JP3436869B2 - Mounting structure of ice guide in ice machine - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ice cube for receiving ice blocks that are dropped and released from an ice making mechanism that produces a large number of ice blocks of a predetermined shape and disperse and store the ice blocks in an ice storage chamber defined below the ice making mechanism. The present invention relates to a guide mounting structure.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an automatic ice making machine for continuously producing a large number of ice blocks such as ice cubes, a large number of ice blocks produced by an ice making mechanism are discharged and stored in an ice storage chamber defined below the ice making mechanism. It is configured. In this case, the ice blocks are released from the ice-making mechanism through the same path, so that the ice blocks are stored in a partial distribution in the ice storage chamber, so that the internal space cannot be effectively used and the effective storage amount is small. There is a problem of reduction.

Therefore, for example, as disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 6-56666, an ice guide is provided in the ice block discharging path from the ice making mechanism, and the ice blocks falling and discharged from the ice making mechanism are once received by the ice guide and then dispersed. Then, it is proposed that the ice blocks are uniformly stored in the ice storage chamber by discharging the ice blocks into the ice storage chamber.

[0004]

According to the ice guide disclosed in the above publication, one side plate provided on the guide is in contact with a vertical inner wall defining an ice storage chamber in an ice making machine,
This side plate and the inner wall are fixed. That is, since the ice guide is fixed only on one side surface, the durability against the vertical impact applied when the ice blocks collide with the ice guide is weak, and the fixing portion may be loosened or damaged over time. . Therefore, the inner wall surface is reinforced to increase the fixing strength with the ice guide.
In this case, it is pointed out that the number of processing steps increases and the cost increases. Note that the ice storage chamber is generally defined inside a housing that is filled with a heat insulating material between the inner wall and the outer wall,
If the ice guide is fixed to the inner wall as described above, the inner wall may be deformed by the impact applied to the ice guide to form a gap between the inner wall and the heat insulating material, which may cause a problem of lowering the heat insulating effect.

Further, in various ice making machines having different ice making capacities, the size of the ice making mechanism and the size of the ice storage chamber are changed according to their specifications.
In order to respond to this, it is necessary to measure and manufacture the ice guide itself according to each specification, which raises the manufacturing cost and complicates inventory management. In the ice making machine, the refrigerant pipes communicating with the ice making mechanism are fixed to the required positions of the mounting frame where the ice making mechanism is arranged via a dedicated support tool, so that the number of parts increases and There is a drawback that the cost increases.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above-mentioned problems, the present invention has been proposed in order to suitably solve the problems, and it is possible to improve the durability against the impact applied by the collision of ice blocks without reinforcing the inner wall of the ice storage chamber. It is an object of the present invention to provide an ice guide mounting structure in an ice making machine which can be improved and also has a function of supporting common parts and various pipes to reduce costs.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to overcome the above-mentioned problems and preferably achieve an intended purpose, the present invention provides an ice making mechanism which is arranged on a mounting frame and produces a large number of ice blocks having a predetermined shape, and this ice making mechanism. In an ice machine provided with an ice storage chamber defined below the mechanism, and an ice guide that receives the ice blocks that are released from the ice making mechanism and disperses and stores them in the ice storage chamber, the upper end of the ice guide, When configured to be attached to the mounting frame
Both are connected to the ice guide and the ice making mechanism.
It is characterized in that a support portion capable of surrounding various pipes is formed . In addition, overcoming the above problems and achieving the intended purpose
In order to preferably achieve another invention of the present application, the invention is provided in a mounting frame.
And an ice making mechanism that produces a large number of ice blocks
Drop from the ice storage compartment defined below the ice making mechanism and the ice making mechanism
Receives the released ice blocks and disperses and stores them in the ice storage room
In an ice making machine equipped with an ice guide,
The upper end of the id surrounds various pipes connected to the ice making mechanism.
It can be attached to the mounting frame via a connecting member that is formed into a shape that allows
It is characterized in that it is configured to be attached.

[0008]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Next, a structure for mounting an ice guide in an ice making machine according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings with reference to preferred embodiments.

