KR19990029776A - Automatic Ice Maker - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an automatic ice making device mounted in a refrigerator. When the ice making plate 20 rotates forward in a horizontal position, the ice is moved, and when the ice rotates counterclockwise, the ice cube 24 descends and ice in the storage box 32 falls. In this case, the hall IC 74 is turned on in the horizontal position and the maximum torsional position with respect to the rotation of the ice making plate 20, and in the ice detection direction, the hole IC 74 is turned off. When the plate 20 is in the ice detection area, the Hall IC 74 detects the position of the ice detection lever 24 to detect the presence of ice, so that the ice detection operation can be performed before the ice is taken, and even after ice is taken. It is characterized by providing an automatic ice making device.

Description

Automatic Ice Maker

The present invention relates to an automatic ice maker mounted in a refrigerator.

Recent refrigerators are equipped with automatic ice machines. This automatic ice making machine supplies water from a water tank to an ice making plate, and drops the ice created by this ice making plate to a storage box.

By the way, the control of the automatic ice making device required the information of the dish position for controlling the rotation of the ice making plate during the ice-making and the amount of storage of the storage box to determine whether ice may be made. Therefore, two sensors, a position sensor for detecting the position of the dish rotation and an ice sensor for detecting the amount of ice storage, were required.

The position sensor detects the horizontal position of the ice making plate and the maximum torsional position for twisting the ice making plate for ice making, and sends the detection signal to the controller. The control unit judges that it is the maximum torsion position when the plate is moved in the moving direction and receives the detection signal from the position sensor, and it is the horizontal position when the plate is rotated in the horizontal return direction to receive the detection signal from the position sensor.

On the other hand, the detection of the amount of ice storage was retracted upward at the time of ice removal, and the determination was made based on the detection signal of the ice detection sensor which detects the position of the ice detection lever lowered into the storage box normally.

However, for this control, it is necessary to use two position sensors and an ice sensor, and there is a problem that the automatic ice making apparatus for increasing the amount of ice storage is disadvantageous in terms of compactness and cost reduction.

Therefore, as an integrated of these two sensors, the following automatic ice making device has been proposed (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 8-233419).

This automatic ice making device performs ice detection during the rotation of the ice-making plate at the time of ice-making, and if one sensor is full except the position detection, it outputs a signal for a short time, and detects that it is full. That is, when the signal comes out from a single sensor by rotating the ice tray in the ice direction, it is inverted at that time and the rotation of the ice tray is stopped when the signal comes out for a predetermined time.

In the case of the normal ice-making where the amount of ice storage is not full, the full detection signal during the rotation of the ice tray in the ice-making direction is not output, and thus the signal is inverted to the signal at the maximum torsional position. At the time of horizontal return, even if the amount of ice storage becomes full due to ice, and the signal is output, the signal width is ignored because it is within a certain time and stops at a signal longer than a certain time at the horizontal return position.

On the other hand, when the amount of ice is full, when the ice tray is rotated from the horizontal position to the icing direction, a full detection signal is issued during the rotation, and the dish is reversed at that position to return to the horizontal position, and outputs a signal for a predetermined time or more at that position. And stop by this.

That is, the determination of whether it is full can be seen by the time taken to rotate the ice tray in the ice direction.

However, in the automatic de-icing device of the above-described configuration, the detection lever is moved up and down during the rotation of the ice tray in the ice direction and during the horizontal return, and two detection operations are performed with one ice. There is a problem that the inspection lever and its operation mechanism are disadvantageous in life.

In addition, the premise of pre-ice ice is premised, and there is a problem in that the life of the ice tray is shortened because the ice tray needs to be twisted even when it is not full when the water is detected before water supply for the next ice making.

In addition, since it is necessary to monitor the rotation time of the ice making plate and the time width of the signal from the sensor, the motor voltage for rotating the ice making plate needs to be made low. In other words, in a power supply circuit using a transformer, the supply voltage to the motor is changed due to a load change such as a change in the commercial power supply voltage or an increase in the motor current during torsion of the ice making plate. The power supply circuit has been enlarged, which causes problems such as an increase in heat generation. On the other hand, there is a problem that the cost is increased when the switching power supply.

