JP4679766B2 - Ice maker - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
[Industrial application fields]
The present invention relates to an ice maker that makes ice by placing it in a refrigerator, and more particularly, to an ice maker that can be installed in a freezer compartment or an ice making compartment of a domestic refrigerator and can produce substantially spherical and transparent ice.
[Prior art]
[0002]
In an ice making machine for making ice by putting it in a household refrigerator, for example, an ice making device or an ice making device for making transparent ice is, for example, (1) JP-A 64-66664, (2) JP-A 64-23077. Or (3) Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 64-75870. What is shown in (1) above is that an inside partition plate that divides the inside of the ice tray is arranged in the ice tray, and heating means such as a heater is provided on the shelf on which the ice tray is placed, so that the water in the ice tray is As the water in the ice tray is frozen from the top by heating from the bottom of the ice tray at the same time as it is cooled, the gas and impurities in the water above the partition plate are formed on the partition plate. The water is transferred to the lower side of the partition plate which has not been frozen yet through the hole, thereby making the water on the upper side of the partition plate relatively transparent ice. In addition, the above-mentioned (2) includes an upper part formed on the ice tray and a lower part having a smaller volume than the upper part, and freezing proceeds from the upper surface of the water in the ice tray so that the gas and impurities in the water Is transferred to the water in the lower part, and the ice made in the upper part of the ice tray and the ice made in the lower part are manually separated after the ice making is completed. Further, in the above (3), the ice tray is divided into an upper ice tray and a lower ice tray, and a small hole is formed in the bottom of the upper ice tray. The water in the upper ice tray is frozen first when the water freezes, and then the water in the water reservoir defined by the upper ice tray and the lower ice tray is frozen. The ice in the ice tray is frozen transparently.
[0003]
On the other hand, as a conventional ice maker for producing spherical ice by putting it in a household refrigerator, there is (4) Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-159334. This ice making machine divides a container part defining a substantially spherical chamber into an upper container part and a lower container part, and the lower container part has a placing table for floating the lower container part from the placing surface of the freezer compartment. The parts are integrally formed, and they are detachably combined with each other by a locking / releasing mechanism, thereby freezing water contained in the container part to produce ice.
[0004]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, in the apparatus shown in the above (1), heating means must be provided on the shelf of the ice tray, and transparent ice cannot be made in a freezer room or the like without such means. In addition, spherical ice cannot be produced. In addition, the ice maker described in the above (2) has not only a drawback that the produced ice must be manually separated, but also cannot produce spherical ice. Furthermore, the ice tray described in (3) above can produce transparent ice, but cannot produce spherical ice. In addition, although it is possible to make spherical ice with the ice maker of (4) above, it is impossible to make the entire spherical ice transparent, and because of the structure of the ice maker, near the bottom part of the lower container part. In the last frozen ice, an opaque part remains.
[0005]
Therefore, the present inventor has conducted earnest research on whether or not it is possible to easily produce spherical and transparent ice even in a normal refrigerator for home use that does not have a special device, and has completed the present invention.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an ice making device capable of producing spherical and transparent ice by a simple operation.
An object of the present invention is to provide an ice maker that can produce true spherical clean ice without ring-shaped protrusions around it.
[0006]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
An ice making machine according to the present invention includes a main container that defines a spherical main chamber, and includes a lower container part and an upper container part that is detachably mounted on the lower container part, and the lower container part is removed. An auxiliary container that defines an auxiliary chamber having a desired volume with the lower container part, and a heat insulating part that accommodates the auxiliary container, and is provided at the bottom of the lower container part. Has a through-hole communicating with the main chamber and the auxiliary chamber, a small hole is formed at the top of the upper container part, and a wall extending to the top of the lower container part on the outer periphery of the upper container part Is formed.
[0007]
In the ice maker, the mounting hardness of the lower container part and the upper container part is larger than the mounting hardness of the lower container part and the auxiliary container, and the volume expansion during freezing of water with respect to the auxiliary container You may make it absorb by the movement of a lower container part. In addition, the material of the main container upper container part and the lower container part, the auxiliary container part and the heat insulating part may be a synthetic resin, in which case the thermal conductivity of the material of at least the upper container part of the main container The thermal conductivity of the material of the auxiliary container part and the heat insulating part may be higher.
Further, in the ice maker, the lower container part is provided with a lower hemispherical wall defining a lower hemispherical part of the main chamber, and an abutting surface with which the upper end surface of the auxiliary container abuts, and the abutting surface May be displaced above the upper edge of the lower hemisphere wall.
