DE212021000321U1 - home ice maker - Google Patents

Abstract

Home ice maker comprising:
a housing;
a compressor and a condenser that are installed inside the case and through which the refrigerant circulates;
an ice-making module having an ice-making tray in which ice-making water is received, the ice-making module being configured to freeze ice-making water by refrigerant supplied from the condenser;
an ice storage tank that stores the ice formed in the ice making module;
a guide plate connected to the ice making tray, the guide plate being configured to guide formed ice to the ice storage tank during rotation of the ice making tray; and
a fluctuation module that fluctuates the ice-forming water,
wherein the ice-making module is provided with an evaporator tube connected to the condenser and arranged to have a U-shape inside the ice-making tray; cooling projections installed by projecting toward a bottom of the ice making tray from the evaporator tube; and a tray driving part which rotates the ice making tray, and
the fluctuating module is provided with a fluctuating part that is inserted into the ice making tray and the ice making water fluctuates toward the cooling protrusions of the ice making module.

Description

Technical part

The present disclosure relates generally to a home ice maker, and more particularly to a transparent ice maker.

State of the art

In general, an ice maker is a device that makes ice by cooling supplied ice-making water.

A conventional ice machine includes an ice machine body and an ice making unit, the ice machine body including an ice store that stores ice made in the ice making unit, and the ice making unit is composed of an ice making plate, a cooling plate, and an evaporating tube. Ice-making water is poured into the ice-making plate, and a plurality of cooling projections immersed in ice-making water are attached to the underside of the cooling plate. The evaporator tube is attached to the top of the cold plate and connected to a refrigeration system. Refrigerant flows in the evaporator tube, and the cooling plate and the cooling projections are cooled by heat exchange of the refrigerant.

Recently, an ice maker has been proposed in which cloudy ice can be prevented from being formed by bubbles frozen in ice water, thereby making transparent ice.

The cloudiness of ice that occurs during ice making is caused by an uneven rate of ice formation during the ice making process. When water surrounded by partially preformed ice becomes ice and increases in volume, the tissue of the preformed ice is destroyed and the gaps created in the ice tissue cause the ice to become cloudy.

To eliminate this cloudiness, voids or bubbles in the ice that form during ice making must be removed by water fluctuations in the ice making plate.

In order to fluctuate the water for ice making, a conventional ice machine is proposed in which a fluctuating part with an L-shaped structure is installed under the ice making plate, but according to the conventional technology, the vibration is applied to an end part of the fluctuating part from the outside of a water plate , and a bent portion of the fluctuation part is a wave, so an installation structure to embody this in the water plate is complicated, and a detection structure for detecting ice in contact with the fluctuation part is embodied in the water plate, causing a more complicated structure .

Furthermore, a conventional ice maker is proposed, in which the ice making plate is elongated at one side and has a preloaded axial point to increase the rotating range of the ice making plate, so that the fluctuation of the ice making water is generated.

However, with conventional technology, one side of the ice machine is lengthened, increasing the size of the ice making plate, and space is required to rotate the ice making plate to remove the ice. However, as the ice making plate is larger, the size of the ice machine as a whole is increased, and accordingly the amount of ice making water contained in the ice making plate increases, thereby reducing the ice making efficiency.

In addition, with a conventional transparent ice machine, when a spraying method is used to make transparent ice, it is difficult to arbitrarily adjust the transparency of the ice, and therefore only transparent ice with uniform transparency is inevitably made, so that it is difficult to make transparent ice to be made with different shapes.

As in 11 shown, in conventional ice machines for fastening the U-shaped evaporator tube, a bracket is welded to the evaporator tube and supports it. However, in the conventional ice maker, the bracket needs to be connected to the evaporator tube while supporting it, and is therefore welded to the lower part of the evaporator tube to fix the evaporator tube. Accordingly, ice water or electrolyte easily enters or accumulates in a connection portion between the bracket and the evaporator tube, so that corrosion easily occurs in the connection portion and this causes the corrosion of the evaporator tube.

Disclosure of Invention

Technical problem

Accordingly, the present disclosure was made to solve the above problems encountered in the related art, and the present disclosure is intended to provide a Propose home ice machine in which the ice making water can fluctuate without swaying an ice making cup, so that transparent ice can be formed easily and the ice machine can be compact.

