JP2001021243A - Ice machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To manufacture uniform flake-form ice by a method wherein water is uniformly sprayed throughout the whole of an ice making surface without unnecessary spraying ice making water stored in a water storage tank. SOLUTION: In this ice machine, a plurality of water spray holes are formed in a bottom 31b of a spray water tank 28 and outside the upper end part position of an ice making surface 13a of an evaporator 11 and a guide member having a guide surface 26a to guide ice making water, dropping from the water sprays hole, to the upper end of the ice making surface 13a is disposed between the water spray holes and the upper end part of the ice making surface 13a. This constitution guides ice making water, dropping from the water spray holes, to the upper end surface of the ice making surface 13a along a guide surface 26a of a heat insulation body 26 without unnecessary spraying, and a drop of ice making water to a gap between the ice making surface 13a and a rotary drum 43 during starting and completion of spraying of water is prevented from occurring.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ice making machine for producing flake ice by scraping off ice formed on the inner peripheral surface (ice making surface) of a cylindrical evaporator with a rotating peeling blade. In particular, the present invention relates to an ice making machine capable of uniformly spraying ice making water stored in a water storage tank over the entire ice making surface without unnecessary scattering.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Various ice makers have been proposed for this type of ice machine. For example, there is an ice machine having an ice making mechanism as shown in FIG. This ice maker has an evaporator 51 having a substantially cylindrical shape as a whole, and an outer peripheral portion 51 thereof.
The evaporator pipe 52 for guiding the refrigerant is wound around a. An ice making surface 51b is formed on the inner peripheral surface of the evaporator 51. The upper and lower portions of the evaporator 51 are rotatably held by a pair of frames 53 each having a substantially circular cap shape. A rotating shaft 56 is mounted on a pair of upper and lower bearing portions 54 provided at the center position of the frame 53.
The rotation shaft 56 is rotated clockwise by a motor 58. A rotating body 55 is mounted on the rotating shaft 56 so as to be integrally rotatable. The rotating body 55 has a peeling blade 55a protruding from the outer periphery. A sprinkling tank 57 is mounted on an upper part of the rotating body 55 so as to be rotatable integrally with the rotating shaft 56. A plurality of watering pipes 60 extend radially from the watering tank 57. The rotating body 55 and the watering tank 57 rotate with the rotation of the rotating shaft 56. Ice making water is supplied to the water spray tank 57 from the ice making water tank 59 by a pump 61 and a water supply pipe 62. The ice making water discharged from the tip of the water supply pipe 62 due to the rotation of the watering tank 57 is sprinkled on the ice making surface 51b and the ice making surface 51b.
b. Then, on the ice making surface 51b, the thin ice formed by freezing and growing the ice making water is scraped off by the peeling blade 55a rotating together with the rotating body 55, and the flake ice is stored in an ice storage provided below.

[0003]

However, such a conventional ice maker has the following problems. 1) A slight gap is formed between the watering pipe 60 and the ice making surface 51b to allow the watering tank 57 to rotate. Therefore, water is directly dropped from the watering pipe 60 into the gap while the rotation of the watering tank 57 is stopped at the time of starting or ending watering, and ice is formed in the ice storage. This allows
The flake ice stored in the ice storage refreezes,
Ice clumps occur. 2) There is a possibility that the fixing screw for fixing the watering tank 57 is loosened by the vibration generated at the time of rotation and the vibration caused by the rotation of the rotating shaft 56 causes a problem in the fixed state of the watering tank 57. 3) When adjusting the distance between the peeling blade 55a and the ice making surface 51b, since the watering tank 57 is disposed above the rotating body 55, the adjustment work takes a long time because it is disturbed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the problems of the prior art, and has been made to completely cover an ice making surface without unnecessarily scattering ice making water stored in a water storage tank. It is an object of the present invention to provide an ice making machine that can spray water uniformly over the entire surface and thus can make uniform flake ice.

