JP5939844B2 - Ice tray, automatic ice maker, and refrigerator - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an ice tray in which ice in a compartment is peeled off by being twisted, an automatic ice maker provided with the ice tray, and a refrigerator-freezer provided with the automatic ice maker.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is known an automatic ice making machine in which water supplied from a water supply device is stored in an ice tray to make ice, and the ice tray is inverted by a driving device to drop ice from the ice tray. An ice tray of this type of automatic ice making machine has a plurality of compartments for generating a plurality of ice particles, but generally there is only one water inlet for one ice tray. Is. The water dripped from the water supply port onto such an ice tray first accumulates in a compartment near the dropping point, and then reaches the entire compartment formed in the ice tray through a water channel connecting the compartments. When the water in the ice tray becomes ice due to cold air, the ice tray is rotated by a rotating mechanism, and the member that suppresses the ice tray placed in the rotation trajectory of the ice tray from the state rotated 90 degrees or more from the horizontal state One end of the ice tray is held down and twisted by continuing to rotate, and the ice particles in the ice tray are dropped into the ice storage box arranged on the lower side (deiced). In such an ice generation process, water frozen in the water channel connecting the compartments connects the ice particles to each other, and sometimes falls into the ice storage box while the ice particles are connected.

  Therefore, a ridge was formed in the water channel connecting the compartments, and when the ice tray was twisted, the ridge was used as a starting point to cause cracks in the ice, and the cracks helped break up the ice. An ice tray has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP-A-7-305930 (second page, third page, FIG. 5)

  However, in the configuration described in Patent Document 1, since the area of the water channel is reduced by the protrusions for dividing the ice, it is very difficult to design the water to surely turn around all the compartments. there were. That is, when the water channel is widened to improve the circulation of water to each compartment of the ice tray, the ice formed in the water channel becomes larger and the ice particles are more firmly connected. On the other hand, if the water channel is narrowed or a ridge is added to make the ice particles easy to be divided, the flow of water to each compartment will deteriorate.

  Further, basically, the surface of the ice tray is formed very smoothly in order to improve the deicing property. For this reason, in the water channel structure disclosed in Patent Document 1 above, particularly in the vicinity of the end of the ice tray where deformation due to twisting is small, the ice falls from the surface of the ice tray before being cracked by the protrusions of the water channel. Yes. Even in that case, if there is a distance to the ice storage box, the ice particles can be separated from each other by the impact of the fall, but if ice accumulates in the ice storage box, the distance from the ice tray will decrease, so the impact during the fall However, cracks are less likely to occur in the ice formed in the water channel, and as a result, the problem that the ice particles remain connected to the ice storage box occurs.

  The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-described problems. An ice making plate having improved ice particle division without impairing the surrounding water to each compartment of the ice making plate, and the ice making plate. An automatic ice maker provided and a refrigerator-freezer provided with the automatic ice maker are provided.

An ice tray according to the present invention is an ice tray in which ice in a compartment chamber is peeled off when twisted, and is provided on a partition wall that partitions a plurality of compartment chambers, and communicates between the compartment chambers. An ice adsorbing surface having a surface area larger than the inner surface of the compartment by providing grooves, wrinkles, or small holes in all or part of the surface of the water channel portion. Is formed.

  In the ice tray according to the present invention, an ice adsorption surface having a surface area larger than that of the inner surface of the compartment is formed by providing irregularities on all or part of the surface of the water channel that communicates between the compartments. Here, the magnitude of the ice adsorption force on the same material surface depends on the surface area of the adsorption surface, and the ice adsorption force on the ice adsorption surface with the increased surface area is larger than the adsorption force on the surface with a relatively small surface area. Is also big. For this reason, even after the ice in the ice tray of the ice tray is separated, it is easy to hold the ice on the ice adsorption surface, and the stress generated when the ice tray is twisted is concentrated on the ice adsorbed on the ice adsorption surface of the channel. The ice is broken by the stress. Therefore, it is possible to divide the ice particles individually in the ice tray. In addition, since the ice adsorption surface of the present invention is realized by performing uneven processing on the surface of the water channel portion, water flow in the water channel portion is ensured without greatly reducing the cross-sectional area of the water channel portion. can do.

