JPH0338610Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] Industrial application field This invention relates to an ice maker, particularly a vertical ice maker.

PRIOR ART A conventional ice maker is a horizontal ice maker, which has a grid-like partition plate on one side of an ice maker board made of a bent metal plate and meandering refrigerant pipes brazed on the other side, and is arranged horizontally. It was mainstream. Recently, vertical ice makers have been used to reduce the installation floor space of ice makers, but the size of the extruded material that makes up the ice making board depends on the scale of the extrusion molding machine that manufactures it. Therefore, there was a problem in that it was difficult to increase the number of stages of the horizontal partition wall, that is, the number of ice cubes to be made without changing the floor area of the ice maker.

Purpose of the invention The purpose of this invention is to solve the above problems, to greatly and freely increase the number of stages of horizontal partition walls, that is, the number of ice cubes, without changing the installation floor area, and to ensure that water flows smoothly. To provide an ice maker that can mass-produce ice of excellent quality very efficiently, has a simple structure, is strong, and can be manufactured easily and inexpensively. be.

Structure of the invention In order to achieve the above object, this invention provides parallel and linear refrigerant passages inside a vertical ice-making substrate made of an extruded aluminum material having a plurality of horizontal partition walls on at least one side, The left and right ends of adjacent refrigerant passages are connected alternately to the left and right to form a meandering refrigerant passage as a whole. A plurality of ice maker units are connected in the vertical direction. In the gap created between the horizontal partition wall provided near the lower edge of the upper ice maker unit and the horizontal partition wall provided near the upper edge of the lower ice maker unit of adjacent ice maker units. The gist of the ice maker is an ice maker in which a synthetic resin water guiding member is fitted, which closes the front opening and allows water to flow down along the outer surface.

Examples In this specification, front, rear, right and left are based on FIG. 1, and the front means the left side of FIG. 1, the rear means the right side, the left means the back side of the drawing sheet, and the right means This refers to the same front side.

In FIG. 1 showing the first embodiment of this invention,
Reference numeral 1 designates an ice maker according to this invention, and 2 designates two ice maker units made of extruded aluminum and connected vertically. Each ice maker unit 2 has parallel and straight horizontal refrigerant passages 5a inside. It consists of a vertical ice-making substrate 3 and a horizontal partition wall 4 integrally provided with the substrate 3 at a predetermined distance in front of the substrate 3. The horizontal partition wall 4 is horizontal in the left-right direction, but is inclined slightly downward in the front-rear direction to facilitate ice removal. Among the vertically adjacent ice maker units 2A and 2B, a convex fitting part 6 is provided at the lower edge of the vertical ice making board 3A of the upper ice maker unit 2A, and the upper edge of the vertical ice making board 3B of the lower ice maker unit 2B. A concave fitting portion 7 is provided at the top and the vertical ice making substrates 3A and 3B of the upper and lower ice making units 2A and 2B are connected to each other by fitting these concave and convex fitting portions 6 and 7 together.

In each ice maker unit 2, 8 is an ice maker board 3
6 on the left side and 5 on the right side of the board 3, and oval plate fitting recesses provided at different heights on both the left and right sides of the board 3,
Each plate fitting recess 8 communicates with the ends of two linear refrigerant passages 5a. Reference numeral 9 denotes communication grooves that are sequentially bored on the left and right sides in order to communicate the ends of the vertically adjacent refrigerant passages 5a inside each of the plate fitting recesses 8 on both left and right sides of the ice-making substrate 3, and 10 denotes each plate fitting recess. The inner surface of the peripheral edge 10a of each cover plate 10 is brazed to the bottom peripheral edge of the recess 8, and the cover plate is made of an aluminum brazing sheet and has a brazing material layer on the inner surface. Therefore, a meandering refrigerant passage 5 is formed in the ice making substrate 3 as a whole.

Reference numeral 11 denotes a large number of vertical partition plates made of aluminum attached to the ice making substrate 3 of each ice making unit 2 at predetermined intervals so as to intersect with the horizontal partition wall 4, and the horizontal partition wall 4 and the vertical partition plate 11 are Notches each having a length half the width are provided at predetermined positions corresponding to each other, and by fitting the horizontal partition wall 4 and the vertical partition plate 11 into these cuts, both can be seen from the front. If you look closely, they are arranged in a grid pattern.

Upper and lower ice maker units 2A and 2B each have 4
It is made of an aluminum extrusion profile of the same shape with several horizontal partition walls 4. Of the vertically adjacent ice maker units 2A and 2B, a horizontal partition wall 4 is provided near the lower edge of the upper ice maker unit 2A, and a horizontal partition wall 4 is provided near the upper edge of the lower ice maker unit 2B. A water guide member 22 made of synthetic resin is fitted into the gap 23 formed between the wall 4 and the wall 4 to close the front opening thereof and allow water to flow down along the outer surface.

12 is a refrigerant inlet pipe connected to the lower end of the right side of the ice making board 3 of each ice maker unit 2, 13 is a refrigerant discharge pipe connected to the upper end thereof, and 14 is a horizontal partition at the top of the upper ice maker unit 2A. 15 is a synthetic resin water receiving guide plate placed on the top surface of the wall 4; 15 is a synthetic resin water drop guide plate disposed along the bottom surface of the lowest horizontal partition wall 4 of the lower ice maker unit 2B;
Reference numeral 16 denotes a temperature sensor insertion portion with a circular cross section, which is integrally provided in the longitudinal direction of the substrate 3 on the rear surface of the vertical ice making substrate 3 where the horizontal partition wall 4 is not provided, and a cylindrical temperature sensor 17 is fitted into this. ing. Reference numeral 18 denotes a water supply pipe disposed above the ice maker 1, which is attached to the vertical portion of the water receiving guide plate 14 by an annular fitting 19. Reference numeral 20 indicates a water passage hole formed at a predetermined interval on the lower edge of the water supply pipe 18, and reference numeral 21 indicates a horizontal cylindrical accumulator with a bottom placed at the rear side of the ice maker 1; It is something that is interposed in the process.

In the above ice maker 1, when water flows down from the water passage hole 21 of the water supply pipe 20 disposed above it, the water flows downward along the surface of the water receiving guide plate 14 of the upper ice maker unit 2A, The ice flows from the tip to the lower surface of the uppermost horizontal partition wall 4, passes through the surface of the vertical ice-making substrate 3, and then flows down the surface of the horizontal partition wall 4 at the lower stage in order. During this time, the water exchanges heat with the refrigerant in the meandering refrigerant passages 5 of each ice-making substrate 3 and is cooled. The lowest horizontal partition wall 4 of the upper ice maker unit 2A and the lower ice maker unit 2B
Since a synthetic resin water guiding member 22 is fitted into the gap 23 between the uppermost horizontal partition wall 4 and the uppermost horizontal partition wall 4, water flows down extremely smoothly in this part. In this way, both the upper and lower ice maker units 2A and 2B
Ice is formed in all the square spaces surrounded by the horizontal partition wall 4 and the vertical partition plate 11 when viewed from the front. After the ice has grown sufficiently large, hot gas is introduced into the meandering passage 5 of each ice-making substrate 3 to slightly melt the surface of the ice.
These are allowed to fall naturally to the front outside of the ice maker 1.

FIG. 2 shows a second embodiment of this invention. Here, the difference from the first embodiment is that the ice maker 1 has only one accumulator 21.
Upper ice maker unit 2A
The end of the lowest refrigerant passage 3a of the lower ice maker unit 2B is communicated with the uppermost refrigerant passage 3a of the lower ice maker unit 2B by a U-shaped bend pipe 24.

The other points of the second embodiment are the same as those of the first embodiment, and the same parts are given the same reference numerals in the drawings.

In each of the embodiments described above, the upper and lower ice maker units 2A, 2B, the cover plate 10, and the vertical partition plate 11 of the ice maker 1 are brazed together by, for example, a vacuum brazing method. The upper and lower ice maker units 2A, 2B may be connected to each other by fitting the concave and convex fitting portions 6, 7 before or after brazing. Also, upper and lower ice maker units 2
A horizontal partition wall 4 is provided not only on the front side of each ice making substrate 3 of A and 2B but also on the rear side, and
Vertical partition plates 11 may be attached to these partition walls 4 in an intersecting manner so that ice can be formed on both the front and rear surfaces of each ice-making substrate 3.