Furthermore, the present disclosure intends to propose a home ice maker in which an evaporator tube is easily held in the ice maker and corrosion in a connection portion between the evaporator tube and a part is prevented, so that maintenance of the evaporator tube can be easily performed.

In addition, the present disclosure is intended to propose an ice machine in which the temperature of the ice-making water supplied is increased even without using a separate heat source, in order to enable efficient ice-making.

In addition, the present disclosure intends to propose a method for making quirky-shaped ice by swaying the ice making water without swinging the ice making tray, so that transparent ice can be easily formed, and transparent ice and translucent ice can be formed compactly are mixed together.

Technical solution

In order to achieve the above objects, according to the present disclosure, there is provided a home ice maker, comprising: a housing; a compressor and a condenser installed inside the case and circulated through the refrigerant; an ice-making module having an ice-making tray in which ice-making water is received, the ice-making module being configured to freeze ice-making water by refrigerant supplied from the condenser; an ice storage tank that stores ice formed in the ice making module; a guide plate connected to the ice-making tray, the guide plate being configured to guide formed ice to the ice storage tank during rotation of the ice-making tray; and a fluctuation module that fluctuates ice-making water, the ice-making module being provided with an evaporator tube provided with connected to the condenser and arranged to have a U-shape within the ice-making tray; cooling projections installed by projecting toward a bottom of the ice making tray from the evaporator tube; and a tray driving part that rotates the ice-making tray, and the fluctuation module is provided with a fluctuation part that is inserted into the ice-making tray and ice-making water fluctuates toward the cooling protrusions of the ice-making module.

beneficial effects

According to the ice maker of the present disclosure having the configuration described above, without rocking the ice making tray, ice-making water is allowed to fluctuate sufficiently by the rotation of the fluctuating part, thereby easily forming transparent ice without increasing the size of the ice making tray .

In addition, the fluctuating part and the ice-making tray are formed coaxially, and when the fluctuating part is rotated to remove ice, the fluctuating part is rotated relative to the central axis of the ice-making tray, thereby realizing a compact configuration of the ice machine without requiring additional space for ice removal is.

Moreover, according to the present disclosure, the evaporator tube is easy to hold in the ice maker, and corruption is prevented in a connection portion between the evaporator tube and a part, thereby holding the evaporator tube stably.

Furthermore, according to the present disclosure, a part of a first ice making water supply pipe is extended and arranged on the outer peripheral surface of the compressor to absorb the heat of the compressor without using a separate heat source, thereby efficiently making ice by raising the temperature of the ice making water supplied .

character list

• 1 12 is a view showing an ice maker of the present disclosure.
• 2 12 is a perspective view of the interior of the ice maker of the present disclosure.
• 3 12 is a perspective view, partially in section, of the ice maker of the present disclosure.
• 4 12 is a view showing an ice-making module and a fluctuation module according to the present disclosure.
• 5 12 is a view showing an ice making tray and a fluctuating part according to the present disclosure.
• 6 12 is a view showing the rotation of the ice making tray and the fluctuating part according to the present disclosure.
• 7 12 is a view showing a compressor and a second water supply pipe for ice making according to the present disclosure.
• 8th and 9 12 are a plan view and a side view, respectively, showing an evaporator tube and a bracket according to the present disclosure.
• 10 12 is a flowchart showing an ice making method according to the present disclosure.
• 11 12 is a view showing an evaporator tube and a bracket according to a conventional technology.

Best Mode of Carrying Out the Invention

In order to achieve the objects described above, according to the present disclosure, a home ice maker includes: a housing; a compressor and a condenser that are installed inside the housing and through which refrigerants are circulated; an ice-making module having an ice-making tray in which ice-making water is received, the ice-making module being configured to freeze ice-making water by coolant supplied from the condenser; an ice storage tank that stores ice formed in the ice making module; a guide plate connected to the ice-making tray, the guide plate being configured to guide ice formed during the rotation of the ice-making tray to the ice storage tank; and a fluctuation module that fluctuates ice-making water, the ice-making module being provided with an evaporator tube provided with connected to the condenser and arranged to have a U-shape within the ice-making tray; cooling projections installed by projecting toward a bottom of the ice making tray from the evaporator tube; and a tray driving part that rotates the ice-making tray, and the fluctuation module is provided with a fluctuation part that is inserted into the ice-making tray and ice-making water fluctuates toward the cooling protrusions of the ice-making module.

