US20100251746A1

US20100251746A1 - Flow-down type ice making machine

Info

Publication number: US20100251746A1
Application number: US12/734,709
Authority: US
Inventors: Hiroki Yamaguchi; Yuji Wakatsuki
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Hoshizaki Electric Co Ltd
Priority date: 2007-11-21
Filing date: 2008-07-30
Publication date: 2010-10-07
Also published as: CN101868679B; CN101868679A; JP2009127911A; WO2009066489A1; JP4994198B2

Abstract

A flow-down type ice making machine is provided that can suitably discharge ice making water in water spray guides. A flow-down type ice making machine 30 is provided with an ice making unit 16 having an evaporation tube 32 windingly disposed therein, an ice making water supply tube 12 disposed above the ice making unit 16 and supplying ice making water, and water spray guides 46 disposed between the ice making unit 16 and the ice making water supply tube 12 and allowing the ice making water supplied from the ice making water supply tube 12 to flow down through guide holes 52 uniformly to the surface of the ice making unit 16. The water spray guides 46 are provided with reception areas 54 opening above towards the ice making water supply tube 12 and receiving the ice making water and slopes 56 formed with downward inclination inside the reception areas 54 to be close to the ice making unit 16 with a lower end thereof facing the guide holes 52. Further, the reception areas 54 are provided with water dischargers 58 discharging the ice making water stored therein.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a flow-down type ice making machine, and more particularly, to a flow-down type ice making machine provided with water spray guides that allow ice making water supplied from an ice making water supply means to flow down uniformly to an ice making unit.

BACKGROUND ART

As an automatic ice making machine which continuously produces ice, there is known a flow-down type ice making machine which is provided with an ice making unit formed of a pair of ice making plates and produces ice by cooling an ice making surface of each ice making plate by a refrigerant supplied to an evaporation tube disposed between both the ice making plates. The schematic configuration of such a flow-down type ice making machine is briefly described as follows: a plurality of partition members are disposed on the ice making surfaces of the ice making unit and ice making regions are defined each of which longitudinally extends between adjacent partition members. An ice making water supply tube is disposed above the ice making unit, and is designed to supply ice making water, stored in an ice making water tank and sucked up by a circulation pump, to each ice making region through the ice making water supply tube. In ice making operation, a refrigerant is made to be circulatively supplied from a refrigeration system to the evaporation tube to cool the ice making unit and also the ice making water is made to flow down to the ice making surfaces to form ice blocks in the shape of half moon on the ice making surfaces.
The ice making water supply tube has a plurality of water spray holes opened on a lower face thereof, and is designed to spray ice making water through the water spray holes. In spite of that, since the ice making water flowing down in the ice making water supply tube flows down from the upstream to the downstream due to the pressure of the circulation pump at a predetermined rate, the ice making water supplied from the water spray holes is sprayed to the ice making surfaces with slight inclination towards the downstream due to the inertia. Therefore, the ice making water flows down with a bias towards either left or right of the ice making regions, which sometimes may cause production of ice distorted in shape (deformed ice).
Here, Patent Document 1, for example, discloses a flow-down type ice making machine provided with water spray guides to flow down the ice making water uniformly to the ice making surfaces between the ice making water supply tube and the ice making unit. That is, as illustrated in FIG. 10, water spray guides 10 are disposed near below the ice making water supply tube 12, and each has a guide hole 14 provided at the lower center thereof, into which the upper end of an ice making unit 16 is inserted. In addition, each water spray guide 10 is provided with a slope 18 inclined downwardly from the upper end towards the ice making unit 16, and is designed to guide ice making water supplied from the ice making water supply tube 12 to ice making surfaces 20 of the ice making unit 16 through the slopes 18. That is, by guiding the ice making water uniformly to the ice making surfaces 20 with the water spray guides 10, generation of deformed ice is suppressed appropriately.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Publication No. 2863078

