JP2001041505A - Method and apparatus for storing ice in ice storage unit - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To evenly disperse ice particles and store a large amount of ice by dispersedly arranging recesses on the bottom of a thermal storage unit, providing a sucking port for refrigerant to each of the recesses and directly pouring the refrigerant to the thermal storage unit. SOLUTION: A thermal storage unit X consists of unit plates 1 and unit plates 2 and is provided with a cooling path. A sucking port Q of the cooling path is located on the bottom of a recess P of the unit plate 1. Specifically, the individual recesses P of three unit plates 1 in the first row and two unit plates of the third row are, respectively, provided at the bottoms with openings, i.e., the sucking ports Q for the cooling path. Refrigerant in the unit X is sucked into the cooling path, cooled by an icemaker and returned to the unit X as refrigerant containing ice particles of approximately 8 wt.% through a pipe 5 and a branch pipe 6 of the cooling path. Specifically, as returning ports R are embedded in the refrigerant, the returned refrigerant is immediately poured into the refrigerant stored in the unit X and dispersed. Accordingly, the ice particles in the returned refrigerant are not deposited on a clod of ice particles of ice sharbet.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for storing ice in an ice heat storage tank. In particular, the present invention uses inexpensive surplus electric power at night, cools the refrigerant by an ice maker, generates ice particles, and stores it as a sherbet-like mass in which ice particles and refrigerant are mixed in the refrigerant in the heat storage tank. The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for storing ice in an ice heat storage tank, in which the cold energy held by the refrigerant in the heat storage tank can be used for cooling and food cooling as necessary, not only during the daytime but also at night. is there.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art It is already known that ice is stored in an ice heat storage tank and this cold heat is used. In order to store cold heat in the ice heat storage tank, an ice maker is connected to the heat storage tank as described above, the ice maker is operated using inexpensive electric power at night, and the ice maker cools the refrigerant to remove ice particles. And return it to the thermal storage tank,
A method has been used in which ice particles and refrigerant are mixed and stored as a sherbet-like mass in a refrigerant in a heat storage tank. Then, when cold heat is required, such as during daytime, the refrigerant in the heat storage tank is sent to the load device, and the cold heat of the refrigerant is released in the load device, and this is used for cooling or the like. That is, the refrigerant is used for cooling or the like by utilizing the cold heat held by the refrigerant, particularly the latent heat of ice.

[0003] As a refrigerant, an aqueous solution in which an inorganic substance such as ethylene glycol is dissolved in addition to an aqueous solution in which inorganic salts such as salt are dissolved is used. And the water in such a refrigerant is cooled by an ice maker and becomes ice particles. When the refrigerant enters the ice maker from the heat storage tank, it does not contain ice particles, but is cooled by the ice maker to become a cold refrigerant containing about 8% by weight of ice particles and returned to the heat storage tank. The ice particles returned to the heat storage tank float in the refrigerant by buoyancy, and stay in a sherbet state in which the ice particles and the refrigerant are mixed in an upper layer of the refrigerant in the heat storage tank. Therefore, as the cooling progresses due to the operation of the ice making machine, the refrigerant in the heat storage tank contains a large amount of ice particles, and the cooling heat of the refrigerant gradually increases.

[0004] As the cooling proceeds and the amount of ice particles in the heat storage tank increases, the density of the ice particles increases and the tendency of agglomeration increases. And often, the sherbet-like aggregates of ice particles have partially different thicknesses. Further, since the specific gravity of the aggregate of ice particles is smaller than the specific gravity of the refrigerant, the upper end of the portion having a large thickness protrudes greatly from the liquid level of the refrigerant (see FIG. 1A). Thus, since the part protruding from the liquid surface of the refrigerant is not immersed in the refrigerant,
Only ice particles. Then, the ice particles in the portion protruding from the liquid surface of the refrigerant adhere to each other and become hard ice.
In addition, since the portion having a large thickness and the portion having a small thickness exist with a delicate balance in the refrigerant liquid, as the difference in the thickness increases, the aggregate of ice particles Causes rotation in the refrigerant. At this time, the hard ice-shaped portion at the upper end of the portion having a large thickness destroys equipment disposed in the upper space of the heat storage tank or breaks through the ceiling of the heat storage tank (see FIG. 1B). ). Therefore, it is necessary that the sherbet-like mass having as uniform a thickness as possible exists in the refrigerant.