[0009]

[First Embodiment] FIG. 1 shows a schematic structure of an ice maker in which an ice guide mounting structure according to the first embodiment is adopted. An ice making mechanism 18 including an ice making chamber 12, a water tray 14, an ice making water tank 16 and the like is provided, and an ice storage chamber 20 for storing ice cubes is defined below the ice making mechanism 18. That is,
Below the mounting frame 22 arranged horizontally on the top of the housing 10,
The ice making chamber 12 that defines a large number of ice making small chambers 12a that open downward is horizontally arranged. On the upper surface of the ice making chamber 12, an evaporation pipe 26 connected to a refrigerant pipe 24 led out from the refrigeration system is arranged in a meandering manner, and the ice making small chamber 12 at the time of the ice making cycle.
Forced cooling of a is performed. In addition, a support plate 28 that is suspended and fixed to the mounting frame 12 that faces the left side of the arrangement position of the ice making chamber 12
In addition, the water tray 14 and the ice making water tank 16 which are integrally configured
Is pivotally supported in a cantilever manner via a pivot 30 and is configured to be capable of reciprocating tilting by an illustrated actuator represented by a geared motor 32. The housing 10 has a heat insulating structure in which a heat insulating material is filled between the inner wall and the outer wall.

A pump motor 34 is attached to the outside of the bottom of the ice making water tank 16, and the ice making water stored in the ice making water tank 16 is pumped by the motor 34 to the water tray 14 through a conduit. It is jetted vertically upward from a fountain hole (not shown) formed in the plate 14 and is jetted correspondingly into each ice making small chamber 12a. The ice making chamber 12a is the evaporation pipe 2
Since it is cooled by 6, an ice layer is gradually formed on the wall surface of the small chamber 12a and ice cubes grow. Then, when the ice making is completed, a required sensor detects this and the switching valve of the refrigeration system is activated, and hot gas is supplied to the evaporation pipe 26 to melt the ice-making surface between the ice making small chamber 12a and the ice cubes. Next, the gear motor 32 is rotated at a predetermined timing to tilt the water tray 14 obliquely downward to open the small ice making chamber 12a, thereby dropping ice cubes. The ice cube group slides down on the inclined surface of the water tray 14 to the right in FIG. 1, and is discharged and stored in the ice storage chamber 20 defined below.

An ice guide 36 is disposed between the ice making mechanism 18 and the right side wall 10a defining the ice storage chamber 20 to disperse the ice cubes dropped and discharged from the ice making mechanism 18. As shown in FIG. 1, the ice guide 36 is composed of an upper end mounting flange portion 38, a lower end mounting flange portion 40, and a J-shaped guide portion 42 connecting the both flange portions 38, 40. The upper end mounting flange portion 38 of the ice guide 36 uses the two bolts 44 that are inserted into the two vertically extending through holes 38 a formed in the flange portion 38, and the lower surface of the mounting frame 22. Mounted from below (see Fig. 2). Also, the lower end mounting flange portion 4
0 is a through hole that penetrates the flange portion 40 before and after 3
It is adapted to be attached to the back wall 10b which defines the ice storage chamber 20 by using three bolts 46 which are inserted into the individual through holes 40a. As a result, the guide portion 42 of the ice guide 36 faces the ice block discharge path from the ice making mechanism 18,
The ice cubes discharged and dropped from the mechanism 18 are once received by the guide portion 42 and dispersed and stored in the ice storage chamber 20.

As described above, since the upper end mounting flange portion (upper end portion) 38 of the ice guide 36 is mounted on the lower surface of the mounting frame 22 in which the ice making mechanism 18 is arranged, the ice making mechanism 18 is
It has high durability against the impact when ice cubes released from the ice collide with the ice guide 36. That is, it is possible to effectively prevent the fixing portion between the ice guide 36 and the mounting frame 22 from being loosened or damaged. Further, since a large force is not applied to the inner wall of the housing 10, no gap is created between the inner wall and the heat insulating material, and it is possible to prevent the heat insulating effect from decreasing.

[0013]

[Modification of First Embodiment] FIGS. 3 and 4 show a modification of the ice guide according to the first embodiment. The ice guide 48 shown in FIG. , L-shaped support portion 50 is formed, and this support portion 5
An upper end mounting flange portion 38 is formed at the upper end of 0.
Then, when the upper end mounting flange portion 38 is mounted on the mounting frame 22, the refrigerant pipe 24 is arranged in the space S ₁ defined by the support portion 50 and the mounting frame 22. .

