KR19980019566A - ICE MACHINE - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an ice machine,

To be able to obtain a large amount of miniature ice cubes

Water is supplied to the top of the evaporator integrated into the evaporator portion to form a small ice mass in a plurality of grooves in the evaporator, and then the hot surface of the evaporator bypasses the hot refrigerant to supply a high temperature refrigerant. At the same time as this melted, each small chunk of ice fell by its own weight and accumulated in the cylinder.

Description

Ice maker

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to ice makers, and more particularly, to ice makers capable of producing a large amount of small ice chunks fully automatically.

As a result of improved living standards, the use of ice in all seasons is common in everyday life. If you drink ice or cold in alcoholic beverages or other beverages at home, a representative example would be to store the product in a large chunk of ice at the department of vegetables or seafood, such as department stores.

On the other hand, as the demand for ice is increased, various types of ice makers have been developed to manufacture only a small amount of ice that is easier to handle.

Briefly, the structure of the ice maker includes a plurality of hexagonal ice making cases in the evaporator portion in which a low-temperature, low-pressure refrigerant flows in one refrigeration cycle including a compressor, a condenser, a capillary tube, an evaporator, and a liquid separator. ) Is installed. In other words, when a certain time elapses after the operation, the water in the case is formed in close contact with each small ice mass.

However, such a conventional ice maker has a fundamental problem in that the entire ice making process is not automatically performed.

In other words, although various mechanisms or structures have been proposed to reduce the user's hand, the main tasks such as the separation and resupply of ice chunks after freezing and checking the amount of ice storage have not been completely automatic.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of such a conventional problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide an ice maker capable of producing a large amount of small ice mass completely automatically.

1 is a refrigerant flow diagram showing a refrigeration cycle for an ice maker in an embodiment of the present invention,

2 is an internal structure diagram of an ice maker of the embodiment;

3 is a cross-sectional view showing an evaporator unit of the ice maker.

Explanation of symbols on the main parts of the drawings

10: hot gas valve 20: capillary tube

30: hot gas supply pipe 40: evaporator piping

50: ice maker 53: inner cylinder

56 compressor 57 circulation pump

58: drip tray 59: jet nozzle

60: evaporator 61: injection pipe

Ice maker of the present invention for achieving this object, by continuously spraying high pressure water through the injection nozzle in the form surrounding the evaporator constituting the refrigerating cycle, the plurality of grooves in the evaporator is gradually filled with ice particles There is a let down feature.

On the other hand, if the respective groove is filled with a small ice chunk of the appropriate size after a certain time, by supplying a high-temperature refrigerant from the compressor to the evaporator by bypass to melt the ice of the contact portion with the evaporator, each ice chunk will fall by itself. .

Hereinafter, the ice maker of the embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

First, according to FIG. 1, which is a refrigerant flow chart showing a refrigerating cycle for an ice maker of the above embodiment, a separate hot gas valve (in addition to the general refrigeration cycle components such as the compressor, the condenser, the capillary 20, the evaporator and the liquid separator as described above) hot-gas valve, 10).

The hot gas valve 10 is a valve connected between the compressor and the condenser and connected to the inlet of the hot gas supply pipe 30 peculiar to the present invention, which is also connected to the evaporator. · It is to supply the high pressure refrigerant to the evaporator separately.

On the other hand, according to Figure 2 showing the internal structure of the ice maker of the embodiment, the ice maker 50 of the present invention is a box form each side is surrounded by a panel is largely divided into two parts up and down. That is, the lower space including the condenser 54, the fan motor 55, the compressor 56, the circulation pump 57 and the like installed on the base 52 forming the bottom surface; It is a structure divided into the inner cylinder 53 part which is a foam urethane (uretane) material body which has the function as an ice-making chamber and an ice storage cell simultaneously.

In addition to the usual components such as the condenser 54, the ice maker 50 of the present invention, the evaporator 60 is integrated in the form surrounded by the evaporator pipe 40, the drip tray 58 provided below, A circulation pump 57 mounted on the base 52, an injection nozzle 59 provided directly below the evaporator 60, and an injection pipe 61 connected to the injection nozzle 59 from the circulation pump 57. ), One side opening is located in the drip tray 58 and the other end is connected to the suction pipe 62 connected to the circulation pump 57 and the upper end of the drip tray 58 to serve as a water supply from the outside of the ice maker. A water supply pipe 63 and a water supply valve 64 at the other end thereof, the inner cylinder 53 including the evaporator 60 and the drip tray 58, and containing ice chunks falling from the evaporator 60; Water level sensor installed at a certain point in the drip tray 58 and the inner cylinder 53, respectively 65 and an ice level sensor 66, and a control box (not shown) for controlling the related devices in accordance with a predetermined operating time or other operating conditions.