As a device for storing ice in a heat storage tank as described above, a circulation path is provided in the heat storage tank, and a load device is installed in the middle of the circulation passage. After the refrigerant in the heat storage tank discharges cold heat in the load device, In addition to returning to the heat storage tank, a cooling passage is provided in the heat storage tank, an ice machine is installed on the way, and the refrigerant in the heat storage tank is cooled by the ice machine, and then returned to the heat storage tank. Is used. In this case, the heat storage tank may have any shape, but usually has a rectangular parallelepiped shape, and its bottom is flat.

[0006] The suction port and the return port of the cooling passage are
It was thought that it was only necessary to provide an opening in the side wall or the bottom wall. It has also been considered that it is sufficient that the return port of the cooling passage only drops or flows down from the upper part of the heat storage tank to the liquid surface of the refrigerant stored in the heat storage tank. Furthermore, in order to make the distribution of ice particles stored in the refrigerant as uniform as possible, a plurality of pipes are run along the bottom of the heat storage tank, and a large number of small holes are provided in the pipes, and the small holes are formed in a cooling passage. Attempts have been made to provide a plurality of suction ports and / or return ports evenly distributed near the bottom in this manner.

[0007] However, the conventional method and apparatus as described above have a disadvantage that ice storage is not uniform or cannot be performed efficiently. For example, in the apparatus as shown in FIG. 1, in a rectangular parallelepiped ice heat storage tank A, a suction port C of a cooling passage B is provided at a flat bottom of the tank A, and a return port D of the cooling passage B is provided at a lower portion of a side wall. The refrigerant cooled by the ice maker is discharged from the return port D into the refrigerant stored in the tank A, and the suction port F of the circulation passage E is provided at a lower part of the side wall of the tank A, and the circulation passage is provided. A plurality of return ports G of E are provided near the ceiling wall in the tank A, and the refrigerant heated by the load device is sprayed from the return port G onto the upper surface of the sherbet-shaped ice block stored in the tank A. ing. In this device, a large number of minute ice particles generated by the ice maker are discharged into the refrigerant from the return port D of the cooling passage B, and float toward the suction port C one after another by buoyancy. On this occasion,
The number of ice particles floating near the return port D is larger than the number of ice particles floating near the return port D. Then, as the cooling progresses, the sherbet-like ice particles stored in the tank A become non-uniformly thick blocks as shown by hatching and float in the refrigerant. In other words, the sherbet-like mass of ice particles
The wall thickness near the return port D where the ice particles generated by the ice making machine are discharged into the refrigerant becomes thinner, and the wall thickness near the suction port C becomes thinner. Since the upper end of the portion having a large thickness that protrudes greatly from the liquid surface of the refrigerant is not immersed in the refrigerant, the ice particles stick to each other to form a hard ice. Also,
Non-uniformly thick blocks of ice particles are prone to rotation in the refrigerant. At this time, the hard ice-shaped portion at the upper end of the portion having a large thickness may break the circulation passage provided in the upper space of the tank A or break through the ceiling of the tank A.

In the apparatus shown in FIG. 2, when the return port D of the cooling passage B is positioned above the liquid level of the refrigerant stored in the tank A, the refrigerant containing ice particles cooled by the ice maker is supplied to the tank. A falls on the sherbet-like lump of ice particles stored in A, and lump of ice particles is generated below the return port D. As a result, an adverse effect occurs such that the upper end of the ice block blocks the opening of the return port D of the cooling passage B.