[0005]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an ice making machine having a cylindrical shape, the inner surface of which is an ice making surface, and an evaporator concentric with the center of the evaporator. A rotating shaft rotatably arranged inside the ice making surface, a driving source for rotating and driving the rotating shaft, and a rotating shaft mounted integrally with the rotating shaft and facing the ice making surface. In an ice making machine having a rotating body provided with a protruding peeling blade and a water storage tank disposed above the rotating body and storing ice making water, a bottom wall of the water storage tank is provided along a circumferential direction of the ice making surface. A plurality of water sprinkling holes formed outside the upper end of the ice making surface and an ice making water disposed between the water sprinkling hole and the upper end of the ice making surface and dropped from the water sprinkling hole. And a guide member for guiding the ice to the upper end of the ice making surface. In the ice making machine of claim 1, a plurality of water holes are formed on the bottom wall of the water storage tank outside the upper end position of the ice making surface in the evaporator,
A guide member is provided between the water sprinkling hole and the upper end of the ice making surface to guide the ice making water dripped from the water sprinkling hole to the upper end of the ice making surface. It is guided to the upper end of the ice making surface via the guide member without being scattered as necessary. This makes it possible to reliably prevent the ice making water from dropping into the gap between the ice making surface and the rotating body at the start and end of watering, and to re-freeze the flake ice stored in the ice storage. And no ice clumps occur.

[0006] Further, an ice making machine according to claim 2 is provided in claim 1.
In the ice making machine, provided in the water storage tank along the circumferential direction of the ice making surface, has a partition wall that partitions the water storage tank into a plurality of partitions, the ice making water in the water storage tank is partitioned via the partition wall. It is characterized by storing water in each section.
As described above, by dividing the water storage tank into a plurality of sections through the partition walls, the ice making water in the water storage tank is stored in each section, and therefore, even when the water storage tank is inclined, the ice making water is stored. The whole ice does not collect locally in the water storage tank, and the amount of ice making on the ice making surface varies due to the large amount of ice making water being locally dropped on the ice making surface. This can be prevented from occurring. An ice making machine according to a third aspect of the present invention is the ice making machine according to the second aspect, further comprising a water distribution pipe which rotates according to the rotation of the rotating shaft and supplies ice making water to each section of the water storage tank. And In this way, by supplying ice making water to each section of the water storage tank through the water distribution pipe rotating according to the rotation of the rotating shaft, the ice making water is evenly distributed to each section without being biased to a partial area of the water storage tank. It is possible to supply them.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A concrete embodiment of an ice making machine embodying the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. As shown in FIG. 1, a cylindrical evaporator 11 is placed on a frame 12. The evaporator 11 has an inner cylinder 13 and an outer cylinder 14 which are concentric with each other. An annular upper flange 15 is provided at the upper ends of the cylindrical portions 13 and 14, and a lower flange 16 is provided at the lower ends. These two cylindrical portions 13, 14 and both flanges 15, 16
The closed space surrounded by is defined as an annular space 11a through which the refrigerant flows. The inner peripheral wall surface of the inner cylindrical portion 13 is an ice making surface 13a that is perfectly circular in the circumferential direction.

An upper annular frame member 18 is provided all around the upper portion of the outer cylinder portion 14. The closed space surrounded by the upper annular frame member 18 and the upper flange 15 is an upper annular space 18a surrounding the annular space 11a. A lower annular frame member 19 is provided all around the lower portion of the outer cylinder portion 14. The closed space surrounded by the lower annular frame member 19 and the lower flange 16 is a lower annular space 19a surrounding the annular gap portion 11a. The upper annular frame member 18 has a refrigerant outlet pipe 2 for guiding the refrigerant in the upper annular space 18a to a cooling mechanism (not shown).
1 is formed. In the lower annular frame member 19, a refrigerant inlet pipe 22 for guiding the refrigerant in the lower annular space 19a from a cooling mechanism (not shown) is formed at a position directly below the refrigerant outlet pipe 21.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, the outer annular portion 14 facing the upper annular space 18a has a wall surface on the upper annular space 18a.
a and a plurality of first communication holes 23 communicating with the annular gap portion 11a are formed in the circumferential direction. Lower annular space 1
A lower annular space 19a is provided on the wall surface of the outer cylindrical portion 14 facing
Plurality of second communication holes 2 that communicate with the annular space 11a
4 are drilled along the circumferential direction. As shown in FIG. 4, the intervals between the adjacent first communication holes 23 are formed so as to become narrower as the distance from the refrigerant outlet pipe 21 increases. Incidentally, the second communication hole 24 (see FIG. 1) is also connected to the refrigerant inlet pipe 2.
It is formed so that it becomes narrower as it is away from 2. An annular frame 25 is provided on the upper flange 15 along the circumferential direction of the upper flange 15. Annular frame 2
A heat insulating body 26 made of synthetic rubber is provided on the inner peripheral surface of the body 5 over the entire circumference. A tapered guide surface 26 a is formed on the inner peripheral surface of the heat insulator 26. The lower edge of the guide surface 26a overlaps the upper edge of the ice making surface 13a.

