JP4460898B2 - Automatic ice machine - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention circulates and supplies a refrigerant to an evaporation pipe disposed on the upper surface of an ice making chamber having a plurality of ice making chambers opening downward, and supplies ice making water to each ice making chamber. The present invention relates to an automatic ice maker configured to generate ice blocks.

  A spray-type automatic ice maker that continuously produces ice cubes (ice blocks) by spraying ice-making water from below into many ice-making chambers that open downward is suitable for facilities such as coffee shops and restaurants, and other kitchens. Is used. Describing the schematic configuration of this automatic ice maker, a large number of ice making chambers that open downward are defined in an ice making chamber horizontally arranged in the ice making machine, and a freezer is formed on the upper surface of the ice making chamber. Evaporating tubes leading from the system are closely arranged in a meandering manner. A water tray is pivotally supported via a support shaft directly below the ice making chamber, and an ice making water tank for storing a predetermined amount of ice making water is integrally provided at the bottom of the water tray. Yes.

  In the automatic ice making machine, in a state where the water tray is held in a closed position where the ice making chamber is closed from below in the ice making process, the refrigerant is circulated and supplied to the evaporation pipe to forcibly cool the ice making chamber, Ice ice in the ice making water tank is sprayed and supplied to the ice making compartment through the water tray, thereby generating ice cubes in the compartment. Then, when the ice making completion detecting means detects the formation of ice cubes, the ice making process is shifted to the deicing process, and hot ice (high temperature refrigerant) is circulated and supplied to the evaporation pipe to heat the ice making chamber, and the open / close mechanism is used. The water tray is tilted to the open position obliquely downward with the support shaft as a center, and is configured to open the ice making chamber. In this deicing process, the ice supply part of each ice making chamber and the ice cubes melts by circulating supply of hot gas, and the ice cubes separate from the ice making chambers by their own weight and slide down on the water tray in the open position. It is stored in. When the deicing completion detecting means detects the removal of the ice cube from the ice making chamber, the deicing process is shifted to the ice making process, and the water tray is again returned to the closed position by the opening / closing mechanism.

In addition, the said evaporation pipe is meanderingly arrange | positioned so that it may go to the other edge part side from the one edge part side with respect to an ice making chamber (for example, refer patent document 1).
JP 2001-227850 A

  The refrigerant or hot gas circulating through the evaporation pipe has a large amount of heat for exchanging heat at the inlet side of the evaporation pipe. In the conventional arrangement structure of the evaporation pipe, the inlet side is the ice making chamber. Therefore, the large amount of heat that the refrigerant or hot gas has is used only locally and is not effectively used.

  Further, for example, in the deicing process, the ice making chamber is efficiently heated by the hot gas having a large amount of heat at the inlet side of the evaporation tube, whereas the amount of heat of the hot gas is reduced at the outlet side. As a result, the ice making chamber is not efficiently heated, resulting in temperature unevenness throughout the ice making chamber. For this reason, when adopting a configuration in which ice cubes generated in each ice making chamber are interconnected and dropped at once, ice cubes are peeled off at one end side of the ice making chamber (the inlet side of the evaporation tube). Despite being present, the ice cubes remain stuck on the other end (evaporator outlet side), and the ice cubes connected to each other do not fall at once, which may cause problems such as ice biting. is there.

  That is, the present invention has been proposed in view of the above-mentioned problems inherent in the prior art described above, and has been proposed to suitably solve this problem, and aims to make the ice making chamber temperature uniform in the ice making process and the deicing process. An object of the present invention is to provide an automatic ice making machine capable of performing efficient ice making and deicing.

In order to overcome the above-mentioned problems and to achieve the intended purpose suitably, the automatic ice maker according to the present invention has a freezing system evaporator tube in close contact with the upper surface of an ice making chamber having a plurality of ice making chambers opening downward. The ice making chamber is forcibly cooled by circulating a refrigerant through the evaporation pipe during the ice making process, and ice making water is supplied to each ice making chamber to generate ice blocks in the ice making chamber. configured to leave dropping ice lumps from the ice making chamber to heat the ice making chamber by circulating hot gas to melt the frozen portion of each ice making chamber and ice blocks, the evaporator tube, an inlet of the refrigerant and the hot gas with the side is positioned at the center portion of the front Symbol Freezer, in an automatic ice making machine which is arranged in a spiral shape from the center of the ice making compartment, the arrangement pitch of the straight pipe portion adjacent the refrigerant outlet side of the evaporator tubes Set to narrow toward the outside And said that you are.

  According to the automatic ice maker according to the present invention, since the inlet side of the evaporation pipe is disposed at the center of the ice making chamber, a large amount of heat possessed by the refrigerant and hot gas can be effectively utilized. Further, by arranging the evaporation pipes in a spiral shape outward from the center of the ice making chamber, the entire ice making chamber can be cooled or heated substantially uniformly, and ice making and deicing can be performed efficiently. . Furthermore, the temperature of the ice making chamber can be made more uniform by setting the arrangement pitch of the adjacent straight pipe portions in the evaporation pipe to be narrower toward the outside.

