The present application claims the benefit of Chinese Patent Application No. 202210566597.0 filed on May 20, 2022, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
The present disclosure relates to the technical field of ice preparation, and in particular to, an ice maker.
An ice maker is a kind of refrigeration mechanical device that turns water into ice. It is widely used in supermarket food preservation, fishery refrigeration, medical application, chemical industry, food processing, catering and other industries.
Compared with common ice, transparent ice used in bars and restaurants are more popular because of its higher transparency and less melting. However, the existing common ice maker cannot produce transparent ice, because a common ice making process makes the ice easily mixed with air bubbles, resulting in unsatisfactory transparency of the ice. Therefore, the bars and the restaurants can only purchase bulky finished transparent ice to process them into transparent ice of various shapes.
In fact, due to the limitations of the existing ice making process, the finished transparent ice are bulky, and the bars and the restaurants need to cut them by themselves after purchase, which is troublesome. In addition, the existing transparent ice maker has a complex structure and high purchase cost, which is unaffordable for some bars and restaurants. Therefore, how to achieve small-volume mass production of the transparent ice is an urgent problem to be solved at present.
To solve the above technical problems, an objective of the present disclosure is to provide an ice maker, having advantages such as reliable structure and excellent ice making effect.
On this basis, the present disclosure provides an ice maker, including:
In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the refrigeration assembly is configured to cool water in the die cavities and the refrigeration box in a single direction.
In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the ice maker further includes a pump, the pump is connected to the refrigeration box through the water inlet pipe, and the pump is configured to drive the water in the refrigeration box to flow.
In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the ice container is formed by combining a plurality of assembly members.
In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the ice container is formed by combining two assembly members, the two assembly members are respectively a first assembly member and a second assembly member, a first water inlet assembly groove and a first water outlet assembly groove are formed in a side surface of the first assembly member opposite to the second assembly member, a second water inlet assembly groove and a second water outlet assembly groove are formed in a side surface of the second assembly member opposite to the first assembly member, a first special-shaped groove is formed in the first assembly member, a second special-shaped groove is formed in the second assembly member, the first special-shaped groove and the second special-shaped groove are butted with each other to form the die cavity, the first water inlet assembly groove and the second water inlet assembly groove are butted with each other to form the water inlet hole, and the first water outlet assembly groove and the second water outlet assembly groove are butted with each other to form the water outlet hole.
In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the first assembly member and the second assembly member are clamped and connected, an assembly protrusion is provided on a side surface of the first assembly member facing the second assembly member, and an assembly groove matching the assembly protrusion is formed in the second assembly member.
In some embodiments of the present disclosure, grabbing portions are provided at a top of the first assembly member and a top of the second assembly member.
In some embodiments of the present disclosure, a water outlet groove is formed in a surface of the ice container, and the water outlet groove is connected to each water outlet hole and extends to an edge of the ice container.
In some embodiments of the present disclosure, a temperature sensor is provided in the refrigeration box.
In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the ice container is made of an elastic soft material.
In some embodiments of the present disclosure, a water overflow hole is formed in a side surface of the refrigeration box, and is connected to the water inlet pipe through a water outlet pipe.
In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the support member includes a plurality of hooks sequentially arranged along a vertical direction.
In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the grid tray is rectangular, a first fixed rod and a second sliding rod are provided on one pair of opposite side edges of the grid tray, a second fixed rod and a first sliding rod are provided on the other pair of opposite side edges of the grid tray, the first sliding rod is capable of sliding toward the first fixed rod, and the second sliding rod is capable of sliding toward the second fixed rod.