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

Problem to be Solved by the Invention

The ice making water circulatively supplied during ice making operation is gradually cooled by exchanging heat with the ice making plates 22, and when reaching close to below freezing point (freezing temperature), ice blocks C begin to form on the ice making surfaces 20. However, since the ice making water flows down on the ice making surfaces 20 at a predetermined rate, it may take some time until beginning to freeze even when reaching the freezing temperature so that ice making water is sometimes cooled excessively (supercooling). When the state of supercooling continues, such ice crystals (cotton ice R) as cores of ice may be generated in the ice making water at a predetermined timing. In that case, the ice making water containing the cotton ice R sometimes may be deposited on the water spray guide 10 to block the guide hole 14. This makes the supply of the ice making water to the ice making unit 16 less and the ice making water is stored in the water spray guide 10, and finally the ice making water tends to overflow from the upper edge of the water spray guide 10.
Thus, as illustrated in FIG. 10, since the water spray guides 10 are disposed near below the ice making water supply tube 12, a gap between the upper edge of each water spray guide 10 and the ice making water supply tube 12 is small (refer to the reference characters s in FIG. 10). Therefore, the ice making water in the water spray guide 10 sometimes may overflow from the small gap s at once and vigorously escapes outwardly (refer to the arrows in FIG. 10). This sometimes may cause the ice making water not to be supplied uniformly to the ice making surfaces 20, resulting in forming deformed ice. Also, the ice making water sometimes may scatter in the backside of the ice making plates 22 and areas other than the ice making unit 16, and ice blocks C may be formed in regions not originally planned, such as between the ice making plates 22, 22, causing the ice making unit 16 and other members to be damaged.
Thus, in view of the problems inherent in the conventional technique, the present invention is proposed to solve them suitably, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a flow-down type ice making machine capable of preventing a vigorous escape of ice making water from water spray guides even when cotton ice is generated by sequentially discharging the ice making water over a predetermined water level in the water spray guides.

Means for Solving the Problem

In order to solve the aforementioned problems and to achieve the given object suitably, a flow-down type ice making machine according to the present invention includes:
an ice making unit having an evaporator windingly disposed therein; an ice making water supply means disposed above the ice making unit and supplying ice making water; and a water spray guide disposed between the ice making unit and the ice making water supply means and allowing the ice making water supplied from the ice making water supply means to flow down through a guide hole uniformly to an ice making surface of the ice making unit,
wherein, the water spray guide is provided with the guide hole at a lower end of a reception area opening above towards the ice making water supply means and receiving the ice making water, and
the reception area is provided with a water discharger discharging the ice making water stored therein at a level above the guide hole.

EFFECT OF THE INVENTION

According to the flow-down type ice making machine of the present invention, it is possible to prevent generation of deformed ice and also prevent freezing in an unintended region, and thus generation of troubles can be suppressed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a front view illustrating an overall configuration of a flow-down type ice making machine according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 are longitudinal sectional side views illustrating enlarged water spray guides, where FIG. 2( a) illustrates a state of ice making water flowing down during normal ice making operation, and FIG. 2( b) illustrates a state of the ice making water flowing down during generation of cotton ice.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional view illustrating a major part of an ice making water supply tube.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view illustrating water spray guides according to the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a longitudinal sectional side view illustrating an enlarged ice guiding member.

FIG. 6 is a schematic plan view illustrating the ice guiding member.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional view illustrating a major part of an ice making water tank.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view illustrating water spray guides according to another embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view illustrating water spray guides according to yet another embodiment.

FIG. 10 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional view illustrating water spray guides of a conventional flow-down type ice making machine.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Next, a description is given below to a flow-down type ice making machine according to the present invention by way of a preferred embodiment, referring to the accompanying drawings. In the following descriptions, the terms “front”, “rear”, “left”, and “right” are used in the case of viewing the flow-down type ice making machine in the state illustrated in FIG. 1.

