JPS63290375A - Flow-down type ice machine - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of Industrial Application This invention relates to a falling type ice maker, and more specifically, to ice cubes formed on the surface of an ice plate by flowing deicing water onto the back surface of the ice plate during deicing operation. The present invention relates to an arrangement structure of evaporator tubes that can ensure uniform flow of deicing water on the back surface of the ice making plate in a falling ice making machine configured to promote peeling of the ice making plate.

Prior Art An evaporation tube communicating with a refrigeration system is provided on the inner surface of a pair of ice-making plates arranged vertically opposite each other, and a refrigerant is circulated through the evaporation tube to cool the ice-making plates. Drop-down ice making machines, which are configured to freeze the ice-making water flowing down into ice cubes and release the resulting ice cubes into a water storage tank, have become widely used because of their simple configuration and low ice-making costs. used in

Since the present invention relates particularly to the arrangement structure of the evaporator tubes of this down-flow ice maker, the general structure of the down-flow ice maker will first be explained in order to facilitate understanding thereof. In the down-flow ice making machine shown in FIG. 4, a pair of ice making plates 10.10 are arranged facing each other at a predetermined interval, and an evaporation pipe 12.12 led out from a refrigeration system (not shown) is provided on the opposing back surface of the re-ice making plate 10.10. are arranged in close contact with each other.

The evaporation tubes 12 are arranged in a meandering manner in the horizontal direction over the entire surface of each ice-making plate 10, and by circulating a refrigerant through the evaporation tubes 12, the entire ice-making plate 10 is uniformly cooled. do.

The upper and lower ends of each ice-making plate 10 are bent at a required angle toward the opposing ice-making plate 10, and a water sprinkling plate 24 having a roof-shaped cross section (A) is arranged above the re-ice-making plate 10.10. It is set up. Above the water sprinkling plate 24, there are water sprinkling holes 2 for spraying ice-making water.
An ice-making water sprinkling pipe 22 having a large number of holes 2a is disposed horizontally, and this water sprinkling pipe 22 is connected to an ice-making water tank 16 (described later). In addition, a deicing water sprinkling pipe 26 having a number of watering holes 26a for dispersing and supplying deicing water is provided at the middle upper part of the re-ice making plate 10.10, and this deicing water sprinkling pipe 26 is connected to a deicing water tank (not shown). Connected.

An ice-making water tank 16 is arranged below the re-ice-making plate 10.10, and during ice-making operation, the ice-making water in this tank 16 is
I! 2 ice making water circulation pump 18 and the ice making water supply pipe 2o to the ice making water sprinkling pipe 22, and the large number of water sprinkling holes 2
After being sprinkled onto the water sprinkling plate 24 from the sprinkler plate 2a, it is supplied to the ice making surface 10a of the ice making plate 10. Since each ice-making plate 10 is cooled below the freezing point by the evaporator tube 12, a portion of the ice-making water flowing down the ice-making surface 10a on the front side freezes here, and an ice layer is gradually formed. The ice-making water that has not frozen even though it is supplied to the ice-making plate 10 is collected by the water collection member 28 disposed below the ice-making plate 10, and then returned to the ice-making water tank 16 and stored therein. It is pumped by the pump 18.

As the ice making operation progresses, sheet ice 14 of the required thickness is formed on the ice making surface 10a.
When ice is generated, a sensor detects this, stops ice-making operation, and switches to de-icing operation.

That is, hot gas is supplied to the evaporation pipe 12, and deicing water from a deicing water tank (not shown) is sprayed from the deicing water sprinkling pipe 26 toward the back surface of each ice making plate 10.

This deicing water flows down the back surface of the ice-making plate 10 and the surface of the evaporation tube 12 arranged in a meandering manner, thereby melting the frozen surface between the ice-making surface 10a and the ice sheet 14, and the ice sheet 14 falls due to its own weight. The water is stored in a water storage (not shown). Note that the deicing water flowing down the back surface of the ice making plate 10 is collected by the water collection member 28 and then returned to the deicing water tank and stored therein.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention In the above-described down-flow ice maker, the ice making plate 10 is selected to have a thickness as small as possible in order to improve thermal conductivity. Therefore, the strength of the ice-making plate 10 itself is not sufficient, and distortion inevitably occurs in the ice-making plate 10 with long-term use, resulting in the problem that the ice cubes 14 cannot be uniformly produced on the ice-making surface 10a. There is. Also, since the structure is such that two evaporation tubes 12°12 are arranged correspondingly between the ice-making plates 10 and 10,
It has been pointed out that there are drawbacks such as an increase in the width dimension, which requires more space for assembly into the ice maker, and a complicated piping system.

