JPS645733Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] a. Industrial application field The present invention relates to a water storage type circulating blow-up type ice maker, and in particular, a new improvement that allows the water storage tank to be used for both water storage and ice storage. It is related to.

b. Prior Art In a conventional water storage type circulating blow-up type ice maker, the ice storage and the water storage tank are each separated and arranged independently.

c. Problems to be solved by the present invention In the conventional configuration as described above, since space is required for the water tank and ice storage, the structure of the ice maker itself becomes large, which poses problems when installing the ice maker. At the same time, the number of parts increases, and the manufacturing cost also increases.

d Means for solving the problems The purpose of the present invention is to provide extremely effective means for quickly eliminating the above-mentioned drawbacks. a water storage tank provided in a box body; a floating bottom body provided so as to be able to float on ice-making water in the water storage tank;
an ice making mechanism section provided at an upper position within the water storage tank; a drainage guide plate provided within the water storage tank for guiding falling water from the ice making mechanism section to the bottom of the water storage tank; and the ice making mechanism. The ice making machine is provided with means including a refrigerator chamber connected to the floating bottom body, and an ice storage detection unit provided in the floating bottom body and the water storage tank for detecting the amount of ice on the floating bottom body.

e Effect: When ice-making water is supplied into the water storage tank, the floating bottom body rises, and the ice-making mechanism starts operating due to the operation of the position detection unit, and the ice that is made is transferred to the floating bottom body. Ice is stored by being placed on the bottom body, and when the ice making is completed and the ice making water runs out, the floating bottom body connects with the bottom of the water storage tank, and the position detection unit operates to activate the ice making mechanism unit. The operation is stopped, and the water storage tank has both water storage and ice storage functions.

f. Embodiments Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the ice maker according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

What is indicated by the reference numeral 1 in the drawings is a heat insulating box which has a substantially box shape as a whole and is composed of an inner box 2 and an outer box 3. A foamed heat insulating material 4 filled with foaming liquid is provided.

A lid receiving member 5 is fixed to the opening edges 1a formed at the upper ends of the inner box 2 and the outer box 3 with bolts 5a, and a lid 6 is provided on the lid receiving member 5 so as to be openable and closable. A water storage tank 7 is formed within the inner box 2. As shown in FIG. 2, an ice making mechanism section 8 is fixedly disposed at an upper position in the water storage tank 7 by an extension part 16a of a heat insulating material 16, which will be described later, and at a lower position of the ice making mechanism section 8. An ice guide plate 9 having an ice-making water guide hole 9a and a drainage guide member 10 are provided, and the drainage guide member 10 is fixed to a mounting bracket 11 fixed to the inner box 2 via a mounting screw 11a. . At a lower position corresponding to each ice-making water guide hole 9a of the ice guide plate 9, a fountain pipe 12, which is held by a mounting portion (not shown) and has a fountain hole 12a, is disposed.
The ice-making water spouted from 2a is guided into an ice-making chamber 14 having an evaporator 13 for forming the ice-making mechanism section 8.

A cut frame 15 having a shape corresponding to the ice making chamber 14 and having a cut portion 15a is attached to the flange 14a of the ice making chamber 14 via a heat insulating material 16,
The flange 15b of the cutting frame 15 and the ice making chamber 14
The flange portion 14a is provided integrally and in a laminated manner via bolts 15d, and the extension portion 16a of the heat insulating material 16 is fixed to the lid receiving member 5 via bolts 16b. There is. A hot gas pipe 15c for supplying hot gas and a temperature sensing section 17 for detecting completion of ice making and completion of ice removal are provided on the outer side of the cutting frame 15.

Above the ice-making water 7a of the water storage tank 7, a floating bottom body 18 made of a foam heat insulating material or the like is provided in a substantially box-like shape as a whole and has a hollow portion 18a inside. On this floating bottom body 18, ice 19 made by the ice making mechanism section 8 is placed.

A magnet body 2 is placed on the bottom plate 18b of the floating bottom body 18.
0 is provided, and a reed switch 22 fixed by a fixing plate 21 is provided on the lower surface of the bottom plate 7b of the water tank 7 at a position corresponding to the magnet 20. and the reed switch 22 constitute an ice storage detection section 23 for detecting the ice storage condition in the water storage tank 7 of the floating bottom body 18, that is, the amount of ice on the floating bottom body 18.