[0008]
【Example】
Hereinafter, an embodiment of an ice making device of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
1 to 7 show an ice maker 1 according to the present embodiment. The ice making machine 1 includes a main container 2 that defines a spherical main chamber C ₁ for producing a target spherical ice, an auxiliary container 4 that is mounted on the main container 2, and a heat insulating portion 6 that houses the auxiliary container. It has. The main container 2 has a lower container part 20 and an upper container part 30. The lower container portion 20 has a hemispherical lower hemispherical wall 21 for forming the lower spherical surface of the spherical main chamber C ₁ , and a radius r ₂ larger than the radius r ₁ of the lower hemispherical wall 21. Y has an annular wall 22 that passes through the spherical center O of the lower hemisphere wall, and a connecting portion 23 that connects the lower hemisphere wall 21 and the wall 22. The connecting portion 23 has an inner portion 24 extending conically so as to open upward from the outer peripheral portion of the upper end of the lower hemispherical wall 21 (so that the radius around the axis YY gradually increases), and an inner portion thereof. And an outer portion 25 extending in the radial direction (centered on the axis Y-Y) from the upper end of the portion 24. Therefore, the lower surface of the outer portion 25, that is, the contact surface 251 with the upper end surface of the auxiliary container 4 is displaced upward from the upper end edge 211 (FIG. 2) of the lower hemispherical wall 21 by δ. An annular convex portion 241 (enlarged in FIG. 4) is formed at a lower portion of the conical surface (a part of the conical surface) defined by the inner portion 24, slightly spaced from the upper edge 211. A plurality (seven in this embodiment) of through holes 26 are formed at the bottom of the lower hemisphere wall. At the upper end of the wall 22, a convex portion 27 is formed protruding outward in the radial direction over the entire circumference. The outer peripheral surface 221 of the wall 22 is preferably tapered so that the radius on the convex portion 27 side is larger than that on the connecting portion 23 side. The lower container portion having the wall and the portion is integrally formed of a synthetic resin material such as polyethylene or polypropylene. On the outer periphery of the inner portion 24, a fitting surface 242 with an annular auxiliary container having an axis YY as an axis is formed.
[0009]
The upper container part 30 includes a hemispherical upper hemispherical wall 31 having a radius r ₁ for forming the upper spherical surface of the spherical main chamber C ₁ , and a ring part 32 formed on the outer periphery of the upper end of the upper hemispherical wall 31. And a plurality of (three in this embodiment) ribs 33 formed outside the ring portion 32 and on the outer periphery of the upper hemispherical wall 31. The ribs 33 are provided at equal intervals in the circumferential direction around the axis YY, and the upper end edge 331 is flush with the upper edge of the ring portion 32. The upper hemispherical wall 31, the ring portion 32 and the rib 33 of the upper container portion 30 can be integrally made of the same synthetic resin material as that of the lower container portion 20, for example, polyethylene or polypropylene. Alternatively, it may be made of a material different from that of the lower container part and having a higher thermal conductivity than the material forming the lower container part. These ribs have a function as a grip when the upper container portion 30 is held by hand. A small annular protrusion 34 (enlarged in FIG. 7) is integrally formed on the outer periphery of the lower end edge 311 of the upper hemispherical wall 31. The projection 34 engages with the above-described annular convex portion 241 so that the upper container portion can be locked and held on the lower container portion. A small hole 35 is formed at the top of the upper hemisphere wall.
[0010]
The auxiliary container 4 has a main body part 41 whose upper opening is fitted to the fitting surface 242 of the lower container part, and a flange part 42 extending from the outer periphery of the upper end of the main body part 41 in the radial direction (centering on the axis Y-Y). And an annular portion 43 extending upward along the axis Y-Y from the flange portion, and they are integrally formed of a synthetic resin material such as polyethylene or polypropylene. The inner peripheral surface 431 of the annular portion 43 is inclined in a tapered shape in the same manner as the outer peripheral surface 221 of the wall 22 of the lower container portion 20. The outer peripheral surface of the annular portion 43 is tapered so that the diameter of the upper end is smaller than the diameter on the flange portion 42 side. When the lower container portion is fitted into the auxiliary container, the convexity of the lower container portion 20 is formed. The outer periphery of the portion 27 protrudes slightly outside the annular portion. This is because when the lower container part is removed from the auxiliary container part, the convex part 27 is pressed to make it relatively easy to rotate or pull out. When the lower container portion 20 is mounted in the auxiliary container 4, the lower surface, that is, the contact surface 251 formed on the connecting portion 23 of the lower container portion 20 contacts the upper surface of the flange portion 42, that is, the upper end surface of the auxiliary container. In the present embodiment, the height h ₁ of the main body 41 is three times the radius r ₁ of the main chamber C ₁ plus a displacement δ from the upper edge 211 of the lower hemisphere wall of the contact surface 251. The volume of the auxiliary chamber C ₂ is a desired volume considering the height h ₁ of the main body 41. However, the height h ₁ of the main body 41 and the volume of the auxiliary chamber C ₂ are not limited to those of the present embodiment, but may vary depending on the structure of the heat insulating portion, the material, or the heat insulating method. An annular convex portion 44 is formed integrally with the flange portion 42 on the lower surface of the flange portion 42. The hardness of the fitting of the lower container part with respect to the auxiliary container 4 is determined by the hardness of the fitting of the upper container part with respect to the lower container part (the relationship between the annular protrusion 241 of the lower container part and the annular protrusion 34 of the upper container part). It is weaker for reasons described later.
