JPS647307B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an ice making machine, and more particularly to detecting the water level in an ice making water tank of the ice making machine.

[Prior Art] Ice-making water in an ice-making water tank is circulated and supplied by a circulation pump to a water sprinkler in an ice-making section via a suction pipe and a water supply pipe, and the ice-making water is sprinkled from the sprinkler onto an ice-making plate in the ice-making section. In an ice making machine that generates ice of a predetermined size using a water tank, the predetermined size of the ice is determined by the amount of ice provided in a water tank for ice making, as disclosed in, for example, Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. 55-163670. Generally, the amount of water is controlled at a level between the upper limit water level defined by the overflow pipe in the ice-making water tank and the lower limit water level defined by a float type switch similarly provided in the ice-making water tank.

Although this float type switch is inexpensive, when installed in the ice-making water tank, the ice-making water is circulated between the ice-making section and the ice-making water tank by the circulation pump during the ice-making operation cycle. It is difficult to accurately control the amount of water, that is, the size of the ice, because the water level causes a chattering phenomenon and the lower limit water level fluctuates.

In addition, when detecting the lower limit water level with a float type switch in the ice-making water tank, the lower limit water level cannot be lower than the water level corresponding to at least enough water to float the float, so the upper limit water level must also be adjusted by at least that much. As a result, the height of the ice-making water tank became high, which was an obstacle to making the ice-making machine more compact.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] Therefore, the conventional ice making machines have problems in accurately controlling the size of ice and downsizing the ice making water tank, and the present invention aims to solve these problems. The purpose is to

[Means for Solving the Problems] For this purpose, the present invention circulates and supplies ice-making water in an ice-making water tank to a water sprinkler in an ice-making section via a suction pipe and a water supply pipe using a circulation pump. The water for ice making is sprinkled onto the ice making plate of the ice making section to produce ice of a predetermined size, and the detecting means detects whether the ice has grown to the predetermined size based on the lower limit water level of the ice making water tank. In the ice-making machine, the ice-making water tank includes an overflow pipe that defines an upper limit water level of the ice-making water therein, and a discharge pipe that can be engaged with a suction pipe of the circulation pump, and the detection means is configured to detect ice-making water. It is characterized in that it is provided in the water supply pipe or water sprinkler outside the water tank, and the lower limit water level in the ice making water tank is the upper end of the discharge pipe.

[Function] As ice grows on the ice-making plate as the ice-making operation cycle progresses, the upper limit water level of the ice-making water in the ice-making water tank gradually decreases from the upper end position of the overflow pipe at the initial stage of operation. As the ice-making operation continues, the water level decreases toward the upper end position of the discharge pipe provided in the ice-making water tank, and eventually reaches the upper end position. At this time, the circulation pump, which is in fluid communication with this discharge pipe via the suction pipe, sucks in air, so that the water level or amount of ice-making water in the water supply pipe or water sprinkler, which is in fluid communication with the circulation pump, decreases rapidly. Therefore, the detection means provided in the water supply pipe or water sprinkler accurately and quickly detects this drop and instructs the completion of ice making.

In this way, since the lower limit water level is substantially determined by the upper end of the discharge pipe provided in the ice-making water tank, the detection means is not substantially affected by the chattering phenomenon, and The height of the ice-making water tank is minimized because it can be formed flush with the top surface of the bottom of the ice-making water tank.

[Embodiments] Next, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which the same reference numerals indicate the same parts.