Therefore, in view of the above problems, the present invention can provide an automatic ice making apparatus capable of performing the ice-making operation before the ice-making, the ice-making operation even after the ice-making, and performing these operations with one sensor. will be.

1 is a perspective view of an ice making plate in a horizontal position in an automatic ice making device showing an embodiment of the present invention;

2 is a front view of the same case when the ice making plate is in a horizontal position;

3 is a perspective view when the ice tray is in an iced state;

4 is a front view when the ice tray is in an iced state,

5 is a perspective view when the ice tray is in an ice state and at the same time the ice is not full;

6 is a perspective view when the same as in FIG.

7 is a front view when the ice tray is in an ice state;

8 is a right side view illustrating a relationship between a first operator and a second operator;

9 is a longitudinal sectional view of an interruption portion of the refrigerator of the embodiment;

10 is a longitudinal sectional view at the right side of the main body of the automatic ice making device;

11 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the back of the main body of the automatic ice making device;

12 is a block diagram of an automatic ice making device;

13 is a view for explaining the operating state of the automatic ice making device and

14 is a table for illustrating the rotation operation of the ice making plate.

* Explanation of symbols for main parts of the drawings

10: automatic ice maker 20: ice tray

24: Ginger Lever 32: Saving Box

44: motor 50: first cam

52: second cam 58: magnet for position detection

72: magnet for ice detection 74: hall IC

76: temperature sensor 78: control means

80: drive circuit 82: current detection circuit

The automatic ice making device of claim 1 rotates in the ice-making direction to disengage the ice ice in the horizontal position and rotates in the semi-icing direction opposite to the ice-making direction in the horizontal position, and is disposed below the ice-making plate. The ice box and the ice-making lever rotating so as to contact the ice collected in the storage box from the upper side when the ice-making plate rotates in the half-sealing direction and rotating the ice-making plate in the ice-making direction in a horizontal position to perform the ice-making operation. Control means for rotating the ice step and the ice making plate in the semi-icing direction and performing an ice detection step for detecting whether the ice storage box is full by the ice detection lever.

The automatic de-icing device of claim 2, wherein the automatic de-icing device outputs a signal when the ice-making plate rotates a predetermined angle in the ice-making direction and indicates the rotation state of the ice-making lever when the ice-making plate rotates in the half-ice direction. Has one detection sensor for outputting a signal, and said control means rotates said ice making plate in the ice-making direction from a horizontal position in said ice-breaking step, and moves said ice making plate to a horizontal position when a signal is detected from said detection sensor. In the inspection step, the ice tray is rotated in the semi-icing direction to detect whether the storage box is full by the signal from the detection sensor.

The automatic de-icing device of claim 3, further comprising: a motor for rotating the ice making plate in an ice-making direction and a semi-icing direction, and current detecting means for detecting a current supplied to the motor, wherein the detection sensor comprises the ice-making method. Even when the dish is in the horizontal position, a signal is output, and the control means performs a horizontal return step in which the ice tray is in the horizontal position in initialization such as when the power is turned on, and the horizontal return step is performed by the motor. A first horizontal return step of rotating the pan in the ice-moving direction, a second horizontal return step of rotating the plate in the semi-ebbing direction when the current detected by the current detecting means becomes a reference value, and when a signal from the detection sensor is detected And a third horizontal return step of stopping the ice making plate in a horizontal position.

The automatic ice making apparatus of claim 4, further comprising: a temperature sensor installed in the ice making dish to detect the presence or absence of water in the ice making dish from the temperature of the ice making dish; In the temperature detection step, the temperature sensor detects the presence or absence of water in the ice making dish, and in the temperature detecting step, when it is determined that there is no water in the ice making dish, the horizontal return step of setting the ice making dish to the horizontal position is performed. It is done.