Here, the fluctuation part is inserted and arranged at the center of the evaporator tube arranged in a U-shape, and has a plurality of refrigerant passage holes formed in the fluctuation part.

Here, the jitter module further includes: a jitter shaft connected to the jitter part and a rotating shaft of the ice making tray; a fluctuation part driving part that rotates the fluctuation shaft; a jitter head installed at an end of one side of the jitter shaft; and a limit switch installed so as to be adjacent to the flux head, the limit switch being configured to detect contact of the flux head with the limit switch to limit rotation of the flux head.

Here, the ice maker for home use further includes: an ice making water supply hose that injects ice making water supplied from an ice making water supply source into the ice making tray, and a first ice making water temperature sensor that is installed on a side of the ice making water supply hose and a temperature of the ice making water supplied measures.

Here, the home ice maker also includes: a secondary ice making water temperature sensor that detects the temperature of the ice making water contained in the ice making tray.

Embodiments of the inventions

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the ice maker for home use according to the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

As in the 1 until 9 1, the home ice maker 1 of the present disclosure includes a housing 2, a condenser 3, a compressor 4, an ice storage tank 6, an ice making module 10, and a fluctuation module 20.

The case 2 is provided with a lower case 2a, a case body, and an upper case 2b, and a refrigeration module, the ice storage tank, the ice-making module, and the fluctuation module are housed in the case 2. As shown in FIG.

Inside the casing 2, the compressor 4, the condenser 3 and an evaporator (not shown) are installed in the upper part of the lower casing 2a. The refrigerant becomes high-temperature and high-pressure vapor in the compressor 4, moves to the condenser 3, becomes a high-pressure liquid in the condenser 3, moves along a capillary to the evaporator, becomes a low-pressure wet vapor, and is introduced into an evaporator tube 12, which will be described later will. Since that Refrigerant absorbs heat from its surroundings during evaporation, in this case cold air is directed to the edge of the evaporator tube 12 .

A status light (not shown) is mounted on the top of the cabinet 2 so that the status of the ice machine can be checked remotely.

The ice making module 10 is equipped with an ice making tray 11, the evaporator tube 12, cooling projections 12a and a tray driving part 14. As shown in FIG.

The ice making tray 11 is shaped to have an approximately semicircular cross section, and the ice making water is supplied from an ice making water source and accommodated in the ice making tray 11 .

The evaporator tube 12 and the cooling projections 12a are housed in the ice making tray 11 . The evaporator tube 12 is arranged approximately in a U-shape inside the ice-making tray 11 .

Each of the cooling projections 12 a is formed by protruding downward from the evaporator tube 12 toward one side of the ice making tray 11 . The evaporator tube 12 is configured to form part of the refrigeration cycle of a circulation structure that returns to the evaporator tube via the compressor, condenser, and an expansion valve. The cooling projections 12a are immersed in ice-making water received in the ice-making tray 11, and the ice-making water around the cooling projections is cooled by the evaporation temperature conducted from the evaporator tube 12 to form ice. The cooling projections 12a are installed on the evaporator tube 12 formed in a U-shape to form a double-row structure.

The evaporator tube 12 is carried by a holding bracket 50 .

The support bracket 50 is configured to connect to the evaporator tube on a first side thereof and to an inner housing of the ice maker on a second side thereof to support the evaporator tube.

According to the present disclosure, as in 8th and 8th As shown, the bracket 50 is preferably connected to an upper part of the center of the evaporator tube in its height direction.