1 to 3, reference numeral 1 denotes an ice making machine embodying the present invention, which includes an outer box 4, a door body 2 pivotally attached to the lower front part of the outer box 4 by appropriate means, and an outer box 4. box 4
The decorative board 3 is provided on the upper front part of the.
On the back side of the outer box 4, as shown in FIG.
A space 13 (Fig. 3) is provided between the ice storage and the insulation material 12 surrounding the ice storage and ice making section, which will be described later.
is building. In this space 13, a well-known wire condenser consisting of a meandering refrigerant pipe 8 and a wire 9 extending almost vertically in a heat exchange relationship with the refrigerant pipe is disposed obliquely when viewed from the side of the ice maker. . In addition, the space 13 is provided on the top surface of the outer box 4.
An exhaust port 4d is provided at a position corresponding to , an exhaust port 11 is provided at the upper side of the side for discharging hot air generated from a compressor and its motor, which will be described later, and an intake port 10 is provided at the lower side of the side for taking in air from the outside. It is being

Next, as can be understood from FIG. 4 showing a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the ice maker 1, the ice maker 1 includes an ice storage 5 surrounded by a heat insulating material 12, and an ice maker disposed above the ice storage 5. 6. The upper front surface of the heat insulating material 12 is stepped, and between it and the outer box 4 is a machine room 14 that houses the compressor, its motor 16, etc.
In addition, the lower outside of the back surface of the heat insulating material 12 is also formed into a stepped portion to define a similar machine room 15, in which a pump 17 for ice-making water circulation, etc. is arranged. It is set up.

Although not shown, the inner surface of the heat insulating material 12 is generally provided with a lining or an inner box made of plastic or the like. The ice storage 5 has a substantially flat wall portion 24 on its back side, in which an ice-making water tank 22 is placed.
There is an ice making section 6 above.

As is clear from FIGS. 4 and 6, in this embodiment, the ice making section 6 includes a pair of well-known vertical ice making plates 19, 19, and is arranged in a meandering manner between the ice making plates. It includes a typical evaporation pipe 20 and a water sprinkler 18 disposed above the ice-making plate. Ice making plate 1
Reference numeral 9 indicates a plurality of vertical ribs 4 having a V-shaped cross section and extending in parallel.
5, ice-making water flows on the flat surface between the vertical ribs,
Deicing water flows into the V-shaped space 46 of the vertical rib.

The water sprinkler 18 also includes an ice-making water passage 31 that receives ice-making water from the circulation pump 17 via a water supply pipe 44, and an ice-making water passage 31 that receives ice-making water from the circulation pump 17 via a water supply pipe 44, and which removes water from an external water source via a water supply valve 32 and a water supply pipe 33 during the deicing operation cycle. It has a deicing water passage 41 that receives a supply of ice water. The ice-making water passage 31 is provided with a water sprinkling port 39 for spraying ice-making water onto the flat surface through a guide plate (not shown), and the de-icing water passage 41 is provided with a water sprinkling port 39 for supplying de-icing water to the V-shaped space 46. A discharge port 40 is provided. Furthermore, as is clear from FIGS. 6 and 7, a float 37 is provided inside the sprinkler 18 and guided by a shaft 39 so as to be movable up and down depending on the water level therein. When the float 37 reaches its lower limit position, a signal representing the state is transmitted to a control circuit described later by a lead wire 36 extending through the insulating section 35. This float 37, lead wire 36, etc. constitute a float switch FS (Fig. 8). On the ceiling of the sprinkler 18, as described later, there is a wall installed so that the water level in the sprinkler 18 can be smoothly and quickly lowered when the circulation pump 17 sucks air.
It is preferable to provide a vent hole 43 of an appropriate size. The U-shaped cover 42 that covers this vent 43 is
During ice-making operation, some ice-making water is supplied from the water supply pipe 44 into the ice-making water passage 31 through the vent hole 43.
Since this water tends to leak from the ice plate 19, this water is prevented from scattering around, and the water is guided towards the ice making plate 19. Air vent 43
A suitable position is near the float 37.

Below the ice making section 6, there is a well-known guide plate 21 that allows ice to slide down into the ice storage 5, but allows water to pass into the ice making water tank 22, and a slit 3 for water passage.
4 and is inclinedly arranged on the ice-making water tank 22.