The embodiments of the present disclosure provide an ice maker. Compared with the prior art, the ice maker has the following beneficial effects:
The embodiments of the present disclosure provide an ice maker. The ice maker includes a cabinet body, and a refrigeration box and a refrigeration assembly provided in the cabinet body. A water inlet pipe is connected to a bottom surface or a side surface of the refrigeration box, a support member is provided on an inner side surface of the refrigeration box, a grid tray is arranged on the support member, and a plurality of ice containers are sequentially arranged on the grid tray. For the ice containers, die cavities are provided in the ice containers, water inlet holes communicated with the die cavities are formed in bottoms of the ice containers, and water outlet holes communicated with the die cavities are formed in tops of the ice containers. The refrigeration assembly includes a fan, an evaporator, a compressor, and a condenser, where the fan and the evaporator are disposed in the refrigeration box and located above the ice containers, and the compressor and the condenser are disposed outside the refrigeration box and connected to the evaporator. In addition, a heating pipe wraps the refrigeration box. Based on the above structure, an operator places the ice containers on the grid tray before use, and then puts the grid tray loaded with the ice containers into the refrigeration box. The above operation steps are not sequentially performed, and the grid tray can also be put into the refrigeration box first and then the ice containers are followed to arrange. After the ice containers are placed, a valve on the water inlet pipe is turned on to replenish water into the refrigeration box. The water level in the refrigeration box rises with time and enters the die cavities of the ice containers through the water inlet holes of the ice containers when the water level reaches the bottoms of the ice containers. After the die cavities are filled with the water, the excess water flows out from the water outlet holes of the ice containers and flows back into the refrigeration box. When the die cavities are full of water, the valve is turned off to keep the water level in the refrigeration box from changing. At this time, the refrigeration assembly is turned on, and the compressor transmits a low-temperature liquid refrigerant to the evaporator, and the low-temperature liquid refrigerant exchanges heat with air in the refrigeration box for vaporization and heat absorption, thereby reducing the temperature in the entire refrigeration box. The fan continuously transfers a low-temperature gas from the top to the bottom of the refrigeration box, and the water in the die cavities also freezes due to cold air. The cold air performs heat transfer from top to bottom under the action of the fan, and the water in the die cavities can only slowly solidify from top to bottom under the action of the cold air above. The upper water in the die cavities is crystallized and solidified first, and gas cannot be dissolved in the solid water. Therefore, the gas that should have been dissolved in the liquid water is squeezed into liquid water below, and also moves to the bottoms of the die cavities along with the solidification of the water in the die cavities, and finally discharges from the water inlet holes at the bottoms of the ice containers into the refrigeration box or dissolves in the water body in the refrigeration box. It should be noted that the thermal insulation layer wraps the refrigeration box, and the edges around the refrigeration box will not freeze first due to the cold air, thereby better ensuring that water in a cavity of the refrigeration box and the die cavity gradually cools off from top to bottom, and thus realizing the unidirectional cooling process. Meanwhile, the cavity of the entire refrigeration box forms a water storage structure to ensure that the refrigeration box has a sufficient water depth. This design has two advantages. The first is that the air bubbles in the ice containers can be directly dissolved in the water body in the refrigeration box after being discharged, which is convenient for the air bubbles in the ice containers to be discharged in time. The second is that the water depth in the refrigeration box is large such that the water body in the refrigeration box will not freeze completely. According to the specific ice making process, it can be found that the water body in the ice containers freezes from top to bottom to form ice, and all the water body in the ice containers freezes to form the ice and then continues to extend downwards and extend to the water body of the refrigeration box through the water inlet holes. That is, during the ice making process, part of the water in the refrigeration box will also freeze to form the ice connected to the ice in the ice containers, so when the ice containers are disassembled, it is necessary to fuse the ice between the water body of the ice containers and the water body of the refrigeration box to ensure normal removal of the ice containers. Returning to the above design, due to the large water depth in the refrigeration box, only part of the water body in the refrigeration box freezes, and the ice that need to be fused when heating the refrigeration box are greatly reduced, the melting time of the ice is short, and the ice containers can be easily removed from the grid tray. The above design makes the ice condensing mode of the present disclosure completely different from the mode of the traditional structure in which cold air is applied to condense ice from all directions at the same time, and it is easier to form transparent ice with high transparency and not easy to melt. Therefore, the formation of the ice in the die cavities is less affected by the air bubbles, the ice have high transparency and are not easy to melt, and the quality of the ice is very close to that of the transparent ice made by other special ice makers. The ice are made by independent ice containers, and there will be no influence between the ice containers. The sizes and shapes of the finished ice are consistent with those of the die cavities in the ice containers, no further cutting is required, and the operator can reasonably set the sizes and quantity of the ice containers according to the needs of use. After the ice making is completed, the heating pipe is started to heat the water body in the refrigeration box, and the water body in the refrigeration box will act on the water inlet holes of the ice containers after being heated, which can quickly realize the melting of the ice inside and outside the ice containers, avoid the icing adhesion between the ice containers and the refrigeration box, and realize rapid separation of the ice in the die cavities and the ice outside the die cavities. In this way, the ice maker optimizes the production process of the transparent ice, avoids segmentation in the later stage, can control the shapes of the transparent ice, and achieves excellent production effect.