As in 11 1, in a conventional art ice maker, a bracket is welded to the lower part of an evaporator tube to be connected to the evaporator tube while supporting the same, and in this case, ice water or electrolyte easily penetrates into a connecting portion between the bracket and the evaporator tube or accumulates there, so that corrosion or rust easily occurs in the joint portion and this causes the corrosion of the evaporator tube.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the retaining bracket 50 is preferably connected to the upper part of the evaporator tube relative to the center line of the evaporator tube when viewing the cross section of the evaporator tube in its height direction. The bracket 50 is connected to the upper part of the curved part of the evaporator tube in its height direction, and thus a gap or clearance between the evaporator tube and the bracket 50 can be prevented, so even when the evaporator tube is immersed in ice-making water or electrolyte , preventing rust or corrosion from occurring between the evaporator tube and the support bracket.

As in 8th As shown, the bracket 50 is connected to the curved arc portion of the evaporator tube, which has a U-shape in the area of the curved arc portion, and is configured to support the evaporator tube at a portion most likely to sag.

The ice making tray 11 can be rotated by the tray driving part 14 .

A tray rotating shaft 13 is provided on an outside of the body of the ice making tray 11 . In the embodiment, the tray rotating shaft 13 is formed in the center of the ice making tray 11, and separate extra space is not required during the rotation of the ice making tray 11, thereby realizing the compact configuration of the ice machine.

The tray rotating shaft 13 may be connected to the tray driving part 14 to rotate the ice making tray. Transparent ice removed by the rotation of the ice making tray 11 by the tray driving part 14 can be conveyed into the ice storage tank.

The fluctuation module 20 is mounted on one side of the ice making module 10 to fluctuate the ice making water.

The fluctuation module 20 is provided with a fluctuation part 22, a limit switch 23, a Fluctuation head 24 and a fluctuation part driving part 25 equipped.

The fluctuating member 22 is inserted into the ice making tray and guides the ice making water to the cooling protrusions of the ice making module.

The fluctuating part 22 is arranged coaxially with the tray rotating shaft 13 of the ice making tray 11 so that it rotates relative to the rotating shaft of the ice making tray. The fluctuating part 22 is arranged between each row of the cooling projections arranged in two rows.

Due to the configuration of the fluctuating part 22, the ice-making water can be sufficiently fluctuated by the rotation of the fluctuating part without rocking the ice making tray, so that no additional space is required as a rocking area for rocking the ice making tray as required in the conventional ice machine , realizing a compact configuration of the ice machine and facilitating the formation of transparent ice.

The fluctuation part 22 is provided with a fluctuation shaft 221 , a fluctuation plate 222 and coolant passage holes 223 . The fluctuating shaft 221 is configured so that it can be connected to the rotating shaft 13 of the tray.

The fluctuation plate 222 is formed into an approximately plate shape, and a plurality of coolant passage holes 223 are formed in the fluctuation plate 222 . The coolant passage holes 223 are configured so that ice-forming water can pass through the coolant passage holes 223 from opposite sides of the fluctuation part and facilitate the rotation of the fluctuation part.

The fluctuation part driving part 25 is attached to a fluctuation module fixing part 21 fixed to the inner case 5 . The fluctuating portion driving portion 25 is connected to the fluctuating portion 22 via the fluctuating head 24 .

By driving the fluctuation part driving part 25, the fluctuation part 22 is rotated left and right within the ice making tray 11 to fluctuate the ice making water accommodated in the ice making tray 11 so that transparent ice is formed.

The limit switch 23 is attached to the left and right sides of the fluctuation head 24, respectively. The limit switch 23 can detect the degree of rotation of the jitter part 22 by contact with the jitter head 24 .

As the size of the transparent ice produced by the cooling protrusions gradually increases, the rotating range of the oscillating piece is gradually reduced, and accordingly the rotating range of the oscillating head 24 is also reduced. it is determined that the transparent ice is completely made, which makes it easy to determine whether the ice making is complete.

A guide plate 7 and the ice bin 6 are attached to one side of the ice making tray 11 .

As in 4 As shown, the guide plate 7 comprises: a first guide plate 7a which is in contact with one end of the side surface of the ice making tray during rotation of the ice making tray; a second guide plate 7b having an inclination angle different from an inclination angle of the first guide plate 7a; and a guide connecting part 7c connecting the first guide plate and the second guide plate.