Here, the operation process of the ice maker of the present invention will be described by connecting the evaporator to the cross-sectional view of FIG. 3 and the other two drawings.

First, the inner upper end portion passes through the evaporator pipe 40, and injects high pressure water from a lower injection nozzle directly toward each groove portion of the evaporator 60 which is interconnected by inverting a plurality of cups.

At this time, in the evaporator pipe 40 is maintained at a sub-zero temperature state, the water sprayed from the injection nozzle 59 is frozen in contact with the evaporator 60 immediately to change in the form of ice particles (c) Stick. Due to the continuous high pressure water injection, the ice particles c gradually grow to completely fill the hexagonal grooves. Of course, the hot gas valve 10 as described above is kept closed while the ice particle growth is in progress.

When the temperature of the evaporator drops below a certain temperature, it is forcibly started by a microcomputer for a predetermined time. When the hexagonal groove part on the evaporator 60 is filled with a small amount of ice of an appropriate size, by an electric signal from the control box. High pressure water injection through the spray nozzle 59 is stopped. At the same time, the hot gas valve 10 is also opened by a control signal from the control box, and after 20 seconds, the water supply valve is opened to start water supply.

Since the hot gas valve 10 is filled with the high temperature and high pressure refrigerant discharged from the compressor 56, the valve is opened and the high temperature and high pressure refrigerant moves through the evaporator pipe 40. That is, the gas of high temperature and high pressure flows into the evaporator pipe 40 as described above, so that the temperature of the entire evaporator 60 gradually rises, and the ice at the portion in contact with the evaporator melts and each small ice mass is caused by its own weight. The inner cylinder 53 is accumulated in the space portion. At this time, the crushed guide member 67 mounted below the evaporator 60 guides these ice chunks so that ice accumulates in the barrel.

In addition, once the ice making operation is completed by the above process, the circulation pump 56 is restarted to start spraying the high pressure water toward the evaporator 60 again. Of course, the process is repeated.

Therefore, when the water in the drip tray 58 falls below a certain level due to the water level, the water level sensor 65 detects this and sends an electrical signal to the control box to stop the whole machine and shut the bell. Ring and protect the water pump.

In addition, when the appropriate amount of ice in the inner cylinder (53) is filled, the control box that has confirmed this through the ice amount sensor 66 sends a corresponding signal to stop the operation of all the components.

By this operation principle, when the user operates the ice maker operating conditions according to the use and installation method, the inner cylinder 53 is always filled with a certain amount of small ice.

Here, it should be noted that the ice maker of the present invention is not limited to the structure of the above embodiment. That is, the evaporator may be detachably mounted directly below the evaporator rather than the injection molded structure, and other structures are also possible, and the present invention includes all forms of the invention in which such minor changes are made.

As described above, the ice maker of the present invention is a machine capable of producing a large amount of small ice cubes quickly and automatically, and is a very useful invention for improving related industrial development and convenience of life.

Claims (3)

A condenser 54, a fan motor 55, a compressor 56 and a circulation pump 57 mounted on the base 52 forming the bottom surface of the box surrounded by the panel 51, and above them. An ice maker including an inner cylinder 53 positioned and simultaneously functioning as an ice making chamber and an ice reservoir, comprising: an evaporator 60 disposed at an upper end of the inner cylinder 53 in a form surrounding a portion of the evaporator 60; The drip tray 58 installed, the injection nozzle 59 provided directly below the evaporator 60, the injection pipe 61 connected to the injection nozzle 59 from the circulation pump 57, and one side opening is the drip tray ( The other end portion is located in 58 and the other end portion is connected to the suction pipe 62 connected to the circulation pump 57, the water supply pipe 63 and the other connected to the upper end of the drip tray 58 and serves as a water supply from the outside of the ice maker. At each of the water supply valve 64 at the side end and a predetermined point in the drip tray 58 and the inner cylinder 53, Ice machine characterized in that it further comprises a water level sensor (65) and an ice level sensor (66), and a control box for controlling the related devices in accordance with a predetermined operating condition. According to claim 1, The compressor 56 and the condenser 54 between the predetermined point of the refrigerant pipe and the evaporator 60 is connected to a separate hot gas supply pipe 30 and the hot gas valve 10 in its inlet Ice machine comprising the The ice maker according to claim 1, wherein a crushed guide member (67) is mounted below the evaporator (60) for guiding the falling of the ice mass.