  Next, an automatic ice making machine according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings by way of preferred embodiments.

  FIG. 1 shows an ice making chamber and an evaporation pipe of an automatic ice maker according to an embodiment, and FIG. 2 shows a schematic configuration of the automatic ice maker. The automatic ice making machine 10 basically includes an ice making mechanism 12 and a refrigeration mechanism (refrigeration system) 14. The ice making mechanism 12 is disposed in a rectangular ice making chamber 16 having a plurality of ice making chambers 16 a that open downward, a water tray 18 that is integrally provided with an ice making water tank 20 at the bottom, and an ice making water tank 20. It is basically composed of a pump motor PM. One end of the water dish 18 is pivotally supported via a support shaft 22 and the other end is connected to an opening / closing mechanism 24. The actuator motor AM in the opening / closing mechanism 24 is forward / reverse. Along with the rotation, the water pan 18 tilts forward and backward with the support shaft 22 as a fulcrum, and is positioned at a closed position where the ice making chamber 16a is closed from below and a lower open position where the chamber 16a is opened. It is comprised so that.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the refrigeration mechanism 14 includes a compressor 26, a condenser 28, a fan motor FM, an expansion valve 30, and an evaporation pipe 32 disposed on the upper surface of the ice making chamber 16. In the ice making process of the refrigeration mechanism 14, the refrigerant is circulated and supplied to the evaporation pipe 32 to forcibly cool the ice making chamber 16, and in the deicing process, hot gas (high temperature refrigerant) is supplied by switching the hot gas valve HV of the refrigeration system. It is configured to be supplied in a circulating manner so as to promote the melting of the frozen portion between the ice making chamber 16a and the ice cube (ice block). In addition, a water supply pipe 34 connected to an external water system faces the upper portion of the water tray 18, and a water valve WV is inserted in the water supply pipe 34. The water valve WV is opened for a set time during the deicing process, and is frozen on the water tray 18 by normal temperature melted water (tap water) supplied from the water supply pipe 34 onto the water tray 18 in the open position. The ice pieces are melted. The water valve WV is opened when the deicing process shifts to the ice making process, and this water is stored in the ice making water tank 20 through the water tray 18 and used as the next ice making water. Yes. A stocker 36 for storing ice cubes manufactured by the ice making mechanism 12 is disposed below the ice making mechanism 12.

  The ice making chamber 16 is provided with a thermistor (not shown) connected to a controller, and when the thermistor detects that the ice making chamber 16 has reached the ice making completion temperature during the ice making process, the controller makes the ice making. It is set to perform control to shift from the process to the deicing process. Further, when the thermistor detects that the ice making chamber 16 has reached the deicing completion temperature during the deicing process, the controller is set to perform control to shift from the deicing process to the ice making process.

  As shown in FIG. 1 or FIG. 3, the evaporation pipe 32 is arranged such that the refrigerant inlet portion 32 a is positioned at the substantially central portion of the ice making chamber 16, and is directed outward from the central portion of the ice making chamber 16. The refrigerant outlet portion 32b is set so as to be positioned at the end of the ice making chamber 16 (in the embodiment, on the side opposite to the pivot portion of the water tray 18). In addition, the evaporation pipe 32 of the embodiment is formed so that the straight pipe portion 32c and the bent portions 32d bent at about 90 ° are alternately connected to form a rectangular spiral shape, and each straight pipe portion 32c. Are set to be parallel to the corresponding sides of the ice making chamber 16.

Further, in the refrigerant outlet side 32b of the evaporation pipe 32, adjacent contacts straight pipe portion 32c, arrangement pitch of 32c is set to be narrower toward the outer side. That is, by changing the arrangement pitch of the straight pipe portions 32c and 32c according to the change in the amount of heat of the refrigerant or hot gas circulating in the evaporation pipe 32 while exchanging heat with the ice making chamber 16, the refrigerant or hot The entire ice making chamber 16 is cooled or heated substantially uniformly by heat exchange with the gas.

[Operation of Example]
Next, the operation of the automatic ice maker according to the above-described embodiment will be described.

  In the ice making process in the automatic ice making machine 10, the compressor 26, the fan motor FM and the pump motor PM are operated, and the circulation supply of the refrigerant to the evaporation pipe 32 and the circulation supply of the ice making water to the ice making chamber 16a are performed. The ice grows gradually in the ice making chamber. The refrigerant supplied to the evaporation pipe 32 first exchanges heat with the ice making chamber 16a in the central portion of the ice making chamber 16, then sequentially exchanges heat with the outer ice making chamber 16a, and then returns to the refrigeration system. That is, the large amount of heat possessed by the refrigerant is effectively utilized over a wide range in the central portion of the ice making chamber 16. Further, since the evaporation pipe 32 is arranged in a spiral shape, the entire ice making chamber 16 is cooled substantially uniformly, and ice is efficiently generated uniformly in each ice making chamber 16a.