In the figures, 1. Cabinet body; 11. Cabinet door; 2. Refrigeration box; 21. Temperature sensor; 22. Support member; 221. Hook; 222. Mounting portion; 23. Water overflow hole; 3. ice container; 31. Die cavity; 32. Water inlet hole; 33. Water outlet hole; 34. Water outlet groove; 35. Grabbing portion; 36. Hollow hole; 301. Assembly member; 301a. First assembly member; 301b. Second assembly member; 3021. First water outlet assembly groove; 3022. Second water outlet assembly groove; 3023. First water inlet assembly groove; 3024. Second water inlet assembly groove; 3031. First special-shaped groove; 3032. Second special-shaped groove; 304. Assembly protrusion; 305. Assembly groove; 4. Grid tray; 41. First fixed rod; 42. First sliding rod; 43. Second fixed rod; 44. Second sliding rod; 45. Sleeve; 46. Pressing bolt; 5. Heating pipe; 6. Refrigeration assembly; 61. Fan; 62. Evaporator; 63. Compressor; 64. Condenser; 7. Water inlet pipe; 8. Storage box; 81. Water passing hole; 82. Storage plate; 821. Transverse plate; 822. Longitudinal plate; 83. Storage tank; 84. Handle; 9. Thermal insulation layer; and 10. Pump.
The specific implementations of the present disclosure are described in more detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments. The following embodiments are illustrative of the present disclosure and should not be construed as limiting of the scope of the present disclosure.
It should be understood that the terms such as “front”, “back”, and the like are used in the present invention to describe various information, but the information should not be limited to these terms, and these terms are only used to distinguish the same type of information from each other. For example, without departing from the scope of the present disclosure, “front” information may be referred to as “back” information, and “back” information may also be referred to as “front” information.
As shown in
Based on the above structure, an operator places the ice containers 3 on the grid tray 4 before use, and then puts the grid tray 4 loaded with the ice containers 3 into the refrigeration box 2. Of course, the above operation steps are not sequentially performed, and the grid tray 4 can also be put into the refrigeration box 2 first and then the ice containers 3 are followed to arrange. After the ice containers 3 are placed, a valve on the water inlet pipe 7 is turned on to replenish water into the refrigeration box 2. The water level in the refrigeration box 2 rises with time and enters the die cavities 31 of the ice containers 3 through the water inlet holes 32 of the ice containers 3 when the water level reaches the bottoms of the ice containers 3. After the die cavities 31 are filled with the water, the excess water flows out from the water outlet holes 33 of the ice containers 3 and flows back into the refrigeration box 2. When the die cavities 31 are full of water, the valve is turned off to keep the water level in the refrigeration box 2 from changing. At this time, the refrigeration assembly 6 is turned on, and the compressor 63 transmits a low-temperature liquid refrigerant to the evaporator 62, and the low-temperature liquid refrigerant exchanges heat with air in the refrigeration box 2 for vaporization and heat absorption, thereby reducing the temperature in the entire refrigeration box 2. The continuous operation of the fan 61 transfers a low-temperature gas from the top to the bottom of the refrigeration box 2, and the water in the die cavities 31 also freezes due to cold air. The cold air performs heat transfer from top to bottom under the action of the fan 61, and the water in the die cavities 31 can only slowly solidify from top to bottom under the action of the cold air above. The upper water in the die cavities 31 crystallizes and solidifies first, and gas cannot dissolve in the solid water. Therefore, the gas that should have been dissolved in the liquid water is squeezed to lower liquid water, and also moves to the bottoms of the die cavities 31 along with the solidification of the water in the die cavities 31, and finally discharges from the water inlet holes 32 at the bottoms of the ice containers 3 into the refrigeration box 2 or dissolves in the water body in the refrigeration box 2. It should be noted that since the thermal insulation layer 9 wraps the refrigeration box 2, and the edges around the refrigeration box 2 will not freeze first due to the cold air, thereby better ensuring that water in a cavity of the refrigeration box 2 and the die cavity 31 gradually cools off from top to bottom, and thus realizing the unidirectional cooling process. Meanwhile, the cavity of the entire refrigeration box 2 forms a water storage structure to ensure that the refrigeration box 2 has a sufficient water depth. This design has two advantages. The first is that the air bubbles in the ice containers 3 can be directly dissolved in the water body in the refrigeration box 2 after being discharged, which is convenient for the air bubbles in the ice containers 3 to be discharged in time. The second is that the water depth in the refrigeration box 2 is large such that the water body in the refrigeration box 2 will not freeze completely. According to the specific ice making process, it can be found that the water body in the ice containers 3 freezes from top to bottom to form ice, and all the water body in the ice containers 3 freezes to form the ice and then continues to extend downwards and extend to the water body of the refrigeration box 2 through the water inlet holes 32. That is, during the ice making process, part of the water in the refrigeration box 2 will also freeze to form the ice connected to the ice in the ice containers 3, so when the ice containers 3 are disassembled, it is necessary to fuse the ice between the water body of the ice containers 3 and the water body of the refrigeration box 2 to ensure normal removal of the ice containers 3. Returning to the above design, due to the large water depth in the refrigeration box 2, only part of the water body in the refrigeration box 2 freezes, and the ice that need to be fused when heating the refrigeration box 2 are greatly reduced, the melting time of the ice is short, and the ice containers 3 can be easily removed from the grid tray 4. The above design makes the ice condensing mode of the present disclosure completely different from the mode of the traditional structure in which cold air is applied to condense ice from all directions at the same time, and it is easier to form transparent ice with high transparency and not easy to melt. Therefore, the formation of the ice in the die cavities 31 is less affected by the air bubbles, the ice have high transparency and are not easy to melt, and the quality of the ice is very close to that of the transparent ice made by other special ice makers. The ice are made by independent ice containers 3, and there will be no influence between the ice containers 3. The sizes and shapes of the finished ice are consistent with those of the die cavities 31 in the ice containers 3, no further cutting is required, and the operator can reasonably set the sizes and quantity of the ice containers 3 according to the needs of use. After the ice making is completed, the heating pipe 5 is started to heat the water body in the refrigeration box 2, and the water body in the refrigeration box 2 will act on the water inlet holes 32 of the ice containers 3 after being heated, which can quickly realize the melting of the ice inside and outside the ice containers 3, avoid the icing adhesion between the ice containers 3 and the refrigeration box 2, and realize rapid separation of the ice in the die cavities 31 and the ice outside the die cavities 31. In this way, the ice maker optimizes the production process of the transparent ice, avoids segmentation in the later stage, can control the shapes of the transparent ice, and achieves excellent production effect.
