JPH07243733A - Vertical icemaker - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Purpose] In a vertical ice maker that produces small pieces of ice, the folds that connect the small pieces of ice to each other should be small. [Structure] A large number of small ice making chambers 3 are formed in an ice making chamber 1 of a vertical ice making machine, a pipe 4 for supplying cold air for ice making is provided, and a fountain of a water tray 20 pivotally supported at a fulcrum 21. The holes 23 and the return holes 25 closely oppose each other on the opening side of the ice making chamber 3, and the ice making water 7 in the tank 6 flows from the fountain holes 23 to the ice making chamber 3.
While being sprayed inside to make ice, the water tray 20 can be urged toward the ice making chamber 1 side by the support arm cam 31 and the spring 37 or can be separated from the ice making chamber 1 side.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vertical ice maker which has a large number of ice making chambers each of which is opened laterally and produces small pieces of ice in the ice making chambers.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional vertical ice making machine, as shown in FIG. 5, an ice making chamber 1 is supported by a frame 2 and arranged vertically so that the ice making chambers 1 respectively open to the front left in FIG. A large number of small chambers 3 are formed over almost the entire surface of the ice making chamber 1, and the bottom of each ice making small chamber 3 is inclined downward toward the opening side. Further, an absorption / heating pipe 4 is arranged on the back side of the ice making chamber 1, and cold air for ice making or warm air for deicing can be fed from a cooling device (not shown) to cool or heat the ice making chamber 1, while making ice. A cover 5 whose upper end is pivotally supported is provided on the front surface of the chamber 1.

An ice making water tank 6 is installed below the ice making chamber 1, and when the ice making cold air is supplied to the suction / heating pipe 4 to cool each ice making small chamber 3 as described above, the ice making water tank 6 is provided. The ice making water 7 in the inside is pumped to the water sprinkling pipe 10 through the hose 9 by the pump motor 8 and flows down from the water sprinkling pipe 10 to the front side of the ice making chamber 1 in a substantially horizontal direction as shown by an arrow. At the same time that ice is gradually generated and grows from the inner wall surface of No. 3, the residual water that has not turned into ice flows into the ice-making water tank 6, and finally into each ice-making small chamber 3.
The ice pieces 11 are formed as indicated by the two-dot chain line.

When the ice pieces 11 reach a predetermined size,
When a valve (not shown) is switched to supply warm air for deicing to the suction / heating pipe 4 and the ice making chamber 1 is heated to slightly melt the surface of the ice piece 11, the ice piece 11 having a shape as shown in FIG. Is slid forward from the ice making chamber 1 and the cover 5
Is pushed forward to cross the grid 12 and be guided to an ice storage chamber (not shown) below. At this time, the ice pieces 11 are composed of the small ice pieces 13 corresponding to the ice making small chambers 3 and the folds 14 connecting the small ice pieces 13 to each other, and the depressions 15 are formed on the front side of the small ice pieces 13. The folds 14 are broken by the impact of dropping into the ice storage compartment, and each small ice piece 13 is stored as individual small ice cubes in the ice storage compartment as shown in FIG.

However, in order to reduce the size of the depression 15 and improve the appearance of the small ice pieces 13, it is necessary to lengthen the time of the ice making cycle, but in this case, the pleats 14 are thick. Since the small ice pieces 13 are firmly connected to each other, the folds 14 are less likely to break when the ice pieces 11 fall into the ice storage chamber, and the plurality of small ice pieces 13 are prevented by the folds 14 as shown in FIG. It becomes a connected state,
There was a problem that it was difficult for the small ice pieces 13 to enter the cup or the like into which the beverage was poured.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is directed to a vertical ice making machine for producing small pieces of ice so that the folds connecting the small pieces of ice to each other are reduced.
Further, the present invention is directed to a vertical ice making machine for producing small pieces of ice so that the depressions formed on the surface of each small piece of ice are reduced.

