WO2008130196A1

WO2008130196A1 - Drum unit for piece ice manufacture device

Info

Publication number: WO2008130196A1
Application number: PCT/KR2008/002312
Authority: WO
Inventors: Sang-Man Lee
Original assignee: S And I Tech Co., Ltd.
Priority date: 2007-04-24
Filing date: 2008-04-24
Publication date: 2008-10-30
Also published as: KR100825980B1

Abstract

An ice-making drum unit is designed to uniformly form refrigerant injection pressures in an ice-making drum by making distances between injection holes of a nozzle tube different from each other and thus to uniformly distribute an initial cooling temperature of the ice-making drum. In addition, by enlarging an injection margin distance of the refrigerant, the evaporation rate of the refrigerant can be increased and thus the cooling efficiency can be enhanced. Further, since a sub-recovery tube that is connected to a recovery tube disposed in the nozzle tube through a connection plug at an outside of the nozzle tube is disposed such that a free extreme end of the sub-recovery tube is located close to a lower portion of the inner circumference of the ice-making drum that rotates, cooling oil collected at the lower portion of the ice-making drum is recovered together with refrigerant to the compressor, thereby maintaining durability of the refrigerant cycle.

Description

DRUM UNIT FOR PIECE ICE MANUFACTURE DEVICE

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a drum unit for an icemaker. More particularly, the present invention relates to a drum unit for an icemaker for making crushed ice, in which an ice-making drum is rotated by a driving motor in a state in which a portion thereof is immersed in a water tank and the surface temperature thereof can be made uniform during initial ice making by uniformly cooling the inside of the ice-making drum. Background Art

Generally, in a refrigerant cycle, high temperature/ high pressure refrigerant gas that is compressed by a compressor is directed to a condenser and is liquefied as a saturated liquid by being cooled by air that is forcedly circulated by a fan motor. The saturated liquid is separated into a complete saturated liquid in a receiver tank. The saturated liquid refrigerant is reduced in pressure while passing through a heat exchanger and a small hole of an expansion valve and is thus phase-changed into a wet saturated gas. The wet saturated gas absorbs surrounding heat in the course of becoming a dry saturated gas while passing through an evaporator, thereby providing a cooling effect. The dry saturated gas is then returned to the compressor so that the refrigerant keeps circulating to perform a cooling operation. This refrigerant cycle is variously used in a variety of fields.

The refrigerant cycle is used for cooling an ice-making drum of a well-known icemaker for making crushed ice. The icemaker for making crushed ice includes a water tank storing water, an ice-making drum that rotates in a state where a surface thereof maintains water from the water tank thereon, means for rotating the ice- making drum, and means for crushing ice formed on the surface of the ice- making drum. However, in such a conventional icemaker for making crushed ice, refrigerant injection nozzles of the means for cooling the ice-making drum are designed to protrude toward an inner circumference of the ice-making drum. Therefore, the inner circumference of the ice-making drum is close to the injection nozzles and thus the refrigerant injected through the injection nozzles cannot be sufficiently evaporated.

When the refrigerant injected through the injection nozzles is not sufficiently evaporated as described above, the cooling efficiency of the ice- making drum is deteriorated.

Furthermore, since the injection nozzles are provided at the same intervals in an injection tube passing through the ice-making drum, the injection nozzles arranged from a refrigerant inlet side to a side away from the refrigerant inlet side have different injection pressures.

When the injection nozzles have different injection pressures as described above, the cooling temperature of the ice-making drum is not uniform throughout the surface thereof, and thus an ice state formed on the surface of the ice-making drum is not uniform. The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art. DETAILED DESCRIPTION Technical Problem

