim 6, Wherein the current supply time period is set periodically. 6. The method of claim 5, Wherein the thickness of the heating element is determined by the following equation (1).

Where t is the thickness of the heating element at an arbitrary position, t _o is the thickness of the heating element at the reference position, S _o L is the path length of the current at an arbitrary position, n is the heat generation amount of the heating element, and L is the length of the electric current at the reference position, L _o is the path length of the current at the reference position, S is the length of the equipotential line at an arbitrary position, And an experimental value determined by considering the heat transfer between the heating element and the surroundings. 6. The method of claim 5, And the thickness of the heating element is determined by the following equation (2) when the length of the current path is the same.

Here, t is the thickness of the heating element at an arbitrary position, t _o is the thickness of the heating element at the reference position, S _o is the length of the equipotential line at the reference position, L _o is the path length of the current at the reference position, Where L is the path length of the current at an arbitrary position, and n is the experimental value determined by considering the heat generation amount of the heat emission element and the heat transfer between the heat emission element and the periphery. A tray providing a space in which ice is formed and having an arbitrary shape; A current supplying device for supplying current to the tray that generates heat while maintaining a surface temperature of the tray in contact with the ice uniformly; And And an ice device for removing the ice from the tray after the ice surface contacting the tray melts, Wherein the thickness of the tray is determined based on a path length of the current flowing through the tray and an equipotential line.

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