KR20090077252A - Apparatus for ice-making - Google Patents

Abstract

An ice making machine is provided to reduce power consumption according to maximizing thermal transfer efficiency by heating directly the surface of ice contacted with a heating circuit. An ice making machine is comprised of an ice making tray(100), a heating circuit(200), and an ice-separating part. The ice making tray is comprised of a plurality of cavities(150). The cavity generates the ice by supplying water. The heating circuit is installed at an inner surface of the ice making tray. The heating circuit makes the heat with power source. The ice-separating part discharges the ice generated from the ice making tray to the outside.

Description

Ice maker {APPARATUS FOR ICE-MAKING}

The present invention can be easily melted by melting the surface of the ice generated in the ice making tray by a simple configuration in place of the conventional heater installed for making ice from the ice making tray to achieve the miniaturization of the device and at the same time maximize the heat transfer efficiency The present invention relates to an ice making apparatus capable of lowering manufacturing cost and improving quality with a reduction in power consumption.

In general, a refrigerator is a device that keeps food fresh or freezes for a certain period of time by cooling the inside of the refrigerator as the refrigerant cycle circulates repeatedly compresses, condenses, expands, and evaporates. One.

The refrigerator includes an integrated type using the inside of the body without division of the refrigerating compartment and the freezing compartment, and a separate type using the refrigerating compartment and the freezing compartment separately. The detachable type includes a top mount type having a freezer compartment at the top and a freezer compartment at the bottom, a bottom freezer type having a freezer compartment at the bottom, and side-by-side sides of the freezer compartment and the freezer compartment left and right. Type (Side By Side Type), etc. The top mount, bottom freezer and side-by-side type of the separate refrigerator have advantages and disadvantages, respectively, but mainly depend on a user's preference or selection.

The refrigerator has an additional function in addition to the functions of simple refrigeration and freezing, and an ice maker for applying ice to water and storing and taking it out is applied. The ice maker is mainly installed inside the freezing compartment, but may be attached to the inside of the refrigerating compartment or the refrigerating compartment or the freezing compartment door.

1 is a perspective view showing a state in which a deicing device is installed in a conventional side-by-side type refrigerator, Figure 2 is a perspective view showing a conventional ice maker, Figure 3 is a side cross-sectional view showing a conventional ice maker.

As shown in FIG. 1, a conventional side by side type refrigerator 10 is largely divided into a freezer compartment 1 and a refrigerating compartment 2, and a door 3 to open and close the freezer compartment 1 and the refrigerating compartment 2. , 4) are installed respectively. An ice maker 20 is installed inside the freezer door 3, and a control panel (not shown) is installed on an outer surface of the freezer door 3 so that a user can select a predetermined function of the refrigerator.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the conventional ice making apparatus 20 includes an ice making tray 21 composed of a plurality of cavities 21 a that are upwardly opened and supplied with water to generate ice, and the ice making tray 21. It comprises a heater 22 installed in the lower portion and the ice portion 23 for separating the ice generated from the ice making tray 21 according to the heating of the heater 22 and discharged to the outside.

The ice making unit 21 may further include a water supply part 21b for supplying water to the ice making tray 21, and the ice making tray 21 uses a metal material such as aluminum or a synthetic resin material. In addition, as illustrated in FIG. 2, the ice portion 23 includes a plurality of levers protruding in a radial direction to push out ice generated in each of the plurality of cavities 21a constituting the ice making tray 21 ( 23a), a lever shaft 23b rotatably installed on the upper part of the ice making tray 21, and a rotation motor 23c for rotating the lever shaft 23b. Meanwhile, the ice maker 23 separates and discharges the ice generated by rotating the ice tray 21 itself, or uses the rotation of the ice tray 21 and the lever shaft 23b together to transfer the ice from the ice tray 21. It can also be separated.

As shown in FIG. 1, when the ice is separated from the ice making tray 21 by the ice maker 23, the ice making apparatus 20 includes an ice bank 24 for storing the generated ice. It may further include a dispenser 25 that is accommodated apart and configured to discharge the ice of the ice bank 24 to external users.

In particular, the conventional ice making apparatus 20 melts the surface of the ice in contact with the ice making tray 21 as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 so that the ice can be easily separated by the ice making unit 23. The heater 22 is installed in the lower part of the tray 21. The heater 22 uses various shapes such as a planar heating heater or a zigzag linear heater installed in close contact with the lower surface of the ice making tray 21.

Meanwhile, the control box 26 illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 is provided with a control unit for controlling the respective components for driving the water supply, the ice sheet, the ice break, and the like of the ice making device 20. 23) and a rotating motor is constituted.

As described above, the conventional ice making apparatus has a problem in that a heater is placed under the ice making tray, thereby causing a limitation in securing a space inside the refrigerating chamber or the freezing chamber as the apparatus is enlarged.