To solve this problem, a down-flow ice maker has been proposed in which one evaporator tube 12 is sandwiched between a pair of ice plates 10, 10, as shown in FIG. This ice making machine has increased strength compared to the conventional type shown in FIG. 4, and can prevent the ice making plate 10 from deforming. Furthermore, since the number of evaporation tubes 12 is reduced to one, there is an advantage that the piping is simplified and the mounting area is also reduced.

However, on the other hand, in the down-flow ice maker having the configuration shown in FIG. Separate processing is required to ensure a flow path for ice water. That is, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, a plurality of vertical ribs 11 protruding toward the ice-making surface 10a are formed on the ice-making plate 1o at predetermined intervals in the lateral direction of the ice-making plate 10. A vertical groove 13 is formed over the entire rib 11.
It forms. As a result, as shown clearly in FIG.
The deicing water supplied to the back side of the pipe flows down through this vertical groove 13.

However, in actual use, most of the deicing water is
The vertical groove 1 does not flow uniformly over the entire back surface of 0.
As a result, the ice sheet 1
It takes a long time to uniformly melt the entire frozen surface of the ice making plate 10 and the ice making plate 10, which has the drawback of reducing the overall amount of ice produced. Furthermore, since the vertical ribs 11 are formed to protrude toward the ice making surface 10a, it has been pointed out that this type of ice making machine cannot produce large ice cubes.

Purpose of the Invention The present invention has been proposed in order to solve the above-mentioned drawbacks inherent in the conventional falling ice making machine, and has a method for making deicing water flow down uniformly on the back side of an ice making plate. The purpose of this invention is to provide a new means that can shorten the deicing time.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to overcome the above-mentioned problems and suitably achieve the intended purpose, the present invention provides evaporation tubes that are arranged vertically opposite each other and that communicate with the refrigeration system, tightly sandwiched on each back side. A pair of ice cubes,
In a flow-down ice making machine equipped with deicing water sprinkler pipes disposed above the ice making plate and supplying deicing water to each back surface of the ice making plate during deicing operation, the evaporation tube is arranged in the longitudinal direction of the ice making plate. It is characterized in that it is arranged in a meandering manner, and that the upper and lower curved parts whose meandering direction changes by 180 degrees extend from the end of the ice-making plate.

Embodiments Next, preferred embodiments of the down-flow ice maker according to the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Note that the basic configuration of the down-flow ice maker in which the present invention is implemented is the same as that described in connection with FIGS. 4 and 5.
Identical parts will be designated by the same reference numerals. FIG. 1 shows a longitudinal section of an arrangement structure of evaporation tubes in a down-flow ice maker according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 shows a side view of FIG. 1.

A pair of ice-making plates 10.10 formed in the shape shown are vertically opposed to each other at a predetermined interval, and an evaporation pipe 12 communicating with the refrigeration system is tightly attached to the back side of an ice-making surface 10a (described later) formed on each ice-making plate 10. It's being held in place.

The evaporation tube 12 is arranged in a meandering manner in the vertical direction of the ice-making plate 10, and the upper and lower curved portions 12a, in which the meandering direction changes 1800 degrees, extend outward in the vertical direction from the ends of the ice-making plates 10, 10, respectively. It has extended to

In other words, ice making plates 1.0.10 are disposed above each ice making plate 10 so as to face each other as shown in FIG.

