US2612030A

US2612030A - Refrigeration

Info

Publication number: US2612030A
Application number: US161826A
Authority: US
Inventors: Clyde E Ploeger
Original assignee: Servel Inc
Current assignee: Servel Inc
Priority date: 1950-05-13
Filing date: 1950-05-13
Publication date: 1952-09-30
Anticipated expiration: 1969-09-30

Description

Sept. 30, 1952 c. E. PLOEGER REFRIGERATION Filed May 13, 1950 BY% EN TOR.

Patented Sept. 30, 1952 Cl yde .Plcegen- Evansville; liida assigndc to ServeL. Inc;, New York, N...Y.,.a corporation' of' Delaware Application May 13, 1950;..S'crialiNiri'cnsts (Cl. fl -106) 1. Claim. 1

The present invention relates to ice making machines and more-particularly'to a'const'ruction of ice forming mold' for such machines.

One" of the objects of the invention is to providean improved mold" construction which facili-v tates the freezing of liquid in and the'removal of ice cubes from individual cells so as to-reduce the I time required and the amount of ice melted during an ice forming and releasing operation.-

Another object is to vent the mold so as-to break the air seal between the cubes and cells in which they are frozen.

Still another object of the invention is' to prO- vide an ice-forming moldin the form of an inverted' trayhaving a grid therein to provide adjacent cellsand vent-openings' fbr' the cells in the top wall of the mold.

These and other" objects will become more apparent from the following description and drawing in which like reference characters denote like parts throughout the several views. It is to be expressly understood, however, that the drawingis for the purpose of illustration only and not a definition of the limits of the'inve'ntion, ref erencebelng'had for this purpose't'o theappended claim. In the drawing:

Fig. 1- isa diagrammatic view of an ice making machine illustrating the novel ice forming mold of the present invention in perspective;

Fig. 2 is a sectional View of the mold showing the platen moved to" an inclined position toopen the bottom of the mold;

Fig. 3 is a sectional 'view'through a portion of the mold and showing ice-formed in the cells of the moldt-and y Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3 showingthe w ice released from'th'e individual cells of the mold and the vent openings overlying the individual cells to facilitate the removal of the ice 'bygravity.

In the drawings, the invention'is shown applied to an ice making machine comprising a freezing mold 5'in the form of animated metal'tray having arectangulartop't and'depending'sides l with cross partitions 8 therein forming a plurality of adjacent cells 9. The partitions 'B'are j'oined to the top 6 and sidewalls .1 of the mold '5 and to each other as by brazing, soldering or welding and are of less depth than the depending side walls 1 of the mold. Q

A platen [0' is pressed" against the depending side walls 1 of the mold 5 by suitable operating mechanism to close the open bottom of the mold and provide a, space between it and the bottom of the partitions 8. Water or other'liquid to be frozen is supplied to the interior of themold 5 byduit 2-6 'to'the coil I! when the solenoid is env a funnel tube 11- projecting upward1y= from the top wall fiandunderlying'a water supply pipe l2 controlled" by a solenoid operated valve l3. A standpipe I4 is connected 'to-ones'ide of the mold 5 and a ball'-fioat-l5 in thestandpipe-isadapted to operate a-switch '16 connected-- to control the actuation of water valve l3. g

The mold 5 is-success'ively'cooled and-heated by aserpentine' coil ll mounted onits top-wall 6. Coil H has straight sections overlying the partitions 8 and curved end portions-connecting the straight sections. Preferably, the coil I'l is attached in: good heat-conducting relation to the top wall- 6- of the mold T asby." brazing, soldering or welding it thereto. 'One'end of'the' coil I1 is connected to-the' refrigerant'receiver l8 oi a compres'sion' type refrigeration" system by a conduit l9 having an expansion valve 20 therein. The

opposite end-ofthe'co'il I1 is connected by a-conduit 2| to 'the suction side of a compressor 22 driven by an electric motor 23. The high pr'ess'ure-sideof the'co'mpressor 22 is connected to a condenser 24 byaconduit 25 and the-outlet from the condenser isc'on'nected to'- the receiver I8. A by-pass conduit 25" also i's connected between the hi'ghpr'essure side of compressor hand the inlet end of coil ['1 and a selector valve 21 is provided at-the' juncture of the coil and conduits l9 and '26; Selector'valve 21 connects-conduit I 9 to coil ['11 and closes bypa ss conduit 26 when the solenoid isdeenerg'ized and connects by-pass conerized.