[0007]

For this reason, the vertical ice maker according to the present invention is arranged vertically with a large number of small ice making chambers each having a horizontal opening and a bottom inclined downwardly toward the opening side. An ice making chamber, an ice making water tank arranged below the ice making chamber, water provided with a fountain hole for the ice making small chamber and a return hole from the ice making small chamber which are arranged close to or in contact with the opening side of the ice making small chamber. It has a plate, a pressure feed device for guiding the ice making water in the ice making water tank from the inside of the water dish to the fountain hole, and a drive mechanism for separating the water dish from the ice making chamber.

[0008]

In other words, a water tray having a fountain hole for the ice making chamber of the ice making chamber and a return hole from the ice making chamber is arranged close to or in contact with the opening side of the ice making chamber, and the ice making water is fed by the pressure-feeding device. It is guided from the tank to the fountain holes in the water tray and is ejected into the ice making chamber, where ice is gradually generated and grows in the cooled ice making chamber to form small ice pieces, while the remaining water that has not been made is made into ice. It is returned from the small chamber to the lower ice making water tank through the return hole of the water tray, but in this case, since the water tray is placed close to or in contact with the opening side of the ice making small chamber, it will be placed in the adjacent ice making small chamber. The folds that connect the formed ice pieces to each other can be thin, small, or almost eliminated.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below by assigning the same reference numerals to the parts equivalent to those of the conventional device. In FIG. 1, an ice making chamber 1 of a vertical ice making machine is supported by a frame 2 and arranged vertically so that almost the entire surface of the ice making chamber 1 is
A large number of ice-making small chambers 3 each having a substantially quadrangular cross-sectional shape are formed to open to the front left of FIG. 1, and the bottoms of the ice-making small chambers 3 are inclined downward toward the opening side. There is. Further, on the back side of the ice making chamber 1, there is a suction / heating pipe 4
Is provided and cold air for ice making or warm air for deicing is fed from a cooling device (not shown) so that the ice making chamber 1 can be cooled or heated.

An ice making water tank 6 is installed below the ice making chamber 1 to store ice making water 7. The ice making water 7 in the ice making water tank 6 overflows when the water surface reaches a certain level or higher. And the impurities in the ice-making water tank 6 are also discharged at the same time. A pump motor 8 is attached to the ice making water tank 6, and the pump motor 8 is used as the ice making water tank 6.
The ice making water 7 therein can be sent to the water tray 20 via the hose 9.

The water tray 20 is in the form of a box that opens downward, is pivotally supported by the frame 2 at a fulcrum 21, and has a relatively large diameter that communicates with a small-diameter fountain hole 23 and a water supply passage 24 that communicate with the pressure water passage 22. A return hole 25 having a diameter is provided in the rear wall 26, and a guide portion 27 inclined downward and rearward is formed in the lower portion.

A supporting arm cam 31 driven by a geared motor 30 supported by the frame 2 is installed between the ice making chamber 1 and the ice making water tank 6. The supporting arm cam 31 is a switch 32 in the state shown in the drawing. First lever 33 that abuts
And a second lever 34 separated from the switch 32, and also has a cam surface 35, and a spring 37 hung between the spring holder 36 at the bottom of the water tray 20 and the tip of the first lever 33. Due to the pulling force, the water tray 20 is biased counterclockwise in FIG. 1 about the fulcrum 21, the rear end surface of the water tray 20 abuts on the cam surface 35, and the rear wall 26 opens the ice making chambers 3 on the opening side. , Or abutting the opening side of each ice making small chamber 3, the fountain hole 23 and the return hole 25 of the water tray 20 face the opening of each ice making small chamber 3, respectively.