A sloped portion 10b that is bent in a direction away from the other ice-making plate 10 located opposite to each other and extends diagonally upward, and a vertical portion that extends vertically upward from the upper limit horizontal line of this sloped portion 10b. A portion 10d is formed. Each vertical part 1
The upper limit horizontal line 0d is further formed with an inclined portion 10f that is bent in a direction away from the other ice-making plate 10 and extends obliquely upward to form an upper open end. Further, at the bottom of each ice-making plate 10, there is a sloped part 10c that is bent in a direction away from the other ice-making plate 10 and extends diagonally downward, and a slope that moves vertically downward from the lower limit horizontal line of this sloped part 10c. A vertical portion 10e serving as an open end is formed. An ice-making surface 10a is formed on the surface of each ice-making plate 1o located between the upwardly inclined section 10b and the downwardly inclined section 10c.

The evaporation tube 12 sandwiched between the pair of ice-making plates 10.10 has an upper and lower curved portion 12a whose meandering direction changes by 180 degrees.
extend by a predetermined length from both the upper and lower ends of the ice-making surface 10a. Here, the ice making surface 10a of the ice making plate 10
As a result, sloped portions 10b and 10c are formed at both upper and lower ends of the structure.

The upper and lower curved portions 12a of the evaporator tube 12 are spaced apart from the ice-making plate 10°10. As a result, as shown in FIG.
2b, a deicing water channel 15 communicating from the top to the bottom of the ice making surface 1'O'a is defined. That is, the ice making plate 10
All parts except the evaporation pipe 12 installed in the deicing water channel 15
Therefore, the deicing water supplied to the back side of the ice-making plate 10 flows down uniformly over the entire ice-making surface 10a.

An ice-making water sprinkling pipe 22 is disposed above the ice-making plate 10, and a water-sprinkling plate 24 is disposed below the ice-making water sprinkling pipe 22 in relation to the ice-making plate 10.10. 24
is bent so as to straddle the recycled ice making plate 10.10 above the recycled ice making plate 10.10 from the outside. The bending portion 24C is a curved portion 24C that gently bulges outward to the left and right and then converges inward, with the top S serving as the bent portion as a line.
224c, and an inclined portion 24b inclined at a required angle from each curved portion 24c toward the lower end edge. As can be seen from FIG.
The inclined portions 24b have a vertical cross-sectional shape that bulges outward to the left and right and then converges inward, with the bending line being a bending line.

The interval dimension between the open ends of the re-ice making plate 10.
The vertical portions 10d are respectively formed in 10.

It is set to be slightly smaller than the dimension between the outer surfaces of 10d.

When attaching the water sprinkling plate 24 to the recycled ice making plate 10.10, the inclined portions 24b, 2 formed on the water sprinkling plate 24 are
4b are slightly expanded in the direction of separation, and in this expanded state, the outer surfaces of the vertical portions 10d, 10d of the ice making plate 10.10 are sandwiched, and then the expansion stress is released. As a result, the water sprinkler plate 2
4 inclined portion 24b.

The free end of 24b is connected to the vertical portion 1 of the ice making plate 10.10.
The outer surfaces of 0d and 10d are elastically brought into close contact with each other and held in a state close to the road surface.

In addition, a deicing water sprinkling pipe 26 is arranged in the space defined by the re-ice making plate 10.10 and the water sprinkling plate 24, and during the deicing operation to be described later, deicing water is distributed through a large number of holes drilled in this water sprinkling pipe 26. The water is sprayed and supplied from the water sprinkling holes 26a to the back surface of each ice-making plate 10.10.

Next, the behavior of water when the evaporation pipe arrangement structure according to the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 is used will be explained. When the ice-making operation is started, a refrigerant is circulated and supplied to the evaporation tube 12 from a refrigeration system (not shown), and the ice-making plates 10.degree. 10 are cooled to below freezing point. Also, the ice-making water circulation pump 18 shown in FIG. 5 rotates,
The ice-making water in the ice-making water tank 16 is force-fed to the ice-making water sprinkling pipe 22 through the supply pipe 20, and is sprayed onto the water sprinkling plate 24 from the plurality of water sprinkling holes 22a. The ice-making water sprayed on the top of the water sprinkling plate 24 bulges outward to the left and right and then converges inward at the curved portions 24c, 24c and the inclined portions 24b, 24.
b, and the ice making plate 10.10 is rectified here.
and flows downstream.

At this time, the inclined portion 24b of the water sprinkling plate 24.