The automatic ice making apparatus of claim 5, further comprising: a temperature sensor installed in the ice making dish to detect the presence or absence of water in the ice making dish from the temperature of the ice making dish; In the temperature detection step, the temperature sensor detects the presence or absence of water in the ice making dish, and in the temperature detecting step, when it is determined that there is water in the ice making dish, the ice making dish is placed in a horizontal position. The horizontal return step is performed.

The automatic ice making apparatus of claim 1 will be described.

When ice is generated from the ice making plate to perform the ice making, the control means performs an ice making step by rotating the ice making plate in the ice direction in the horizontal position to perform the ice making operation.

When detecting whether the storage box is full of ice, the ice tray is rotated in the semi-icing direction, and an ice detection step is performed by the ice detection lever to detect it.

The automatic ice making apparatus of claim 2 will be described.

The control means rotates the ice making plate in the ebbing direction from the horizontal position in the ice step to determine that the ice making plate is the maximum torsion position when a signal is detected from the detection sensor, and returns the ice making plate to the horizontal position. That is, it rotates in the semi-icing direction.

On the other hand, in the ice detection step, the ice making plate is rotated in the semi-icing direction to detect whether the ice storage box is filled with ice by the ice detection lever, and judged by the signal from the detection sensor.

Thereby, the ice step and the ice detection step can be performed by a single detection sensor.

In the automatic ice making apparatus of Claim 3, the case where an ice making plate is returned to a horizontal position at the time of power supply etc. is demonstrated.

The control means performs a first horizontal return step of rotating the ice making plate in the ice direction by the motor, and thereafter performs a second horizontal return step of rotating the anti-icing direction when the current detected by the current detection means becomes a reference value. And a third horizontal return step of stopping the ice making plate in a horizontal position when a signal from the detection sensor is detected. That is, when the ice tray is rotated in the ice direction to reach the maximum torsion position, the load on the motor is increased and the current increases. Therefore, the current detecting means detects whether the ice making plate is in the maximum torsional position by detecting the increase of this current.

The automatic ice making apparatus of claim 4 will be described.

If there is water in the ice tray, there is a risk that the water will overflow when the ice tray is rotated.

Therefore, the control means performs the temperature detection step of detecting the presence or absence of water in the ice making dish by the temperature sensor in the initialization, and sets the ice making dish to the horizontal position only when it is judged that there is no water in the ice making dish in this temperature detecting step. Perform the horizontal return step.

The automatic ice making apparatus of claim 5 will be described.

As described above, when there is water in the ice making plate, the water flows when the ice making plate is rotated, but the water does not flow in the ice making plate when the degree of rotation is to some extent.

Therefore, the control means performs a temperature detection step of detecting the presence or absence of the water in the ice making dish by the temperature sensor in the initialization, and then, when it is determined that there is water in the ice making dish in this temperature detecting step, the ice making operation is completed. Thereafter, a horizontal return step is performed in which the ice tray is in a horizontal position.

Hereinafter, an automatic ice making apparatus 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described.

(Overall Configuration of Automatic Ice Maker 10)

9 is a longitudinal sectional view of the middle of the refrigerator 12 in which the automatic ice maker 10 is mounted.

In FIG. 9, the refrigerator 12 includes a refrigerating chamber 14, a storage chamber 16, and a freezing chamber 18 from an upper end thereof, and an automatic ice maker 10 is installed in the storage chamber 16.

The automatic ice making device 10 includes an ice making plate 20, a main body 22 for supporting the rotation thereof, and an ice detection lever 24 in which rotation is freely provided than the main body 22.

In addition, a water tank 26 for supplying water to the ice making plate 20 is installed at the bottom of the refrigerating chamber 14, and the water supplied from the water tank 26 is the refrigerating chamber 14 and the storage chamber 16. It is supplied to the ice making plate 20 via the water supply pipe 30 provided between the partition member 28 of this.

In addition, a storage box 32 for collecting ice that has fallen from the ice tray 20 is provided on the side of the ice making apparatus 10.