Further, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-167664, that is, as shown in FIG. 3, a plurality of tubes H are provided evenly near the bottom of the ice heat storage tank A, and A plurality of suction ports C are provided in a distributed manner, each pipe H is connected to a cooling passage, and a plurality of pipes J are provided evenly near the bottom of the ice heat storage tank A, and a plurality of pipes J are provided in each pipe J. When the pipes J are connected to the cooling passages by providing the return ports D, ice particles are uniformly discharged into the tank A, and the sherbet-shaped ice block formed by collecting the ice particles also has a uniform thickness. However, as the operation of the ice maker continued, eventually, sherbet-shaped ice blocks began to exist below the tubes H and J arranged near the bottom of the tank A, and the density of the ice particles gradually increased. Become. In such a state, when the refrigerant warmed by the load device is sprayed on the ice particle aggregate stored in the tank A, the upper layer of the ice particle aggregate is melted. Then, the aggregate of ice particles in the tank A floats as a whole by buoyancy. At this time, the lower layer of the ice particle lumps floats while enclosing the tubes H and J arranged near the bottom of the tank A, and breaks the tubes H and J. Therefore, care must be taken so that ice particles are not generated even below the tubes H and J, and the amount of accumulated ice particles is reduced accordingly. In other words, this ice heat storage tank A has a drawback that the storage of cold heat is small in proportion to the capacity.
It turned out that.

[0010]

As described above, when the cooling of the refrigerant in the ice making machine progresses and the amount of sherbet-like ice particles in the ice heat storage tank increases, the aggregates of the ice particles have different thicknesses. To have The upper end of the portion having a large thickness protrudes from the liquid level of the refrigerant to form a hard ice, and eventually has a disadvantage in that the equipment and the ceiling attached to the upper part of the ice heat storage tank are destroyed. In addition, in the ice heat storage tank in which the above drawback is improved, there is a drawback that the rate at which ice particles can be stored is small. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an ice heat storage tank free from such disadvantages.

That is, according to the present invention, ice particles can be uniformly dispersed and stored, so that sherbet-like masses of ice particles can be stored in the heat storage tank with a substantially uniform thickness. An object of the present invention is to provide an ice heat storage tank capable of storing a large amount of ice particles for the volume of the heat storage tank.

[0012]

The inventor of the present invention has found that the above-mentioned drawbacks can be overcome by improving the bottom of the heat storage tank and improving the suction port and the return port of the cooling passage. That is, a plurality of partial depressions are provided at the bottom of the heat storage tank, the depressions are substantially uniformly dispersed at the bottom of the heat storage tank, and a refrigerant suction port for the cooling passage is provided in these depressions. However, if the refrigerant cooled by the ice maker is allowed to flow directly into the refrigerant stored in the heat storage tank, granular ice is uniformly generated in the heat storage tank, and the ice reaches the vicinity of the bottom of the heat storage tank. It has been found that the particles can be stored, and the heat storage amount can be increased.
The present invention has been completed based on such knowledge.

The present invention provides, on one side, a method for storing ice in an ice storage tank, and on the other side, provides an apparatus for storing ice in an ice storage tank.

Among them, the invention of a method of storing ice in an ice heat storage tank is directed to an ice heat storage tank used for cooling by introducing a refrigerant in the heat storage tank to a load device and releasing cold heat in the load device.
A plurality of partial depressions were provided at the bottom of the heat storage tank, the depressions were dispersed at the bottom of the heat storage tank, the refrigerant in the depression was sucked and led to an ice machine, and the refrigerant cooled by the ice machine was stored in the heat storage tank. It is characterized by being directly poured into a refrigerant.

Further, the invention of an apparatus for storing ice in an ice heat storage tank is characterized in that a circulation path is provided in the heat storage tank, a load device is provided in the middle thereof, and the refrigerant in the heat storage tank is returned to the heat storage tank via the load device. A cooling passage is provided in the heat storage tank and an ice machine is attached in the middle,
In the ice heat storage tank in which the refrigerant in the heat storage tank is returned to the heat storage tank via the ice making machine, a plurality of partial depressions are provided at the bottom of the heat storage tank, the depressions are dispersed at the bottom of the heat storage tank, and the cooling passages are formed. The suction port is located in the depression, and the return port of the cooling passage is buried in the refrigerant stored in the heat storage tank.