3 is a plan view of the ice tray according to Embodiment 1. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an ice tray according to Embodiment 1. FIG. It is a side view explaining the structure of the automatic ice making machine which concerns on Embodiment 1. FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a water channel portion according to Embodiment 1. FIG. It is a figure explaining the rotation operation of the ice tray which concerns on Embodiment 1. FIG. 6 is an enlarged view of a water channel portion according to Embodiment 2. FIG. 6 is a plan view of an ice tray according to Embodiment 3. FIG.

  Hereinafter, an ice tray according to the present invention, an automatic ice maker equipped with the ice tray, and a refrigerator-freezer equipped with the automatic ice maker will be described with reference to the drawings. In addition, this invention is not limited by the form of drawing shown below.

Embodiment 1 FIG.
1 is a plan view of an ice tray according to Embodiment 1, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the ice tray according to Embodiment 1. FIG. FIG. 3 is a side view illustrating the configuration of the automatic ice making machine according to the first embodiment. The automatic ice making machine 10 according to the first embodiment includes a freezer compartment or a dedicated ice making machine in a refrigerator-freezer having a plurality of storage rooms having different set temperature zones such as a refrigerator room, a vegetable room, a chilled room, and a freezer room. It is provided in the room. As the refrigerator-freezer according to the first embodiment, an arbitrary configuration having a storage room kept at a freezing temperature as a storage room for installing the automatic ice making machine 10 can be adopted.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the automatic ice maker 10 according to the first embodiment includes an ice tray 1, an ice storage case 11 that is disposed below the ice tray 1 and stores ice generated in the ice tray 1, and an ice making machine. And a driving device 12 that is connected to an end of the tray 1 and rotates the ice tray 1. This automatic ice making machine 10 is provided in a freezer compartment or an ice making compartment of a refrigerator-freezer. A water supply tank 20 for supplying water to the automatic ice maker 10 is installed in a storage room such as a refrigeration room maintained at a refrigeration temperature, and the automatic ice maker 10 is supplied from the water supply tank 20 via a water supply pipe 21. Freezes the generated water and produces ice.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the ice tray 1 is a molded product made of a synthetic resin material such as polypropylene, and has a substantially rectangular outer shape in plan view with an upper surface opened. Inside the ice tray 1, a plurality of compartments 3 formed in a concave shape are partitioned by a partition wall 2. The inner surface of the compartment 3, that is, the surface of the compartment wall 2 is formed very smoothly so that the ice is easily peeled off. In the first embodiment, six rows of compartments 3 arranged in the depth direction of the ice tray 1 are illustrated, but the number and shape of the compartments 3 are not limited to those illustrated.

  The partition wall 2 is formed with a groove-like water channel portion 4 for communicating adjacent partition chambers 3. As shown in FIG. 3, the water is dripped from one water supply pipe 21 to the ice tray 1, so that adjacent compartments 3 so that the water from the water supply pipes 21 is distributed to all the compartments 3. A water channel portion 4 is provided in the partition wall 2 that partitions the two. In the example shown in FIG. 1, a water channel portion 4 is provided on all of the partition walls 2 that partition the partition chambers 3. For this reason, each compartment 3 is connected with the compartment 3 adjacent to the width direction (up-down direction of the paper surface of FIG. 1) and the depth direction (left-right direction of the paper surface of FIG. 1). In addition, what is necessary is just to provide the water channel part 4 so that water may spread to each division chamber 3, and the number and arrangement | positioning of the water channel parts 4 are not limited to the thing of illustration.