(Internal Configuration of Automatic Ice Maker 10)

Next, the structure inside the main body 22 of the automatic ice-making apparatus 10 is demonstrated based on FIG. 10 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view seen from the right side of the main body 22, and FIG. 11 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view seen from the rear side of the main body 22. As shown in FIG.

As illustrated in FIG. 10, the plate rotating shaft 34 of the ice making plate 20 penetrates the rear surface of the main body 22.

As shown in Fig. 11, the disc rotation shaft 34 is provided with a disc 36 and a first gear 38 on the same shaft. The second gear 40 is connected to the first gear 38, and the third gear 42 is connected to the second gear 40. A motor 44 is provided between the disc 36 and the rear surface of the main body 22, and the worm gear 46 provided on the rotating shaft of this motor 44 and the above-mentioned third gear 42 are connected. .

As a result, when the motor 44 is driven, the worm gear 46, the third gear 42, the second gear 40, and the first gear 38 are rotated, and the disc 36 also rotates together with the ice making plate ( 20) rotates.

On the other hand, the detection lever 24 is rotatably supported by the lever rotation shaft 48 on the right side of the main body 22.

(Configuration to rotate the ice tray 20)

A disc 36 and an ice detection lever 24 for rotating the ice tray 20 will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 8. In addition, in FIGS. 1-8, illustration of the gears 38, 40, 42, 46 which rotate the original plate 36, and the motor 44 is abbreviate | omitted for ease of description.

First, the rotation direction of the ice making plate 20 will be described.

The horizontal position of the ice making plate 20 refers to a state in which the ice making surface is horizontal as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

When the ice tray 20 ices, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the ice tray 20 is twisted in the forward rotation direction to perform the ice. Here, the forward rotation refers to the direction A1 in FIGS. 3 and 4.

When the ice making plate 20 detects the amount of ice storage as described later, it rotates in the reverse rotation direction A2 opposite to the forward rotation direction Al as shown in FIGS. 5, 6, and 7.

The rear surface of the disk 36 constitutes the first cam 50, and the front surface of the disk 36 constitutes the second cam 52.

The configuration and operation of the first cam 50 will be described.

As shown in FIG. 2, FIG. 4, and FIG. 7, the 1st cam groove 53 is provided in the substantially ring shape in the back surface of the disk 36. As shown in FIG.

An elongate plate-shaped first operator 54 is disposed in front of the first cam 50. The right end of the first operator 54 is freely rotatable by the axial point 56, and the left end is free to move in the vertical direction. The left end portion is provided with a magnet 58 for position detection. Moreover, the 1st protrusion 60 which engages with the 1st cam groove 53 is provided in the center part of the 1st operator 54. As shown in FIG.

As a result, when the disc 36 (the first cam 50) rotates, the first protrusion 60 moves up and down in accordance with the rotation of the first cam groove 53, which is located at the left end of the first operator 54. The magnet 58 for position detection also moves up and down similarly.

Here, the first cam 53 is positioned such that the magnet 58 for detecting the position of the first operator 54 is in the upper position only when the ice making plate 20 is in a position of ± 10 ° from the horizontal position. Only the first cam groove 53 has a large diameter groove shape such that it is expanded upward (hereinafter, this position is referred to as a horizontal area 62).

In addition, the first cam groove 53 has a groove shape with a large diameter such that the first protrusion 60 is pulled upward again at a position which is rotated approximately 180 degrees in the forward rotation direction (hereinafter, the position is referred to as the maximum torsion region ( 63).

At other rotation angles, the diameter of the position detecting magnet 58 is in a lower groove shape.

The structure and operation of the second cam 52 will be described.

The second cam 52 is formed by providing a ring-shaped second cam groove 64 on the front surface of the disc 36.

A second projection 66 projecting from the lever rotation shaft 48 of the detection lever 24 is engaged with the second cam groove 64.

The second cam groove 64 has a groove shape having a large diameter so that the second projection 66 can move downward from other positions when the ice making plate 20 is rotated almost 45 ° in the reverse rotation direction (hereinafter, This position is referred to as the ice detection area 68).

