KR20140080178A - Water Purifier and Hot/Cold Water Supplier with Ice-Making Unit Disposed on lower Part of Cold-Water Tank - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides new structure and arrangement of an ice-making unit in a water purifier and a hot/cold water supplier having an ice-making function. The water purifier and the hot/cold water supplier according to the present invention comprise a cold water tank for storing drinkable cold water; and an ice-making unit with an evaporator having multiple finger-shaped ice-making fins. The evaporator is arranged to be submerged in cold water stored in the cold water tank with the front end of each ice-making pin facing upward. The present invention has a compact structure and facilitates cleaning and maintenance in comparison with a conventional product with an ice-making unit arranged above a cold water tank or an ice-making chamber.

Description

Technical Field [0001] The present invention relates to an ice water purifier and an ice water cooler, and more particularly, to an ice water purifier and an ice water cooler,

The present invention relates to a water purifier and a cold / hot water generator having an ice making function.

Generally, water purifier is a device that treats raw water such as tap water by using one or more filters and provides it to users. In recent years, it has a function of providing purified water as cold water or hot water by cooling or heating purified water, An ice water purifier provided with a freezing unit and having a function of making and supplying ice with purified water is widely used. On the other hand, the cold / hot water machine is a device for cooling or heating separately supplied mineral water or mineral water to supply the cold or hot water to the user as cold water or hot water, respectively. Recently, an ice water cooler / heater having an ice making function is known as in the case of an ice water purifier.

In an ice water purifier or an ice chiller, an ice-making unit for performing an ice-making function is divided into several types, but it is general that the ice-making unit is located at the upper part of the cold water tank or the ice-making chamber. That is, for example, Patent Document 1 (Patent Document 10-0729962) discloses an ice making machine comprising a water tank for containing cold water for ice making and a finger-shaped ice making pin for making ice by cooling cold water for ice- There is disclosed a freezing unit having a structure in which a freezing unit is constituted by an evaporator, ice is separated from the evaporator when the ice is completed, and the water receiver is rotated to send the ice to the cold water tank or the ice reservoir below. In Patent Document 2 (Registration Practical Utility Model No. 20-0330516), a ice making plate having a plurality of concave grooves opened downward and having an evaporator therein is disposed on an upper part of the ice making chamber, And ice cubes formed in the concave grooves of the ice making plate are sprayed toward the concave grooves to separate ice from the ice-making plates when the ice is completed, and then the ice cubes are dropped downward and sent to the ice storage.

According to the conventional structure of the ice making unit in which the ice making unit is located above the cold water tank or the ice making chamber, a space for the ice making unit is required, which is disadvantageous for miniaturization of the water purifier or the cold / hot water heater. In addition, since a separate pump is required to supply cold water for ice-making to an upper water tray or an upper ice tray, an additional space is required, and the number of parts and manufacturing cost are increased. When cleaning the inside of the water purifier or the cold / hot water machine, the visual field is obscured by the ice-making unit located at the upper part of the cold water tank or the ice making room, and the cleaning tool or the hand is difficult to access.

Patent Document 1: Patent No. 10-0729962 Patent Document 2: Registration Practical Utility Model No. 20-0330516

An object of the present invention is to provide an ice water purifier and an ice water heater and a water purifier which can be easily miniaturized and can reduce the number of parts and manufacturing cost and can be easily cleaned, The purpose.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an ice water purifier and an ice water cooler / heater, comprising: a cold water tank storing cold water for drinking; And an evaporator having an evaporator having a plurality of finger-shaped ice-making fins, wherein the evaporator is disposed so as to be submerged in cold water stored in the cold water tank with the tip of each of the ice-making pins facing upward.

Preferably, a finger hole is formed in a bottom surface of the cold water tank at a position corresponding to each of the ice-making fins of the evaporator, and each of the ice-making fins of the evaporator is inserted into the finger hole from the bottom of the cold water tank Tightly coupled.

The ice water purifier and the ice water cooler according to the present invention are characterized in that finger through holes are formed in positions corresponding to the finger holes formed in the bottom surface of the cold water tank, And a plate-shaped electric heater arranged to be in contact with the electrode plate.