[0011]
The heat insulating portion 6 is a cup-shaped container, and a convex portion 44 formed on the lower surface of the flange portion of the auxiliary container 4 is fitted in the upper opening end 61. This heat insulating part is also made of a synthetic resin material, and is preferably made of a transparent material having a lower thermal conductivity than the material of the main container 2. A heat insulating space S is formed between the heat insulating part 6 and the auxiliary container 4 so as to provide resistance to heat transfer from the outside of the heat insulating part 6 to the auxiliary container. That is, by providing the heat insulating portion 6, it is possible to determine the direction of freezing when water starts to freeze from the upper part of the main chamber and the water freezes from the upper part to the lower part of the main chamber and further toward the auxiliary chamber. In addition, by attaching the sheet to the inner peripheral surface 61 of the heat insulating part 6 or detachably attaching it, the air layer of the heat insulating part can be made into two layers, and the heat insulating efficiency can be increased. A description of the method may be provided. The periphery of the bottom 62 of the heat insulating part 6 protrudes downward over the entire circumference at 63 so that the entire bottom of the heat insulating part does not adhere to the shelf of the refrigerator. Thereby, the heat insulation effect with respect to cooling from a bottom part is improved.
In addition, although the example which made the heat insulation part the cup-shaped container was given here, even if it covers an auxiliary container with the heat insulating material, such as a polystyrene foam, an aluminum sheet, glass fiber, felt, cork, and a foam plastic instead of a container Good.
[0012]
Next, a case where spherical ice is produced by the ice maker will be described.
First, from the state of FIG. 1, the upper container part 30 and the lower container part 20 of the main container are removed, and water is injected from the upper part in a state in which the heat insulating part 6 is fitted to the auxiliary container 4. Fill part 43 with water until about 8 minutes. Next, the annular protrusion 241 of the lower container portion 20 of the main container and the annular protrusion 34 of the upper container portion 30 are engaged and combined, and the above is filled with water and the heat insulating portion 6 is fitted outside. When inserted from the upper part of the combined auxiliary container 4, the water in the auxiliary container is defined by the upper hemisphere part 31 and the lower hemisphere part 21 from the through hole 26 provided in the bottom part of the lower container part 20. entering the main chamber C _1. When the main container is further inserted into the auxiliary container and the lower container part 20 and the auxiliary container 4 are in a fitted state, the main chamber C1 is filled with water, and excess water is added to the top of the upper container part 30. It overflows to the outside of the upper container part through the provided small hole 35. Accordingly, the auxiliary chamber C ₂ and the main chamber C ₁ are filled with water in a state where the upper container portion and the lower container portion of the main container, the auxiliary container, and the heat insulating portion are fitted. If the water overflowing from the small hole 35 is accumulated in the entire gap between the upper hemispherical wall 31 of the upper container part 30 and the wall 22 of the lower container part 20, the small chamber 35 is pressed by the finger to hold the small hole. It is also possible to spill water collected in the gap by tilting the entire ice maker so that the water inside does not spill.
[0013]
Next, the ice making machine in which the main chamber and the auxiliary chamber are filled with water as described above is placed in the freezer compartment or ice making compartment of the refrigerator. When cold air is blown to the ice maker in the freezer compartment, the water in the main chamber C ₁ and the water between the upper hemisphere wall 31 and the wall 22 begin to freeze gradually from above, and the freezing toward the bottom of the main chamber begins to freeze. move on. At this time, the upper container and the lower container part are firmly engaged with the annular protrusion 34 of the upper container part and the annular protrusion 241 of the lower container part. The upper and lower container parts are not separated by the pressure generated by the expansion, so that the ring-shaped protrusions are not formed on the spherical ice formed in the main chamber, and the upper and lower container parts are separated from the separated parts. Air can be prevented from entering the main chamber. Then, the gas and impurities in the water move from the upper part to the lower part in the main chamber, and then move into the unfrozen water in the auxiliary chamber through the through hole 26. Thus, the ice when the water is frozen completely in the main the chamber C ₁ is absent impurities and air, ice becomes substantially transparent. Volume expansion due to freezing of water in the main chamber and the auxiliary chamber is because the hardness of the engagement between the auxiliary container and the lower container part is smaller than the hardness of the engagement between the upper container and the lower container part. The entire main container is absorbed by being pushed up with respect to the auxiliary container 4, and therefore, it is possible to prevent the upper and lower container parts from separating from each other and water leaking between them and freezing.