On the other hand, a water supply pipe 3 through which tap water is guided from outside the machine
8 is provided with a solenoid valve 39, and when the solenoid valve 39 is opened, tap water is fed through a hose 40 to a water supply pipe 41 that extends laterally to the upper part of the water tray 20, and the water supply pipe 41 is moved laterally. A large number of small holes 42 are formed at intervals and directed to the return hole 25 at the lower rear, and water is poured toward the return hole 25 to the full width of the water tray 20.

Next, the operating condition of the above-mentioned device will be described. When the ice making water 7 is first supplied into the ice making water tank 6, the pump motor 8 is stopped and the first lever 33 of the supporting arm cam 31 is switched to the switch 32 in FIG.
When the solenoid valve 39 is opened, tap water is fed from the water supply pipe 38 to the water supply pipe 41 through the hose 40, as indicated by the arrow, since the geared motor 30 is stopped. As described above, the water is ejected from the small hole 42 of the water supply pipe 41 into the water tray 20 to flow down in the water supply passage 24, and the guide portion 2
7 is surely guided to and stored in the ice making water tank 6, and the water surface in the ice making water tank 6 is increased, so that the overflow pipe 1
When excess water starts to flow out from 5, the water supply process is completed.

In the next ice making step, as shown in FIG. 2, cold air for ice making is fed from a cooling device (not shown) to the suction / heating pipe 4 on the back side of the ice making chamber 1 to cool the ice making chamber 1. On the other hand, when the pump motor 8 is operated, the ice making water 7 in the ice making water tank 6 is fed to the pressure water passage 22 of the water tray 20 through the hose 9, and is further strongly jetted into the ice making small chambers 3 from the fountain holes 23. At the same time as ice is gradually generated and grows on the inner surface of each cooled ice making chamber 3, residual water that has not turned into ice flows down from the return hole 25 into the water supply passage 24, and is guided to the ice making water tank 6 by the guide portion 27. It is returned and pumped again to the pressure water passage 22 of the water tray 20 by the pump motor 8, and as a result, a rectangular small ice piece that fills the inside of each ice making small chamber 3 is formed, and the ice making process ends.

When the ice making process is completed, the supply of the cold air for ice making to the suction and heating pipes 4 is stopped, the pump motor 8 is stopped, and the fountain from the fountain holes 23 to each ice making chamber 3 is also stopped. Further, the geared motor 30 rotates counterclockwise from the state of FIG. 2 by a signal from a sensor (not shown), and the supporting arm cam 31 also rotates counterclockwise accordingly. The rear end surface of the water tray 20 is forcibly pulled away from the rear end surface of the water tray 20 by urging the rear end surface of the water tray 20 toward the front on the left side of the drawing.

Thereafter, the supporting arm cam 31 further rotates in the counterclockwise direction, as shown in FIG.
As a result of the first lever 33 pushing the lower part of the water tray 20 forward through the contracted spring 37, the water tray 20 rotates clockwise around the fulcrum 21 and the rear surface wall 26 of the ice making chamber 1
When the second lever 34 switches the switch 32 away from, the geared motor 30 stops and the water tray 20 also stops at that position.

Next, the deicing warm air is fed to the suction / heating pipe 4 to heat the ice making chamber 1 so that the surface of the small ice piece 46 is slightly melted, and as a result, as shown by the arrow A in FIG. As shown in FIG. 4, each small ice piece 46 slides forward along its inclined bottom portion of the ice making small chamber 3 due to its own weight, and further falls to a lower ice storage chamber (not shown) as shown by an arrow B in FIG. Be stored.

At this time, each of the small ice pieces 46 has an almost independent shape, and a fold portion for connecting the adjacent small ice pieces 46 is hardly generated, but the adjacent small ice pieces 46 are connected by the fold portion 47. However, since the ice making chamber 1 and the water tray 20 are close to or in contact with each other in the ice making process, the folds 47 are very thin, and therefore the folds 47 are dropped by falling into the ice storage chamber. The small ice pieces 46 are easily broken and stored in the ice storage compartment in the state of being separated from each other. Further, since the ice making compartment 1 and the water tray 20 are close to or in contact with each other as described above, the small ice pieces 46 are The front surface of the is relatively flat, and the recess 48 formed on the front side of the ice piece 46 can be made very small.

