JPH01181054A - Ice-making device for refrigerating chamber and the like - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To uniformize cooling of each section of an ice-making pan and to produce clear ice with high efficiency, by a method wherein a heating device is disposed mainly along the outer periphery of a heating plate. CONSTITUTION:An ice-making device 23 situated to the lower part of a freezing chamber 3 is provided at an upper stage with a first ice-making chamber 8 for producing clear ice and at a lower stage with a second ice-making chamber 9 for producing ordinary ice. A heater 22 is disposed to the back of a heating plate 21 made of aluminum along the outer periphery thereof. During making of clear ice, heating is preponderantly effected by a section heater 22 along the outer periphery of an ice-making pan which is apt to exert a cooling action by thermal conduction from the side wall or the back of the interior of a freezing chamber. Thus, a cooling action by thermal conduction from the side wall or the back of the interior of the freezing chamber can be prevented from exerting. Meanwhile, heat generation distribution of the heater 22 is further coarser as it is extended toward the central part of the heating plate 21, and a heating amount of a central part is suppressed to a low value, sections 15a-1, 15a-2, and 14a-3 are uniformly cooled. This constitution shortens an ice-making time of each section, and enables production of clear ice with high efficiency.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ice-making device that is disposed in a freezer compartment of a refrigerator and is particularly capable of producing transparent ice.

Conventional technology Conventionally, in household refrigerators, etc., an ice making device that stores an ice tray is placed in one section of the freezer compartment, and the water in the ice tray is frozen by the cooling effect of the cold air flowing through the ice making device to make ice. It is common practice to generate .

However, with this ice generation method, when ice is generated, the water in the ice tray progresses from the contact surface between the ice tray and the water and the contact surface between the cold air and water to the center. As a result, gaseous components dissolved in the water and impurities are trapped in the center of the ice, resulting in opaque ice with a cloudy center, which is sensually suitable for beverages such as whisky. It wasn't.

Therefore, there has been a need for transparent ice for a long time, and the equipment for producing it is shown in Figures 6 to 1, for example.
A method as shown in Figure 0 has been considered. The contents will be explained below according to the drawings.

Reference numeral 1 denotes a refrigerator body, which is divided by a partition wall 2 into a freezing compartment 3 at the top and a refrigerating compartment 4 at the bottom. Reference numeral 6 indicates a cooler for the refrigeration cycle, and 6 indicates a forced ventilation blower, which are connected to the freezer compartment 3, respectively.
is located on the back of the.

T is an ice making device placed at the bottom of the freezer compartment 3;
A first ice-making compartment 8 for producing transparent ice is provided in the upper stage, and a second ice-making compartment 9 for producing regular ice is provided in the lower stage. The first ice-making chamber 8 is surrounded by a heat insulating material 10 on the outer wall except for the bottom and front surface, and there is an aluminum heating plate 12 on the top surface with a heater 11 on the back surface, and an aluminum heating plate 12 on the bottom surface. Cooling plates 13 made of aluminum are respectively arranged. 14 is a ventilation passage formed at the bottom of the second cooling plate 13;
．． 16 are the first ice making compartments 8. A first ice tray and a second ice tray are housed in the second ice making compartment 9, and both have a plurality of sections 16a.

It is divided into 16a. Further, 17 is a discharge duct for forcing the cold air cooled by the cooler 6 into the ice making device 7 by the blower 6, and the discharge duct 17 is connected to the ventilation passage 14 and the second air passage by means of a discharge port 18 formed at the lower end. Ice making room 9
It communicates within. Reference numeral 19 denotes a return duct for returning cold air discharged into the freezer compartment 3 to the cooler 6. Further, reference numeral 2o is a transparent ice making switch, which is configured so that once the switch is turned on, the heater 11 is energized for a predetermined period of time.

In this configuration, the cold air cooled by the cooler 5 is supplied to the freezer compartment 3 and the refrigerator compartment 4 by the forced ventilation action of the blower 6, and at the same time is supplied to the second ice making device 7 through the discharge port 18 of the discharge duct 17. It is discharged into the ice making compartment 9 and the ventilation passage 14. The cold air guided into the second ice making compartment 9 is then
The second ice tray 16 is directly cooled, and the water inside is frozen sequentially from the water surface and the remaining surface that contacts the second ice tray 16 to produce normal ice. However, as mentioned above, the ice produced in this way is cloudy and does not become transparent. on the other hand,
The cold air guided into the ventilation passage 14 cools the cooling plate 13. Therefore, in order to make transparent ice, the user
When the first ice-making tray 15 filled with water is placed in the first ice-making compartment 8 and the ice-making switch 2o is turned on, ice is generated from the top surface of the first ice-making tray 15 via the heating plate 12 by the heater 11. A heating action is started, and a cooling or freezing action is started from the lower surface via the cooling plate 13. Further, since the outer wall of the first ice tray 15 except the lower surface is covered with a 1° heat insulating material, it is not affected by the cooling effect from the freezing chamber 3, and the freezing action progresses in one direction from the lower surface to the upper surface. Since this freezing effect is indirect cooling via the cooling plate 13 and also includes a heating effect by the heater 11 whose capacity has been set in advance, the freezing speed is extremely slow. Gaseous components are released due to immediate freezing, but since there is room for them to diffuse into the upper water, ice making progresses without air bubbles being incorporated into the ice. If the freezing rate is controlled to approximately 3 tm/h or less in this way, the gaseous components in the water will be degassed from the surface of the frozen ice to the outside air, so the ice that is finally formed will contain almost no air bubbles. Clear ice is obtained without sloshing.