The ice water purifier and the ice water cooler according to the present invention may further include an ice reservoir adjacent to a side surface of the cold water tank for storing ice produced by the ice making unit; And ice moving means for moving the ice produced in the ice-making unit to the ice storage to the water surface of the cold water tank.

In this case, it is preferable that the ice moving means includes a plate-shaped grille rotatably disposed on the upper portion of the cold water tank so as to be rotatable about one side parallel to the water surface of the cold water stored in the cold water tank.

The ice water purifier and the ice water cooler according to the present invention further include an ice guide for surrounding the ice making fins of the evaporator in a predetermined shape and defining the shape of ice generated around each of the ice making fins can do.

In this case, it is preferable that the ice-like guide is detachably installed.

The ice water purifier and the ice water heater according to the present invention have the following effects.

First, since the ice making unit including the evaporator is disposed so as to be submerged in the cold water of the cold water tank, the space of the cold water tank or the ice making chamber is saved, And the miniaturization of the ice cold / hot water heater can be achieved.

Secondly, it is not necessary to supply or spray the cold water for ice-making to the cold water tank or the upper part of the ice-making chamber, thereby eliminating the need for a pump. As a result, the number of components of the ice water purifier and the ice water heater / cooler is reduced, and the manufacturing cost is lowered accordingly.

Third, when cleaning or maintenance of ice water purifier and ice water cooler, the ice making unit can easily reach the corner of cold water tank without any hindrance, so that it can be cleaned and maintained easily and kept clean at all times .

Fourth, according to the embodiment of the present invention, when the above-described plate-shaped electric heater is provided, the completed ice can be smoothly separated and removed from the bottom surface of the cold water tank.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of the specification, illustrate preferred embodiments of the invention and, together with the description of the invention given above, serve to further the understanding of the technical idea of the invention, And should not be construed as interpretation.
1 is a perspective view schematically showing a main configuration of an ice water purifier according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a partially exploded perspective view of the ice water purifier shown in Fig.
FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating a process of making ice using the ice water purifier shown in FIG. 1. FIG.
FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a state in which the completed ice is scavenged from FIG. 3; FIG.
FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a state in which completed ice is moved to an ice reservoir according to FIG.
FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a state in which finished ice is used for cooling water in a cold water tank without moving it to an ice reservoir, as shown in FIG.

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

The terms and words used in the present specification and claims should not be construed as limited to ordinary or dictionary terms and the inventor may appropriately define the concept of the term in order to best describe its invention It should be construed as meaning and concept consistent with the technical idea of the present invention. Therefore, the embodiments described in this specification and the configurations shown in the drawings are only the most preferred embodiments of the present invention and do not represent all the technical ideas of the present invention. Therefore, It is to be understood that equivalents and modifications are possible.

In the drawings, the size of each element or a specific part constituting the element is exaggerated, omitted or schematically shown for convenience and clarity of description. Therefore, the size of each component does not entirely reflect the actual size. In the following description, it is to be understood that the detailed description of known functions and configurations incorporated herein will be omitted when it may make the subject matter of the present invention rather unclear.

Although the ice water purifier is described as an embodiment of the present invention, the structure and arrangement of the ice-making unit are the same as those of the ice water purifier according to the present embodiment, except that the ice- Will not be described. In addition, since the present invention relates to the structure of the ice making unit in the water purifier or the drinking water supply device (cold / hot water supply device), the ice water purifier and the ice water heater /

1 and 2 are a perspective view and an exploded perspective view schematically showing a main configuration of an ice water purifier according to the present embodiment. The configurations of various filters, water purification tanks, hot water tanks, etc., provided in a general water purifier, The city is omitted because it is irrelevant.

1 and 2, the ice water purifier of the present embodiment includes a filter (not shown) for purifying raw water supplied from a water supply, a purified water tank (not shown) for storing water purified by the filter, A cold water tank 10 for storing water supplied from the tank, a ice making unit 100 provided below the cold water tank, and an ice storage 20 for storing ice produced by the ice making unit. In addition, the ice water purifier of this embodiment may include a hot water tank (not shown) for heating and storing water supplied from a purified water tank (not shown) using a heater (not shown). In addition, water intake pipes and valves are provided from the purified water tank (not shown), the cold water tank 10 and the hot water tank (not shown) so that the user can collect the water stored in each tank. Known ice extracting means is provided so that the ice stored in the ice storage 20 can be taken out.