Embodiments

FIG. 1 is a schematic view illustrating an overall configuration of a flow-down type ice making machine 30 according to an embodiment. The flow-down type ice making machine 30 has an ice making unit 16 configured with a pair of ice making plates 22, 22 disposed facing each other at the front and the rear, and an evaporation tube (evaporator) 32 led out of a refrigeration system, not shown, is windingly disposed between both of the ice making plates 22, 22. A plurality of partition members 48 are provided at the right and the left of an ice making surface 20 of each ice making plate 22 at predetermined intervals, and ice making regions 50 are defined between adjacent partition members 48, 48. An ice making water supply tube (ice making water supply means) 12 supplying the ice making water to the ice making surfaces 20 of the ice making unit 16 is disposed above the ice making unit 16. One end of the ice making water supply tube 12 is provided with a connecting portion 36 in fluid communication with a coupling tube 34 led out of a circulation pump P. The ice making water supply tube 12 is provided with a plurality of water spray holes 38, apart from each other longitudinally at a predetermined interval, and is configured to spray the ice making water downwardly from the water spray holes 38 (refer to FIG. 2). The water spray holes 38 are provided in two rows at the front and the rear in correspondence with the ice making plates 22, 22 at the front and the rear.
Here, the ice making water flows fast inside the ice making water supply tube 12, in particular, in the vicinity of the connecting portion 36 near the circulation pump P, and the water spray holes 38 near the connecting portion 36 are prone to be at a negative pressure. Accordingly, air sometimes may be mixed in the ice making water supplied from the water spray holes 38 near the connecting portion 36 to generate turbid ice or deformed ice. Enlargement of the diameter of the ice making water supply tube 12 as a countermeasure for this allows the flow rate of the ice making water to be lowered, enabling to prevent the water spray holes 38 from being at a negative pressure. In spite of that, the enlargement of the diameter of the ice making water supply tube 12 results in the ice making water supply tube 12 being bulky, which causes an adverse effect of enlarging the overall dimensions of the flow-down type ice making machine 30. Thus, in this embodiment, as illustrated in FIG. 3, a depression 40 recessed in a direction of the inner diameter is formed on the upper face of the ice making water supply tube 12 between the connecting portion 36 and the first (rightmost end) water spray hole 38, to make the inner diameter dimension of the ice making water supply tube 12 in the region smaller. This allows the ice making water passing through the connecting portion 36 of the ice making water supply tube 12 to become a turbulent flow in the depression 40, to prevent the water spray holes 38 near the depression 40 from being at a negative pressure (refer to arrows in FIG. 3).
As illustrated in FIG. 2, below the ice making water supply tube 12, a deicing water supply tube (deicing water supply means) 42 that supplies water at normal temperature (deicing water) to between the ice making plates 22, 22 during deicing operation is fixed to the lower face of the ice making water supply tube 12. The deicing water supply tube 42 has a plurality of splay holes 44 opened in the lower face thereof, and is designed to supply the deicing water through the splay holes 44.
Between the ice making water supply tube 12 and the ice making unit 16, water spray guides 46 are provided respectively in a state of being placed on the upper end of the ice making unit 16 in correspondence with each of the ice making regions 50. The water spray guides 46 are formed, as illustrated in FIG. 4, by bending stainless or the like as in the illustrated shape and are coupled to each other transversely. Each water spray guide 46 has a guide hole 52 opened at the center between the front and the rear and, by inserting the upper end of the ice making unit 16 into the guide hole 52, is mounted in a state of surrounding the upper ends of the ice making plates 22, 22 at the front and the rear.
Each water spray guide 46 is provided with a pair of reception areas 54, 54 that are open above to receive the ice making water from the ice making water supply tube 12. Each reception area 54 is configured with slopes 56 extending at the front and the rear and side faces 57, 57 rising from the edges at the right and the left of the slopes 56, and a space capable of receiving a predetermined amount of the ice making water is secured therein. The slope 56 is inclined downwardly towards each ice making surface 20 and also has a lower end thereof facing the guide hole 52. The slope 56 is also provided with central inclinations 59, 59 that are downwardly inclined to the right and the left from the center as a ridge line, and is designed to divide the ice making water supplied from the ice making water supply tube 12 into the right and the left and feed it uniformly to the ice making surface 20. The outer surface of the slope 56 is also inclined towards the ice making surface 20 and has a lower end thereof facing the ice making surface 20. That is, the outer surface of the slope 56 also functions as a guide face that feeds the ice making water, overflowing from the reception area 54, to the ice making surface 20.