The present invention has been made in an effort to solve the above- described drawbacks and problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide an ice-making drum unit for an icemaker, which is designed to make refrigerant injection pressures of injection nozzles uniform by making distances between the injection nozzles different from each other. It is another object of the present invention to provide an ice-making drum unit for an icemaker, which is designed to increase an evaporation rate of a refrigerant by providing sufficient distances between injection nozzles and an inner circumference of an ice-making drum. It is still another object of the present invention to provide an ice- making drum unit for an icemaker, which is designed to collect cooling oil, which is filled in an ice-making drum, and a refrigerant in a compressor. It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an ice- making drum unit for an icemaker, which is designed to easily fix, assemble, and disassemble a nozzle tube along which a refrigerant is supplied. Technical Solution In order to achieve the objects of the present invention, there is provided an ice-making drum unit for an icemaker, including: an ice-making drum defining an evaporation chamber therein and rotating by rotational force of a driving motor, which is applied to a first end of the ice-making drum; a nozzle tube having a first end that is rotatably installed on a rotational center of a second end of the ice-making drum through sealing cap means, and a second end that is rotatably supported on a rotational center of an inner surface of the ice-making drum through connecting means; a recovery tube inserted into the nozzle tube through the first end of the nozzle tube and coupled to the first end of the nozzle tube through a mounting plug, wherein a refrigerant supply passage is defined between the recovery tube and the nozzle tube; and a sub-recovery tube connected to an end of the recovery tube through the connecting means having an end that is coupled to the second end of the nozzle tube in the ice-making drum.

In order to achieve the objects of the present invention, the nozzle tube is provided with a plurality of injection holes for injecting refrigerant, wherein distances between the injection holes are gradually increased in a direction in which the refrigerant flows.

In order to achieve the objects of the present invention, the sub- recovery tube has an extreme end extending toward an inner circumference of the ice-making drum.

In order to achieve the objects of the present invention, the nozzle tube is provided at its outer circumference with one or more corresponding flat surfaces. Advantageous Effects According to the ice-making drum unit for an icemaker of the present invention, by processing the injection holes in the nozzle tube such that distances between the injection holes in a length direction in accordance with an initial refrigerant pressure are different from each other, the refrigerant injection pressure in the ice-making drum are uniformed and thus a local refrigerant concentration phenomenon can be prevented, thereby uniformly maintaining an initial cooling temperature of the ice-making drum. Further, by eliminating separated injection nozzles, the manufacturing cost of the nozzle tube can be reduced. By increasing an injection margin distance, the evaporation rate of the refrigerant increases and thus the cooling efficiency can be further improved.

In addition, since the sub-recovery tube that is connected to the recovery tube disposed in the nozzle tube through a connection plug outside of the nozzle tube is disposed such that a free extreme end of the sub- recovery tube is located close to a lower portion of the inner circumference of the ice-making drum that rotates, cooling oil collected at the lower portion of the ice-making drum is recovered together with the refrigerant to the compressor, thereby maintaining durability of the refrigerant cycle.

Since the nozzle tube is provided at its outer circumference with at least one flat surface, a variety of conveniences can be enhanced when the nozzle tube is fixed, assembled, and disassembled with tools. Brief Description of Drawings FIG. 1 is a view of an icemaker to which an ice-making drum unit of the present invention can be applied.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of an ice-making drum unit for an icemaker according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a partially cut-away perspective view of an ice-making drum unit for an icemaker in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of an ice-making drum unit for an icemaker according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of sealing means of an ice-making drum unit for an icemaker according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a view illustrating nozzle tube connection means of an ice- making drum unit for an icemaker according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 illustrates an embodiment of a nozzle tube applied to an ice- making drum unit according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view taken along line A-A of the nozzle tube depicted in FIG. 7.

FIG. 9 illustrates another embodiment of a nozzle tube applied to an ice-making drum unit according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view taken along line B-B of the nozzle tube depicted in FIG. 9.

FIG. 11 illustrates another embodiment of a nozzle tube applied to an ice-making drum unit according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a cross-sectional view taken along line C-C of the nozzle tube depicted in FIG. 11.

Best Mode An ice-making drum unit according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in more detail hereinafter.

FIG. 1 is a view of an icemaker to which an ice-making drum unit of the present invention can be applied, and FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of an ice-making drum unit for an icemaker according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a partially cut-away perspective view of an ice-making drum unit for an icemaker in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of an ice-making drum unit for an icemaker according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, an icemaker to which an ice-making drum unit of the present invention can be applied includes a body 101, an ice-making chamber 103 formed at an upper portion of the body 101, and a cooling device 105 installed at a lower portion of the body 101. Since the cooling device 105 is designed to realize the typical refrigerant cycle, a detailed description thereof will be omitted herein.