In the ice water purifier according to the present embodiment, since the main feature of the present invention is the structure and arrangement of the ice making unit 100, the ice making unit 100 will be described in detail below and the remaining various filters, tanks, Description of the takeout means and the like will be omitted.

In the ice water purifier of this embodiment, the ice making unit 100 includes an evaporator 110 having a plurality of finger-shaped ice-making pins 112. Refrigerant gas is supplied to the inside of the evaporator 110 to cool the surrounding water from the outer circumferential surface of each of the ice-making pins 112 to generate ice.

The ice making unit 100 according to the present invention is adapted to be immersed in the cold water 14 (see FIG. 3) stored in the cold water tank 10 while the tip of each of the ice making pins 112 of the evaporator 110 is directed upward. . That is, the conventional ice-making unit is disposed above the cold water tank or the ice-making chamber, whereas the ice-making unit 100 according to the present invention is disposed below the cold water tank 10 so as to be immersed in the cold water.

2, a finger hole 12 is formed in a bottom surface of the cold water tank 10 at a position corresponding to each of the ice-making pins 112 of the evaporator 110, 112 are inserted into the finger holes 12 from the outside of the bottom surface of the cold water tank 10 and are engaged. At this time, the ice-making pin 112 and the finger hole 12 need to be water-tightly joined using a packing or a sealing material so that the water of the cold water tank 10 is not leaked by a gap between the finger holes 12 and the ice- .

On the other hand, the ice water purifier of this embodiment includes ice-making means for separating ice produced by the ice-making unit (each ice-making pin of the evaporator) from each ice-making pin 112. The dehydrating means may be realized by supplying hot gas of high temperature instead of the refrigerant gas to the inside of the evaporator 110 or by providing an electric heater 114 called a so-called heater below the evaporator 110 Can be implemented. The evaporator (ice-making pin) is instantaneously heated by the hot gas or electric heater 114 to melt a part of the ice on the surface of the ice-making pin 112, thereby separating the ice from each ice-making pin 112.

According to the ice making unit 100 of the ice water purifier of the present embodiment, ice generated from the outer circumferential surface of each of the ice-making pins 112 of the evaporator 110 is adhered to the bottom surface of the cold water tank 10, The finished ice may not be smoothly separated from the bottom surface of the cold water tank 10. [ Therefore, in the present embodiment, there is provided another driving means for separating ice from the bottom surface of the cold water tank 10, together with the above-mentioned conventional driving means or in place of the above-mentioned conventional driving means.

More specifically, the other driving means of this embodiment is a plate-like type (hereinafter, referred to as " cold water tank ") which is installed on the outside of the cold water tank 10 in contact with the bottom surface of the cold water tank Electric heater 120. A finger through hole 122 is formed in the electric heater 120 on the plate so as to coincide with the finger hole 12 formed on the bottom surface of the cold water tank 10. The finger hole 122, Each of the ice making pins 112 of the evaporator 110 through the finger holes 12 penetrates the bottom surface of the electric heater 120 and the cold water tank 10 and is coupled to protrude into the inside of the cold water tank. A heating wire 124 is disposed on a plane surrounding the finger through hole 122 in the plate-shaped electric heater 120 to heat the bottom surface of ice generated around each of the ice-making pins 112, And smoothly separates the ice from the bottom surface of the tank (10).

In the present embodiment, the plate-shaped electric heater 120 is installed outside the bottom of the cold water tank (that is, between the bottom surface of the evaporator 110 and the cold water tank 10) at the outside of the cold water tank 10 The plate-shaped electric heater 120 may be installed on the bottom surface of the cold water tank (that is, inside the cold water tank 10) from the inside of the cold water tank 10.

The ice water purifier of the present embodiment is moved to the ice bin 20 by the ice making unit 100 and separated by the above-described ice-breaking unit and floated to the water surface of the cold water 14 stored in the cold water tank 10 (See Figs. 4 and 5).