A water discharger 58 in a rectangular shape notched by a required width is formed on the upper edge of the slope 56, and a gap is formed between the ice making water supply tube 12 and the water spray guide 46 by the water dischargers 58 (refer to FIG. 1). That is, by providing the water dischargers 58 at a level above the guide holes 52, it becomes possible to discharge (overflow) the ice making water over a predetermined water level in the reception area 54 to the outside. As illustrated in FIG. 2( b), the ice making water leaked to the outside through the water dischargers 58 flows down along the outer surfaces of the slopes 56, and is guided to the ice making surfaces 20. The water discharger 58 is formed outside of the lower portion of the water spray hole 38 of the ice making water supply tube 12, and is not designed to directly discharge from the water dischargers 58 the ice making water supplied through the water spray hole 38.
As illustrated in FIG. 1, an ice guiding member 60 that receives ice blocks C falling down from the ice making unit 16 and guides them to an ice storage, not shown, is provided below the ice making unit 16. As illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 6, the ice guiding member 60 is configured with a plurality of guide pieces 62 provided consecutively at the right and the left via coupling portions 64, 64. Also, the ice guiding member 60 is provided slightly apart from the lower end of the ice making plate 22, and the lower portion of each guide piece 62 faces the inside of an ice making water tank 66 through an opening 67 thereof. The guide piece 62 is a member of a thin plate angle shape provided with two oblique sides 68, 68 extending at the front and the rear, and is designed to guide the ice blocks C fallen down from the ice making unit 16 forward or backward. The guide pieces 62 are disposed apart from each other at a predetermined interval via the coupling portions 64, and water conducting portions 70 open above and below are defined between the adjacent guide pieces 62, 62. The ice making water failed to freeze in the ice making unit 16 (unfrozen water) is then dropped down through the water conducting portions 70 onto the ice making water tank 66 below. The transverse width dimension of the water conducting portions 70 is set to be smaller than the dimensions of the ice blocks C and is configured not to let the ice blocks C fall down from the water conducting portions 70.
The oblique sides 68, 68 of the guide pieces 62 are, as illustrated in FIG. 6, formed so that the center of the guide piece 62 is made to be thicker. That is, by making open ends 68 a, 68 a of the oblique sides 68, 68 thinner, the unfrozen water is designed to be dropped down into the ice making water tank 66 before reaching the open ends 68 a, 68 a by way of the oblique sides 68, 68. As illustrated in FIG. 5, the oblique sides 68, 68 of the guide piece 62 also project slightly towards the outside of walls 66 a, 66 b on the front and the rear of the ice making water tank 66. This enables voids t created between the open ends 68 a, 68 a of the oblique sides 68, 68 and the upper ends of the walls 66 a, 66 b to be smaller and also the voids t to be open laterally or downwardly. Accordingly, it is possible to suitably prevent the ice blocks C sliding down on the ice guiding member 60 from being caught in the voids t.
The ice making water tank 66 has a tank unit 72, capable of storing the ice making water therein, defined by walls 66 a, 66 b, 66 c, 66 d at the front, rear, left and right, and is designed to enable the ice making water used for approximately one ice making operation to be stored in the tank unit 72. A bottom portion 74 of the tank unit 72 is inclined downwardly towards one side (the right side in FIG. 1), and an outlet port 78 that is connected to an inlet tube 76 of the circulation pump P is perforated at the deepest portion thereof Also, in the deepest portion of the tank unit 72, an overflow member 80 is disposed that discharges an excess of the ice making water in the tank unit 72. The overflow member 80 is, as illustrated in FIG. 7, configured with a cylindrical main body 82 provided upright on the bottom portion 74 of the tank unit 72 and an partition wall 84 provided upright approximately vertically to divide the inside of the main body 82 into two parts at the right and the left.
In the lower portion on the left side defining the main body 82, an inlet port 86 opening in the bottom portion 74 is perforated, and a space at the left in the main body 82 (hereinafter, referred to as a first space 88) is in fluid communication with the tank unit 72 through the inlet port 86. In the lower portion corresponding to a space at the right at the rear side defining the main body 82 (hereinafter, referred to as a second space 90), a discharge port 92 is perforated that is in fluid communication with the outside of the ice making water tank 66. Further, a fluid communication potion 94 is defined between the upper portion of the main body 82 and the partition wall 84. That is, the tank unit 72 is in fluid communication with the outside of the ice making water tank 66 through the inlet port 86, the first space 88, the fluid communication potion 94, the second space 90, and the discharge port 92. Accordingly, the excess water in the tank unit 72 is discharged by giving priority to the ice making water at the bottom portion 74. The height dimension of the partition wall 84 determines an amount of ice making water stored in the ice making water tank 66, and is set to be a height capable of securing an amount of ice making water stored to be used for approximately one ice making operation.