In addition, since a heater is installed under the ice tray to heat the ice tray and heat is transferred to the surface of the ice again, the heat transfer efficiency decreases, thereby increasing the heating time and increasing the power consumption of the refrigerator. .

In addition, a heater is installed between the ice making tray and the ice bank, and heat is transferred to the ice stored in the ice bank, so that the ice stored in the ice bank melts to deteriorate the quality of the ice. There is a problem that can be entangled with and cause a malfunction of the ice maker.

An object of the present invention devised to solve the above problems, it is possible to easily melt the surface of the ice generated in the ice making tray by a simple configuration in place of the conventional heater installed for making ice from the ice making tray The present invention provides an ice making apparatus capable of miniaturizing an apparatus.

In addition, the present invention relates to an ice making apparatus capable of directly improving the quality of ice taken out by preventing direct heat transfer to the ice bank and reducing power consumption by maximizing heat transfer efficiency.

In order to achieve the above object, the ice making apparatus of the present invention, an ice making tray composed of a plurality of cavities for upwardly opening and receiving water to generate ice, and is installed on an inner surface of the ice making tray, and applies a voltage from a power source. It comprises a heat generating circuit for receiving heat, and an ice-making unit for separating the ice generated from the ice making tray according to the heat generated by the heat generating circuit and discharged to the outside.

The heating circuit may include a plurality of resistance wires which are respectively installed on the inner surfaces of the plurality of cavities constituting the ice making tray and are connected to each other, and a connection terminal that connects the plurality of resistance wires to the power source. .

The heat generating circuit may be installed on the inner surface of the ice making tray by an adhesive method.

The heat generating circuit may be installed on an inner surface of the ice making tray by an insert molding method.

In addition, the heating circuit is installed on the inner surface of the ice making tray by a molded circuit interconnect (MID, Molded Interconnect Device) method.

The ice maker may include a bracket for rotatably supporting both ends of the ice making tray, and a first rotating motor for rotating the ice making tray.

The ice-making unit may include a lever shaft rotatably provided on an upper portion of the ice tray, and having a plurality of levers protruding in a radial direction to push out ice generated in each of the cavities constituting the ice tray. It characterized in that it comprises a second rotary motor for rotating the lever shaft.

The method may further include a coating layer of a thermally conductive synthetic resin material formed on the inner surface of the ice tray so as to cover a heating circuit installed on the inner surface of the ice tray.

The ice making apparatus according to the present invention can melt the surface of the ice generated in the ice making tray with a simple configuration through a heating circuit installed on the inner surface of the ice making tray, thereby making it possible to miniaturize the device.

In addition, by directly heating the surface of the ice in contact with the heating circuit, it is possible to reduce the power consumption due to the maximized heat transfer efficiency and to prevent the heat transfer to the ice bank to improve the quality of the ice taken out.

In addition, since the heating circuit is installed on the inner surface of the ice making tray, there is an advantage that can easily be made of any ice portion.

In addition, by forming a coating layer of a thermally conductive synthetic resin material on the inner surface of the ice tray, the surface of the ice can be uniformly heated and iced.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described in detail a preferred embodiment of the ice making apparatus according to the present invention.

Figure 4 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the ice making apparatus according to the present invention, Figure 5 is a side cross-sectional view of the embodiment of Figure 4, Figure 6 is a state in which a heating circuit is installed on the ice tray of the ice making apparatus according to the present invention 7 is a side sectional view showing another embodiment of the ice making apparatus according to the present invention.

The ice making apparatus of the present invention includes an ice making tray 100, a heating circuit 200, a power supply 300, and an ice making unit 400 as shown in FIGS. 4 to 7. The heating circuit 200 includes a resistance wire 220 and a connection terminal 240, and is installed on the inner surface of the ice making tray 100 by bonding, insert molding, or molded interconnect device (MID). . The moving part 400 may include a bracket 420 and a first rotating motor 440, or may include a lever shaft 460 and a second rotating motor 480. On the other hand, the ice making device may further comprise a coating layer (500).

As illustrated in FIG. 6, the ice making tray 100 includes a plurality of cavities 150 that open upwardly to supply water to generate ice. Water supplied to each cavity 150 constituting the ice making tray 100 is made by a water supply unit according to the prior art. De-icing tray 100 has been used by integrally forming a high-temperature, high-temperature, light metal series such as aluminum to facilitate heat transfer from the conventional heater. However, the metal series, such as aluminum, has a problem of increasing the manufacturing cost and increasing the weight, and uses the ice making tray 100 integrally molded with synthetic resin. In particular, the ice making tray 100 is a non-conductive material because the heating circuit 200, which will be described later, is installed as a synthetic resin, and considers an ice bank 600 installed below the ice making tray 100 shown in FIGS. Therefore, it is preferable that it is a general synthetic resin material of heat insulation.