The ice-making chamber 103 is provided at its upper portion with a compartment 107 in which a driving motor 111 is installed. A drum compartment 109 in which an ice-making drum unit 120 is installed is provided under the compartment 107.

A water supply tank 113 is provided under the drum compartment 109, and an ice storage chamber 115 is defined under the water supply tank 113.

The ice-making drum unit 120 is installed in the drum compartment 109 in a state where a lower portion of the ice-making drum unit 120 is immersed in water stored in the water supply tank 113. The ice-making drum unit 120 is connected to a driving sprocket 117 of the driving motor 111 by a chain 119 to rotate by receiving rotational force from the driving motor 111.

The ice-making drum unit 120 freezes a water film formed on a surface of an ice-making drum using evaporation of a compressed refrigerant supplied from the cooling device 105, and at the same time, generates crushed ice I by crushing the frozen ice formed on the surface of the ice- making drum using a crushing blade 121. The crushed ice I that is produced as described above falls to the ice storage chamber 115 and is accumulated therein.

The crushed ice I may be a variety of edible ices produced by freezing beverages such as water, fruit drinks, milk with fruit juice, and the like, or crushed ice produced by freezing water containing 3% salt and used for maintaining freshness of, for example, seafood.

The following will describe the ice-making drum unit for the icemaker according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention in more detail with reference to FIGS. 2 to 6.

The ice-making drum unit 120 in accordance with the present exemplary embodiment includes an ice-making drum 123 that has a lower portion immersed in the water stored in the water supply tank 113, and rotates by rotational force of the driving motor 111. The ice-making drum 123 is formed in a cylindrical shape having a hollow portion defining an evaporation chamber 125. A driven sprocket 127 is mounted on a side of the ice-making drum 123, and is connected to the driving sprocket 117 of the driving motor 111 by the chain 119 to receive rotational force from the driving motor 111. A nozzle tube 129 is disposed in a length direction in the evaporation chamber 125 of the ice-making drum 123. The nozzle tube 129 has a first end that is rotatably installed on a rotational center of the ice-making drum 123 through sealing cap means 131.

The nozzle tube 129 has a second end that is connected to a rotational center of an inner surface of the ice-making drum 123 by connecting means 133 to rotatably support the ice-making drum 123. A plurality of injection holes H are formed on an outer circumference of the nozzle tube 129.

The sealing cap means 131 includes a sealing cap 135 that is crew- coupled to the rotational center of a first end of the ice-making drum 123, and a bearing B that is installed in the sealing cap 235 so that the first end of the nozzle tube 129 can be rotatably mounted.

A sealing rubber 137 is fitted at an inner surface of the sealing cap 135 facing the inside of the ice-making drum 123. A first metal bearing Bl is fitted and installed in the seal rubber 137. At the inside of the ice-making drum 123, a second metal bearing B2 is mounted on the nozzle tube 129 through a bearing cap 139 such that the second metal bearing B2 contacts the first metal bearing Bl. In addition, a spring seat 141 is mounted on a portion of the nozzle tube 129.

A spring 143 is fitted and installed around the nozzle tube 129 between the spring seat 141 and the bearing cap 139 to bias the second metal bearing B2 toward the first metal bearing Bl.

A recovery pipe 145 is installed in the inside of the nozzle tube 129. The recovery tube 145 is coupled to the first end of the nozzle tube 129 through a mounting plug 147 that is inserted into the nozzle tube 129 through the first end thereof and integrally formed with the recovery tube 145. A refrigerant supply passage L is defined by the recovery tube 145 and the nozzle tube 129.

It is preferable that the mounting plug 147 is mounted on the first end of the nozzle tube 129 with a seal ring 149 interposed between them. Outside of the ice-making drum 123, a refrigerant supply hole P2 is formed through a portion of the first end of the nozzle tube 129. A refrigerant supply nipple 165 is mounted in the refrigerant supply hole P2 through a mounting block 163.