The ice guide 52 shown in FIG. 4 has a U-shaped support portion 5 which opens upward at the upper end of the guide portion 42.
4 are formed, and upper end mounting flange portions 38 are formed on the left and right edges of the support portion 54, respectively. When the upper end mounting flange portions 38, 38 are mounted on the mounting frame 22,
Space portion S ₂ defined by the support portion 54 and the mounting frame 22
Further, the refrigerant pipe 24 is arranged.

In the modified ice guides 48 and 52 shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the refrigerant pipe 2 is supported by the support portions 50 and 54.
Since the space portions S ₁ and S ₂ for disposing and supporting 4 can be defined, it is not necessary to fix the refrigerant pipe 24 by a dedicated support tool, and the number of parts can be reduced. Further, since the refrigerant pipe 24 is surrounded by the supporting portions 50 and 54, the ice making mechanism 1
The ice cubes are discharged from 8 and the water scattered when they fall down is the refrigerant pipe 2
4 can be prevented.

[0016]

[Second Embodiment] FIGS. 5 and 6 show an essential part of an ice making mechanism in an ice making machine adopting an ice guide mounting structure according to a second embodiment. The ice guide 3 according to the first embodiment described above.
6, the upper end mounting flange portion 38, the guide portion 4
2 and the lower end mounting flange portion 40. The ice guide 36 is configured to be attached to the attachment frame 22 via a connecting member 56. As shown in the drawing, the connecting member 56 is formed in a U-shape that opens to the right and is separated from the ice making mechanism 18, and has two screw holes 58a formed in a horizontal portion 58 on the upper side thereof and penetrating vertically.
Then, the bolts 60 are respectively screwed in from the upper side of the mounting frame 22, so that the connecting member 56 is suspended and fixed to the lower surface of the mounting frame 22. Further, two screw holes 62a are formed in the horizontal portion 62 on the lower side of the connecting member 56, and two bolts 64 that are inserted into the two through holes 38a of the upper end mounting flange portion 38 of the ice guide 36 correspond to the corresponding screw holes. The ice guide 36 is attached to the connection member 56 by screwing it into the screw hole 62a. In FIG. 6, reference numeral 66
Indicates an ice storage completion detection device, and when the detection device 66 detects that a predetermined amount of ice cubes has been stored in the ice storage chamber 20,
It is set to stop the ice making cycle in the ice making mechanism 18.

Upper and lower horizontal portions 58 and 6 of the connecting member 56.
As shown in FIG. 6, the refrigerant pipe 24 is disposed in the space S ₃ defined by 2 and the vertical portion 68. That is, the connecting member 56 serves both to support the refrigerant pipe 24 and to fix the ice guide 36, and can reduce the number of parts. Further, since the refrigerant pipe 24 is surrounded by the connecting member 56, it is possible to prevent the water scattered when the ice cubes are discharged and dropped from the ice making mechanism 18 from adhering to the refrigerant pipe 24.

As described above, when the ice guide 36 is attached to the attachment frame 22 via the connecting member 56, as shown in FIG. 7, the common ice guide 36 is used for the ice making machines A and B having different ice making capabilities. Can be used. That is, the connecting members 56A, 56 having different vertical lengths
B is prepared, and in the case of the ice making machine A (shown by the solid line in FIG. 7) having a small ice making capacity, the ice guide 36 is attached to the attachment frame 22 via the small-sized connecting member 56A. Further, the ice making machine B having a large ice making capacity (shown by a chain double-dashed line in FIG. 7)
In this case, the ice guide 36 is attached to the attachment frame 22 via the large-sized connecting member 56B. As described above, since the ice guide 36 itself can be commonly used in the ice making machines A and B having any specifications, it is not necessary to design and manufacture for each specification, so that the manufacturing cost can be reduced and the complexity is complicated. Inventory management can be omitted.

Also in the ice guide 36 of the second embodiment, since the upper end portion thereof is attached to the attachment frame 22 via the connecting member 56, when the ice cubes released from the ice making mechanism 18 collide with the ice guide 36. It has high durability against impact. That is, it is possible to effectively prevent the fixing portion between the ice guide 36 and the mounting frame 22 from being loosened or damaged, and to prevent the heat insulating effect of the housing 10 from being lowered. Further, as in the second embodiment, the connection member 56 is fixed to the mounting frame 22 with the bolts 60 screwed from the upper side, and the upper end of the ice guide 36 is screwed into the connection member 56 from the lower side. By configuring to attach with, the upper end of the ice guide 36,
It can be removed from either the upper side or the lower side of the mounting frame 22, and the workability is improved.