  When substantially complete ice cubes are generated in the ice making chamber 16a and the thermistor detects the ice making completion temperature, the controller moves from the ice making process to the deicing process. That is, the actuator motor AM of the opening / closing mechanism 24 is driven to rotate forward, and the water pan 18 is lowered from the closed position to the open position. Further, the hot gas valve HV is opened, the hot gas is circulated and supplied to the evaporation pipe 32, and the ice making chamber 16 is heated. Further, the energization of the pump motor PM and the fan motor FM is cut off, and both the motors PM and FM are stopped.

  When the water pan 18 reaches the open position, the actuator motor AM stops and the water pan 18 is held in the open position. During the tilting of the water tray 18, the water valve WV is opened, and during that time, normal temperature melted ice water is supplied to the water tray 18, and the ice pieces adhering to the water tray 18 are melted.

  As described above, the evaporation pipe 32 is set so that the refrigerant inlet portion 32a is located at the center of the ice making chamber 16, so that the hot gas having a large amount of heat supplied to the evaporation pipe 32 is In the central part of the ice making chamber 16, heat can be exchanged over a wide range, and the amount of heat is effectively used as compared with the case where it is used only locally as in the prior art. Further, the heat exchanged with the hot gas spreads in a ripple shape from the center to the outside with respect to the ice making chamber 16, so that the end of the ice making chamber 16 is also heated substantially uniformly. That is, in the configuration in which the ice cubes generated in the ice making chambers 16a are connected to each other and dropped at a time, the ice formation portion with the ice cubes for all the ice making chambers 16a can be evenly melted. A smooth detachment drop from the chamber 16 is achieved.

  A freezing portion of the ice making chamber 16a of the ice making chamber 16 heated by circulating supply of hot gas to the evaporation pipe 32 and the ice cube melts, and the ice cube separates from the ice making chamber by its own weight, and falls into the water dish 18. Is stored in the stocker 36. When the ice cubes are detached from the ice making chamber 16, the temperature of the ice making chamber 16 rises, and when the thermistor detects the deicing completion temperature, the controller moves from the deicing process to the ice making process. That is, the actuator motor AM is reversely driven, and the water tray 18 rises from the open position to the closed position. At this time, the fan motor FM rotates and the hot gas valve HV is closed, and the refrigerant is circulated and supplied to the evaporation pipe 32 to start cooling the ice making chamber 16.

  Further, the water valve WV is opened, and the water supplied from the water supply pipe 34 to the water tray 18 is stored in the ice making water tank 20 and used as the next ice making water. The water valve WV is closed after elapse of a set time of a water supply timer (not shown). When the water tray 18 arrives at the closed position, the actuator motor AM stops and the water tray 18 is held at the closed position.

  As described above, the refrigerant inlet portion (inlet side) 32a of the evaporation pipe 32 is set to be positioned at the center of the ice making chamber 16, and the large amount of heat that the refrigerant or hot gas has is set at the center of the ice making portion 16. Therefore, the interval between the adjacent straight pipe portions 32c and 32c in the evaporation pipe 32 can be set wide in the central portion. Thereby, the contact area of the evaporation pipe 32 with respect to the whole ice making chamber 16, ie, the length of the evaporation pipe 32, can be shortened, and cost can be reduced. In addition, by changing the arrangement pitch of the adjacent straight pipe portions 32c and 32c in the evaporation pipe 32 between the inner side and the outer side, the heat with the ice making chamber 16 is within a range corresponding to the amount of heat that the refrigerant or hot gas has. As a result, the ice making chamber 16 can be uniformly cooled or heated.

[Example of change]
In the embodiment, the closed cell type ice making machine has been described in which the ice making chamber is closed from below by a water dish, but the open cell type ice making machine that supplies ice making water from below without closing the ice making chamber. There may be.

1 is a schematic perspective view showing an ice making chamber and an evaporation pipe of an automatic ice making machine according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. It is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of the automatic ice making machine which concerns on an Example. It is a top view which shows the ice making chamber and the evaporation pipe which concern on an Example.

Explanation of symbols

16 Ice making room, 16a Ice making room, 32 Evaporating tube

Claims (1)

A freezing system evaporation pipe (32) is placed in close contact with the upper surface of the ice making chamber (16) having a plurality of ice making chambers (16a) opened downward, and a refrigerant is circulated through the evaporation pipe (32) during the ice making process. The ice making chamber (16) is forcibly cooled and ice making water is supplied to each ice making chamber (16a) to generate ice blocks in each ice making chamber (16a). The ice making chamber (16) is circulated to heat the ice making compartments of the ice making chambers (16a) and ice blocks, and the ice blocks are separated from the ice making chamber (16) and fall down, and the evaporator tube (32 ), together with an inlet side of the refrigerant and the hot gas is located at the center portion of the front Symbol Freezer (16), an automatic ice making machine which is arranged in a spiral shape from the central portion of the ice making chamber (16),
The arrangement pitch of the adjacent straight pipe portions (32c) on the refrigerant outlet side (32b) of the evaporation pipe (32) is set to become narrower toward the outside.
An automatic ice making machine.

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