Further, the heater 11 automatically stops being energized after a predetermined time has elapsed, with some margin given to the time required to complete ice making.

Problem to be Solved by the Invention However, the first ice tray 15 is divided into several sections 15a as shown in FIG.
5a-1 represents the left back, 15a-2 represents the center, and 15a-3 represents the right front sexy eyes. Although the first ice-making compartment 8 is surrounded by a heat insulating material 10, ice-making time is faster in the sections near it (for example, 1Sa-1) due to the cooling effect due to heat conduction from the inner wall of the freezer compartment or the back side. On the other hand, the central section 15a-2
In this case, since the heat of the heater 11 tends to accumulate, the ice making time tends to be delayed as shown in FIG.

In order to obtain clear ice in each section 15a, it is necessary to set the capacity and energization time of the heater 11 so that section 15a, which has the fastest ice making time, can obtain clear ice, but the ice making time in the center is required. This results in inconveniences such as delays or being frozen until the end.

The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems, and aims to reduce the difference in ice making time between the sections 15a of the ice tray and efficiently produce transparent ice.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve the above problems, an ice making device such as a refrigerator according to the present invention has a heating device such as a heater mainly arranged along the outer periphery of a heating plate.

Effect: With the above-described configuration, the present invention heats the outer peripheral section of the ice tray, which is easily affected by the cooling effect due to heat conduction from the side walls or the back side of the freezer compartment, and softens the heating of the central section. , each section of the ice cube tray will be cooled evenly.

EXAMPLE Hereinafter, an ice making apparatus for a refrigerator or the like according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5. Incidentally, the same components as those in the prior art are given the same reference numerals, and detailed explanation thereof will be omitted.

23 is an ice making device provided at the bottom of the freezer compartment 3, with a first ice making compartment 8 for producing transparent ice in the upper stage and a second ice making compartment 9 for producing normal ice in the lower stage. . Reference numeral 21 denotes an aluminum heating plate, and a heater 22 is arranged on the back side along the outer periphery.

In this configuration, during ice making, clear ice is heated intensively by the section heater 22 along the outer periphery of the ice making tray, which is easily affected by the cooling effect due to heat conduction from the side walls or back side of the freezing chamber. Therefore, it is possible to suppress the cooling effect caused by heat conduction from the side wall or back surface of the freezing chamber. on the other hand,
The heat generation 1 distribution of the heater 22 is sparse in the central part of the heating plate 21, and the amount of heating in the central part is suppressed, and each section 15a
-115a-2 and 15a-3 are uniformly cooled. Therefore, the difference in ice making time between sections 15a-1, 15a-2, and 15a-3 becomes small, and transparent ice can be made efficiently.

As described above, according to the present invention, the cooling of each section of the ice tray is made uniform, the difference in ice making time is reduced, and transparent ice can be efficiently produced.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of an ice making device such as a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the a-a section of FIG. Figure 4 is a characteristic diagram showing the time and temperature of each ice tray when ice is made with the same ice maker, Figure 6 is a front view of the ice tray shown in Figure 1, and Figure 6 is a conventional ice maker. FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of the ice-making device shown in FIG. 6, FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view taken along the bb section in FIG. 7, and FIG. A graph showing the time and temperature of each section when ice is made with the ice making apparatus shown in the figure, and FIG. 10 is a front view of the ice tray of the ice making apparatus shown in FIG. 7. 1o...Insulating material, 8...First ice making compartment (ice making compartment), 22... Heater (heating device), 1
3...Cooling plate, 21...Heating plate, 14
... Ventilation duct, 23 ... Ice making device, 16
...First ice tray (ice tray). Name of agent: Patent attorney Toshio Nakao and 1 other person8-
Ice room (ice making room) in Oj IO - Insulation material I3 - Ling Fu 14 - Ventilation passage 15 - Ice tray in O I (Ice making tray 21 - Sword heating plate ff - Heater (n town 4%X) 23-@Next device 1st rl!J l?16 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 View (hP soup-1- I5α-3I5α-2 Figure 6! Figure 7Ci!1 Figure 8

Claims (1)

[Claims] a cooling plate, an ice-making compartment partitioned with the cooling plate as the bottom and an opening at the front, an ice-making tray stored in the ice-making compartment and placed on the cooling plate, and a heater provided above the ice-making tray, etc. A refrigerator, etc., comprising a heating plate having a heating device mainly arranged on the outer periphery, a ventilation passage provided below the cooling plate, and a heat insulating material placed inside the outer wall excluding the bottom and front surface of the ice making compartment. ice making equipment.