The ice storage tank 6 is provided so as to be adjacent to the guide plate 7 . The ice storage tank 6 is accommodated in the inner case 5, which houses the ice making module and the ice storage tank, and the transparent ice taken out after the ice making module 10 completes making ice is transferred to the ice storage tank 6 and stored there. The opening of the bottom surface of the ice storage tank 6 is as small as possible to minimize the melting of the stored ice due to the warm temperature of the water at room temperature.

Meanwhile, a first water supply pipe for ice making 30 is connected to the ice making tray 11 . The first water supply pipe for ice making 30 receives ice making water from the ice making water supply source, and the ice making water is supplied to the ice making tray.

A first ice making water temperature sensor 31 is attached to a side of the first ice making water supply pipe 30 . The first ice making water temperature sensor 31 is installed to measure the temperature of the ice making water supplied to the ice making tray 11 and the temperature of the The ice making water is controlled to be an optimal temperature for ice making, which can improve the ice making efficiency. In addition, the duration of the ice making time can be controlled depending on the temperature of the ice making water measured by the first ice making water temperature sensor 31, and the rotation speed of the fluctuating part can be adjusted depending on the temperature of the ice making water to Reduce ice making time.

In addition, the ice machine may include a second ice making water temperature sensor 41 that detects the temperature of the ice making water in the ice making tray. A first side of the second ice making water temperature sensor 41 is connected to the inner case via the bracket 50 , and a second side of the second ice making water temperature sensor 41 is immersed in the ice making water in the ice making tray 11 .

The first ice-making water temperature sensor 31 and the second ice-making water temperature sensor 41 are provided to measure the temperature of the ice-making water being iced in the ice-making tray and the circulation time of the refrigerant flowing through the Evaporator tube and the cooling projections are circulated, or the rotating speed of the fluctuating part is controlled, thereby improving the ice making efficiency.

Meanwhile, a part of the first ice making water supply pipe 30 is extended to be configured as the second ice making water supply pipe 30'. As in 7 1, the second ice-making water supply pipe 30' is arranged so as to cover the outer peripheral surface of the compressor 4. As shown in FIG. The second ice making water supply pipe 30' is arranged so as to spirally cover the outer peripheral surface of the compressor 4, and ice making water flowing through the second ice making water supply pipe 30' can absorb heat supplied from the compressor to lower the temperature of the ice making water to increase.

For example, while 5 ice-making water supplied from the ice-making water source passes through the second ice-making water pipe 30' disposed at the compressor, the temperature of the 5 ice-making water rises to 10 , and the 10 ice-making water is supplied to the ice-making module is supplied, and the temperature-raised ice-making water is frozen by the coolant of the cooling projections. The increased-temperature ice-making water takes more time to freeze than low-temperature ice-making water and therefore can be frozen even when the fluctuation part rotates at low speed, and accordingly transparency of the transparent ice can be improved when it is formed.

The method of making funny-shaped ice cream using the ice maker having the configuration described above according to the present disclosure will be described.

In the method for manufacturing funny-shaped ice cream according to the present disclosure, transparent and translucent ice pieces that look like a ring of a tree when viewed in cross section are alternately formed in an ice cream, so that funny-shaped ice cream is formed.

The method for manufacturing funny-shaped ice according to the present disclosure first includes a transparent ice forming step S1 of forming transparent ice around the cooling protrusions. In the transparent ice formation step, the ice-forming water around the refrigeration module is cooled by heat exchange with the refrigerant while the fluctuating part rotates to form transparent ice around the refrigeration module.

In this case, the temperature of the ice making water of the ice making module is measured, and according to the measured temperature, the rotational speed of the fluctuation part is preferably adjusted.

Moreover, it is preferable that the fluctuating part is controlled to rotate at a low speed when the icing water temperature is high and to rotate at a high speed when the icing water temperature is low.

High-temperature water takes more time to be frozen by the refrigerant than low-temperature water, so even if the fluctuation part is rotated at low speed, the ice-making water can be frozen while fluctuating sufficiently, and accordingly when transparent ice is formed, its transparency can be improved.