The drainage guide plate 10 in the water storage tank 7 is
As shown in FIG. 2, there is a gap 10a between the inner box 2 and the inner box 2.
The water storage portion 7c and the drainage guide portion 10b communicate with each other and are maintained at approximately the same water level (as shown in FIG. 3). The drainage guide section 10
A drainage pipe 24 is integrally formed at the bottom of b.
The drainage pipe 24 is connected to a circulation pump 26 placed on the bottom plate 25a of the refrigerator compartment 25 formed below the water storage tank 7, as shown by a chain double-dashed line, by a pipe (not shown). The pump 26 is connected to each of the fountain pipes 12 by a pipe (not shown) as described above, and the ice making water 7a is supplied to each of the ice making chambers 14 from each fountain hole 12a of each fountain pipe 12 via the circulation pump 26. It is configured to eject into the small chamber 14b.

The configuration shown in FIG. 4 shows the control circuit section 27 of the ice maker according to the present invention, in which the reed switch 22, relay X, and push button switch PB are connected in series, and the relay X is normally open. contact
Terminals a and c of X ₁ and X ₂ are connected to the power supply, and terminal b of the normally open contact X ₁ is connected to the reed switch 2.
Connected to 2. Terminal d of the normally open contact _X2
is connected to the compressor COM and the terminal A of the thermostat Th, the terminal B of the thermostat Th is connected to the fan motor FM and the circulation pump PM, and the terminal C of the thermostat Th is connected to the hot gas valve HV. ing.

Next, a case will be described in which the ice making machine according to the present invention configured as described above is operated.

The state of A in FIG. 3 shows the state before the ice making mechanism section 8 is operated, and since there is no ice making water in the water storage tank 7, the floating bottom body 18 is located at the lowest part, that is, the bottom plate 7b of the water storage tank 7. Since the magnet body 20 and the reed switch 22 are close to each other, the reed switch 22 opens its contacts.
It is set to OFF. Next, when water for ice making is supplied into the water storage tank 7, as shown by B in FIG.
The floating bottom body 18 rises, and in this state, the supply of ice-making water is stopped and the lid body 6 is closed. In this case, as the floating bottom body 18 rises, the proximity state between the magnet body 20 and the reed switch 22 is released, so the contact of the reed switch 22 is closed and turned ON, and the pushbutton is turned on. When switch PB is pressed, its contacts are closed and turned ON, and the a-b contacts of normally open contact _X1 of relay X are closed, so that relay X is self-held. Due to this self-holding of the relay X, the c-d contacts of the other normally open contacts _X2 are also closed, and the ice-making operation is started. When the ice-making operation is started, the refrigerant gas compressed by the compressor COM is supplied to the evaporator 13, absorbs heat from the ice-making compartment 14, and is returned to the compressor COM, thereby gradually cooling the ice-making compartment 14. .

On the other hand, the ice-making water 7a is supplied to each ice-making chamber 14 from the fountain hole 12a of the fountain pipe 12 through the circulation pump 26.
b, is cooled by heat exchange with the refrigerant, and falls into the drainage guide portion 10b of the water storage tank 7, and the temperature of the ice-making water gradually decreases. When the temperature reaches approximately 0°C, part of the ice-making water supplied from the fountain into the ice-making chamber 14b begins to freeze, and the ice 1 that has grown inside the ice-making chamber 14b begins to freeze.
9 grows up to the cutting frame 15, the temperature sensing section 17 detects the rapid temperature drop of the cutting frame 15, and outputs an ice making completion signal, and the contact point of the thermostat Th switches from A-B to A-C. , circulation pump 26
and the fan motor FM is stopped and the hot gas valve
When the HV valve opens, the deicing cycle begins.

When the deicing cycle begins, the ice making chamber 14 is also gradually heated, and the surrounding area of the ice 19 melts and begins to fall under its own weight. As the ice 19 begins to fall, the connecting portion (not shown) of the ice 19 formed between the ice making chamber 14 and the cutting frame 15 becomes hot at the cutting portion 1 of the cutting frame 15.
5a, the ice cube falls from the ice making chamber 14b, slides down the ice guide plate 9, is placed on the floating bottom body 18, and is stored as ice. Ice 19 from the ice making compartment 14
When the ice-making chamber 14 is completely dropped, the temperature in the ice-making compartment 14 rises rapidly, so the thermostat Th is activated by the temperature-sensing section 15c to close the hot gas valve HV, and the circulation pump 26 and fan motor FM are operated to restart the ice-making cycle. enter.