In the present exemplary embodiment, eight injection holes H are exemplarily provided. However, the number of the injection holes H may be varied in accordance with the capacity of the icemaker. Distances between the injection holes are gradually increased away from the refrigerant supply hole P2 formed at the first end portion of the nozzle tube 129 (Ll < L2 < L3 < L4 < L5 < L6 <L7, see FIG. 2). Although it is preferable that a distance ratio between the distances between the injection holes H is determined within a range of 1.2-1.7 times, the distance ratio may be more accurately adjusted through repeated tests considering that initial injection pressures of the injection holes H formed along the refrigerant supply passage L are different from each other until the refrigerant cycle normally operates.

Meanwhile, as shown in FIG. 8, it is preferable that each of the injection holes H is provided with a refrigerant dispersion portion HE, which is defined by a conical groove section corresponding to an injection center of the injection hole H and formed on an outer circumferential portion of the nozzle tube 129, to enlarge a refrigerant injection angle θ .

That is, in the course of injecting the refrigerant flowing along the refrigerant supply passage L through the injection holes H, the refrigerant is dispersed at the refrigerant dispersion portions HE and quickly expanded toward the evaporation chamber 125, thereby being evaporated into wet saturated gas.

Inside the ice-making drum 123, a mounting block 151 connected to a first end of the recovery tube 145 is coupled to the nozzle tube 129 through the connecting means 133.

The connecting means 133 includes a connecting plug 155 that is screw-coupled to the second end of the nozzle tube 129 with a seal ring 153 interposed between them. The connecting plug 155 has a first end connected to the recovery tube 145 with Teflon packing 157 interposed between them to seal the refrigerant supply passage L, and a second end that is connected to the bearing B mounted on the rotational center of the inner surface of the ice-making drum 123 through a connecting shaft 159. In addition, a first end of a connecting nipple 161 is mounted on a side of the connecting plug 155 and a second end of the connecting nipple 161 is connected to an end of the sub-recovery tube 151.

Here, as shown in FIG. 4, the sub-recovery tube 151 extends toward an inner circumference of the ice-making drum 123 such that a free end thereof, which defines a refrigerant recovery hole Pl, can be located close to the inner circumference of the ice-making drum 123.

That is, cooling oil 200 contained in the refrigerant that is injected through the injection holes H and is in a saturated liquid state is collected at a lower portion of the inner circumference of the ice-making drum 123. At this point, as the sub-recovery tube 151 extends toward the inner circumference of the ice-making drum 123 such that the refrigerant recovery hole Pl can be located close to the inner circumference of the ice-making drum 123, the cooling oil 200 can be recovered together with the refrigerant to the compressor.

Meanwhile, as shown in FIGS. 7 to 12, the nozzle tube 129 is provided at its outer circumference with at least one flat surface F. The flat surface F provides a variety of conveniences when the nozzle tube 129 is fixed, assembled, and disassembled with tools. In FIGS. 7 and 8, a pair of corresponding flat surfaces F are formed on both sides based on a line along which the injection holes H are formed, extending throughout the entire length of the nozzle tube 129.

In FIGS. 11 and 12, the nozzle tube 129 is formed with a hexagonal section so that three pairs of corresponding flat surfaces F can be formed. In the ice-making drum unit 120 in accordance with the present exemplary embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, a sprocket shaft 169 formed on a first side of the ice-making drum 123 and the sealing cap 135 formed on a second side of the ice-making drum 123 are respectively installed on opposite walls (not shown) of the drum compartment 109 with respective bearings B interposed between them.

Therefore, in the above-described ice-making drum unit for the ice maker, the ice-making drum 123 rotates in the ice-making chamber by the driving motor 111 in a state in which the lower portion of the ice-making drum 123 is immersed in the water stored in the water supply tank 113. At this point, the compressed refrigerant supplied to the refrigerant supply passage L through the refrigerant supply nipple 165 is injected through the injection holes H in the evaporation chamber 125 of the ice- making drum 123 in accordance with an operation of the refrigerant cycle (not shown), and the injected refrigerant is reduced in pressure and phase- changed from the saturated liquid state to the wet saturated gas state, in the course of which the ice-making drum absorbs surrounding heat to freeze the water film formed on the surface of the ice-making drum 123.