As can be understood from FIGS. 4 and 5, the ice-making water tank 22 has a box-shaped structure with a substantially flat bottom 23, and is disposed on the above-mentioned substantially flat wall 24 of the ice storage 5. It is set up. "Almost flat" means a surface with no irregularities that would make cleaning difficult, such as a surface that is slightly curved,
This also includes surfaces that are inclined. In this ice-making water tank 22, the de-icing water that is used during the de-icing operation cycle and falls from the ice-making section 6 is stored as ice-making water, and an overflow pipe 25 is provided to define the upper limit water level. , and the circulation pump 17 during the ice-making operation cycle.
An ice-making water discharge pipe 26 is provided to enable circulating supply of ice-making water to the ice-making unit 6 by the ice-making unit 6. An overflow pipe 25 and a discharge pipe 26 both hang downward from the bottom 23. Further, near the lower end of the discharge pipe 26 hanging down from the bottom portion 23, an O-ring 26a made of, for example, rubber is provided. The overflow pipe 25 is, for example, as disclosed in the above-mentioned Japanese Utility Model Application No. 55-163670.
A structure in which the upper limit water level can be adjusted is preferable.

The wall 24 of the ice storage 5 that supports the ice-making water tank 22 is provided with a discharge port 27 and a guide port 28 at positions that can receive the overflow pipe 25 and the discharge pipe 26, respectively. The discharge port 27 is connected to an external drain pipe 30, and the guide port 28 connects the discharge pipe 26 to the suction pipe 29 of the circulation pump 17.
I will guide you to. Therefore, when attaching the ice making water tank 22 to the ice making machine, the overflow pipe 25 and the discharge pipe 26 can be simply inserted into the discharge port 27 and the guide port 28 and pushed in. The discharge pipe 26 then fits fluid-tightly into the suction pipe 29 under the action of the O-ring 26, and the overflow pipe 25 is in fluid communication with an external drain pipe 30.

Next, the operation of the ice making machine 1 having the above-described configuration will be explained with reference to FIG. 8 showing a water circuit and a refrigerant circuit, and FIG. 9 showing an electric circuit. During the ice-making operation cycle of the ice-making machine 1, the ice-making water in the ice-making water tank 22 is pumped into the suction pipe 2 by the pump 17.
9 and the water supply pipe 44 to the ice-making water passage 31 of the sprinkler 18, the float 37 floats and the float switch FS is closed, so the relay X is energized and its normally open contact X ₁ is closed to start the circulation pump 17
is maintained in an operating state, the normally closed contact _X2 is open, and the water supply valve 32 and hot gas valve 49 are closed. The ice-making water supplied to the water sprinkler 18 exits from the water sprinkling port 39 in the passage 31, reaches the surface of the flat portion of the ice-making plate 19, is gradually cooled by the refrigerant flowing in the evaporation pipe 20, and is cooled once. Eventually, some of the ice becomes ice 7, and some of it remains in the water state in the ice-making water tank 22.
The ice cubes fall into the ice-making plate 19 and are again circulated and supplied to the ice-making plate 19 by the pump 17. Then, as the ice 7 gradually grows, the ice-making water in the ice-making water tank 22 gradually decreases, so the water level decreases toward the upper end of the discharge pipe 26, and eventually reaches the upper end, and the ice 7 reaches a predetermined size. Become.

At this time, since the circulation pump 17 sucks air, the amount of ice-making water flowing through the water supply pipe 44 is drastically reduced.
Since the water level in the ice-making water passage 31 of the water sprinkler 18 drops rapidly before a chattering phenomenon occurs, the float 37 rapidly falls to its lower limit position (usually a position where it contacts the bottom of the water sprinkler). Therefore, float switch FS opens and relay X is demagnetized, normally open contact X ₁ opens and circulation pump ₁₇ is stopped, and normally closed contact
2 and the hot gas valve 49 are opened, and deicing is started. Therefore, deicing water from an external water source such as a tap water supply is supplied to the deicing water passage 41 through the water supply pipe 33, and is discharged from the outlet 40 in the passage to the back surface of the ice making plate 19. Bypass pipe 5
The hot gas that has passed through the hot gas valve 49 located at 0 flows into the evaporation pipe 20, and ice 7 of a predetermined size that has grown on the ice making plate 19 is removed from the ice making plate and recovered. The collected ice 7 slides down on the guide plate 21 and is stored in the ice storage 5. The de-icing water is collected in the ice-making water tank 22 and used as ice-making water in the next ice-making operation cycle, but a portion overflows from the overflow pipe 25.