In addition, a second operator 70 is provided at the center of the lever rotation shaft 48, and a magnet 72 for storing ice detection is provided at the tip of the second operator 70. The position of this detection magnet 72 is located in the vicinity of the position detection magnet 58. As shown in FIG.

The operation of the second cam 52 will be described. When the ice making plate 20 rotates approximately 45 ° in the reverse rotation direction, the detection area 68 is positioned at the position of the second projection 66 of the lever rotation shaft 48. Located. In this position, the ice detection is performed by the ice detection lever 24, and if the storage box 32 is full, the ice detection lever 24 does not rotate in contact with the ice, and the second rotation of the lever rotation shaft 48 does not rotate. The projection 66 does not fall into the ice detection region 68. On the other hand, when there is no ice and not full, the ice detection lever 24 rotates downward by gravity, and the second projection 66 falls into the ice detection region 68. In this case, the storage ice detection magnet 72 also rotates along the lever rotation shaft 48.

The hall IC 74 is provided inside the right side of the main body 22. The hole IC 74 is turned on in the off state when the position detecting magnet 58 or the storage detecting magnet 72 described above is close to each other.

(Configuration of electrical relationship of the automatic ice making device 10)

The configuration of the electrical relationship of the automatic ice making apparatus 10 is demonstrated based on the block diagram of FIG.

The control means 78 for controlling the automatic ice making device 10 is made of a microcomputer, and the hall IC 74, the temperature sensor 76, and the drive circuit 80 of the motor 44 are connected. The current detection circuit 82 is also connected. The current detection circuit 82 detects a current value supplied from the drive circuit 80 to the motor 44.

The temperature sensor 76 is provided at the bottom of the ice making plate 20, detects the temperature of the ice making plate 20, and outputs the detection signal to the control means 78. The control means 78 judges whether ice making is completed based on this detection signal. Specifically, it is determined whether the ice making is completed with the detection temperature of -9.5 ° C or less for 2 hours and the detection temperature of -12.5 ° C or less for 10 seconds.

(Operation state of the automatic ice maker 10)

An operation state of the automatic ice making apparatus 10 described above will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 8, 13, and 14.

(1) When the ice tray 20 is in the horizontal position (refer to FIGS. 1, 2, 13, and 14)

When ice is being produced in the ice making plate 20 or when the water is empty, the ice making plate 20 is stopped at the horizontal position.

In this case, as shown in FIG. 1, in the second cam 52, since the second projection 6 is located at a position other than the detection area 68, the lever rotation shaft 48 moves the detection lever 24 upward. Keep it up. On the other hand, since the second operator 70 is located at a position away from the hall IC 74, the influence of the storage detection magnet 72 does not reach the hall IC 74.

As shown in FIG. 2, in the first cam 50, since the first projection 60 of the first operator 54 is located in the horizontal region 62 of the first cam groove 53, the first operation is performed. The position detecting magnet 58 of the ruler 54 is located in the vicinity of the hall IC 74 and the hall IC 74 is in an on state as shown in FIG.

(2) When the ice tray 20 performs the ice (see FIGS. 3, 4, 13, and 14)

Based on the temperature detection signal of the temperature sensor 76, it is determined whether ice making is completed, and when it is determined that ice making is completed, the motor 44, which is an ice making operation, rotates the ice making plate 20 in the forward rotation direction Al.

As shown in FIG. 4, when the disc 36 (the first cam 50) rotates, the first operator 60 moves to a position other than the horizontal area 62 at the same time as the rotation. Since the position detecting magnet 58 of 54 is separated from the hall IC 74, the hole IC 74 is turned off as shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 4, the first protrusion 60 reaches the maximum torsion region 63 at a position where the motor 44 continues to rotate and rotates approximately 180 °. As a result, the storage detection magnet 72 of the first operator 54 approaches the hall IC 74 again, and the hall IC 74 is turned on as shown in FIG.