[0014]
After freezing of the water in the ice maker, particularly the water in the main chamber, the ice maker is removed from the refrigerator and the main container 2 is removed from the auxiliary container. Further, the lower container part and the upper container part can be separated by pushing the wall 22 of the lower container part of the main container by hand, or by gripping the rib 33 of the upper container part, and the spherical ice can be taken out. . In addition, when it is difficult to separate the upper and lower container parts, water may be applied to the upper and lower container parts.
[0015]
An example in which spherical ice is actually manufactured using the ice maker configured as described above will be described.
The height of the auxiliary container of the ice making machine is 5.5 cm from the bottom surface of the auxiliary container to the lowermost part of the lower container part of the main container, and the flange part 42 of the auxiliary container in a state where the lower container part of the main container is not engaged (see FIG. When the volume of water up to 1) is 190 mL, the ice maker is installed in the freezer of a household refrigerator (HITACHI 315 type) in about 10 hours, and another refrigerator (HOSHIZAKI HRF-96MT, TOSHIBA 400 L) , Toshiba GR22T216 liters) was able to produce transparent spherical ice with a diameter of about 5.5 cm in about 10 hours.
[0016]
【The invention's effect】
According to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained.
(B) Spherical and transparent ice can be produced by a simple operation.
(B) Spherical and transparent ice can be produced using an ordinary refrigerator.
(C) It is possible to produce a substantially spherical ice that does not have ring-shaped protrusions around it.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of an embodiment of an ice maker according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a lower container portion of the ice making device shown in FIG.
FIG. 3 is an upper plan view of a lower container portion shown in FIG. 2;
4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a portion indicated by an arrow A in FIG.
FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of an upper container portion of the ice making device shown in FIG.
6 is a top plan view of the upper container portion shown in FIG. 5. FIG.
7 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a portion indicated by an arrow B in FIG.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Ice maker 2 Main container 20 Lower container part 21 Lower hemisphere wall 22 Wall 26 Through-hole 30 Upper hemisphere wall 31 Upper hemisphere wall 35 Small hole 4 Auxiliary container 6 Heat insulation part

Claims (5)

A main container defining a spherical main chamber, the main container having a lower container part and an upper container part removably attached to the lower container part; and the lower container part being removably attached An auxiliary container that defines an auxiliary chamber of a desired volume with the lower container part, and a heat insulating part that accommodates the auxiliary container, and the main chamber and the auxiliary are provided at the bottom of the lower container part. A through-hole communicating with the chamber is formed, a small hole is formed at the top of the upper container part, and a wall extending to the top of the upper container part is formed on the outer periphery of the upper container part,
The mounting rigidity between the lower container part and the upper container part is larger than the mounting hardness between the lower container part and the auxiliary container, and the volume expansion at the time of freezing of water moves the lower container part relative to the auxiliary container. Ice maker to absorb by. A main container defining a spherical main chamber, the main container having a lower container part and an upper container part removably attached to the lower container part; and the lower container part being removably attached An auxiliary container that defines an auxiliary chamber of a desired volume with the lower container part, and a heat insulating part that accommodates the auxiliary container, and the main chamber and the auxiliary are provided at the bottom of the lower container part. A through-hole communicating with the chamber is formed, a small hole is formed at the top of the upper container part, and a wall extending to the top of the upper container part is formed on the outer periphery of the upper container part,
The ice maker which made the heat conductivity of the material of at least the said upper container part of the said main container higher than the heat conductivity of the material of an auxiliary container part and a heat insulation part.   The ice maker according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the material of the main container upper container part, the lower container part, the auxiliary container part and the heat insulating part is a synthetic resin. The ice maker according to claim 1 , wherein the thermal conductivity of the material of at least the upper container part of the main container is higher than the thermal conductivity of the material of the auxiliary container part and the heat insulating part.   5. The ice maker according to claim 1, wherein a lower hemisphere wall defining a lower hemispherical portion of the main chamber and an upper surface of the auxiliary container abut on the lower container portion. And the abutment surface is displaced above the upper edge of the lower hemisphere wall.

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