Specifically, the ice moving means includes a plate-like grill 130 installed on the upper portion of the cold water tank 10. [ The plate grill 130 is formed with through holes 132 through which water can not pass and water does not pass through and a side 134 parallel to the water surface of the cold water 14 stored in the cold water tank 10, And is rotatably mounted on the grill support portion 136 about the center of the grill support portion 136. [ Further, a grill drive unit (not shown) such as a motor for rotating the plate-shaped grill 130 may be installed on one side of the grill support unit 136.

The ice water purifier of the present embodiment may further include an ice guide 140 that defines the shape of ice generated around each of the ice making pins 112 of the evaporator 110. That is, in the absence of such an ice-like guide 140, the shape of the ice generated from the outer peripheral surface of each of the ice-making pins 112 will be approximately a bell shape. However, can do.

More specifically, the ice-shaped guide 140 has a plate-like base plate 142 and various shapes of cylinders, prisms, and the like on positions corresponding to the positions of the ice-making pins 112 of the evaporator 110 on the base plate 142 And a shape regulating portion 144 formed in a hollow pillar shape. 1 and 2, the planar shape of the shape regulating portion 144 is triangular, but the planar shape of the shape regulating portion 144 may be various shapes such as a polygon such as a circle, a triangle, a square, and a hexagon, a star, a heart, The shape regulating portions 144 having different shapes may be arranged in combination with one ice-like guide 140. [

The lower and upper and lower surfaces of the formation regulating portion 144 are perforated (the lower surface is in contact with the substrate 142 so that the substrate 142 under the shape regulating portion 144 is pierced). Therefore, the ice-like guide 140 is installed in the cold water tank 10 (see FIG. 10) so that each of the ice-making pins 112 of the evaporator 110 protruding from the bottom surface of the cold water tank 10 is inserted into the hollow of the corresponding shape- The shape regulating portion 144 surrounds each of the ice-making pins 112 from the sides and the ice generated from the outer peripheral surface of each of the ice-making pins 112 is eventually grown in the shape of the shape regulating portion 144 do.

Here, it is preferable that the ice-shaped guide 140 is detachably installed so as to make various shapes of ice for easy cleaning and exchange. The ice-shaped guide 140 can be detachably installed in various known ways such as screw engagement, hook engagement, and the like.

The shape regulating portion 144 of the ice-shaped guide 140 is preferably slightly larger than the lower surface in order to facilitate de-icing.

The evaporator 110 itself is located outside the cold water tank 10 and each ice-making pin 112 is inserted into the finger holes 12 and protruded into the cold water tank 10, The present invention is not limited thereto. That is, not only the ice-making pins 112 but also the entire evaporator 110 may be disposed on the inner bottom surface of the cold water tank 10 (up to a plate-shaped electric heater when the plate-shaped electric heaters 120 are provided). At this time, the evaporator 110 may not be disposed in close contact with the bottom surface of the inside of the cold water tank 10 but may be disposed at a slight distance from the bottom surface. However, the ice making pin 112 of the evaporator 110 should be sufficiently immersed in the cold water stored in the cold water tank 10. In such a configuration, it is not necessary to form the finger holes 12 on the bottom surface of the cold water tank 10 and no packing or sealing for water tightness is required.

The operation of the ice water purifier of the present embodiment having the above-described structure, that is, the process of manufacturing ice using the ice water purifier of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 3 to FIG. However, in FIGS. 3 to 6, the ice-shaped guide 140 is omitted for convenience of explanation.

First, the purified water is supplied from the purified water tank (not shown) to the cold water tank 10 up to a predetermined water level (this process is controlled by a water level sensor and a control unit, not shown). Next, when the refrigerant gas is supplied to the ice making unit, that is, the evaporator 110 for ice making, ice is grown from the outer circumferential surface of each ice-making pin 112 of the evaporator 110. When a predetermined time has elapsed, An ice 16 of an appropriate size is completed.

Subsequently, the finished ice 16 is introduced into the evaporator-use ice making pin 112 and the cold water tank 10 (hot water) by using the ice-making means (hot gas supplied to the evaporator, electric heater 114 and / ) From the floor. Then, since the ice 16 has a specific gravity smaller than that of water, it floats naturally into the water surface of the cold water 14, as shown in FIG.