The control means 78 judges that the ice making plate 20 has reached the maximum torsion region 63 as shown in Fig. 13 at the position where the hall IC 74 is turned off and then turned on again, The motor 44 is driven in the reverse rotation direction to return to the position.

When the ice making plate 20 rotates in the reverse rotation direction to get out of the position of the maximum torsion region 63, the hall IC 74 is turned off and this state continues for a while. As shown in FIG. 13, when the horizontal area 62 is reached, the Hall IC 74 is turned on again, so that the control means 78 determines that the ice making plate 20 has returned to the horizontal position, and the motor 44. Stop).

(3) When the ice detection lever 24 performs the ice detection operation (refer to FIGS. 5, 6, 7, 8, 13, and 14)

As shown in FIG. 13, a predetermined time t1 is driven by a timer built in the control means 78 so that the ice making plate 20 rotates approximately 45 ° in the reverse rotation direction.

As shown in FIG. 7, in the first cam 50, since the first protrusion 60 comes to a position other than the horizontal area 62, the magnet 58 for position detection of the first operator 54 is provided. The hole IC 74 is dropped and the hall IC 74 is turned off. In this state, the sensing area 68 is located at the position of the second protrusion 66.

As shown in FIG. 6, when the storage box 32 is filled with ice, the ice detection lever 24 is not rotated in contact with the ice, and the second projection 66a is in a state of floating in the ice detection region 68. have. Therefore, since the storage detection magnet 72 of the second operator 70 is also at the position away from the hall IC 74, the hall IC 74 is in an off state.

As shown in FIG. 7, when ice is lost in one storage box 32 and the ice detection lever 24 is lowered, the second projection 66b also falls into the ice detection region 68. Then, the storage detection magnet 72 of the second operator 70 approaches the hall IC 74 and the hall IC 74 is turned on. As shown in FIG. 13, the control means 78 knows that there is no ice in the storage box 32 by being in this on state.

As shown in FIG. 13, the motor 44 again rotates the ice making plate 20 in the forward rotation direction by t1 hours so that the ice making plate 20 returns to the horizontal position. In this case, whether or not the ice making plate 20 has returned is determined to have come to the position when the first projection 60 reaches the position of the horizontal area 62 and the hall IC 74 is turned on.

(4) Control of the sequence of ice detection and ice moving

The order of the ice motion and the ice motion may be either.

For example, the ice-breaking operation can be performed after the ice making operation. If it is determined that ice may be filled in the ice detection operation so that the ice may be filled, then after the forward rotation of the t1 hour at the ice detection position, the ice extraction operation can be continued.

When the ice making tray 20 is full, the ice making plate 20 may be inclined at an inverse 45 °, and ice may be used to wait for the ice making lever 24 to descend. In addition, once the ice tray 20 is returned to the horizontal position, the ice detection operation may be performed again by opening or closing the door or at a certain time interval.

In the case of the first ice-making operation, the ice-making operation is performed before the water supply for the next ice making. If the ice tells you that the ice is full, wait for water supply until the ice is gone. This waiting method is the same as that of the above-mentioned ice-making first, and the ice-making plate 20 may be inclined and the ice may be used to wait for the ice-making lever 24 to go down. After turning, the door may be opened or closed again at a certain time interval to perform the ice detection operation.

(Performance of the motor 44)

Here, the motor 44 will be described.

In the case of the ice-breaking operation, it is determined by the hall IC 74 whether the ice making plate 20 is in the horizontal position or the maximum torsion position, so that it is not necessary to use the time control using the timer in combination. Therefore, it does not concern the voltage of the motor 44 which can be moved by the motor 44. For example, the motor voltage can be widened to 7 to 13V.

Conversely, during the ice detection operation, the second cam 52 may be rotated only to a position where the ice detection lever 24 can detect the ice detection. That is, in this case, since the load is not applied to the motor 44 and the motor torque is almost unnecessary, it is not influenced by the fluctuation of the power supply voltage, and there is no problem because the fluctuation is about ± 2V with respect to 12V, for example. The margin of voltage stability can be allowed.

