JP2002372349A - Auger type ice maker - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an auger type ice maker wherein scale is prevented from adhering on an auger. SOLUTION: The auger type ice maker IM comprises a water supply circuit 14 having a supply tank 13 for supplying ice-making water provided in an auger ice making section 2, a water supply circuit 12 having a water cleaner for cleaning water supplied to the supply tank 13 of the water supply circuit 14, a draining circuit 15 provided in the water supply circuit 14, and a cooling circuit 16 for cooling the ice making section. If an interruption time of the cooling circuit 16 exceeds a predetermined time, the controlled action of opening the drain circuit 15 to drain water remaining in the ice-making section 2 and the supply tank 13, closing the drain circuit 15, and then opening the water supply circuit 12 to supply water to the supply tank 13 again is performed at least once.

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 preventing scale from adhering to an auger in an auger ice making section.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, an auger type ice making machine comprises a cylindrical member called an evaporator cylinder, a supply tank for storing water supplied from a water supply as ice making water, one end of which is connected to the supply tank and the other end of which is an evaporator. And a supply pipe connected to the supply pipe. An evaporator, which is a part of a refrigeration circuit, is wound around the outer periphery of the evaporator cylinder, and an auger having a spiral blade is rotatably provided inside. Next, a process of producing ice will be described. First, ice making water in a supply tank is supplied into an evaporator cylinder through a supply pipe. The ice making water is deprived of heat by the evaporator in the evaporator cylinder and freezes in layers on the inner surface of the evaporator cylinder.
At this time, since the auger is rotating inside the evaporator cylinder, the above-mentioned layered ice is scraped off by a spiral blade when it grows to a certain extent, becomes flake-like ice, and is transported upward in the freezing casing, It is compressed at the top of the evaporator cylinder to form a constant size ice.

[0003]

However, when water solidifies to form ice, the content of the water has a property of being driven out of the ice, and the concentration of calcium contained in the water, which causes scale, is reduced. Rise near the auger. In the above-mentioned conventional method, if water is stored in the evaporator cylinder for a long period of time, the scale will adhere to the auger, and the auger will be overloaded. As a result, an abnormal sound or the like is generated, which eventually causes a failure.

The present invention solves the above problem,
It is an object of the present invention to provide an auger ice maker that prevents scale from adhering to an auger.

[0005]

According to the first aspect of the present invention,
A water supply circuit having a supply tank for supplying ice making water to the auger ice making section, a water supply circuit having a water purifier for purifying water supplied to the supply tank of the water supply circuit, and a drain circuit provided in the water supply circuit And a refrigeration circuit that cools the ice making unit. After a predetermined time period of the refrigeration circuit has elapsed, the drain circuit is opened to drain water remaining in the auger ice making unit and the supply tank. The circuit is closed, the water supply circuit is opened, and water is supplied to the supply tank again at least once.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the drain circuit is provided below the auger ice making section.

According to the first and second aspects of the present invention, the following effects are obtained. The water in the evaporative cylinder is replaced while the refrigeration circuit is stopped, thereby reducing the concentration of calcium causing scale. Has the effect of preventing the scale from adhering to the auger.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional side view of an auger type ice maker showing one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an auger type ice maker of the present invention.

The auger type ice making machine IM has an ice storage IC formed of a heat insulating box, and stores the ice made in the ice storage, so that it can be used not only as an ice making machine but also as a vending machine. Will also be installed.

[0010] The auger type ice making machine IM includes an ice making process,
The ice storage process of stopping the ice making when the ice produced by the ice making process is stored in a predetermined amount in the ice storage IC is alternately repeated.

The auger-type ice maker IM includes an ice making section 2 having a cooler 1 for making ice, an air-cooled condenser 3 and a water-cooled condenser 4 which constitute a refrigeration cycle together with the cooler 1 of the ice making section, and a compressor. 5, an expansion valve 6, and a dehydrator 7 are connected by a refrigerant pipe 8.

In the ice making section 2, a cooling pipe constituting the cooler 1 is wound around an evaporator cylinder 2B containing an auger 2A therein.

The air-cooled condenser 3 constitutes a radiator of an oil cooler 9 for cooling the compressor 5, and a condensing action is performed by a fan 10. The water-cooled condenser 4 is formed by spirally winding a double pipe, in which a refrigerant flows through an inner pipe and a cooling water flows through an outer pipe. Further, the compressor 5 is provided on its side with an electrical component box 5A containing an overload relay (not shown) that operates at the temperature of the compressor.

The discharge side of the compressor 5 is connected to the air-cooled condenser 3 through a first discharge refrigerant pipe 8A, and is connected again to the air-cooled condenser 3 through an oil cooler 9 in the compressor 5 through a second discharge refrigerant pipe 8B. ing. The second discharge refrigerant pipe 8B is connected to the water-cooled condenser 4 and is connected to the cooler 1 of the ice making unit 2 via the dehydrator 7 and the expansion valve 6. The outlet side of the cooler 1 is a compressor 5
Is connected by a suction refrigerant pipe 8C.

Reference numeral 11 denotes a water circuit connected to a water pipe (not shown). The water circuit has a water supply circuit 12 and a supply tank 13 supplied with water from the water supply circuit. A water supply circuit 14 for supplying ice-making water to the water supply circuit, a drainage circuit 15 for draining water from the ice making section 2 in the middle of the water supply circuit, and a cooling circuit 16 for flowing through the outer pipe of the double pipe constituting the water-cooled condenser 4. It is composed of

The water supply circuit 12 is provided with a water purifier 17 having a filter (not shown) for purifying tap water and a water supply solenoid valve 18, and this water purifier is disposed in an ice storage IC.

