JPH0827115B2 - Blocking Prevention Method for Downflow Ice Machine - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION <Industrial field of application> In a downflow type ice making machine in which a plurality of ice making plates are closely arranged in parallel, ice causes blocking between the ice making plates when the operation is stopped. To prevent this.

<< Prior Art >> As a conventional flow-down type ice making machine, for example, JP-A-62-29
There is one disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 9668, in which water is sprinkled on the surface of an ice making plate through which a refrigerant is passed to freeze it, and after a certain period of time, hot gas is circulated through the ice making plate to remove ice. ing.

<Problems to be solved by the invention> However, in such a conventional downflow type ice making machine, when the ice making machine is stopped by turning off the power, the refrigeration cycle is stopped all at once, and at this time, the ice making plate freezes the ice. The ice on it is designed to fall naturally at ambient temperature over time.

For this reason, when a plurality of the ice making plates are arranged close to each other in parallel, the naturally falling ice may be caught between the adjacent ice making plates and harden, so that so-called loose blocking may occur.

Therefore, if the flow-down type ice making machine is restarted in this blocking state, the blocked ice will interfere and the ice making efficiency will be deteriorated.Therefore, it is necessary to remove the blocked ice at the time of restarting. There was a problem that was required.

In view of such conventional problems, it is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a blocking prevention method for a downflow type ice making machine, which can prevent ice blocking when the operation is stopped.

<Means for Solving the Problems> In order to achieve such an object, the present invention comprises a plurality of ice making plates arranged in parallel in close proximity to each other, and a downflow type ice making device in which hot gas is circulated to each ice making plate during de-icing. In the machine, when the ice making machine is stopped, hot gas is sequentially passed through each ice making plate, and after all the ice making plates have been deiced, the operation is substantially stopped.

<Operation> As described above, in the blocking prevention method for the downflow type ice making machine of the present invention, when the ice making machine is stopped, hot gas is sequentially circulated through the ice making plate to forcibly remove the ice and Since the operation is substantially stopped when the operation is completed, it is possible to prevent the ice from being blocked because the ice making plate is in a state of no ice when the operation is substantially stopped.

<< Example >> Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

That is, FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 are schematic configuration diagrams showing an operating state of a downflow type ice making machine 10 showing an embodiment of the present invention.
Inside, there are 3 sheets of 1st, 2nd and 3rd ice plates arranged vertically.
14, 16 and 18 are arranged in parallel in close proximity to each other.
The ice on which the first, second and third ice making plates 14, 16 and 18 are made is the ice heat storage tank 12
It is supposed to be dropped inside.

The first, second and third ice making plates 14, 16 and 18 are provided with a refrigeration cycle 20.
The refrigerant circulating through the
Moreover, cold water pumped up from the lower layer of the ice heat storage tank 12 through the ice making pump 22 is supplied to the first, second, and third ice making plates 14, 16, 18, respectively. Water is sprinkled from above.

The refrigeration cycle 20 includes a compressor 24, a condenser 26, a liquid receiver 28, and expansion valves 30, 32, 34 corresponding to the first, second and third ice making plates 14, 16, 18, respectively. It is equipped with.

The compressor 24 compresses a gaseous refrigerant, and the compressor 24
The gaseous refrigerant compressed by is cooled and liquefied by the condenser 28, and the liquefied refrigerant is temporarily accumulated in the liquid receiver 28.

Then, the liquid refrigerant accumulated in the liquid receiver 28 is supplied to the expansion valves 30, 32, 34 to be rapidly expanded, and the adiabatic expansion at this time causes the refrigerant to become a gas in which the temperature is lowered. When the low temperature refrigerant passes through the first, second and third ice making plates 14, 16 and 18, the ice making plates 14, 16 and 18 are cooled below freezing.

Therefore, the cold water in the ice heat storage tank 12 is sprinkled on the surface of each of the cooled ice making plates 14, 16 and 18, so that the cold water freezes on the surface of the ice making plates 14, 16 and 18, and gradually. It develops as a large ice cube.

Incidentally, FIG. 1 shows by arrows the flow of the refrigerant when the first, second and third ice making plates 14, 16 and 18 are making ice respectively.

By the way, switching valves 36, 38, 40 are provided between the ice making plates 14, 16, 18 and the compressor 24, respectively, and the expansion valves 30, 32, 34 and the ice making plates 14, 16 are provided. Check valves 42, 44, 46 and orifices 48, 50, 52 are provided in parallel with the check valves 42, 44, 46.

Further, a hot gas introduction passage 54 is branched from between the compressor 24 and the condenser 26, and the hot gas introduction passage 54
Are connected to the switching valves 36, 38 and 40, respectively.