A watering tank 28 is provided above the evaporator 11 having the above-described structure. As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the watering tank 28 has a circular ceiling 2 covering the upper part.
9 and an annular side wall 30 hanging down from the periphery of the ceiling portion 29
And a water storage tray 31 which is formed so as to horizontally protrude inward from the lower edge of the side wall 30. The inner edge of the water storage tray 31 is bent upward to form a dam 32
It has been. A plurality of partition walls 31a (eight in this embodiment) are formed at regular intervals along the circumferential direction of the water storage tray 31. As a result, in the present embodiment, the water storage
It is divided into two water areas P. As shown in FIG. 3, the bank 32 is formed slightly higher than the partition wall 31a. Sprinkling holes 33 are formed in the bottom 31b of the water storage tray 31 at regular intervals. In the state where the watering tank 28 is disposed on the annular frame 25,
Guide surface 26a is disposed. That is, the watering holes 33 are arranged outside the ice making surface 13a.

A through hole 29a is formed in the center of the ceiling 29 of the watering tank 28, and an upper bearing 35 is mounted in the through hole 29a. A rotating shaft 37 is rotatably mounted between the upper bearing 35 and a lower bearing 36 mounted on the frame 12. The upper part of the rotating shaft 37 is connected to an orthogonal geared motor 38 as a drive source for driving the rotating shaft 37 to rotate. The orthogonal geared motor 38 is supported by a frame (not shown). As shown in FIG. 1, a water supply passage 40 that opens as a water receiving port 39 is formed in the upper end of the rotating shaft 37. A water supply passage 40 is provided on the rotation shaft 37 at a position below the ceiling 29 of the watering tank 28.
One water distribution pipe 41 communicating with the horizontal direction is detachably connected in the horizontal direction. The distal end of the water distribution pipe 41 is bent and disposed on a locus where the plurality of water distribution holes 33 are disposed.

A rotating drum 43 as a rotating body is fixed to the rotating shaft 37 so as to be integrally rotatable therewith.
A plurality of peeling blades 44 are protrudingly formed on the outer periphery of the rotating drum 43. A slight gap is formed between the peeling blade 44 of the rotating drum 43 and the ice making surface 13a of the evaporator 11 to allow the rotating drum 43 to rotate. The evaporator 11 is provided with an ice making water tank 45 and a water supply pump 46.
And, ice making water is supplied from the water receiving port 39 via a water supply pipe 47.

Next, the operation of the ice making machine thus configured will be described. It is assumed that the geared motor 38 is driven to rotate the rotary drum 43 and the water distribution pipe 41 together with the rotary shaft 37, and the water supply pump 46 is driven to supply a predetermined amount of ice making water. The supply of the refrigerant into the evaporator 11 is performed as follows. The refrigerant guided from the refrigerant inlet pipe 22 into the lower annular space 19a fills the lower annular space 19a while simultaneously filling the second communication holes 2a.
4 flows into the annular gap 11a. The closer the coolant is to the coolant inlet pipe 22, the easier it flows into the annular gap 11a, and the farther the coolant is, the harder it is to flow due to the pressure resistance in the lower annular space 19a. However, the distance between the adjacent second communication holes 24 is smaller as the second communication hole 24 is farther from the refrigerant inlet pipe 22 (conversely, the farther the second communication hole 24 is from the refrigerant inlet pipe 22, the smaller the second communication hole 24 is).
The pressure resistance in the lower annular space 19a is reduced, and the amount of the refrigerant flowing into the annular gap 11a increases as the distance from the refrigerant inlet pipe 22 increases. Flowing annular void 1
1a.

The refrigerant filled in the annular space 11a reaches the upper annular space 18a from the first communication hole 23 and is circulated from the refrigerant outlet pipe 21 to a cooling mechanism (not shown).
Also at this time, the refrigerant flows from the upper annular space 18a to the refrigerant outlet pipe 21.
The pressure resistance increases as the distance from the refrigerant outlet tube 21 increases. However, the first communication hole 23 is connected to the refrigerant outlet pipe 2.
The distance between the adjacent first communication holes 23 becomes narrower as the distance from the first communication hole 23 increases (conversely, as the distance increases, the density of the first communication holes 23 increases). Since a large amount of refrigerant flows into the upper annular space 18a far from the outlet pipe 21, the refrigerant flowing in a substantially uniform state as a whole can be returned to the refrigerant outlet pipe 21. As described above, since the refrigerant is supplied to the entire circumference of the annular gap portion 11a at a nearly uniform speed, the entire ice making surface 13a is set to substantially the same temperature at which ice can be made.