5, when the plate-shaped grill 130 serving as the ice moving means is rotated around the side 134 (counterclockwise in FIG. 5), the through holes 132 of the grill 130 The water drops back into the cold water tank 10 and the ice 16 is moved to the ice storage 20 installed on the side of the cold water tank 10 along the inclined surface formed by the grill 130. [

4 may be omitted and the ice 16 may be used to cool the water 14 stored in the cold water tank 10. In this case, In order to prevent the current ice ice 16 from being transferred to the ice bin 20, the grill 130 may be rotated clockwise in FIG. The current ice 16 needs to be positioned behind the grill 130 as shown in Fig.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it is to be understood that the invention is not to be limited to the details thereof and that various changes and modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art. And various modifications and variations are possible within the scope of the appended claims. For example, although the ice water purifier has been described in the above-described embodiments, the present invention can also be applied to an ice cold water heater which does not have a water purification function.

10: cold water tank
12: Finger hole
20: Ice storage
100:
110: Evaporator
112:
114: Electric heater (driving means)
120: Plate-shaped electric heater (driving means)
122: Finger through hole
124:
130: Grill (ice moving means)
132: Through hole
136: Grille support
140: Ice guide
142: substrate
144:

Claims (14)

A cold water tank in which drinking cold water is stored; And
And an ice making unit including an evaporator having a plurality of finger-shaped ice-making fins,
Wherein the evaporator is disposed so as to be submerged in cold water stored in the cold water tank with the tip of each of the ice-making pins facing upward. The method according to claim 1,
The ice-making tank has a bottom surface formed with a finger hole at a position corresponding to each of the ice-making pins of the evaporator, and each of the ice-making pins of the evaporator is inserted into the finger hole from the outside of the bottom surface of the cold- And the ice water purifier. 3. The method of claim 2,
A plate-shaped electric heater having a finger through hole formed at a position coinciding with a finger hole formed on a bottom surface of the cold water tank and disposed so as to contact the bottom surface of the cold water tank from the outside or inside of the cold water tank; The ice water purifier comprising: 4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
An ice reservoir adjacent to a side surface of the cold water tank for storing ice produced by the ice making unit; And
And ice moving means for moving the ice, which is manufactured by the ice-making unit, to the ice reservoir, the ice that has risen to the water surface of the cold water tank. 5. The method of claim 4,
Wherein the ice moving means includes a plate-shaped grille rotatably mounted on an upper portion of the cold water tank, the plate being rotatable about a side parallel to the water surface of the cold water stored in the cold water tank. 4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
And an ice guide provided to surround the ice making fins of the evaporator in a predetermined shape so as to define a shape of ice generated around each of the ice making fins. The method according to claim 6,
Wherein the ice-like guide is detachably installed. A cold water tank in which drinking cold water is stored; And
And an ice making unit including an evaporator having a plurality of finger-shaped ice-making fins,
Wherein the evaporator is disposed so as to be submerged in cold water stored in the cold water tank with the tips of the respective ice-making pins facing upward. 9. The method of claim 8,
The ice-making tank has a bottom surface formed with a finger hole at a position corresponding to each of the ice-making pins of the evaporator, and each of the ice-making pins of the evaporator is inserted into the finger hole from the outside of the bottom surface of the cold- Wherein the ice-making machine comprises: 10. The method of claim 9,
A plate-shaped electric heater having a finger through hole formed at a position coinciding with a finger hole formed on a bottom surface of the cold water tank and disposed so as to contact the bottom surface of the cold water tank from the outside or inside of the cold water tank; Wherein the ice-making machine comprises an ice-maker. 11. The method according to any one of claims 9 to 10,
An ice reservoir adjacent to a side surface of the cold water tank for storing ice produced by the ice making unit; And
Further comprising ice moving means for moving the ice produced by the ice making unit to the ice storage tank to the ice storage tank. 12. The method of claim 11,
Wherein the ice moving means includes a plate-like grill rotatably mounted on an upper portion of the cold water tank, the plate being rotatable about a side parallel to the water surface of the cold water stored in the cold water tank. 11. The method according to any one of claims 8 to 10,
And an ice guide installed to surround the ice making fins of the evaporator in a predetermined shape so as to define a shape of ice generated around each of the ice making fins. 14. The method of claim 13,
And the ice-like guide is detachably installed.

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