Therefore, by switching one of the switching valves 36, 38, 40 to the communication side of the hot gas introduction passage 54, the refrigerant compressed by the compressor 24 and having a high temperature, that is, hot gas, is cooled by the ice making plate 14 , 16, 18 is introduced into the ice making plate 14, 16 and 18 into which the hot gas is introduced so that the ice frozen to the ice making plate can be quickly de-iced.

For example, FIG. 2 shows the case where the first ice making plate 14 is deiced, and the flow of the refrigerant at this time is shown by arrows.

The hot gas introduced into one of the first, second, and third ice making plates 14, 16, 18 passes through the orifices 48, 50, 52 and the refrigerant that passes through the other two ice making plates. It is returned to the compressor 24.

Thus, in the downflow type ice making machine 10 of the present embodiment,
By the switching control of the switching valves 36, 38, 40, the ice making plates 14, 16, 18
In this way, ice making and de-icing are continuously repeated at regular intervals to automatically produce a large amount of ice.

The switching valves 36, 38, 40 are switched by a switching signal output from a control circuit (not shown).

FIG. 3 shows a time chart when ice making and de-icing are repeated on the first, second and third ice making plates 14, 16 and 18, where the white parts in the figure are the ice making periods and the hatched parts are the de-icing periods. This ice removal is performed by sequentially shifting the time from the first ice making plate 14 to the third ice making plate 18, and the ice making time and the ice making time at this time are, for example, about 20 minutes for ice making and Is 20 ~
Set as 40 seconds.

FIG. 4 is a time chart showing the functions of the first, second and third ice making plates 14, 16 and 18 controlled when the downflow type ice making machine 10 which is the object of the present invention is stopped. When it is turned on and a stop command is input to the control circuit, the switching valves 36, 38, 40 are sequentially switched to the hot gas introduction side for a predetermined time, and the first, second,
The ice formed on the third ice making plates 14, 16 and 18 is sequentially deiced.

Incidentally, the deicing sequentially performed on the first, second and third ice making plates 14, 16 and 18 can be continuously switched without any delay.

Then, after the deicing of each of the ice making plates 14, 16, 18 is completed, the operation of the compressor 24 and the ice making pump 22 of the refrigeration cycle 20 is stopped, and the operation of the downflow type ice making machine 10 is substantially stopped. It

In the present embodiment by the above method, when the stop switch of the ice making machine 10 is turned on, the operation is not immediately stopped, but first the first, second and third ice making plates 14, 16, 18 are turned on. The hot gas is circulated sequentially to forcibly remove ice, and after completion of this ice removal, the operations of the refrigeration cycle 20 and the ice making pump 22 are stopped.

Therefore, when the refrigeration cycle 20 is stopped,
Since the second and third ice making plates 14, 16, 18 are free of ice, it is possible to prevent the ice from being blocked between these ice making plates 14, 16, 18.

Therefore, when the flow-down type ice maker 10 is temporarily stopped and the ice maker 10 is restarted for a long period of time, that is, without allowing time for the ice to completely melt in the natural state, Since the ice is not blocked, the ice-making operation can be performed simultaneously with the start.

In this embodiment, the first, second and third ice making plates 14, 16 and 18 are disclosed to be deiced in this order by the stop command, but the deicing is not limited to this. You can change the order.

Further, although the case where three ice making plates 14, 16 and 18 are used is disclosed in the present embodiment, it goes without saying that the present invention can be applied to a case where two ice making plates or four or more ice making plates are provided. Absent.

<Effects of the Invention> As described above, in the blocking prevention method of the downflow type ice making machine of the present invention, when stopping the downflow type ice making machine, a plurality of ice making plates are sequentially passed through hot gas, and all Since the method is to substantially stop the operation after the ice making plates have been de-iced, there is no ice on the ice making plates when this substantial operation is stopped. It is possible to prevent blocking.

Therefore, when the flow-down type ice making machine is restarted in a short time, since the ice making plate is not blocked with ice, it can be operated without lowering the ice making efficiency at the time of restart. Produce an effect.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an embodiment of a flow-down type ice making machine used in the present invention, FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an operating state of the flow-down type ice making machine shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a book. FIG. 4 is a time chart of ice making and de-icing controlled by the flow-down type ice making machine according to the invention during normal operation, and FIG. 10 …… Flow-down ice machine, 12 …… Ice heat storage tank 14,16, 18 …… Ice making plate, 20 …… Refrigeration cycle 22 …… Ice making pump, 24 …… Compressor 26 …… Condenser, 28 …… Receive Liquid container 30,32,34 …… Expansion valve 36,38,40 …… Switching valve 54 …… Hot gas introduction passage

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A downflow type ice making machine, which comprises a plurality of ice making plates arranged in parallel in close proximity to each other, wherein hot gas is circulated to each ice making plate at the time of ice removal. A method for preventing blocking of a downflow type ice making machine, characterized in that hot gas is sequentially passed through each ice making plate to substantially stop the operation after all the ice making plates have been deiced.