When deicing is completed in this way, a deicing completion detection means such as a thermo switch Th provided on the ice making plate is closed, a timer TM is activated, and when the time is up, contact TM-1 is closed and restarted. The circulation pump 17 is activated and the next ice-making operation cycle is started. In FIGS. 8 and 9, 47 is a wire condenser consisting of the refrigerant pipe 8 and wire 9 described in connection with FIGS. 2 and 3, and 48 is a cooling fan motor of this wire condenser 47. 51 is a compressor motor.

Although the present invention has been described with respect to a particular embodiment, the present invention is not limited to this embodiment.
Various modifications are possible. For example, the float 37 may be installed in a bypass pipe or liquid reservoir in the middle of the water supply pipe 44, as shown by the imaginary line in FIG. Other detection means may also be used. Also,
The ice making plates in the ice making section are not vertical ones, for example,
The present invention may be implemented in any ice making machine that sprays water for ice making toward an ice making cup from below, or in short, as long as it uses an ice making water tank.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, the ice-making water tank includes an overflow pipe that defines the upper limit water level of the ice-making water therein, and a discharge pipe that can be engaged with the suction pipe of the circulation pump. The detection means is installed in a water supply pipe or water sprinkler outside the ice-making water tank, and the lower limit water level inside the ice-making water tank is the upper end of the discharge pipe, so the detection means is not affected by the chattering phenomenon. Moreover, since the upper end can be formed flush with the top surface of the bottom of the ice-making water tank, the height of the ice-making water tank is minimized, which greatly contributes to making the ice-making machine more compact. be able to.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of an ice making machine embodying the present invention, Fig. 2 is a rear view of the ice making machine of Fig. 1, Fig. 3 is a partial sectional view taken along the - line in Fig. 2, and Fig. 4 is a perspective view of an ice making machine embodying the present invention. The figure is a schematic sectional view showing the internal structure of the ice maker shown in Figure 1.
Figure 5 is a perspective view illustrating how the ice-making water tank is installed, Figure 6 is a perspective view of the main parts of the ice-making unit, and Figure 7 is a perspective view of the float switch in the water sprinkler.
A line sectional view, FIG. 8 is a schematic system diagram showing a water circuit and a refrigerant circuit of the ice making machine of the present invention, and FIG. 9 is an electric circuit diagram of the ice making machine of the present invention. 1...Ice making machine, 5...Ice storage, 6...Ice making section,
7... Ice, 17... Circulation pump, 18... Water sprinkler, 19... Ice making plate, 22... Ice making water tank,
25...Overflow pipe, 26...Discharge pipe,
29... Suction pipe, 44... Water supply pipe, FS... Float switch (detection means).

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 The ice-making water in the ice-making water tank is circulated and supplied to the water sprinkler of the ice-making unit via the suction pipe and the water supply pipe by a circulation pump, and the water for ice-making is sprinkled from the sprinkler onto the ice-making plate of the ice-making unit to reach a predetermined size. In the ice making machine, the ice making machine generates a large amount of ice and detects whether the ice has grown to the predetermined size based on the lower limit water level of the ice making water tank. an overflow pipe that defines an upper limit water level of the ice-making water tank, and a discharge pipe that can be engaged with the suction pipe of the circulation pump; An ice maker characterized in that the lower limit water level in the water tank is at the upper end of the discharge pipe.