[0016]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention is considered to be easy to understand by showing a specific example of an apparatus first, and therefore, the description will be made first from a specific example of the apparatus.

FIGS. 4 to 7 show an apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view of the apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the apparatus shown in FIG.
It is -A sectional drawing. FIG. 6 is a longitudinal sectional view of another apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG. 7 is a longitudinal sectional view of still another apparatus according to the present invention.

The heat storage tank X shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 has a plurality of partial depressions P formed at the bottom, and the depressions P are dispersedly provided at the bottom. The main feature is that Q is provided, and the return port R of the cooling passage is also buried in the refrigerant stored in the heat storage tank X.

The depression P in the heat storage tank X shown in FIGS.
Is formed by connecting right quadrangular unit plates 1 each having a concave surface and assembling the bottom. Unit plate 1
Is provided with a flange projecting in the same direction as the projection direction of the recessed surface on four sides of a rectangular quadrilateral substrate having a recessed surface, and has a shallow box shape as a whole. Then, when the flange of the unit plate 1 is directed downward and the adjacent flanges are connected,
At the center of each unit plate 1, a truncated pyramid, a truncated cone, a prism,
A hollow P such as a columnar shape is formed.

The bottom of the heat storage tank X shown in FIGS.
It is not made only by itself but made by combining the unit plate 1 and the unit plate 2. The unit plate 2 has a structure in which the central portion of the flat plate is not protruded, but remains flat, and differs from the unit plate 1 in this point.

The bottom of the heat storage tank X shown in FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 constitutes one row by arranging five unit plates side by side, and arranging three such rows in a total of 15 unit plates. Connected and configured. Among them, the first row is configured by alternately arranging three unit plates 1 and two unit plates 2, the second row is configured by arranging only five unit boards 2, and the third row Is constituted by alternately arranging two unit plates 1 and three unit plates 2. In this way, by disposing the unit plates 1 dispersedly on the bottom, the depressions P are provided dispersedly on the bottom.

The heat storage tank X shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 is provided with a cooling passage. An ice maker is provided in the middle of the cooling passage. The suction port Q of the cooling passage is located at the bottom of the depression P of the unit plate 1. That is, the suction openings Q of the cooling passages are open at the bottoms of the recesses P of the three unit plates 1 in the first row and the two unit plates 1 in the third row. The three suction ports Q forming the first row are connected to one pipe 3, and the two suction ports Q provided in the third row are connected to another one pipe 4. The pipe 4 joins to form a cooling passage.

For example, when the depression P is formed in the shape of a truncated square pyramid in the center of the substrate of the 1 m square unit plate 1, the upper base (bottom) is 30 to 50 cm square, and the lower base (top surface) (Open part) 60-80 cm square, depth 4-5
cm.

One end of the pipe 5 of the cooling passage shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 is connected to the ice making machine, and the other end thereof is guided above the lid of the heat storage tank X, and has two branch pipes 6, 6. Has been branched to. Each branch pipe 6 penetrates through the lid of the heat storage tank X and hangs down. The return port R at the tip of the branch pipe 6 opens in the refrigerant stored in the heat storage tank X. The height from the bottom of the return port R is preferably in the range of two thirds to one third of the height of the heat storage tank.

4 and 5, a circulation passage is provided in the heat storage tank X, and a load device is provided in the middle of the circulation passage. The structures of the circulation passage and the load device are the same as those of the related art. That is, the suction port S at one end of the circulation passage is provided at the lower part of the side wall of the heat storage tank X, and the other end of the circulation path penetrates the upper part of the side wall of the heat storage tank X and enters the heat storage tank X.
A plurality of return ports 9 provided in the annular pipe 8 are connected to a rectangular quadrangular annular pipe 7 above the refrigerant stored in the annular pipe 7, and pass through a number of annular pipes 8 attached to the annular pipe 7. It is connected to a sprinkler. Therefore, the refrigerant warmed by the load device is sprayed from a large number of return ports 9 onto the surface of the sherbet-like mass of ice particles stored in the heat storage tank X,
The ice particles and the refrigerant stored in the heat storage tank X are uniformly cooled. On the other hand, the surface layer of the sherbet-like aggregate of ice particles is melted by the refrigerant warmed by the load device, and accordingly, the entire aggregate of ice particles floats in the refrigerant by buoyancy. The branch pipe 6 of the pipe 5 of the cooling passage
Is suspended from the top of the heat storage tank X toward the bottom of the heat storage tank X in the sherbet-shaped aggregate of ice particles, and the return port R is opened at the lowermost end of the suspended branch pipe 6. It does not hinder the whole mass of particles from floating by buoyancy.
Therefore, the branch pipe 6 is not destroyed when the whole mass of ice particles floats by buoyancy.