The heating circuit 200 is installed on the inner surface of the ice making tray 100 and generates heat by receiving a voltage from the power supply 300. In more detail, as shown in FIG. 6, the heating circuit includes a plurality of resistance wires 220 installed on the inner surfaces of the plurality of cavities 150 constituting the ice making tray 100 and interconnected with each other. It is composed of a connection terminal 240 connecting the plurality of resistance wires 220 and the power supply 300. That is, the heating circuit 200 follows a resistance heating method using a general resistance wire, and connects the power supply 300 to the connection terminal 240 to apply a voltage to each of the plurality of resistance wires 220 to generate heat. to be. However, a switch (not shown) for applying or not applying voltage to the plurality of resistance lines 220 may be provided to control whether the heating circuit 200 generates heat through a controller (not shown), which is a On-off control method can be adopted. On the other hand, the power supply 300 may use a general commercial AC power supply (220V), or may use a DC power supply, or may be provided separately from the power supply built-in a battery or the like. However, it is preferable to use a commercial AC power to drive the refrigerator together because it can be implemented through a simple configuration.

The heat generating circuit 200 of the present invention is installed on the inner surface of the ice making tray 100 and directly heats the ice generated in the ice making tray 100, and thus, it is considered that the bin is completely different from the heating by the conventional heater. will be. That is, the miniaturization of the device can be achieved by replacing the conventional heater with the increase of the heat transfer efficiency and the reduction of power consumption by the direct heating method. When each resistance line 220 constituting the heating circuit 200 is connected to the power source 300, either the series or parallel may be used, but the above connection relationship is considered in consideration of the temperature generated by the resistance line 220. Will be decided.

The problem is that the heating circuit 200 is installed on the inner surface of the ice making tray 100. First, an adhesive method for bonding the heating circuit 200 to the inner surface of the ice making tray 100 using an adhesive may be used. have. The adhesive method is a method of directly applying an adhesive to a molded article integrally molded with the ice making tray 100. Accordingly, irregularities may occur in the shape of the ice generated by protruding from the ice making tray 100 by a small thickness of the heating circuit 200. In order to prevent this, when the ice tray 100 is integrally formed, the heat generating circuit 200 and the ice making tray are adhered to each other by adhering the heat generating circuit 200 to a molded article having a groove having the same thickness or shape as the heat generating circuit 200. Unevenness can be prevented so that the surface of 100 may be coplanar.

Secondly, the heating circuit 200 may be installed on the inner surface of the ice making tray 100 by insert molding. The insert molding method is a method in which different or different plastics or parts other than plastics, such as metals, wires, magnets, and the like, are integrally molded in a mold. That is, when shaping the ice tray 100 of the synthetic resin material, it is molded integrally with the heating circuit 200. Since the insert molding method can be implemented by a conventional technology, a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

Third, the heating circuit 200 may be installed on the inner surface of the ice making tray 100 by a molded circuit interconnect (MID) method. The three-dimensional circuit molding method refers to a three-dimensional circuit device, that is, a partial plating technology in which parts such as a circuit or a connector are integrally formed on the surface of an injection molded product by electroless or electroplating. The three-dimensional circuit forming method is a widely used method for a three-dimensional circuit forming method, and can be divided into one shot method (photo imaging method) and two shot method (SST method), but any method is irrelevant. Since the three-dimensional circuit forming method as described above can be implemented in the prior art, the detailed description thereof will be omitted.

The ice maker 400 separates the ice generated from the ice making tray 100 according to the heat of the heat generating circuit 200 and discharges the ice to the outside. That is, generally, after the ice tray is heated by a conventional heater, the surface of the ice generated in the ice tray is recorded, so that the ice is easily separated from the ice tray by the ice maker 400. In the same manner as above, the surface of the ice generated in the ice making tray 100 is melted according to the heat of the heating circuit 200 of the present invention, and the ice is separated from the ice making tray 100 by the ice making unit 400. will be.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the ice maker 400 includes a bracket 420 rotatably supporting both ends of the ice making tray 100, and a first rotating motor for rotating the ice making tray 100. 440). That is, when the surface of the ice generated in the ice making tray 100 melts as the heat of the heat generating circuit 200 melts, the first rotating motor 440 rotates to make the ice making tray rotatably supported by the bracket 420 ( By rotating 100, ice is separated from the ice making tray 100 in the direction of gravity. At this time, the ice is stored away in the ice bank 600 installed below the ice tray 100, as shown in FIG.