The supply tank 13 of the water supply circuit 14 is disposed at substantially the same height as the cooler 1 of the ice making section 2.
Is provided with an overflow pipe 20 for liquid level adjustment.

The drain circuit 15 is provided with a drain electromagnetic valve 21, and the lower end of the drain circuit is connected to the overflow pipe 20.

The cooling circuit 16 is a water purifier 17 of the water supply circuit 12.
The flow rate of the cooling water of the water-cooled condenser 4 is adjusted by a water-saving valve 22. An overflow pipe 20 is connected to a lower end of the cooling circuit 16 so that drain water can be drained from one place.

The opening and closing of the water supply electromagnetic valve 18, the drain electromagnetic valve 21 and the like are performed by a control device (not shown).

The operation of the auger-type ice maker thus constructed during the ice making operation will be described. First, when power is supplied to the auger-type ice making machine IM, the drain solenoid valve 21 of the drain circuit 15
To drain the water in the supply tank and evaporator cylinder. After draining water from the auger-type ice making machine IM, the drain solenoid valve 21 is closed. Since the supply tank 13 is empty,
The water supply electromagnetic valve 18 is opened, and ice making water is supplied into the supply tank 13 from an external water supply via the water supply circuit 12. A water purifier 17 is provided before the water supply electromagnetic valve 18 of the water supply circuit, and purifies tap water supplied to the supply tank 13.

When water is supplied into the supply tank 13, water also enters and accumulates in the ice making unit 2, and the water level switch 2
3 detects the full water at the upper position, the compressor 5 is started, and the ice making operation is started. The ice making water in the ice making unit 2 is cooled by the cooler 1 and frozen, and is scraped off by the auger 2A to form flake-like ice, which is sent upward to be compressed, and is compressed.
Ice is stored in C.

When the ice making operation is continuously performed, the amount of ice making water in the supply tank 13 decreases, and when the lower position is detected by the water level switch 23, the water supply electromagnetic valve 18 is opened again and the supply tank 13 is opened. The ice making water is supplied through the water supply circuit 12. Similarly, ice making is continuously performed.

When the ice in the ice storage IC becomes full, the detection device (not shown) detects the ice and stops the refrigeration circuit to stop ice making. When the amount of ice in the ice storage IC decreases, the detecting device detects that the amount of ice has decreased, the refrigeration circuit operates, and ice making is restarted.

When ice making is not performed for a long time such as a holiday,
Since a manual switch or the like for stopping the refrigeration circuit is provided, it can be turned off to stop the refrigeration circuit and prevent ice making.

As described above, if ice making is not performed for a long time, there is a risk that scale will adhere to the auger 2A. It is said that the causative agent of scale is calcium. In general, when the water changes to ice, the content in the water is driven out of the ice and the concentration of the water content becomes
It is said that the water-ice two-component system is higher than the component system. Therefore, the concentration of calcium causing the scale is higher in the case of the two-component water-ice system, and it is better to discharge water having a high calcium concentration as soon as possible after the refrigeration circuit is stopped. The discharge of water when ice making is not performed for a long time is performed by the control device, and the operation method of the control device will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

When the control device detects a signal to stop the refrigeration circuit, the control device starts. In step S1 of FIG. 3, a timer is started. In step S2, the refrigeration circuit is stopped to determine whether or not 10 minutes have elapsed. If not, the process returns to step S2, and if it has, the process proceeds to step S3 to open the drainage electromagnetic valve 18 (see FIG. 1) and proceeds to step S4. In step S4, it is determined whether or not there is water in the water supply circuit 14 (see FIG. 1) and the drain circuit 15. If water is present, the process returns to step S3. Proceeding to S5, the drain solenoid valve 21
(FIG. 1) is closed, and the water supply electromagnetic valve 18 is opened.
In S6, it is determined whether or not the water supply tank 13 is full. If the water is full, the flow proceeds to step S7 to close the water supply electromagnetic valve 18, and proceeds to step S8 to clear the timer, and then proceeds to step S9. Then, the timer is restarted and the process proceeds to step S10. In step S10, it is determined whether or not two hours have elapsed since the start of the timer in step S9.
Returning to 0, when it has elapsed, the process proceeds to step S3, the drain solenoid valve is opened, and the control after step S4 is repeated.

When the refrigeration circuit is restarted, the control device stops, and the above determination is completed.

[0029]

According to the above invention, the water in the evaporative cylinder is replaced while the refrigeration circuit is stopped, thereby reducing the concentration of calcium which causes scale and preventing the scale from adhering to the auger. be able to.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional side view of an auger type ice making machine showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of an auger type ice making machine according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of the control device of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 IM auger type ice maker IC ice storage 2 Ice making unit 2A Auger 2B Eva cylinder 11 Water circuit 12 Water supply circuit 13 Supply tank 14 Water supply circuit 15 Drain circuit 16 Cooling circuit 17 Water purifier 18 Water supply solenoid valve 21 Drain solenoid valve

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A water supply circuit having a supply tank for supplying ice making water to an auger ice making section, a water supply circuit having a water purifier for purifying water supplied to a supply tank of the water supply circuit, and the water supply circuit. And a refrigeration circuit for cooling the ice making unit, and when the refrigeration circuit is stopped for a predetermined time, the drain circuit is opened to drain water remaining in the auger ice making unit and the supply tank. The auger-type ice maker, wherein after performing the control, the drain circuit is closed, the water supply circuit is opened, and the water is again supplied to the supply tank at least once. 2. The ice making machine according to claim 1, wherein the drain circuit is provided below an auger ice making section.