Platen' In is mounted adjacent one side of mold l for downward and rocking movement to.

an inclined position below the mold. Trunnion pins 28"project from the opposite sides of the platen l0 and into one e'nd'o'f'links 29, see Figs. 1 andz, and the opposite ends of the links are pivotally c'onnectedto' suitable supports 39. Adjustable stops 31' limit the pivotal movement of the links 2'9'0'11' su ports to". regulate the downward movement of the platen 10 relative to the mold l. The platenoperatingmechanism including p'ush rod i32, see Fig; 2; moves'the platen It from the clb'sedp'osition illustrated in Fig. l to the openposition illustrated in Fig. 2 and. Vice VGZ'Sa.

Pieferably. the machine is automatically operated and as illustrated diagrammatically in Fig. 1, the'rna'chine' iscontrolledby a thermostat 33 having" afthermal' bulb 34"responsive to the temperature'ofthemold 5, a bellows 35 connected to theb'u'lb and a single'pole double throw switch 36 operated by 'the bellows. Switch 38 is so connected in"anelectric'circuit as'to engage contact 3'! with low temperature contact 38 at a predetermined low temperature of the mold 5, see Fig. 1, which energizes the solenoid of selector valve 27 and actuates the latter to discontinue cooling and initiate heating of the mold. Although not shown, the engagement of contact 31 with low temperature contact 38 will energize a branch circuit including the platen operating mechanism to move the platen from the position shown in Fig. 1 to that shown in Fig. 2 to open the bottom of the mold 5. Such platen operating mechanism and the arrangement of the platen support, the serpentine coil (l and thermal element 34 of the thermostat 33 are substantially the same as described and claimed in an application for Letters Patent of Dudley R. Cook, Ser. No. 161,824, filed concurrently herewith and entitled Refrigeration. Although not shown, an agitator is preferably provided in the platen it for agitating the liquid in the mold 6 during freezing and the mold and platen I d are enclosed in suitable insulating material I indicated in phantom in Fig. l, the insulation being split to permit movement of the platen relative to the mold.

The present invention in its broadest aspects comprises a mold having an open side from which ice is discharged together'withvent means to break the air seal between the mold and ice frozen therein. More specifically, the invention comprises a mold of the type described in the form or an inverted metal tray having cross partitions therein to provide adjacent cells and a vent opening for each cell in the top wall of the tray. The mold construction provides metal walls on all sides of the cells except the bottom to transfer heat and thereby freeze ice at a maxirnum rate and the vent means permits the free flow or" liquid into cells '9, the agitation of liquid over all surfacesof the cells and adapts ice cubes to fall freely from the mold by gravity without excessive melting.

In the illustrated embodiment of the invention, the top Wall 6 of the mold 5 has a vent opening at for each cell 8. Each vent opening E8 is in the form of a hole drilled or punched in the top wall 5 and of such a small size as to prevent the free fiow of liquid therethrough but large enough to permit air to enter the cells 3.- While the vent openings G are shown as located centrally over each cell, it will be understood that the vent openings may have other locations and that a single vent opening may communicate with adjacent cells. Cine form of the invention having now been described in detail, the mode of -operation is explained as follows.