  On one end side in the longitudinal direction of the ice tray 1, a drive part fitting part 5 to be fitted to the drive device 12 is provided. The ice tray 1 is rotatably supported by the driving device 12 through the driving unit fitting unit 5. The drive device 12 includes a motor, a gear, and the like (not shown), and rotates the ice tray 1 about the rotation axis X shown in FIG. Further, a stopper portion 6 projects from the other end side of the drive portion fitting portion 5 in the longitudinal direction of the ice tray 1. In the first embodiment, the stopper portion 6 is a flat plate member that protrudes from the outer periphery of the ice tray 1 in a substantially horizontal direction. In addition, the effect | action of the stopper part 6 is mentioned later.

Next, the water channel part 4 of the ice tray 1 according to the first embodiment will be further described.
FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of the water channel portion according to Embodiment 1, and FIGS. 4A and 4B correspond to portions indicated by reference numerals A and B in FIG. 1, respectively.

  The water channel part 4 is comprised by the bottom face 4a and a pair of side surface 4b which opposes. In the first embodiment, the water channel portion 4 has a substantially trapezoidal shape in which the upper base is configured to be wider than the lower base when viewed in a cross section orthogonal to the water flow direction (see FIG. 2).

  Concavities and convexities are formed on the surface of the water channel portion 4, and the surface on which the concavities and convexities are formed is referred to as an ice adsorption surface 7. In FIG. 4, the ice adsorption surface 7 is shaded. As shown in FIG. 4, in this Embodiment 1, the unevenness | corrugation is formed in the whole bottom face 4a and the side surface 4b of the water channel part 4. As shown in FIG. That is, in the first embodiment, the entire surface of the bottom surface 4 a and the side surface 4 b of the water channel portion 4 is the ice adsorption surface 7. The ice adsorption surface 7 is a surface configured to have a larger surface area than the other surface of the ice tray 1 (for example, the inner surface of the compartment 3). The ice adsorbing surface 7 is formed by various uneven processing methods such as forming fine grooves (ribs), forming textures, forming a plurality of granular protrusions, and forming a plurality of small holes. The Further, the ice adsorption surface 7 may be formed by roughing the mold used for molding the ice tray 1. Specifically, for example, in mold polishing of a mold used for molding the ice tray 1, the portion corresponding to the ice adsorption surface 7 is polished to be, for example, twice or more rougher than the portion corresponding to the compartment 3, after molding. The ice adsorption surface 7 can be formed on the ice tray 1.

Next, the operation of the ice tray 1 according to the first embodiment will be described.
First, it is assumed that the ice tray 1 is installed in the automatic ice making machine 10 so that the opening surface thereof is on the upper side, and water is stored in the water supply tank 20. When the automatic ice making machine 10 starts the ice making operation, the water stored in the water supply tank 20 is supplied to the ice tray 1 through the water supply pipe 21 by the operation of a pump (not shown). The water dripped from the water supply pipe 21 first enters the compartment 3 located directly below the water supply pipe 21 and further passes through the water channel portion 4 provided on the compartment wall 2 forming the compartment 3 and is adjacent to the compartment. It enters the chamber 3 and is similarly stored in all the compartments 3 provided in the ice tray 1. Since the unevenness of the ice adsorption surface 7 formed in the water channel part 4 is so fine that it hardly disturbs the flow of water, water can be distributed to each compartment 3.

  And the cold air sent from the cooler which is not shown in figure is supplied to the upper surface side of the ice tray 1, and the water in each compartment 3 of the ice tray 1 becomes ice by receiving the cold air. At this time, ice is also generated in the water channel portion 4, and the ice particles formed in each compartment 3 are connected by the ice in the water channel portion 4.

  When it is detected by a temperature sensor (not shown) that detects the temperature in the ice tray 1 that ice has been generated in the ice tray 1, the drive device 12 moves the ice tray 1 through the drive portion fitting unit 5. Rotate.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining the rotation operation of the ice tray according to the first embodiment.
In a state in which the ice tray 1 is rotated 90 degrees or more, the stopper portion 6 provided in the ice tray 1 contacts the peripheral component 30 that holds the ice tray 1, but the driving device 12 further rotates the ice tray 1. Then, the ice tray 1 is twisted and deformed because the end portion on the stopper portion 6 side stops rotating with respect to the end portion on the drive portion fitting portion 5 side that rotates. As a result, the ice made on the ice tray 1 receives a force from each direction of the surface of the ice tray 1 and tries to peel off from the surface of the ice tray 1.