On the other hand, the solenoid valve 39 is opened, and as shown in FIG. 4, tap water is fed from the water supply pipe 38 to the water supply pipe 41 through the hose 40, and the small hole 42 of the water supply pipe 41 is supplied. The water spouts from the bottom of the water tray 20 to the full width in the lateral direction, but at this time, since the rear wall 26 of the water tray 20 is inclined, the tap water flowing down along the inner surface of the rear wall 26 is relatively small. Through the large-diameter return hole 25, the entire surface flows down along the outer surface of the rear wall 26, and at this time, the remaining scraps of the small ice pieces 46 adhering to the rear end surface of the water tray 20 are melted and washed while being guided. After flowing into the ice making water tank 6 through 27, the deicing step and the washing step are completed by the completion of the washing action. The residual ice-making water in the ice-making water tank 6 is cooled water close to 0 ° C., but is diluted with the washing water or ice-making water appropriately supplemented, and the washing water and impurities are supplied to the next feed water. It is discharged or discharged from the overflow pipe 15 in the process.

When the washing process is completed, the geared motor 3
0 rotates clockwise from the state of FIG. 4, the supporting arm cam 31 also rotates clockwise accordingly, and the first lever 33 extends the spring 37 and pulls the lower part of the water tray 20 backward, The plate 20 rotates counterclockwise about the fulcrum 21, and the rear end surface of the plate 20 supports the supporting arm cam 3 as shown in FIG.
1, the rear surface wall 26 of the water tray 20 comes close to the opening side of each ice making compartment 3, or each ice making compartment 3
Simultaneously with the contact with the opening side, the first lever 33 switches the switch 32 to stop the rotation of the geared motor 30, returns to the state of FIG. 2, and the ice making process can be started again.

In the above apparatus, the small ice pieces 46 that have fallen from the ice making chamber 1 to the ice storage chamber are stored in separate states, so that the small ice pieces 4 can be placed in a cup or the like into which a beverage is poured.
6 is easier to put in all the time, which is convenient for a large amount of time, and the surface of the small ice pieces 46 is relatively flat, and the dents 48 formed during ice making are small, so the appearance of the small ice pieces 46 is improved compared to the past. Then, the commercial value can be increased.
Further, since the bottom of the ice making compartment 3 is inclined, the ice pieces 46 produced in the ice making compartment 3 are not a perfect cube,
It has a shape close to a rhombus, that is, a shape similar to a so-called diamond ice, and from this aspect, it is possible to enhance the commercial value as a small ice piece.

Further, in the above apparatus, the ice making chamber 1,
The whole structure of the water tray 20 and the like is vertically arranged, and the water tray 2
Since 0 only rotates a little toward the front, it is easy to set the width of the whole ice making machine relatively small for the ice making capacity, and the floor area required for installation is much larger than before. Since it can be reduced, it becomes possible to place the ice maker in a narrow space where it is difficult to install.

Further, in the above apparatus, since the water supply pipe 41 is attached to the water tray 20, the mounting position of the water supply pipe 41 does not shift when the ice maker is assembled,
Moreover, since the water supply pipe 41 is arranged inside the box-shaped water tray 20, it is possible to prevent the water supply and the wash water ejected from the small holes 42 of the water supply pipe 41 from scattering around.
Moreover, as a result that the supply water and the wash water flowing down along the water tray 20 are reliably guided to the ice making water tank 6 by the guide portion 27,
The ice machine is hygienic and has few malfunctions by suppressing rusting of peripheral parts and adverse effects on electrical parts.