By repeating the above operations, the floating bottom body 18
When ice 19 is stored on the top, the water level decreases according to the amount of water converted to ice, resulting in the state shown in C in Figure 3.
In the state D of FIG. 3, the floating bottom body 18 is at rest at a position where the buoyancy and the weight of the ice are balanced, and the floating bottom body 18 is at rest at a position where the buoyancy and the weight of the ice are balanced. The ice-making water 7a is submerged and the water level in the drainage guide portion 10b rises, ensuring the required water level. E in FIG. 3 shows a state in which ice storage is completed, and the floating bottom body 18 is in a state where it is almost joined to the bottom plate 7b of the water storage tank 7, and the ice-making water 7a has become almost ice and only a small amount remains. In this state, the magnet 2
0 is in close proximity to the reed switch 22, the contacts of the reed switch 22 are opened, the self-holding of the relay X is released, and the normally open contacts a-b and c-d of the relay X are also opened. Then,
The operation is stopped, and the ice 19 is stored on the floating bottom body 18 and in the water storage tank 7.

In this embodiment, a combination means of the magnet 20 and the reed switch 22 is disclosed as a means for detecting the position of the floating bottom body 18, but the means is not limited to the above-mentioned means. A similar effect can be obtained when a waterproof mechanical switch is used. Although the case has been described in which the drainage guide member 10 in this embodiment is configured in a plate-like shape, as shown in FIG. Exactly the same effect can be achieved when used in a water dish type, and the water dish 3 can be opened and closed freely in the direction of the arrow.
0 is provided with a flexible tubular drainage guide member 10, and the other configurations are the same as those of this embodiment, so a detailed explanation thereof will be omitted.

g. Effects of the invention Since the ice maker according to the invention has the above-mentioned configuration and function, in order to make 10 kg of ice like the conventional configuration, it requires a volume of 10 water in the water storage part and a volume of 10 water in the ice storage part.
Since only 10 kg of ice storage capacity is required without requiring a 10 kg capacity, the machine can be made smaller and manufactured at a lower cost. Furthermore, the installation space can be reduced, and the floating bottom body can be taken out to the outside to clean the inside of the water tank, which is sanitary. Furthermore, since the ice storage detection section is not exposed in the water storage tank, cleaning etc. are easy. In addition, since the floating bottom body shields the top surface of the ice making water, it does not come into direct contact with air, and furthermore, the floating bottom body acts as a heat insulator, preventing the temperature rise of the ice making water and improving ice making capacity. In addition to being able to measure energy consumption, it does not require extra power for cooling, and can also achieve an energy-saving effect.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawing shows the ice making machine according to the present invention.
The figure is a side sectional view, Figure 2 is a front sectional view, and A in Figure 3.
-E are sectional views showing the process from the start of ice making to the completion of ice storage, FIG. 4 is a circuit diagram showing the control circuit, and FIG. 5 is a front sectional view showing another embodiment of the ice maker according to the present invention. 1 is a heat insulating box body, 2 is an inner box, 3 is an outer box, 4 is a foam insulation material, 5 is a lid receiving member, 6 is a lid body, 7 is a water tank, 8 is an ice making mechanism section, 9 is an ice guide plate, 10 is a drainage guide member, 12 is a fountain pipe, 13 is an evaporator, 1
4 is an ice making room, 15 is a cutting frame, 15a is a cutting part, 15c is a hot gas pipe, 16 is a heat insulating material,
17 is a temperature sensing part, 18 is a floating bottom body, 18a is a hollow part,
20 is a magnet, 22 is a reed switch, 23 is an ice storage detection section, and 26 is a circulation pump.

Claims (1)

[Claims for Utility Model Registration] (1) A water storage tank 7 provided in an insulated box body 1 having a generally box-like shape as a whole, and a floating bottom body provided in the water storage tank 7 so as to be able to float on the ice-making water. 18, an ice-making mechanism section 8 provided at an upper position in the water storage tank 7, and an ice-making mechanism section 8 provided in the water storage tank 7 to transfer falling water from the ice-making mechanism section 8 to the water storage section 7 of the water storage tank 7.
A drainage guide member 10 for guiding the ice to the ice making mechanism section 8, a refrigerator chamber 25 connected to the ice-making mechanism section 8, the floating bottom body 18, and the water storage tank 7 are provided to control the amount of ice on the floating bottom body 18. An ice making machine comprising an ice storage detection section 23 for detection, and the water storage tank 7 is configured to store water for ice making and to store ice on the floating bottom body 18. (2) The ice making machine according to claim 1, wherein the floating bottom body 18 has a hollow portion 18a. (3) The ice making machine according to claim 1, wherein the floating bottom body 18 is made of a foam heat insulating material. (4) The ice storage detection unit 23 is comprised of a magnet 20 provided on the floating bottom body 18 and a reed switch 22 provided on the water storage tank 7. Scope of Utility Model Registration Claim 1 Ice maker as described.