[0020]

[Modification of Second Embodiment] FIG. 8 shows a modification of the connecting member 56. Two elongated holes 68 are formed in the horizontal portion 62 below the connecting member 56. A bolt 64 inserted from below into a corresponding through hole 38a formed in the upper end mounting flange portion 38 of the ice guide 36 is inserted into each long hole 6
8 and the bolt 64 is screwed and fixed to a nut (not shown). That is, in this modified example, by loosening the bolt 64, the ice guide 36 can be moved and adjusted in the extending direction of the long hole 68, and the guide 36 can be positioned at an appropriate position in the ice cube discharge path. You can The same effect can be expected by forming a long hole in the upper end mounting flange portion 38 of the ice guide 36.

[0021]

As described above, according to the mounting structure of the ice guide in the ice making machine according to the present invention, since the upper end portion of the ice guide is mounted on the mounting frame, the ice blocks discharged from the ice making mechanism and falling down are ice guides. It has high durability against the impact when it collides with. That is, since the fixing portion between the ice guide and the mounting frame is not loosened or damaged over time, there is no need to reinforce the fixed portion of the ice guide in the ice making machine, and the manufacturing cost can be reduced. Further, by attaching the upper end of the ice guide to the attachment frame, it is possible to prevent the heat insulating effect from being lowered due to a large force being applied to the inner wall defining the ice storage chamber to be deformed.

Further, since the ice guide is attached to the attachment frame via the connecting member, the ice guide can be commonly used in ice making machines of various specifications without changing the dimensions of the ice guide itself, which is complicated. It is possible to omit various inventory controls and reduce manufacturing costs. Further, since the refrigerant pipe and the like connected to the ice making mechanism are supported by the ice guide and the connecting member, a dedicated support tool for fixing the pipe can be omitted, and there is an advantage that the cost can be reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing a schematic configuration of an ice making machine adopting an ice guide mounting structure according to a first preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a main part front view showing a fixing portion between an ice guide and a mounting frame according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a front view showing a modified example of the ice guide according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a front view showing another modification of the ice guide according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a schematic perspective view showing a main part of an ice making mechanism in an ice making machine adopting an ice guide mounting structure according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a schematic front view showing a main part of an ice making mechanism in an ice making machine adopting an ice guide mounting structure according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which the ice guides are arranged in ice making machines having different ice making capacities in the ice guide mounting structure according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a schematic perspective view showing a modification of a connecting member in the ice guide mounting structure according to the second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

18 ice making mechanism, 20 ice storage chamber, 22 mounting frame, 24 refrigerant pipe 36 ice guide, 48 ice guide, 50 support portion, 52 ice guide 54 support portion, 56 connection member

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── --Continued from the front page (56) References JP-A 2-143069 (JP, A) JP-A 60-89659 (JP, A) JP-A 62-248972 (JP, A) Actual development Sho-61- 149075 (JP, U) Actual flat 6-56666 (JP, U) Actual 62-162562 (JP, U) Actual 61-151170 (JP, U) Actual flat 1-167567 (JP, U) (58) Fields surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) F25C 1/00-1/12 F25C 1/16-5/18

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. An ice making mechanism (18) arranged on a mounting frame (22) for producing a large number of ice blocks having a predetermined shape, and an ice storage chamber (20) defined below the ice making mechanism (18). in the ice making machine provided with a ice guide (4 8,52) which are receiving the ice cubes are dropped discharged from the ice-making mechanism (18) is stored dispersed in the ice storage chamber (20), said ice guide (4 8,52 ) To the mounting frame (22)
Thereby adapted for mounting on said ice guide (48, 52), connected to the ice making mechanism (18)
Supports (50, 54) that can surround various pipes (24)
Ice guide mounting structure in ice making machine, characterized in that the the to. 2. An ice block having a predetermined shape, which is arranged on the mounting frame (22).
The ice making mechanism (18) that produces a large number of
From the ice storage chamber (20) and the ice making mechanism (18)
It receives the ice blocks that are released and disperses them in the ice storage chamber (20) for storage.
In an ice making machine equipped with an ice guide (48, 52), the upper end of the ice guide (48, 52) is connected to the ice making mechanism (18).
Connections formed in a shape that can enclose the various pipes (24) to be connected.
Structured to be attached to the mounting frame (22) via the connecting member (56)
The structure for mounting the ice guide in the ice maker.