For purposes of description it: is assumed that the platen ill is in the closedposition illustrated in Fig. l, the mold contains water or other liquid to be frozen and the selector valve El is cleanergized so that the mold is being cooled by the evaporation of refrigerantlin the serpentine coil The water or other liquid'in mold 5 is preferably agitated and being frozen on the walls of the cells 9 which are in direct heat conducting relation to the relatively cold coil ll. As the ice builds up on the sides of the cells 9 it acts as an insulator requiring an increase in the difference in temperature to cause heat to how therethrough so that the temperature of the mold gradually decreases. During a freezing operation the liquid may enter the vent openings til, due to agitation of the liquid, and freeze therein as illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4. When the cells are completely filled with ice as illustrated in Fig. 3 the mold 5 will have been cooled to the low temperature at which the bellows operates contact 37 of switch into engagement with the low temperature contact 38. Engagement of contacts 37 and 38 energizes the solenoid of selector valve 21 to open by-pass conduit 26 and thereby terminate cooling and initiate heating of the mold 5. Simultaneously, the platen IB is lowered to the position illustrated in Fig. 2 to open the bottom of mold 5.

The flow of gas at high pressure and temperature from the compressor 22 and conduit 26 through the coil I! will transmit heat to the top wall 6 of the mold and from the top wall to the depending sides 7 and cross partitions 8. The heating of these walls will melt the ice at their contacting surfaces to release the ice from the cells 9. Also, due to the heat transfer surface of top wall 8 of mold 5 around the vent openings 68, any ice at the edge of the vent openings will be melted to provide an air space therebetween to vent the top of the cells 9. The close fit of the ice cubes C in the individual cells 9 and the melted liquid therebetween form an air seal which, without vent openings lll, would prevent the cubes from falling freely from the cells- With such an air seal at the sides of the ice cubes C, an excessive amount of ice must be melted and a considerable period of time elapse before air-can enter around the sides of the cubes and relieve the partial vacuum in the space S abovethe top of the cubes.

The vent openings 38 in the top of the mold 5, however, avoid such an air seal by permitting air to directly enter the space S between the top of the cells 9 and the ice cubes C so that when their contacting surfaces are released the cubes will fall freely from the cells in the manner illustrated in Fig. l. In other words, as soon as the bond between the ice cubes C and cells 9 is released, the weight of the individual cubes will cause them to slide downwardly in the cells with equalized air pressure on boththe top and the bottom of the cube, see Fig. 4. While the ice releasing operation has been described with respect to individual ice cubes C, the cubes are I actually attached to each other by freezing over the bottom of the partitions 3, as illustrated in Fig. 4, so that ice falls from the mold 5 in a single cake and onto the platen it] where it is broken up into individual cubes.

After the ice has been released from the mold 5, the platen ii] is moved from the position shown in Fig. 2 to that shown in Fig.1 to close the open bottom. Theball float i5 is then in a lowered position which permits switch 15 to complete a circuit through the solenoid for actuating the water valve it to supply water through the funnel tube ll into the interior of the mold. When the proper amount of water has been supplied to mold 5, the float l5 actuates switch it to open osition to close water valve it. The temperature of mold 5 immediately increases after the cake of ice has been released and the increase in temperature acting through bulb 34 expands bellows 35 and actuates the switch 35 to open position. The solenoid of the selector valve 27 then is deenergized and the valve moves to close the bypass conduit 26 for terminating heating and initiating cooling of the mold 5. Thus, a cycleof operation of the machine has been completed and a new cycle of operation initiated.

It will now be observed that the present invention provides a mold construction which facilitates the freezing .of liquid therein and the release of ice therefrom so as to reduce the time required and the amount of ice melted during an ice releasing operation. It will also be observed that the present invention breaks the air seal between the cubes and cells in which they are frozen. It will still further be observed that the present invention provides a novel mold in the form of an inverted tray having cross partitions therein forming adjacent cells with a vent opening for each cell in the top wall of the mold.

While a single embodiment of the invention is herein illustrated and described, it will be understood that changes may be made in the construction and arrangement of elements without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Therefore, without limitation in this respect, the invention is defined by the following claim.

I claim:

In an ice making machine, a mold having a top and depending side walls with an open bottom, cross partitions in the mold forming a plurality of cells, a platen for opening and closing the bottom of the mold, a coil overlying the topof 6 the mold, a heat exchange system connected to said coil to deliver either a cooling or heating medium to the coil to freeze liquid in the mold and release ice therefrom, and a vent opening in the top wall of the mold overlying each cell.

CLYDE E PLOEGER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS