JPH0445007Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] Industrial application field This invention relates to a falling ice making machine.More specifically, ice making water is made to flow down onto the surface of an ice making plate to form ice sheets, and deicing water is poured onto the back side of the ice making plate. The present invention relates to a water sprinkling structure that can ensure uniform and smooth flow of each ice-making water and de-icing water on the front and back surfaces of the ice-making plate in a drop-down type ice maker that promotes peeling of ice sheets.

Prior Art An evaporation tube communicating with a refrigeration system is disposed on the inner side of a pair of ice-making plates arranged vertically opposite each other, and the ice-making plates are cooled by circulating a refrigerant through the evaporation tube.
The falling ice making machine is configured to freeze the ice-making water that flows down onto the ice-making surface of the ice-making plate into sheet ice, peel off the obtained ice sheet, and release it into the ice storage, which has a simple structure and reduces ice-making costs. It is widely used because it is inexpensive.

Since the present invention particularly relates to the water sprinkling structure of this down-flow ice maker, the general structure of the down-flow ice maker will first be briefly described. As shown in FIG. 4, a pair of ice-making plates 10, 10 are arranged facing each other at a predetermined interval, and evaporation tubes 12, 12 are closely disposed on opposing surfaces of the ice-making plates 10, 10, respectively. This evaporation tube 12 is led out from a refrigeration system (not shown),
The ice-making plates 10 are arranged in a meandering manner in the lateral direction over the entire surface of each ice-making plate 10, and the entire ice-making plate 10 is uniformly cooled by circulating a refrigerant through the evaporation tubes 12.

The upper and lower ends of each ice-making plate 10 are bent at a required angle toward the opposing ice-making plate 10, and a water sprinkling plate 24 having a roof-shaped cross section (∧) is disposed above both ice-making plates 10, 10. has been done. Above the water sprinkling plate 24, an ice making water sprinkling pipe 22 having a large number of water sprinkling holes 22a for distributing ice making water is arranged horizontally, and this water sprinkling pipe 22 is connected to an ice making water tank 16 (described later). . Further, a deicing water sprinkling pipe 26 having a number of watering holes 26a for dispersing and supplying deicing water is disposed at the middle upper part of both ice making plates 10, 10, and this deicing water sprinkling pipe 26 is connected to a deicing water tank (not shown). Connected.

An ice-making water tank 1 is located below both ice-making plates 10, 10.
6 is arranged, and during ice-making operation, the ice-making water in this tank 16 is force-fed to the ice-making water sprinkling pipe 22 via the ice-making water circulation pump 18 and the ice-making water supply pipe 20.
After being sprayed onto the water sprinkling plate 24 from the large number of water sprinkling holes 22a, it is supplied to the ice making surface 10 of the ice making plate 10. Since each ice-making plate 10 is cooled by an evaporator tube 12, a portion of the ice-making water flowing down the front ice-making surface 10a freezes here, and an ice layer is gradually formed. The ice-making water that has not been frozen even after being supplied to the ice-making plate 10 is collected by a water collecting member 28 disposed below the ice-making plate 10, and then returned to the ice-making water tank 16 and stored therein. and is pumped again by the pump 18.

When the ice making operation progresses and sheet ice 14 of a required thickness is generated on the ice making surface 10a, this is detected by the sensor, and the ice making operation is stopped and switched to the deicing operation.
That is, hot gas is supplied to the evaporation tube 12, and deicing water from a deicing water tank (not shown) is injected and supplied from the deicing water sprinkling pipe 26 toward the back surface of each ice making plate 10. As a result, the frozen surface between the ice making surface 10a and the ice plate 14 is melted, and the ice plate 14 falls due to its own weight and is stored in an ice storage (not shown). Note that the deicing water flowing down the back side of the ice making plate 10 is
After being collected by the water collecting member 28, it is returned and stored in the deicing water tank.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention In the above-described down-flow ice maker, the ice making plate 10 is selected to have a thickness as small as possible in order to improve thermal conductivity. Therefore, the strength of the ice-making plate 10 itself is not sufficient, and as a result of long-term use, the ice-making plate 10
There is a problem in that distortion inevitably occurs in the ice making surface 10a, making it impossible to produce ice sheets 14 uniformly on the ice making surface 10a.

In addition, two evaporation tubes 12 are provided between the ice making plates 10, 10,
12 are arranged correspondingly to each other, disadvantages have been pointed out, such as an increase in the width dimension, which requires a large space for assembly to the ice maker, and a complicated piping system. In order to solve this problem, as shown in FIG.
A falling type ice maker has been proposed in which the ice is sandwiched in a sandwich-like manner at 0.10 mm. This ice maker is
The strength is increased compared to the conventional type shown in FIG. 4, and deformation of the ice making plate 10 can be prevented.
Furthermore, since there is only one evaporation tube 12, there is an advantage that the piping is simplified and the installation area is also reduced.

However, on the other hand, in the down-flow ice maker having the configuration shown in FIG.
As the distance between 0 and 10 becomes narrower, installation of the water sprinkler pipe 26 for supplying deicing water to the back surface of the ice-making plate 10 becomes complicated. Moreover, since the evaporation tube 12 is arranged to meander in the lateral direction of the ice-making plate 10, additional processing is required to ensure a flow path for the deicing water. Further, since the deicing water supplied from the water sprinkler pipe 26 is directly sprayed onto the back surface of the ice making surface 10a, the deicing water scatters at the supply portion, preventing it from flowing down uniformly above the back surface of the ice making plate 10. There is a drawback that it takes time for the frozen surfaces of the ice plate 14 and the ice making plate 10 to melt, resulting in a decrease in ice making ability.

Furthermore, since the upper edge of the ice-making plate 10 and the water sprinkling plate 24 are separated from each other, the ice-making water is not evenly supplied to the ice-making surface 10a and is scattered around as droplets. There is also a drawback that ice-making water flows around the back surface of the ice-making plate 10 through the gap between the ice-making plate 10 and the ice-making plate 10, flows down, and freezes on the back surface. In addition, dust and dirt enter between the two ice-making plates 10 and 10, and this dust and dirt are collected together with the de-icing water in the de-icing water tank, and when used again, the water-sprinkling hole 2 of the water-sprinkling pipe 26
Shortcomings such as clogging in a are also pointed out.

Purpose of the invention This invention was proposed in order to solve the above-mentioned drawbacks inherent in the conventional down-flow ice maker. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a water sprinkling structure that allows water to flow uniformly and smoothly onto the front and back surfaces.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to overcome the above-mentioned problems and suitably achieve the intended purpose, the present invention proposes a pair of evaporation tubes arranged vertically facing each other and closely sandwiching the evaporation tubes on the back side, which communicate with the refrigeration system. ice-making plate, and is arranged above both ice-making plates,
An ice-making water sprinkling pipe that supplies ice-making water to the outer surfaces of both ice-making plates during ice-making operation, and an ice-making water sprinkling pipe disposed above both ice-making plates and below the ice-making water sprinkling pipe that supplies ice-making water to both ice-making plates during deicing operation. A down-flow ice maker comprising: a de-icing water sprinkling pipe that supplies the ice-making water to the back surface of the ice-making water sprinkling pipe; and a water sprinkling plate that is disposed between the ice-making water sprinkling pipe and the de-icing water sprinkling pipe and guiding the ice-making water to the outer surfaces of both ice-making plates. forming, at the upper end edge of each ice-making plate, an inclined part bent in a direction away from the opposing ice-making plate, and a vertical part extending vertically upward from the inclined part; The sprinkler plate is bent so as to straddle both ice-making plates from the outside, and has a curved part that gently bulges outward from the top of the bent part and then converges inward, and a curved part that converges inward from this curved part. and a sloped portion inclined at a required angle toward the lower end edge, and configured such that the sloped portion consisting of the sloped surface of the water sprinkling plate is elastically brought into close contact with the vertical portion formed on each ice-making plate. shall be.

Embodiments Next, preferred embodiments of the down-flow ice maker according to the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. The basic configuration of the down-flow ice maker in which the present invention is implemented is the same as that described in connection with FIGS. 4 and 5, so the same members will be designated by the same reference numerals.

FIG. 1 shows a vertical cross section of a water sprinkling mechanism of a down-flow ice maker according to an embodiment of the present invention. Boards 10, 10,
An ice-making water sprinkling pipe 22 arranged above both ice-making plates;
A de-icing water sprinkling pipe 26 and an ice-making water sprinkling pipe 22 are disposed above both ice-making plates and below the ice-making water sprinkling pipe 22.
and the deicing water sprinkling pipe 26.
It is equipped with

At the top of each ice-making plate 10, in a state where both ice-making plates 10, 10 are arranged facing each other as shown in the figure, a portion is bent in a direction away from the other ice-making plate 10 located opposite to each other and extends diagonally upward. Slanted portion 10b
and a vertical portion 10d extending vertically upward from the upper limit horizontal line of the inclined portion 10b. The upper limit horizontal line of each vertical portion 10d is further formed with an inclined portion 10f that is bent in a direction away from the other ice-making plate 10 and extends obliquely upward to form an upper open end. Further, at the bottom of each ice-making plate 10, there is an inclined part 10c that is bent in a direction away from the other ice-making plate 10 and extends obliquely downward;
A vertical portion 10e, which is an open end, is formed vertically downward from the lower limit horizontal line of the inclined portion 10c. And the upwardly inclined portion 10 of each ice-making plate 10
on the surface located between b and the downwardly inclined portion 10c,
An ice making surface 10a is formed.

The water sprinkling plate 24 is connected to both ice making plates 10, 10.
When the two ice-making plates 1 are arranged in relation to each other,
0 and 10 from the outside. And the top S which becomes the bending part
As a dividing line, curved portion 2 gently bulges outward to the left and right, and then converges inward.
4c, 24c, and an inclined portion 24b inclined at a required angle from each curved portion 24c toward the lower end edge. As can be seen from FIG. 1, the water sprinkling plate 24 has a vertical cross-sectional shape that bulges outward to the left and right with the top S as a bending line, and then converges inward. Slanted portion 24 that meets each other
The distance between the open ends of ice cubes b and 24b is determined by the vertical portion 10 formed on both ice making plates 10 and 10, respectively.
It is set to be slightly smaller than the dimension between the outer surfaces of d and 10d.

When attaching the water sprinkling plate 24 to both the ice making plates 10, 10, the inclined portions 24b, 24b formed on the water sprinkling plate 24 are slightly expanded in the direction of separation, and in this expanded state, the ice making plate 10, After sandwiching the outer surfaces of the vertical portions 10d and 10d of No. 10, the expansion stress is released. As a result, the free ends of the inclined portions 24b, 24b of the water sprinkler plate 24 elastically come into close contact with the outer surfaces of the vertical portions 10d, 10d of the ice making plates 10, 10, and are held in a substantially flat state.

As clearly shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the evaporation tube 12 located between the back surfaces of the ice-making plates 10 and 10 arranged opposite to each other is arranged in a meandering manner in the vertical direction of the ice-making plate 10. The upper and lower curved portions 12a, in which the ice-making surface 10a changes by 180°, extend by a predetermined length from both the upper and lower ends of the ice-making surface 10a. Further, as described above, as a result of the slope portions 10b and 10c being formed at both the upper and lower ends of the ice-making surface 10a, the evaporation tube 12
The upper and lower curved portions 12a are spaced apart from the ice-making plates 10, 10, and therefore, on the back side of each ice-making plate, there is a deicing water channel communicating from the top to the bottom of the ice-making surface 10a, as shown in FIG. defined.

Next, the behavior of water when using the water sprinkling structure according to the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 will be explained. When the ice-making operation is started, a refrigerant is circulated and supplied to the evaporation tube 12 from a refrigeration system (not shown), and the ice-making plates 10, 10 are cooled to below freezing point. Furthermore, the ice-making water circulation pump 18 shown in FIG. be dispersed. The ice-making water sprinkled on the top of the water sprinkling plate 24 bulges outward to the left and right and then converges inward at the curved portions 24c, 24c and the inclined portion 2.
4b, 24b, where it is rectified and transferred to the ice making plates 10, 10, where it flows down.

At this time, the inclined portions 24b, 2 in the water sprinkling plate 24
As mentioned above, the free ends of the ice-making plates 4b elastically and closely hold the vertical portions 10d, 10d of the ice-making plates in a nearly flat state, so that the ice-making water that is rectified while flowing through the water sprinkling plates 24 is The ice is uniformly and smoothly supplied over the entire ice making surfaces 10a, 10a. Note that since the ice-making water flows along the curved portion 24c of the water sprinkling plate 24, the ice-making water does not scatter from the water sprinkling plate 24 unnecessarily.

Since each ice-making plate 10 is cooled by an evaporator tube 12, a portion of the ice-making water flowing down the front ice-making surface 10a freezes here, and an ice layer is gradually formed. The ice-making water that has not been frozen even after being supplied to the ice-making plate 10 is collected by a water collecting member 28 disposed below the ice-making plate 10, and then returned to the ice-making water tank 16 and stored therein. and pump 1 again
8.

Next, when the deicing operation is started, hot gas is supplied to the evaporator tube 12 to warm the ice making plate 10, and deicing water is injected to the back surface of the ice making plate 10 from the deicing water sprinkling pipe 26. This deicing water is first sprayed on the vertical portion 10d of the ice-making plate 10, and then flows down the sloped portion 10b formed below the vertical portion 10d. At this time, the deicing water is rectified and flows down uniformly over the entire back surface of the ice making surface 10a. Note that the upper and lower curved portions 12a of the evaporator tube 12 protrude from the ice making surface 10a and define the deicing water channel as described above, so that the evaporator tube 1
2 does not obstruct the flow of deicing water. As a result, the frozen surface between the ice making surface 10a and the ice sheet 14 melts,
Eventually, due to its own weight, the ice plate 14 separates from the ice-making plate 10 and falls, and is stored in an ice storage (not shown). The deicing water flowing down the ice making plate 10 is collected and stored in the deicing water tank via the water collection member 28.

Effects of the invention According to the flowing-down ice maker of the invention, the ice-making water and the de-icing water that are distributed and supplied to the ice-making plate are rectified before they flow down the ice-making surface and the back surface. The ice can be flowed down uniformly over the entire ice making surface and back surface. This makes it possible to uniformly melt the frozen surfaces of the ice making surface and the ice sheet, thereby shortening the deicing time.

In addition, since the water sprinkler plate and the ice-making plate are placed in close contact with each other, the ice-making water circulates inside the ice-making plate and flows down.
It is possible to prevent freezing on the back surface and also to prevent dust, dirt, etc. from entering between the two ice-making plates.
Moreover, since the upper and lower curved portions of the evaporator tube do not come into contact with the ice-making plate, the back surfaces of both ice-making plates can be easily cleaned, and the upper end of the ice-making plate is widened, making it easy to install the de-icing water sprinkler pipe. This has beneficial effects such as making it easier to carry out.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a down-flow ice maker according to an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a schematic perspective view of the water sprinkling mechanism shown in Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 is a down-flow ice maker according to the present embodiment. , and FIGS. 4 and 5 are vertical cross-sectional views showing the schematic structure of a conventional down-flow ice maker. 10...Ice making plate, 10a...Ice making surface, 10b,
10c... inclined part, 10d, 10e... vertical part,
12...Evaporation tube, 14...Ice plate, 22...Ice-making water sprinkler pipe, 24...Water plate, 24b...Slope part, 2
4c...Bent part, 26...Deicing water sprinkler pipe.

Claims (1)

[Claims for Utility Model Registration] A pair of ice-making plates 1 that are arranged vertically opposite each other and closely sandwich an evaporation tube 12 communicating with a refrigeration system on their back surfaces.
0, 10; an ice-making water sprinkling pipe 22 disposed above both ice-making plates 10, 10 and supplying ice-making water to the outer surfaces of both ice-making plates 10, 10 during ice-making operation; a deicing water sprinkling pipe 26 disposed above and below the ice making water sprinkling pipe 22 and supplying deicing water to the back surfaces of both ice making plates 10, 10 during the deicing operation; and the ice making water sprinkling pipe 22 and the deicing water In a flow-down ice maker equipped with a water sprinkling plate 24 disposed between a water sprinkling pipe 26 and guiding ice-making water to the outer surfaces of both ice-making plates 10, 10, there is a water-sprinkling plate 24 on the upper edge of each ice-making plate 10, which is arranged opposite to each other. The inclined portion 10 is bent in a direction away from the ice making plate 10.
b, and a vertical portion 10d that extends vertically upward from the inclined portion 10b, and the sprinkler plate 24 is bent so as to straddle both ice-making plates 10, 10 from the outside, a curved portion 24c that gently bulges outward from the top that forms the top and then converges inward; and a sloped portion 24b that slopes at a required angle from the curved portion 24c toward the lower edge.
and an inclined portion 24b consisting of an inclined surface of the water sprinkling plate 24.
A falling type ice making machine characterized in that the ice making machine is configured such that the ice making plate 10 is elastically brought into close contact with a vertical portion 10d formed on each ice making plate 10.