In this sensing operation, the motor voltage can be set to a constant lower limit voltage that can be moved, so that the accuracy of the operation of the sensing lever 24 can be increased, and a cheap power supply of a trans type can be employed for the drive circuit 80. Can be.

(Horizontal return control method of the ice tray 20)

(1) First horizontal return control method

Next, a description will be given of a first horizontal return control method for returning the ice making tray 20 to a horizontal position when initialization of the refrigerator is turned on.

When initialization is performed, the ice making plate 20 is rotated in the forward rotation direction for t1 hour or more (for example, t1 + 1 second, hereinafter referred to as t2 time).

Then, since the ice tray 20 enters between the horizontal position and the maximum torsional position, the position where the hole IC 74 is turned on after the ice tray 20 is reversely rotated becomes a horizontal position.

In addition, since the ice making plate 20 rotates more than the maximum torsion position when the motor rotates forward t2 hours or more between the maximum torsional position and the maximum torsional position from the horizontal position, a stopper is installed or the gears 38 to 38 do not rotate beyond the maximum torsional position. The engagement of 46) may be such that the ice tray 20 is not completely twisted.

(2) Second horizontal return control method

Next, a second horizontal return control method of the ice making plate 20 will be described.

In the first horizontal return control method, a stopper must be provided so that the ice making plate does not rotate above the maximum torsional position, and the gears 38 to 46 are stressed by the stopper. In addition, when the gears 38 to 46 are pulled out, the sound when the gear is removed may be a problem.

Therefore, in the second horizontal return control method, the ice tray 20 is controlled so as not to rotate above the maximum torsional position by paying attention to the current supplied from the driving circuit 80 to the motor 44.

Specifically, in the case of the maximum torsional position, the hall IC 74 is on and at the same time, the motor 44 is torqued by the torsion, thereby increasing the motor current. Therefore, when the hall IC 74 is on and at the same time, the current detection circuit 82 determines that the maximum torsional position is reached when the motor current becomes higher than the reference value. After the Hall IC 74 is turned off once, the rotation is stopped at the horizontal position which is the next on position.

(3) Third horizontal return control method

Next, a third horizontal return control method of the ice making plate 20 will be described.

Instead of judging the motor current from the reference value as in the second horizontal return control method, the third horizontal return control method determines whether or not the difference between the motor current and the current at the forward rotation of the horizontal return control is equal to or greater than the reference value during normal rotation. Determine the maximum torsion with. Other than that is the same as the 2nd horizontal return control method. By using this current difference, it is possible to eliminate the influence of individual difference of motor, secular variation, and change of winding resistance by temperature.

Specifically, the motor current during normal rotation is reversed for about 1 second prior to the forward rotation of t2 hours, and the current value at that time is the motor current during normal rotation.

This is because the torsion torque of the ice making plate 20 is not applied when the ice making plate is in the reverse rotation direction even if the ice making plate is in the maximum torsion position.

In this case, it must be rotated in the time forward rotation direction reversed for normal current detection before t 2 hours forward rotation.

(4) Fourth Horizontal Return Control Method

Next, a fourth horizontal return control method of the ice making plate 20 will be described.

In the fourth horizontal return control method, when detecting the maximum torsional position due to the increase in current with the hall IC 74, the motor rotates forward regardless of t2 hours, and then the ice tray 20 is rotated to the maximum torsional position. Rotate to return horizontally.

(5) Fifth horizontal return control method

Although the ice making dish 20 can be returned to a horizontal position by the above-described method, when water is contained in the ice making dish 20, the water may overflow. Therefore, it is necessary to perform the following control before the horizontal return operation as described above.

The temperature sensor 76 detects the temperature of the ice making plate 20, and performs the horizontal return operation at the time when it is determined that ice making is completed. By doing in this way, the phenomenon which the water overflows in the ice-making plate 20 can be prevented. In addition, if the dish is cold when the power is turned on (for example, the temperature sensor is -9.5 ° C or lower), and it is determined that no water is clearly contained, the horizontal return operation may be performed without waiting for the completion of ice making.