Further, in each of the embodiments, the plate fitting recess 8 and the cover plate 10 are oval in shape when viewed from the side, but they may have other shapes such as a rectangle or a square. . Further, although the linear refrigerant passage 5a has a circular cross section, it may have other shapes such as an ellipse, a rectangle, or a square. Note that a required number of protrusions may be provided in the refrigerant passage 5a in the length direction of the substrate 3 to increase the inner surface area of the refrigerant passage 5a. Furthermore, the ends of two refrigerant passages 5a communicate with one plate fitting recess 8, but the ends of three or more horizontal refrigerant passages 5a communicate with one plate fitting recess 8. You can also make it possible to communicate. Further, as a method of closing both the left and right sides of the ice making board 3, aluminum cover plates having a length approximately equal to the total length of these sides may be fixed to both the left and right sides of the ice making board 3 by brazing. Furthermore, in each of the above embodiments, an aluminum brazing sheet having a brazing metal layer on the inner surface is used as the cover plate 10, but it is of course possible to use an aluminum brazing sheet having a brazing metal layer on both the inner and outer surfaces. good.

Note that, in view of the performance of the ice maker 1, the upper and lower ice maker units 2A and 2B, which have different diameters and pitches (arrangement intervals) of the linear refrigerant passages 5a, may be connected to each other if necessary. Also, three or more ice maker units 2 may be connected. Further, it is preferable that the surface of the ice maker 1 is subjected to alumite treatment.

Effects of the invention As described above, the ice maker 1 according to this invention has parallel and straight refrigerant passages 5a inside the vertical ice-making substrate 3 made of an extruded aluminum material with a plurality of horizontal partition walls 4 on at least one side. provided,
The left and right end portions of adjacent refrigerant passages 5a are sequentially communicated alternately on the left and right, thereby forming a meandering refrigerant passage 5 as a whole. A plurality of ice maker units 2 are connected in the vertical direction. Therefore, although there is a limit to the size of the ice maker unit 2 manufactured by an extrusion molding machine, the number of stages of the horizontal partition wall 4 of the ice maker 1 can be significantly and freely increased. Moreover, since the ice maker units 2 are connected in series in the vertical direction, ice can be mass-produced very efficiently without changing the installation floor space. In addition, a concave-convex fitting portion 6 provided on the ice-making substrate 3,
Since the ice cubes 7 are fitted and bonded together, heat conduction is smooth and uniform ice of excellent quality can be produced.

Also, the vertically adjacent ice maker units 2A and 2B
The horizontal partition wall 4 provided near the lower edge of the upper ice maker unit 2A and the lower ice maker unit 2
In the gap 23 created between the horizontal partition wall 4 and the horizontal partition wall 4 provided near the upper edge of B, there is a water guide member 22 made of synthetic resin that closes the front opening and allows water to flow down along the outer surface. is fitted in the ice making board 3 of the ice making unit 2, so water flows down extremely smoothly in this part, and the ice making board 3 of the multiple ice making units 2
Combined with the smooth conduction of heat due to the series connection of the ice cubes, it is possible to produce ice of uniform and excellent quality.

Furthermore, the water guide member 22 is simply fitted into the gap 23, and both the upper and lower ice maker units 2
Since aluminum extrusions of the same shape can be used for A and 2B, the structure is very simple and does not require any other connectors, and since they are connected vertically in series, only one water supply device is required. This has the effect that the ice maker 1 can be manufactured easily and at low cost.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a right side view showing a first embodiment of this invention, and FIG. 2 is a right side view showing a second embodiment. 1... Ice maker, 2, 2A, 2B... Ice maker unit, 3, 3A, 3B... Ice making board, 4... Partition wall, 5... Meandering refrigerant passage, 5a... Straight refrigerant passage, 6 ...Convex fitting part, 7...Concave fitting part, 2
2... Water guide member, 23... Gap.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] Vertical ice-making substrate 3 made of extruded aluminum with a plurality of horizontal partition walls 4 on at least one side.
Parallel and linear refrigerant passages 5a are provided inside the refrigerant passages 5a, and the left and right end portions of the adjacent refrigerant passages 5a are successively communicated with each other alternately, thereby forming a meandering refrigerant passage 5 as a whole. A plurality of ice maker units 2 are connected in the vertical direction, and among the vertically adjacent ice maker units 2A and 2B, a horizontal partition wall 4 and a lower ice maker are provided near the lower edge of the upper ice maker unit 2A. A water guide made of synthetic resin is installed in the gap 23 created between the container unit 2B and the horizontal partition wall 4 provided near the upper edge to close the front opening and allow water to flow down along the outer surface. An ice maker in which a member 22 is fitted.