Here, the surface of the partition wall 2 which comprises the inner surface of the partition chamber 3 is comprised smoothly. For this reason, the ice in the compartment 3 floats from the surface of the compartment 3 while the twist angle is relatively small. On the other hand, in the water channel portion 4 of the first embodiment, an ice adsorption surface 7 having a large surface area and a strong ice holding force relative to the surface of the compartment 3 is formed. For this reason, even after the ice generated in the compartment 3 is separated from the compartment 3, the ice is retained on the ice adsorption surface 7, and stress (stress) due to deformation of the ice tray 1 is generated in the water channel portion 4. Take concentration on the ice. In other words, since the inner surface of the compartment 3 is smoothly configured with respect to the ice adsorption surface 7 formed in the water channel portion 4, the ice in the compartment 3 is separated from the surface of the compartment 3 relatively quickly. The time for concentrating the force accompanying the deformation of the ice tray 1 on the ice on the ice adsorption surface 7 can be provided.
When a force accompanying deformation of the ice tray 1 is applied to the ice held on the ice adsorption surface 7 of the water channel portion 4 in this way, the ice generated in the water channel portion 4 is selectively crushed and the ice tray is made. The ice in 1 is divided for each ice particle formed in each compartment 3.

  As described above, in the ice tray 1 of the first embodiment, the ice adsorption surface 7 having a surface area larger than the inner surface of the compartment 3 is formed by providing irregularities on the bottom surface 4 a and the side surface 4 b of the water channel portion 4. Has been. For this reason, even if the ice tray 1 is twisted and the ice in the compartment 3 is separated, the ice is easily held on the ice adsorption surface 7, and the stress generated when the ice tray 1 is twisted is the ice adsorption surface 7. The ice on the ice adsorption surface 7 is crushed by the stress. Therefore, in the ice tray 1, the ice particles formed in each compartment 3 can be individually divided.

  Further, the ice adsorption surface 7 of the first embodiment is formed by providing fine irregularities on the surface of the water channel portion 4. For this reason, unlike the protrusion provided in the communication groove described in Patent Document 1, the flow passage cross-sectional area of the water channel portion 4 is not greatly reduced, so that the flow of water to each compartment 3 is ensured. be able to. Therefore, even if it is the structure which supplies water from one place with respect to the several compartment 3 formed in the ice tray 1, water can be supplied to each compartment 3 uniformly. In addition, by providing the ice adsorption surface 7 with an uneven surface formed on the surface of the water channel portion 4 to increase the surface area, the wettability of water on the ice adsorption surface 7 is improved and a smooth water flow can be formed. .

  Note that the operation of the driving device 12 and the arrangement of the stopper unit 6 shown in the first embodiment are merely examples. If the ice tray 1 can be iced by twisting, the specific configurations thereof are as follows. Not limited.

Embodiment 2. FIG.
In the first embodiment described above, an example in which the ice adsorption surface 7 is formed on the entire bottom surface 4a and side surface 4b of the water channel portion 4, that is, on the entire surface of the water channel portion 4 has been described. In this Embodiment 2, the example which forms the ice adsorption surface 7 only in a part of water channel part 4 is shown. In the second embodiment, differences from the first embodiment will be mainly described, and the same or corresponding components as those in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged view of the water channel portion according to Embodiment 2, and FIGS. 6A and 6B correspond to the portions indicated by reference signs A and B in FIG. 1, respectively.
As shown in FIG. 6, in the second embodiment, the ice adsorption surface 7 is formed only in a region away from the compartment 3 on the surface of the water channel portion 4. More specifically, the ice adsorbing surface 7 is not formed on the end of the surface of the water channel portion 4 in the direction of water flow (vertical direction in FIG. 6A, horizontal direction in FIG. 6B). An ice adsorption surface 7 indicated by hatching is formed only in the central part in the distribution direction.