Under such preconditions, first, ice making water supplied from the water supply pipe 47 to the water receiving port 39 falls from the water supply passage 40 through the water distribution pipe 41 onto the water storage tray 31 of the watering tank 28. Since the water distribution pipe 41 rotates together with the rotating shaft 37, the ice making water is supplied to the eight water storage areas P in order. As long as the ice making water is supplied to each water storage area P, the ice making water is uniformly sprayed from all the water spray holes 33.
The ice making water dropped from the water sprinkling holes 33 hits the guide surface 26a of the heat insulator 26 immediately below the water, and further flows down the guide surface 26a. Then, the ice reaches the ice making surface 13a and is made. The rotating drum 4 rotates with the rotating shaft 37 when the ice grows.
The ice is peeled off by the third peeling blade 44 and stored in an ice storage (not shown).

With this configuration, the following effects can be obtained. (1) Since the watering tank 28 itself is fixed without rotating, loosening of the fixing member (such as a screw) caused by rotation is unlikely to occur. Further, in the case where water is sprayed by rotating the watering tank 28 as in the related art, adjustment of the mounting position of the watering tank 28 is troublesome, and the structure is complicated and the mounting cost and the manufacturing cost are increased. However, such a problem is completely eliminated in the watering tank 28 of the present embodiment. Further, since the watering tank 28 is merely placed on the evaporator 11, the watering tank 28 can be easily removed and repair and inspection of the watering tank 28 and the inside of the evaporator 11 can be easily performed. (2) Even if the supply of ice-making water from the water distribution pipe 41 is stopped, the ice-making water remaining in the water storage area P hits the guide surface 26a of the heat insulator 26 immediately therebelow and is reliably guided to the ice-making surface 13a. As described above, the problem that the ice making water is dropped between the ice making surface 13a and the peeling blade 44 and ice is formed between the ice making surface 13a and the peeling blade 44 or in the lower ice storage is not generated. Further, since the guide surface 26a is formed in a tapered shape, splashing of the dropped ice making water can be prevented as much as possible, and unnecessary scattering of the ice making water can be prevented. (3) The watering tank 28 is partitioned into a plurality of water storage areas P by the partition wall 31a. Therefore, even if the ice maker has a slight inclination, the ice making water accumulated in each water storage area P is prevented by each partition wall 31a and does not flow into an adjacent area. This eliminates the problem that ice making is not performed uniformly due to the formation of an area with ice making water and an area without ice making when the ice making machine itself or the watering tank 28 is tilted. Also, by forming the partition wall 31a, the watering tank 2
8 is also improved. (4) Since the water distribution pipe is configured to be detachable from the rotating shaft 37, the work of adjusting the gap provided between the ice making surface 13a and the peeling blade 44 can be easily performed. Since 41 can be rotated to supply ice making water to all the water storage areas P, only one is required and the cost is reduced. (5) In the conventional evaporator having the annular gap, the distance between the adjacent communication holes of the communication hole as the passage through which the refrigerant flows from the lower annular space and the passage as the passage through which the refrigerant flows out to the upper annular space was uniform. Therefore, in the related art, the circulation of the refrigerant has not been uniform. In the present embodiment, as described above, the refrigerant is supplied to the annular gap 1 at a speed almost nearly uniform.
1a.