On the other hand, when the ice tray 20 contains water, the ice tray 20 is in a horizontal position. In this case, the water does not overflow even if the ice tray 20 is rotated about ± 10 ° C. For this reason, after the initialization, the position of the ice making plate 20 is reversed by about 10 degrees, and the Hall IC 74 is turned off. Therefore, the ice making plate 20 is not horizontal. do. In other cases, since there is a possibility of water, the ice tray 20 is returned to its original position and the horizontal return operation is performed after the ice making operation is completed regardless of the presence or absence of water.

(Change example)

Instead of the Hall IC of the above embodiment, the combination of the reed switch and the magnet or the combination of the cam and the switch can be realized.

The automatic ice making apparatus of the present invention can independently perform the ice making operation and the ice making operation, can perform the ice making operation after the ice making operation, and conversely, can perform the ice making operation after the ice making operation.

The automatic ice making device of claim 2 can perform an ice-making operation and an ice-ice operation with one detection sensor.

The automatic ice making apparatus of claim 3 can reliably return the ice making plate to the horizontal position by performing a horizontal return operation step after initialization.

Since the automatic ice making apparatus of Claim 4 performs a horizontal return step when it determines that there is no water in an ice making dish, water does not overflow in an ice making dish.

When the automatic ice making device of claim 5 determines that there is water in the ice making plate, the water does not overflow because the horizontal return step is performed after the ice making operation is performed.

Claims (5)

An ice-making dish which rotates in a horizontal direction in an ice-making direction to release iced ice and simultaneously rotates in a semi-ebbing direction opposite to an ice-making direction in a horizontal position; A storage box disposed below the ice tray; When the ice tray is rotated in the semi-icing direction, the ice detection lever rotates to contact the ice collected in the storage box from the upper side; And An ice step for rotating the ice plate in a direction of ice in a horizontal position and an ice step for rotating the ice plate in a half ice direction and detecting whether the ice box is full by the ice lever. Automatic ice making device comprising a control means. The method of claim 1, It has one detection sensor which outputs a signal when the said ice-making plate rotates a predetermined angle in an ice-melting direction, and outputs the signal which shows the rotation state of the said ice detection lever when the said ice-making plate rotates to a half-ice direction, The control means, In the moving step, Rotate the ice tray in a horizontal direction from a horizontal position, return the ice tray to a horizontal position when a signal from the detection sensor is detected, In the inspection step, And rotating the ice tray in the semi-icing direction and detecting whether the storage box is full by a signal from the detection sensor. The method of claim 2, A motor for rotating the ice tray in an ice breaking direction and a half ice direction; Having current detecting means for detecting a current supplied to the motor, The detection sensor outputs a signal even when the ice tray is in a horizontal position, The control means performs a horizontal return step in which the ice making plate is in a horizontal position in initialization such as when power is turned on, The horizontal return step, A first horizontal return step of rotating the ice tray in the direction of ice by the motor; A second horizontal return step of rotating in the semi-icing direction when the current detected by the current detecting means becomes a reference value, and And a third horizontal return step of stopping the ice tray in a horizontal position when a signal from the detection sensor is detected. The method of claim 2, A temperature sensor installed in the ice making plate and detecting the presence or absence of water in the ice making plate from the temperature of the ice making plate, The control means, In the initialization of power supply, etc., a temperature detection step of detecting the presence or absence of water in the ice tray is performed by the temperature sensor. And a horizontal return step of placing the ice tray in a horizontal position when it is determined that there is no water in the ice tray in the temperature detection step. The method of claim 2, A temperature sensor installed in the ice making plate and detecting the presence or absence of water in the ice making plate from the temperature of the ice making plate, The control means, In the initialization of power supply, etc., a temperature detection step of detecting the presence or absence of water in the ice tray is performed by the temperature sensor. And a horizontal return step of placing the ice tray in a horizontal position after completion of the ice making operation when the temperature detection step determines that there is water in the ice tray.