  In such a configuration, when the ice tray 1 is twisted in a state where ice is generated inside, the ice adsorbing surface 7 formed in a region away from the compartment 3 in the surface of the water channel portion 4 has ice. Easy to hold. For this reason, even after the ice formed on the portion other than the ice adsorption surface 7 leaves, the ice adsorption surface 7 holds the ice, and the stress when the ice tray 1 is twisted is held on the ice adsorption surface 7. The ice is concentrated on the ice, and the ice on the ice adsorption surface 7 is crushed by the stress. Therefore, the ice particles formed in each compartment 3 of the ice tray 1 can be divided individually.

  Further, when the ice on the ice adsorption surface 7 is crushed, cracks may occur in the vicinity of the portion to be crushed, but the ice adsorption surface 7 of the second embodiment is separated from the compartment 3 in the water channel portion 4. Since it is formed in the region, such cracks are unlikely to reach the ice particles formed in the compartment 3. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the possibility of cracks in the ice particles and generate ice particles with a good appearance.

Embodiment 3 FIG.
In the first embodiment described above, it has been described that the ice adsorption surface 7 is provided on all the water channel portions 4 formed in the ice tray 1. In the third embodiment, an example in which the ice adsorption surface 7 is provided in a part of the water channel portion 4 formed in the ice tray 1 will be described. In the third embodiment, differences from the first embodiment will be mainly described, and the same or corresponding components as those in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals.

FIG. 7 is a plan view of the ice tray according to Embodiment 3, and FIGS. 7A and 7B show specific examples of the ice tray according to Embodiment 3, respectively. In FIG. 7, among the water channel portions 4 provided on the partition walls 2 partitioning the respective compartments 3, those in which the ice adsorption surface 7 is formed are shaded and displayed, and the ice adsorption surface 7 is not formed ( Reference numeral 8 denotes a flat portion 8.
As shown in FIG. 7, the ice tray 1 according to Embodiment 3 has a configuration in which the water channel portion 4 in which the ice adsorption surface 7 is formed and the water channel portion 4 in which the ice adsorption surface 7 is not formed are mixed. . More specifically, at least one of the plurality of water channel portions 4 communicating with each compartment 3 is a flat portion 8 on which no ice adsorption surface 7 is formed, and the ice adsorption surface 7 is formed on the remaining water channel portions 4. Is formed. The flat portion 8 has a surface state similar to the inner surface of the compartment 3, for example, and has a lower ice holding force than the ice adsorption surface 7.

  The ice adsorption surface 7 shown in FIG. 7 may be formed on the entire surface of the water channel portion 4 as in the first embodiment, or may be formed on a part of the surface of the water channel portion 4 as in the second embodiment. It may be formed only.

  In such a configuration, when the ice tray 1 is twisted in a state where ice is generated therein, the ice is easily held on the ice adsorption surface 7 of the water channel portion 4, and the stress when twisted is the ice adsorption surface 7. The ice on the ice adsorption surface 7 is crushed by the stress.

Here, since the ice adsorption surface 7 has a relatively large surface area and high ice holding power, depending on the ice holding power, ice remains on the ice adsorption surface 7 after the deicing operation as described above. there is a possibility. If the amount of ice remaining is large, the ice remaining on the ice adsorption surface 7 hinders the flow of water supplied from the water supply tank 20 when the ice is produced next time. There is also a possibility that the water channel portion 4 that is included may be blocked.
However, in the third embodiment, since the ice adsorption surface 7 is not formed in at least one of the plurality of water channel portions 4 communicating with each compartment 3, in the water channel portion 4 (flat portion 8), Ice is unlikely to remain during the de-icing operation. For this reason, even if all the water channel portions 4 on which the ice adsorption surface 7 is formed are blocked, for example, water flows through the water channel portion 4 having the flat portion 8 as shown by broken line arrows in FIG. You can go to the room 3. Therefore, it is possible to suppress water overflow caused by closing the water channel portion 4 communicating with each compartment 3.