A part of the first water supply pipe for ice making 30 may be arranged to cover the outer peripheral surface of the compressor 4 and receive heat supplied from the compressor to increase the ice making water temperature. For example, the ice making water supplied from the ice making water source is at an elevated temperature at a predetermined temperature while flowing through the compressor-mounted portion of the first ice making water supply pipe and being supplied to the ice making module. The ice-making water with the elevated temperature takes more time to be frozen by the coolant of the cooling protrusions than low-temperature ice-making water, and therefore can be frozen even when the fluctuating part rotates at a low speed, and accordingly, when transparent Ice is formed, the transparency of which can be improved.

After transparent ice having a predetermined thickness is formed around the cooling protrusions, translucent ice is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the transparent ice at S2.

In the step of forming translucent ice, the ice-making water around the cooling module is cooled without the rotation of the fluctuating part, so that translucent ice is formed around the cooling module. In a transparent ice-forming method by a spray method, it is difficult to form translucent or opaque ice as described above, but in the ice-forming method of the present disclosure, when the ice-forming water is cooled without the rotation of the fluctuation part, translucent ice can be formed easily, such as described above.

Next, the ice making method of the present disclosure includes a step S3 in which the transparent ice forming step and the translucent ice forming step are alternately repeated.

Accordingly, transparent and translucent pieces of ice are alternately formed in an ice, resulting in a tree-ring-shaped ice when viewed in cross section.

The present disclosure described above is not limited by the embodiment described above and the accompanying drawings, and it will be apparent to a person of ordinary skill in a technical field to which the present disclosure pertains that various substitutions, modifications and changes within of the scope are possible without departing from the technical spirit of the present disclosure.

Claims (9)

Home ice maker comprising: a housing; a compressor and a condenser that are installed inside the case and through which the refrigerant circulates; an ice-making module having an ice-making tray in which ice-making water is received, the ice-making module being configured to freeze ice-making water by refrigerant supplied from the condenser; an ice storage tank that stores the ice formed in the ice making module; a guide plate connected to the ice making tray, the guide plate being configured to guide formed ice to the ice storage tank during rotation of the ice making tray; and a fluctuation module that fluctuates the ice-forming water, wherein the ice-making module is provided with an evaporator pipe connected to the condenser and arranged to have a U-shape inside the ice-making tray; cooling projections installed by projecting toward a bottom of the ice making tray from the evaporator tube; and a tray driving part which rotates the ice-making tray, and the fluctuating module is provided with a fluctuating part that is inserted into the ice making tray and the ice making water fluctuates toward the cooling protrusions of the ice making module. ice machine after claim 1 wherein the fluctuation part is inserted and arranged in the center of the U-shaped evaporator tube and has a plurality of refrigerant passage holes formed in the fluctuation part. ice machine after claim 2 wherein the fluctuation module further comprises: a fluctuation shaft connected to the fluctuation part and to a rotating shaft of the ice machine; a driving part for the fluctuation part that rotates the fluctuation shaft; a jitter head attached to an end of one side of the jitter shaft; and a limit switch installed to be proximate to the jitter head, the limit switch configured to detect contact of the jitter head with the limit switch to limit rotation of the jitter head. ice machine after claim 1 further comprising: an ice making water supply pipe that injects ice making water supplied from an ice making water supply source into the ice making tray, and a first ice making water temperature sensor that is attached to one side of the ice making water supply pipe and measures the temperature of the ice making water supplied thereto . ice machine after claim 4 further comprising: a second ice making water temperature sensor that detects the temperature of the ice making water contained in the ice making tray. ice machine after claim 5 wherein the fluctuation module controls a rotation speed of the fluctuation part according to a value measured by the second ice making water temperature sensor, and the ice making module controls the duration of the ice making time depending on a value measured by the first ice making water temperature sensor. ice machine after claim 1 further comprising: an ice making water supply pipe that injects the ice making water supplied from an ice making water source into the ice making tray, wherein one side of the ice making water supply pipe is extended and spirally wound around an outer peripheral surface of the compressor. ice machine after claim 1 , further comprising: a support bracket connected to the evaporator tube on a first side thereof and connected to an inner cabinet of the ice machine on a second side thereof to support the evaporator tube, the bracket having an upper part of the center of the evaporator tube in its height direction. ice machine after claim 8 wherein the bracket is connected to a curved arc portion of the evaporator tube having a U-shape.

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