The free end of 24b is connected to the vertical portion 10 of the re-ice making plate as described above.
d. Since the outer surface of the 10cl is elastically tightly held close to the road surface, the ice-making water rectified while flowing through the water sprinkling plate 24 is uniformly and smoothly supplied over the entire ice-making surface 10a, 10a. Ru. Note that since the free end of each inclined portion 24b of the water sprinkling plate 24 is in elastic contact with the outer surface of each vertical portion 10d of the ice making plate 10, the curved portion 24 of the water sprinkling plate 24
The ice-making water flowing through the ice-making plate 10 smoothly flows through the vertical portions 10d of the ice-making plate 10.
Therefore, the ice-making water will not be wasted away from the water sprinkling plate 24.

Since each ice-making plate 10 is cooled by an evaporation tube 12,
A portion of the ice-making water flowing down the ice-making surface 10a on the front side freezes here, and an ice layer is gradually formed.
The ice-making water that did not freeze even though it was supplied to the
After being collected by the water collection member 28 disposed below the ice-making plate 10, the water is returned to the ice-making water tank 16, where it is stored, and is pumped again by the pump 18.

Next, when the deicing operation is started, hot gas is supplied to the evaporator tube 12 to heat the ice making plate 10, and deicing water is injected to the back surface of the ice making plate 10 from the deicing water sprinkling pipe 26.

This deicing water is first sprayed on the vertical portion 10d of the ice-making plate 10, and then flows down the sloped portion 10b formed below the vertical portion 10d.

Here, the upper and lower curved portions 12a of the evaporator tube 12 protrude from the ice-making surface 10a as described above, and define the de-icing water channel 15 over almost the entire ice-making surface 10a, so that the de-icing water is distributed over the ice-making surface 10a. The water flows uniformly over almost the entire length of 10a. As a result, the frozen surface between the ice making surface 10a and the ice plate 14 melts, and finally the ice plate 14 detaches from the ice making plate 10 due to its own weight and falls, and is stored in a water storage (not shown). The deicing water flowing down the ice making plate 10 is as follows.

The water is collected and stored in the deicing water tank via the water collection member 28.

Effects of the Invention According to the falling type ice maker according to the present invention, the deicing water sprayed and supplied to the ice making plate can be made to flow down uniformly over the entire back surface of the ice making plate. This makes it possible to uniformly melt the frozen surfaces of the ice making surface and the ice sheet, thereby shortening the deicing time. Further, since a deicing water channel can be secured without providing irregularities on the ice making surface, large ice sheets with uniform thickness can be produced on the ice making surface. Moreover, since the upper and lower curved portions of the evaporation tube do not contact the ice-making plate, beneficial effects such as being able to easily clean the back side of the ice-making plate are produced.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a down-flow ice maker according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view of the water sprinkling mechanism shown in FIG. 1, and FIG.
The figure is a side view of the downflow ice maker according to the present embodiment, and FIG.
FIG. 5 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing the schematic configuration of a down-flow ice maker according to another prior art, FIG. 6 is a side view of FIG. 5, and FIG. 7 is a side view of FIG.
It is a sectional view taken along the line ■-■ in the figure. 10... Ice making plate 12... Evaporation tube 12a...
・Bent part 26...De-icing water sprinkler pipe I03 FIG, 21shi. FIG, 6 Fu FIG, 7 (No rear drawing) FIG, 4 FIG, 5

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] [1] Evaporation pipes (
A pair of ice-making plates (12) tightly sandwiched on each back side.
0, 10), and a deicing water sprinkler pipe (26) disposed above both ice making plates (10, 10) and supplying deicing water to each back surface of the ice making plates (10, 10) during deicing operation. In the down-flow ice maker, the evaporator tube (12) is arranged in a meandering manner in the vertical direction of the ice making plates (10, 10), and the upper and lower curved portions (12a) whose meandering direction changes by 180° are provided. Both ice plates (10, 10)
A falling ice maker characterized by being configured to extend from an end of the ice maker. [2] The upper ends of the ice-making plates (10, 10), which are disposed opposite to each other with the evaporation tube (12) in between, are bent outward so that the interval therebetween is larger than the outer diameter of the evaporation tube (12). The falling ice maker according to claim 1, characterized in that the ice maker is folded in a widening manner.