In FIG. 4 and FIG. 5, a plurality of rows of concrete foundations are provided where the heat storage tank X is installed, and a cross section of shaped steel (or a plurality of rows of shaped steel) is horizontally placed on the concrete foundation. , And a heat storage tank X is installed thereon. In the case of this example, the unit plate 1 constituting a part of the bottom is employed for the side wall of the heat storage tank X. However, it is not always necessary that the side wall is made of the unit plate 1. The lid is
Slightly different from the unit plate 1, the projecting direction of the flat plate is opposite to the direction of the flange. Adjacent flanges of such a large number of unit plates are fastened by bolts. That is, the heat storage tank X is configured by a combination of a number of unit plates.

In the heat storage tank X shown in FIG. 4 and FIG. 5, a plurality of partial depressions P are dispersedly provided at the bottom of the heat storage tank X, and a suction port Q of a cooling passage is provided in the depression P. Since it is provided, the refrigerant in the heat storage tank X is uniformly drawn into the cooling passage. The refrigerant thus sucked is cooled by the ice maker, and then returned to the heat storage tank X as a refrigerant containing about 8% by weight of ice particles through the pipe 5 and the branch pipe 6 of the cooling passage. At this time, since the return port R is buried in the refrigerant, the returned refrigerant is immediately poured into the refrigerant stored in the heat storage tank X and dispersed. Therefore, the ice particles in the returned refrigerant do not accumulate on the sherbet-like aggregate of ice particles. The sherbet-like aggregate of ice particles in the heat storage tank X tends to be thicker near the return port R and thinner as the distance increases, so that as many return ports R as possible are provided and stored as a uniform thickness. Is preferable.

In the heat storage tank X shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the surface layer of the sherbet-like aggregate of ice particles is melted by the refrigerant heated by the load device, and the entire aggregate of ice particles floats by buoyancy. Since there is no pipe or the like that is broken near the bottom at the time of the operation, it is possible to safely store the sherbet-like aggregate of ice particles even near the bottom. Moreover, since the suction port Q of the cooling passage is located in the depression P and is lower than the surrounding portion, even if the sherbet-like aggregate of ice particles reaches the vicinity of the bottom, the suction hole Q in the depression below the lower end of the cooling passage may be located. Even the refrigerant can be sucked and cooled. Therefore, the heat storage tank X can store a large amount of ice particles for its capacity, and has a large cooling capacity.

The heat storage tank Y shown in FIG. 6 is almost the same as the heat storage tank shown in FIGS. What is different is that the suction port S of the circulation passage is provided at the bottom and is provided at a concave portion of the bottom, and the side wall of the heat storage tank Y is different from the unit plate 2.
And that it is composed of Another difference is that the tip end of the suction port Q of the cooling passage is located slightly above the bottom of the depression P so that dust accumulated in the depression P of the heat storage tank Y is not sucked. FIG. 6 shows that a drain port for discharging dust may be provided at the bottom of the depression P.