Operation of Embodiment

Next, the operation of the flow-down type ice making machine 30 according to this embodiment will be described. Firstly, in ice making operation, a refrigerant is circulatively supplied from a refrigeration system, not shown, to the evaporation tube 32 and also the circulation pump P is actuated to feed the ice making water in the ice making water tank 66 to the ice making water supply tube 12. At this point, in the vicinity of the connecting portion 36 in the ice making water supply tube 12, the pressure of the ice making water is high for being close to the circulation pump P. However, since the dimension of the inner diameter is smaller by providing the depression 40 on the ice making water supply tube 12, a turbulent flow is generated when the ice making water passes through the depression 40 as illustrated in FIG. 3. Because of this, the water spray hole 38 near the depression 40 does not become at a negative pressure, making it possible to supply the ice making water smoothly through the water spray hole 38.
The ice making water fed to the ice making water supply tube 12 is spray supplied downwardly through the water spray holes 38. Then, as illustrated in FIG. 2( a), the ice making water supplied through the water spray holes 38 is received by the reception areas 54 of the water spray guides 46 and flows downwardly along the slopes 56. Then, the ice making water is guided uniformly to the ice making surfaces 20 through the guide holes 52 and the ice making water flows down across the entire ice making surfaces 20. The ice making water flowing down the ice making surfaces 20 exchanges heat with the refrigerant supplied to the evaporation tube 32 to be gradually cooled. In addition, the unfrozen water drops from the ice making unit 16 down onto the ice guiding member 60 below and is collected into the tank unit 72 of the ice making water tank 66 through the water conducting portions 70. The ice making water partially falls down on the oblique sides 68 of the guide pieces 62 and is guided downward by way of the oblique sides 68. In spite of that, since the open ends 68 a of the oblique sides 68 are formed thin, the ice making water reaching the region is fallen down from the oblique sides 68 to be collected into the ice making water tank 66. That is, the ice making water does not scatter to other than the ice making water tank 66 by way of the oblique sides 68.
Here, since the guide pieces 62 configuring the ice guiding member 60 are formed in an angle shape, the vertical dimension can be approximately half compared to that of a guide piece having a slope inclined only in one direction. Accordingly, the ice guiding member 60 can be made vertically smaller and thus the flow-down type ice making machine 30 can be downsized. Moreover, as long as the guide pieces 62 are in an angle shape, the center can be disposed extremely close to the lower ends of the ice making plates 22 and thus the distance of the oblique sides 68, 68 apart from the ice making plates 22, 22 does not become enlarged. Therefore, the spatter of the ice making water dropping down on the oblique sides 68, 68 is small, enabling to prevent it from being splashed to other than the ice making water tank 66.
The ice making water collected into the ice making water tank 66 is circulatively supplied again to the ice making unit 16 by the circulation pump P. The ice making water is gradually cooled due to the circulative supply, and as it reaches near below the freezing point, it begins to be frozen on the ice making surfaces 20. Here, when the ice making water is in a state of being supercooled and cotton ice R is generated in the ice making water, the cotton ice R results in being accumulated in the reception areas 54 of the water spray guides 46. Then, as illustrated in FIG. 2( b), when the guide holes 52 of the water spray guides 46 are blocked by the cotton ice R, it becomes almost impossible to supply the ice making water through the guide holes 52, so that the amount of the ice making water in the reception areas 54 is increased. In spite of that, as the ice making water in the reception areas 54 reaches the water dischargers 58, the ice making water is overflowed through the water dischargers 58 and is guided to the ice making surfaces 20 along the outer surfaces of the slopes 56.
As the ice making operation proceeds and ice blocks C with predetermined dimensions are produced on the ice making surfaces 20, a detection means, not shown, detects the completion of making ice and the ice making operation is shifted to the deicing operation. At this point, the tank unit 72 is in a state where the ice making water with condensed impurities, such as silica, (ice making residue water T) remains slightly in the vicinity of the bottom portion 74. As the deicing operation begins, a hot gas is circulatively supplied from the refrigeration system, not shown, to the evaporation tube 32 and also the deicing water at normal temperature is supplied from the deicing water supply tube 42 to between the ice making plates 22, 22 to heat the ice making plates 22, 22. After heating the ice making plates 22, 22, the deicing water drops down towards the ice guiding member 60 and is collected into the ice making water tank 66 through the water conducting portions 70. Also in this case, since the oblique sides 68 of the guide pieces 62 are formed thinner in the open ends 68 a, the deicing water falls down before reaching the open ends 68 a of the oblique sides 68 to be collected in the ice making water tank 66.