The present invention can be embodied with the following modifications. For example, in the above embodiment, the water is divided into eight water storage areas P by the partition wall 31a, but the number of the water storage areas P can be freely changed. It is not always necessary to partition. In the above embodiment, the water sprinkling hole 33 is
Was formed on the bottom 31b. However, it may be a position other than the bottom 31b. Also, the number and interval are not limited. In short, it is only necessary that the ice making water dropped from the water spray hole 33 be surely guided to the ice making surface 13a. In the above embodiment, the number of the water distribution pipes 41 is one. However, the water distribution pipes 41 may be configured to include a plurality of water distribution pipes 41. In the present embodiment, the water distribution pipe 41 is configured to rotate together with the rotating shaft 37. However, if the number of water distribution pipes corresponding to each of the divided water storage areas P is provided, it is not always necessary to rotate the water distribution pipes. In the above embodiment, the tapered guide surface 2
Although 6a was formed, it is not always necessary. What is essential is that the dropped ice making water be guided to the ice making surface 13a. In the above-described embodiment, the first and second communication holes 23 and 24 are arranged closer to the refrigerant inlet tube 22 and the refrigerant outlet tube 21 in order to create a uniform flow of the refrigerant.
Was made narrower. However, it is possible to create a uniform flow of the refrigerant other than such means. For example, the communication holes 23 and 24 have a larger diameter as they are farther from the refrigerant inlet tube 22 and the refrigerant outlet tube 21.
The heights of 3 and 24 may be increased toward the front and decreased as the distance increases. Further, these means may be combined. The point is that the farther from the coolant inlet pipe, the easier the refrigerant flows into the annular gap, and the farther from the coolant outlet pipe, the easier the refrigerant flows out of the annular gap.
In the above embodiment, the evaporator 11 includes the inner cylinder 13 and the outer cylinder 1.
4 form the annular void portion 11a. In addition to such cooling means, a cooling pipe may be wound around the evaporator 11. In addition, the present invention can be freely implemented without departing from the gist of the present invention.

[0018]

As described above, in the ice making machine of the first aspect, a plurality of water spray holes are formed on the bottom wall of the water storage tank outside the upper end of the ice making surface of the evaporator. A guide member is provided between the water sprinkling hole and the upper end of the ice making surface to guide the ice making water dripped from the water sprinkling hole to the upper end of the ice making surface. It is guided to the upper end of the ice making surface via the guide member without being scattered as necessary. This makes it possible to reliably prevent the ice making water from dropping into the gap between the ice making surface and the rotating body at the start and end of watering, and to re-freeze the flake ice stored in the ice storage. And no ice clumps occur. Claim 2
In the ice making machine according to the above, by partitioning the water storage tank into a plurality of sections through the partition walls, the ice making water in the water storage tank is stored in each section, therefore, even when the water storage tank is inclined, The entire ice making water does not collect locally in the water storage tank, and a large amount of ice making water is locally dropped on the ice making surface. Variation can be prevented from occurring. Furthermore, in the ice making machine according to the third aspect, the ice making water is supplied to each section of the water storage tank through the water distribution pipe which rotates according to the rotation of the rotating shaft, so that the ice making water is not biased to a partial area of the water storage tank. The ice making water can be evenly supplied to each section.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view of an ice making machine according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan sectional view taken along line AA of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view of a water storage dish of the same embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a plan cross-sectional view of the evaporator taken along line BB in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a schematic sectional view of a conventional ice making machine.

[Explanation of symbols]

11: evaporator, 11a: annular void portion as passage, 13a: ice-making surface, 26: heat insulator, 26a
..Guide surface, 28 ... water storage tank, 31 ... water storage tray forming part of water storage tank, 31a ... partition wall, 33
... water sprinkling holes, 37 ... rotating shaft, 38 ... geared motor as driving source, 43 ... rotating drum as rotating body, 44 ... peeling blade

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An evaporator having a cylindrical shape and having an inner peripheral surface as an ice making surface, and a rotating shaft rotatably arranged inside the ice making surface so as to be concentric with the center of the evaporator. A driving source that rotationally drives the rotating shaft, a rotating body that is mounted so as to be able to rotate integrally with the rotating shaft, and that includes a peeling blade that protrudes from the ice making surface, and that is above the rotating body. An ice making machine having a water storage tank for storing ice making water, wherein the ice making machine is formed on the bottom wall of the water storage tank along the circumferential direction of the ice making surface and is arranged outside the upper end position of the ice making surface. A plurality of watering holes, and a guide member disposed between the watering holes and an upper end of the ice making surface, and a guide member for guiding ice making water dropped from the watering holes to the upper end of the ice making surface. Ice machine. 2. A water storage tank is provided in a water storage tank along a circumferential direction of the ice making surface, and has a partition wall for partitioning the water storage tank into a plurality of partitions, and the ice making water in the water storage tank is partitioned via the partition wall. The ice making machine according to claim 1, wherein water is stored in each of the sections. 3. The ice making machine according to claim 2, further comprising a water distribution pipe that rotates in accordance with the rotation of the rotating shaft and supplies ice making water to each section of the water storage tank.