  The ice remaining on the ice adsorption surface 7 is integrated with the ice produced on the ice adsorption surface 7 when the ice is next produced, and functions as ice with high adsorption power. Therefore, when the ice tray 1 is twisted, the stress when twisted is concentrated on the ice held on the ice adsorption surface 7, and the ice on the ice adsorption surface 7 is crushed by the stress. For this reason, the ice in the ice tray 1 can be divided | segmented.

  In addition, since the ice is held on the ice adsorption surface 7 as described above, the conventional water channel in which no ice adsorption surface is provided in the flat portion 8 which is the water channel portion 4 where the ice adsorption surface 7 is not formed. The ice is retained longer than the part. Therefore, when the ice tray 1 is twisted with respect to the ice generated in the water channel portion 4 where the ice adsorption surface 7 is not formed, as compared with the conventional water channel portion where no ice adsorption surface is provided. Can be applied with great force. For this reason, also in the flat part 8 in which the ice adsorption surface 7 is not formed, the division | segmentation performance of ice can be improved.

  In the third embodiment, ribs that protrude from the surface of the water channel part 4 may be provided in the water channel part 4 that does not have the ice adsorption surface 7. By doing in this way, when the ice tray 1 is twisted, the ribs crack the ice formed in the water channel part 4, so that the ice splitting performance in the water channel part 4 without the ice adsorption surface 7 is improved. Can be improved.

  Moreover, arrangement | positioning of the ice adsorption | suction surface 7 and flat part 8 which are shown to FIG. 7A and B is an example, When arrangement | positioning of the water supply pipe 21, the distribution route of the water to each compartment 3, and the ice-making tray 1 are twisted In consideration of the distribution of the applied force and the like, the ice adsorption surface 7 and the flat portion 8 can be appropriately arranged.

In Embodiments 1 to 3 described above, an automatic ice making machine that includes a drive device that rotates an ice tray and automatically deicing ice and an ice tray used therefor have been described as an example. The ice adsorption surface can also be applied to an ice tray in which the user manually deices the ice. Even in this case, the force when the user grips both ends of the ice tray in the longitudinal direction and applies twist concentrates on the ice held on the ice adsorption surface provided in the water channel, The ice on the ice adsorption surface can be divided.
In the first to third embodiments, the water in the water supply tank 20 has been described as being supplied to the ice tray 1 by the single water supply pipe 21. However, the number of water supply pipes 21 (the number of water supply points) is as follows. It is not limited to. In addition, even if the user directly supplies water to the ice tray 1 without having such a water supply tank 20, the water flowability in the water channel portion 4 is ensured as described above. When the user supplies water, it is easy to distribute water to each compartment 3 of the ice tray 1.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Ice tray 2 Compartment wall 3 Compartment room 4 Water channel part 4a Bottom face 4b Side face 5 Drive part fitting part 6 Stopper part 7 Ice adsorption surface 8 Flat part 10 Automatic ice making machine 11 Ice storage case , 12 Drive unit, 20 Water supply tank, 21 Water supply pipe, 30 Peripheral parts.

Claims (5)

An ice tray in which the ice in the compartment is peeled off when twisted,
A partition wall defining a plurality of compartments;
A groove-shaped water channel portion provided on the partition wall and communicating between the partition chambers;
An ice adsorption surface having a surface area larger than the inner surface of the compartment is formed on all or a part of the surface of the water channel portion by providing grooves, wrinkles, or small holes. Ice tray. The ice making tray according to claim 1, wherein the ice adsorption surface is formed in a region away from the inner surface of the compartment in the surface of the water channel portion. The water channel portion in which the ice adsorption surface is formed and the water channel portion in which the ice adsorption surface is not formed are mixed,
At least one or more of the water channel section provided so as to communicate with other of said compartments for each of said compartments, claim, characterized in that it is not the ice suction surface forms the first or The ice tray according to claim 2 . The ice tray according to any one of claims 1 to 3 ,
An automatic ice making machine comprising: a driving device that rotates the ice tray. A refrigerator-freezer comprising the automatic ice maker according to claim 4 .

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