In addition, as illustrated in FIG. 7, the ice making unit 400 protrudes in a radial direction to push out ice generated in each of the cavities 150 constituting the ice making tray 100. ) And a lever shaft 460 rotatably installed on the ice tray 100, and a second rotation motor 480 for rotating the lever shaft 460. As described above, the ice making unit 100 is fixed to the ice making tray 100, and when the surface of the ice generated in the ice making tray 100 melts according to the heat generated by the heating circuit 200, the second rotating motor 480 is formed. Rotating rotates the lever shaft 460. A plurality of levers 465 protruding to push the ice generated in each of the plurality of cavities 150 in the radial direction of the lever shaft 460 is rotated, so that the ice is separated from the ice making tray 100. The ice separated from the ice making tray 100 is received away from the ice bank 600 installed below the ice making tray 100.

As shown in FIG. 7, the coating layer 500 is a thermally conductive synthetic resin material and is formed on the inner surface of the ice tray 100 to cover the heating circuit 200 installed on the inner surface of the ice tray 100. do. When installing the heating circuit 200, it should be installed so that a large area and the surface of the ice in contact with the inner surface of the ice making tray 100 in a zigzag shape, but the temperature by the voltage, current and resistance for resistance heating Since the shape is limited in consideration of the above, it may be difficult to evenly heat the surface of the ice. In order to prevent this, the coating layer 500 of the thermally conductive synthetic resin material is formed on the inner surface of the ice tray 100 so as to cover the heating circuit 200 installed on the inner surface of the ice tray 100. The coating method of the coating layer 500 may be any method, but it is preferable to use an electrostatic spray coating method in consideration of the three-dimensional solid shape and uniform coating of the ice making tray 100. The electrostatic spray coating method is a coating method of applying a high voltage to the coating solution to impart a charge, and then spraying the coating solution using a fine diameter spray nozzle of the charged coating solution. When the coating layer 500 is formed on the inner surface of the ice making tray 100 by the electrostatic spray coating method, heat is uniformly transferred to the ice surface generated through the coating layer 500 when the heating circuit 200 generates heat. do. For such uniform heat transfer, the coating layer 500 is to be used as a thermally conductive synthetic resin material. The thermally conductive synthetic resin is a composite material in which a heat conductive enhancer is combined with a general synthetic resin. Such a thermally conductive synthetic resin has high thermal conductivity as well as the advantages of general synthetic resins, and can be implemented by a conventional technology, and thus a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

The embodiments of the present invention described above and illustrated in the drawings should not be construed as limiting the technical idea of the present invention. The protection scope of the present invention is limited only by the matters described in the claims, and those skilled in the art can change and change the technical idea of the present invention in various forms. Therefore, such improvements and modifications will fall within the protection scope of the present invention as long as it will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

1 is a perspective view illustrating a state in which an ice maker is installed in a conventional side by side type refrigerator,

2 is a perspective view showing a conventional ice making apparatus,

Figure 3 is a side cross-sectional view showing a conventional ice making device,

4 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of an ice making apparatus according to the present invention,

5 is a side cross-sectional view of the embodiment of FIG. 4,

6 is a plan view showing a state in which a heating circuit is installed in the ice tray of the ice making apparatus according to the present invention,

7 is a side cross-sectional view showing another embodiment of an ice making apparatus according to the present invention.

<Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

100: ice tray 150: cavity

200: heating circuit

220: resistance wire 240: connection terminal

300 power

400: ice sheet

420: bracket 440: first rotation motor

460: lever axis 465: lever

480: second rotation motor

500: coating layer

Claims (8)

An ice making tray composed of a plurality of cavities which are upwardly opened to receive water and generate ice, A heating circuit installed on an inner surface of the ice making tray and generating heat by receiving a voltage from a power source; And an ice making unit for separating the ice generated from the ice making tray and discharging the ice generated by the heat generating circuit. The method of claim 1, The heating circuit, A plurality of resistance wires respectively installed on and interconnected to a plurality of cavity inner surfaces constituting the ice making tray; And a connection terminal for connecting the plurality of resistance wires to the power source. The method of claim 1, The heating circuit, Ice making apparatus, characterized in that installed on the inner surface of the ice tray by the adhesive method. The method of claim 1, The heating circuit, Ice making apparatus, characterized in that installed on the inner surface of the ice tray by the insert molding method. The method of claim 1, The heating circuit, Ice making apparatus, characterized in that installed on the inner surface of the ice tray by a molded circuit interconnect (MID, Molded Interconnect Device) method. The method of claim 1, The ice portion, A bracket for rotatably supporting both ends of the ice making tray; Ice making apparatus comprising a first rotating motor for rotating the ice tray. The method of claim 1, The ice portion, A lever shaft having a plurality of levers protruding in a radial direction so as to push out ice generated in each of the cavities constituting the ice making tray, the lever shaft being rotatably installed on an upper portion of the ice making tray; And a second rotation motor for rotating the lever shaft. The method of claim 1, And an coating layer of a thermally conductive synthetic resin material formed on the inner surface of the ice making tray so as to cover a heating circuit installed on the inner surface of the ice making tray.

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