The ice formed on the surface of the ice-making drum 123 that rotates is crushed by the crushing blade 121 and falls into the ice storage chamber 115.

As described above, according to the ice-making drum unit 120 of the present exemplary embodiment, since the distances between the injection holes H formed through the nozzle tube 129 having the recovery tube 145 are gradually increased along the length of the nozzle tube 129 as they go toward an end portion to which a high initial operation pressure is applied, the injection holes H can be compensated for the difference between their refrigerant injection pressures.

Further, the sub-recovery tube 151 is additionally provided such that the refrigerant recovery hole Pl is located close to the lower portion of the inner circumference of the ice-making drum 123, so the cooling oil 200 collected at the lower portion of the inner circumference of the ice-making drum 123 can be recovered together with the refrigerant to the compressor and thus the cooling oil 200 keeps circulating in the refrigerant cycle. Further, since the refrigerant recovery hole Pl is located away from a high pressure portion of the nozzle tube 129, a local refrigerant concentration phenomenon can be prevented to cause the initial cooling temperature of the ice-making drum 123 to be uniform.

While this invention has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be practical exemplary embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments, but, on the contrary, is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

Claims

WHAT IS CALIMED IS

1. An ice-making drum unit for an icemaker, comprising: an ice-making drum defining an evaporation chamber therein and rotating by rotational force of a driving motor, which is applied to a first end of the ice-making drum; a nozzle tube having a first end that is rotatably installed on a rotational center of a second end of the ice-making drum through sealing cap means and a second end that is rotatably supported on a rotational center of an inner surface of the ice-making drum through connecting means; a recovery tube inserted into the nozzle tube through the first end of the nozzle tube and coupled to the first end of the nozzle tube through a mounting plug, wherein a refrigerant supply passage is defined between the recovery tube and the nozzle tube; and a sub-recovery tube connected to an end of the recovery tube through the connecting means having an end that is coupled to the second end of the nozzle tube in the ice-making drum.

2. The ice-making drum unit of claim 1, wherein the nozzle tube is provided with a plurality of injection holes for injecting refrigerant, wherein distances between the injection holes are gradually increased in a direction in which the refrigerant flows.

3. The ice-making drum unit of claim 1, wherein the sub- recovery tube has an extreme end extending toward an inner circumference of the ice-making drum.

4. The ice-making drum unit of claim 1, wherein the nozzle tube is provided at its outer circumference with one or more corresponding flat surfaces.

5. The ice-making drum unit of claim 1, wherein each of the injection holes provided on the nozzle tube is provided with a refrigerant dispersion portion.

6. The ice-making drum unit of claim 1, wherein the sealing cap means comprises: a sealing cap coupled to the rotational center of the second end of the ice-making drum, the first end of the nozzle tube being rotatably mounted in the seal cap through a bearing; a seal rubber fitted in the sealing cap and exposed toward the ice- making drum; a first metal bearing fitted in the seal rubber; a second metal bearing that is mounted on the nozzle tube through a bearing cap such that the second metal bearing can slide-contact the first metal bearing in the ice-making drum; a spring seat mounted on a side of the nozzle tube in the ice-making drum; and a spring installed around the nozzle tube between the spring seat and the bearing cap.

7. The ice-making drum unit of claim 1, wherein the connecting means comprises: a connecting plug that is screw-coupled to the second end of the nozzle tube with a seal ring interposed therebetween, that is connected to a first end of the recovery tube with Teflon packing interposed therebetween in the nozzle tube to seal the refrigerant supply passage, and that has an outer end that is mounted on the rotational center of the inner surface of the ice-making drum through a connecting shaft; and a connecting nipple having a first end mounted on a side of the connection plug and a second end connected to an end of the sub-recovery tube.