The heat storage tank Z shown in FIG. 7 is the same as the heat storage tank Y shown in FIG. However, the heat storage tank Z is integrally formed from the beginning without depending on the connection of the unit plates.
6 is different from that shown in FIG. 6 in that the return port R of the cooling passage extends to near the bottom. Since the return port R of the cooling passage extends to near the bottom, a flow direction regulating plate T is attached to the return port R in order to prevent the refrigerant returned from the return port R from being short-circuited and sucked into the suction port Q. The returned refrigerant flows upward. The flow direction regulating plate T shown here has a bowl shape,
The opening of the bowl is upward and the bottom is downward.
Therefore, the surface layer of the sherbet-like aggregate of ice particles is melted by the refrigerant heated by the load device, and the bowl-shaped flow direction regulating plate T is not broken when the entire aggregate of ice particles floats by buoyancy. . In addition, a strainer for preventing fine ice particles from being sucked is provided at the suction port S of the circulation passage.

FIG. 8 shows various modes that can be taken as the return port R of the cooling passage. When the return port R is far away from the refrigerant suction port Q at the bottom of the heat storage tank, the pipe may be kept cut as shown in FIG. 8A. However, when the return port R is close to the refrigerant suction port Q, as shown in (b), the tip is closed and a hole is made in the side of the pipe, or (c) and (d) As shown, the flow direction regulating plate T
Is provided so that the refrigerant flows out from between the tip of the pipe and the flow direction regulating plate T, so that ice particles released into the refrigerant in the heat storage tank from the return port R are not immediately sucked into the suction port Q. It is preferable to do so.

[0032]

According to the method of the present invention, in the ice heat storage tank used for cooling by introducing the refrigerant in the heat storage tank to the load device and releasing the cold in the load device, a plurality of heat storage tanks are provided at the bottom of the heat storage tank. A partial depression was provided, the depression was dispersed at the bottom of the heat storage tank, the refrigerant in the depression was sucked and guided to the ice machine, and the refrigerant cooled by the ice machine was directly poured into the refrigerant stored in the heat storage tank. Therefore, the refrigerant in the heat storage tank can be almost uniformly sucked and guided to the ice making machine from the dents dispersedly arranged on the entire bottom surface, and the temperature of the refrigerant in the heat storage tank can be kept uniform. In addition, the surface layer of the sherbet-shaped aggregate of ice particles stored in the heat storage tank is melted by the refrigerant heated by the load device, and pipes or the like that are broken when the entire aggregate of ice particles floats by buoyancy. Since it is not provided at all near the bottom in the heat storage tank, a sherbet-like lump of ice particles can be stored near the bottom with assurance. Moreover, since the suction port is located in the depression and lower than the surrounding part, even if the sherbet-like aggregate of ice particles is stored until reaching the bottom, even the refrigerant in the depression below it Can be inhaled and cooled. For this reason, a large amount of ice particles can be stored for the volume of the heat storage tank, and the cooling capacity is large. In addition, a refrigerant containing ice particles generated by cooling in an ice machine was directly poured into the refrigerant stored in the heat storage tank, and the refrigerant stored in the heat storage tank was dispersed and disposed over the entire bottom. Since the particles are sucked almost uniformly from the depressions, the ice particles directly discharged into the refrigerant gradually float by the buoyancy while spreading uniformly in each direction of the depressions arranged and distributed over the entire bottom surface. Therefore, one of the sherbet-shaped ice nodules does not become thicker and the other becomes thinner. And does not break through the ceiling of the thermal storage tank. In addition, since the refrigerant containing the ice particles cooled by the ice making machine is directly poured into the refrigerant stored in the heat storage tank, the ice particles are placed on the surface of the sherbet-like aggregate of ice particles stored in the heat storage tank. There is no accumulation.

In particular, when the refrigerant cooled by the ice making machine is allowed to flow into the refrigerant stored in the heat storage tank by a pipe that hangs down from the upper part of the heat storage tank toward the bottom of the heat storage tank, the refrigerant is heated by the load device. The refrigerant dissolves the surface layer of the sherbet-like aggregate of ice particles, which does not hinder the entire ice particle aggregate from rising due to buoyancy. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the tube of the cooling passage hanging down from the upper part of the heat storage tank toward the bottom of the heat storage tank from being damaged by the floating of the sherbet-like aggregate of ice particles.