Further, the return hole 25 is formed in the water tray 20 from the small hole 42 of the water supply pipe 41 to the entire width of the water tray 20 uniformly downward and rearward.
Since the water is sprayed toward, the water tray 20 can be effectively washed in the washing process. Also, ice-making water tank 6
Since the pump motor 8 and the pump motor 8 are fixed except during maintenance, there is a practical advantage that they can be easily downsized.

The cross-sectional shape of the ice making chamber in the above embodiment is a substantially quadrangular shape.
It is possible to increase the commercial value as a small ice piece by making each small ice piece manufactured by these ice making chambers into various cross-sectional shapes such as a hexagon, a circle, an ellipse, or a star shape. Needless to say, in each of the above-mentioned embodiments, the water tray vertically arranged so as to face the vertical ice making chamber is rotated by the piston and the cylinder mechanism,
Alternatively, the water tray may be moved toward and away from the ice making chamber so that the water tray can move toward and away from the ice making chamber. Furthermore, in each of the above-described embodiments, a heating wire is embedded in the rear surface wall of the water tray provided with the fountain hole and the return hole so as to face the ice making chamber, and the rear surface wall of the water tray is attached at the beginning of the deicing process. It is also possible to configure so that the ice pieces produced by heating and produced in the ice making chamber and the back wall of the water tray can be separated relatively easily.

Further, in each of the above-mentioned embodiments, the ice making chamber is fixed and the water tray is driven by the drive mechanism. On the contrary, the water tray is fixed and the ice making chamber is driven in the same manner as in the above respective embodiments. Even if the opening side of each ice making chamber in the ice making chamber can be brought close to, abutted on, or separated from the rear end surface of the water tray, it is possible to obtain the same effect as each of the above embodiments. When the ice making chamber is configured to swing around its upper part, the ice pieces formed in the ice making chamber are deiced even if the bottom surface of each ice making chamber is not inclined downward toward the opening side. Needless to say, in the process, the ice-making small chambers rocked and inclined can be easily slid out by their own weight to remove the ice.

[0028]

In the vertical ice maker according to the present invention,
The water tray is placed close to or in contact with the opening side of the ice making compartment, and the folds that connect the small ice pieces formed in the adjacent ice making compartments to each other are thin or almost completely absent. The small pieces of ice that have fallen into the chamber are likely to be stored in a separated state, so that the small pieces of ice are always easy to put in a cup or the like into which a beverage is poured, which is practically very convenient.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a main part in an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view of the operation of the above embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view of the operation of the above embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory view of the operation of the above embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a main part of a conventional device.

FIG. 6 is a vertical sectional view of a product in the conventional device.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a product in the conventional device.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a product in the conventional device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Ice-making chamber 3 Ice-making small chamber 6 Ice-making water tank 8 Pump motor 20 Water tray 23 Fountain hole 25 Return hole 27 Guide part 30 Geared motor 31 Support arm cam 41 Water supply pipe 46 Small ice piece 47 Fold part 48 Dimple

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An ice making chamber vertically arranged with a large number of small ice making chambers each of which is opened in the lateral direction and whose bottom is inclined downward toward the opening side, and an ice making water tank arranged below the ice making chamber. , A water tray provided close to or in contact with the opening side of the ice making compartment and having a return hole from the ice making compartment and a return hole from the ice making compartment, and the ice making water in the ice making water tank from the water tray A vertical ice maker having a pumping device for guiding to the fountain hole and a drive mechanism for separating the water tray from the ice making chamber. 2. The vertical ice maker according to claim 1, wherein a water supply pipe is arranged in the water tray. 3. The vertical ice maker according to claim 2, wherein a large number of small holes are formed in the water supply pipe at intervals in the lateral direction. 4. The vertical ice maker according to claim 3, wherein any one of the small holes is directed to a lower rear return hole. 5. The guide according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein a guide is provided at a lower portion of the water tray, and supply water or cleaning water flowing down along the water tray is supplied to the ice making water tank by the guide. A vertical ice machine configured to be guided.