As the deicing operation proceeds, the ice blocks C on the ice making surfaces 20 begin to melt, and finally the freeze with the ice making surfaces 20 is dissolved. The ice blocks C then slide down on the ice making surfaces 20 and falls down towards the ice guiding member 60. The ice blocks C falling on the oblique sides 68 of the guide piece 62 slide on the oblique sides 68 and are released to an ice storage, not shown. Here, the open ends 68 a, 68 a of the oblique sides 68, 68 of the guide pieces 62 extend outwardly from the walls 66 a, 66 b at the front and the rear of the ice making water tank 66. Accordingly, the voids t between the open ends 68 a and the ice making water tank 66 is oriented laterally or downwardly, making it possible to prevent the ice blocks C sliding on the oblique sides 68 from being caught in the voids t.
On the other hand, in the ice making water tank 66, the collected deicing water causes gradual increase of water in the tank unit 72. Then, the ice making residue water T retained in the vicinity of the bottom portion 74 of the tank unit 72 preferentially flows into the first space 88 through the inlet port 86 of the overflow member 80. Further, as the deicing water increases, the ice making water (ice making residue water T) flows into the first space 88 through the inlet port 86 and thus the water level in the first space 88 rises gradually. Then, as the ice making water in the first space 88 reaches the fluid communication potion 94, the ice making water flows down the second space 90 through the fluid communication potion 94, and is discharged to the outside of the ice making water tank 66 from the discharge port 92. In such a manner, the overflow member 80 enables the ice making residue water T containing a lot of impurities to be preferentially discharged, and generation of scales in the ice making water tank 66 can be suitably suppressed. Moreover, since the overflow member 80 according to this embodiment has the main body 82 and the partition wall 84 formed integrally with the ice making water tank 66, it can prevent generation of malfunctions due to defects in mounting and the like, enabling the assembly costs to be inexpensive compared to the case of a separate configuration.
As described above, according to the flow-down type ice making machine 30 of this embodiment, since the water spray guides 46 is provided with the water dischargers 58, the ice making water does not vigorously escape from the water spray guides 46 as it does conventionally. Accordingly, it is possible to prevent the ice making water from being supplied intensively to the ice making surfaces 20 partially to form deformed ice. In addition, it is possible to prevent the ice making water from scattering to other than the ice making unit 16 from the water spray guides 46 to generate unexpected troubles. Further, it is possible to prevent such troubles that the ice making water in the water spray guides 46 flows down between the ice making plates 22, 22 to freeze a contact area between the evaporation tube 32 and the ice making plates 22, 22, causing a weld between them to be peeled off.
It should be noted that, although the water dischargers 58 provided in the water spray guides 46 are configured by notching the upper edge of the slopes 56 in a rectangular shape in this embodiment, the water dischargers can employ another configuration as long as the ice making water in the reception areas 54 can be overflowed. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 8, water dischargers 96 notched from the upper edge of the slopes 56 in an inverted triangle shape may be employed, or as illustrated in FIG. 9, water dischargers may also be configured with a plurality of through holes 98 provided on the slopes 56. In addition, although the ice making unit 16 is configured by disposing the pair of ice making plates 22, 22 facing each other in this embodiment, a flow-down type ice making machine may also be provided with an ice making unit 16 formed of, for example, one piece of an ice making plate 22.

Claims

1. A flow-down type ice making machine, comprising: an ice making unit (16) having an evaporator (32) windingly disposed therein; an ice making water supply means (12) disposed above the ice making unit (16) and supplying ice making water; and a water spray guide (46) disposed between the ice making unit (16) and the ice making water supply means (12) and allowing the ice making water supplied from the ice making water supply means (12) to flow down through a guide hole (52) uniformly to an ice making surface (20) of the ice making unit (16),

wherein, the water spray guide (46) is provided with the guide hole (52) at a lower end of a reception area (54) opening above towards the ice making water supply means (12) and receiving the ice making water, and

the reception area (54) is provided with a water discharger (58, 96, 98) discharging the ice making water stored therein at a level above the guide hole (52).

2. The flow-down type ice making machine according to claim 1, wherein the reception area (54) has a slope (56) formed with downward inclination to be close to the ice making surface (20) with a lower end thereof facing the guide hole (52) and the slope (56) is provided with the water discharger (58, 96, 98).