According to the apparatus of the present invention, a circulation path is provided in the heat storage tank, a load device is provided in the middle of the circulation path, the refrigerant in the heat storage tank is returned to the heat storage tank via the load device, and the cooling passage is connected to the heat storage tank. In the ice heat storage tank in which an ice maker is attached in the middle and the refrigerant in the heat storage tank is returned to the heat storage tank via the ice maker, a plurality of partial depressions are provided at the bottom of the heat storage tank, and the depression is formed. Dispersed at the bottom of the heat storage tank, the suction port of the cooling passage is located in this depression, and the return port of the cooling passage is buried in the refrigerant stored in the heat storage tank, so that the above-described invention method can be easily performed. Can be implemented. Therefore, the effect of the above-described invention method can be easily achieved.

Furthermore, if the pipe near the return port at the end of the cooling passage is a pipe that hangs down from the top of the heat storage tank toward the bottom of the heat storage tank, the surface layer of the sherbet-like aggregate of ice particles by the refrigerant heated by the load device. Is melted, and the whole nodule of ice particles is not hindered by buoyancy. Therefore, the effects of the above-described invention method can be more easily achieved. The present invention provides such benefits.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic longitudinal sectional view showing a state where an ice maker is operated at night by a conventional ice heat storage device.

FIG. 2 is a schematic vertical sectional view showing a state where an ice maker is operated at night by a conventional ice heat storage device.

FIG. 3 is a schematic longitudinal sectional view of another conventional ice heat storage device.

FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view of the ice heat storage device according to the present invention.

5 is a sectional view of the ice heat storage device shown in FIG. 4 taken along line AA.

FIG. 6 is a longitudinal sectional view of another ice heat storage device according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a longitudinal sectional view of still another ice heat storage device according to the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a partially cutaway longitudinal sectional view of a return port of a cooling passage usable in the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

X, Y, and Z are all ice heat storage tanks (heat storage tanks) according to the present invention. P depressions Q Cooling passage inlets R Cooling passage return openings S Circulation passage inlets T Flow direction regulating plates 1, 2 Unit plates 3, 4 , 5, 6 Tubes constituting cooling passage 7, 8 Tubes constituting circulation passage 9 Return port of circulation passage

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Kengo Umemoto 4-1-1-13 Honcho, Chuo-ku, Osaka-shi Inside Takenaka Corporation Osaka Main Store (72) Inventor Shinji Kishida 1-chome Oyodonaka, Kita-ku, Osaka-shi No. 1-30 Sekisui Plant System Co., Ltd.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An ice heat storage tank for guiding a refrigerant in a heat storage tank to a load device and discharging cold heat in the load device for cooling, wherein a plurality of partial depressions are provided at a bottom of the heat storage tank. Dispersing the depression in the bottom of the heat storage tank, sucking the refrigerant in the depression and guiding it to the ice making machine, and directly flowing the refrigerant cooled by the ice making machine into the refrigerant stored in the heat storage tank, inside the ice heat storage tank How to store ice. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the refrigerant cooled by the ice-making machine is directly poured into the refrigerant stored in the heat storage tank by a pipe that hangs down from the top of the heat storage tank toward the bottom of the heat storage tank. 4. The method for storing ice in the ice thermal storage tank according to 4. 3. A circulation path is provided in the heat storage tank, a load device is provided in the middle thereof, a refrigerant in the heat storage tank is returned to the heat storage tank via the load device, and a cooling passage is provided in the heat storage tank, and an ice making machine is provided in the middle of the cooling passage. Attached, in the ice heat storage tank in which the refrigerant in the heat storage tank is returned to the heat storage tank via the ice making machine, a plurality of partial depressions are provided at the bottom of the heat storage tank, and the depressions are dispersed at the bottom of the heat storage tank, An apparatus for storing ice in an ice heat storage tank, wherein a suction port of a cooling passage is located in the depression, and a return port of the cooling path is buried in a refrigerant stored in the heat storage tank. 4. The ice storage tank according to claim 3, wherein a portion near the return port at the end of the cooling passage is a tube that hangs down from an upper part of the heat storage tank toward a bottom of the heat storage tank. apparatus.