Optionally, the refrigeration assembly is configured to cool water in the die cavities 31 and the refrigeration box 2 in a single direction. In an specific implementation, the single direction can be from top to bottom, from bottom to top, or from one side to the other side. For example, the single direction in this embodiment is from top to bottom. The water in the die cavity 31 and the refrigeration box 2 achieves a unidirectional cooling process, and the phase change process of water from liquid to solid also exhibits a single directionality. As a result, the gas that should have been dissolved in the upper water is continuously squeezed into the liquid water below, thereby achieving the transparency of the solid ice in the die cavity 31 due to the absence of gas. Of course, the refrigeration assembly can also be equipped with other cooling devices according to actual usage requirements to select the desired single direction for cooling the water in the die cavity 31 and the refrigeration box 2.
Optionally, as shown in
Furthermore, the water in the refrigeration box 2 enters the die cavities 31 from the water inlet holes 32 and then flows out from the water outlet holes 33 and then flows back to the refrigeration box 2. If the water flow at the tops of the ice containers 3 is not drained, the water flowing out from the water outlet holes 33 will still stay at the tops of the ice containers 3 for a long time, and this part of the water will freeze and block the water inlet holes 32 when cooling down, thereby affecting normal formation of the ice in the die cavities 31. Therefore, to avoid the above situation, as shown in
Optionally, the ice container 3 of the present disclosure can be made separately by an injection molding process, or can be formed by combining a plurality of assembly members 301. In fact, the structural design of a plurality of assembly members 301 is easier to shape and convenient to use. Specifically, as shown in
Furthermore, as shown in
Furthermore, as shown in
Optionally, as shown in
In addition, to facilitate the formation of the ice, in some embodiments of the present disclosure, the ice container 3 is made of a soft material or an elastic material. Specifically, the ice container 3 in the embodiments of the present disclosure is preferably made of silica gel. The raw material of silica gel is common and easy to shape, the die cavities 31 of different shapes can be produced according to the needs of use, and the use experience is good. Of course, the material of the ice container 3 is not limited to the silica gel, and the production staff can also choose other materials that are easy to shape to complete the production of the ice container 3.
Optionally, as shown in
As shown in
While ensuring normal use of the grid tray 4, the support member 22 of the present disclosure also has a plurality of structural forms. Specifically, as shown in
Optionally, as shown in
Of course, to ensure normal storage of the ice container 3, the operator can also provide other structures to store the ice container 3 first. Specifically, as shown in
Furthermore, the storage plates 82 have a plurality of design forms. As shown in
It can be found that, similar to the grabbing portion 35 of the ice container 3, a handle 84 is also provided on an edge of the storage box 8, and the operator can grab the storage box 8 by holding the handle 84 to complete mounting and removal of the storage box 8. Therefore, the ice maker has a skillful structure and good user experience.
In addition, the heating pipe 5 of the present disclosure can also be connected to the condenser 64, and heat released when the condenser 64 processes a refrigerant is employed to heat the refrigeration box 2 to complete the melting of the ice inside and outside the ice container 3.
In conclusion, the present disclosure provides an ice maker. The ice maker includes a cabinet body, and a refrigeration box and a refrigeration assembly provided in the cabinet body. The refrigeration box is connected to a water inlet pipe, a support member is provided in the refrigeration box, a grid tray is arranged on the support member, and a plurality of ice containers are sequentially arranged on the grid tray. Die cavities are provided in the ice containers, water inlet holes communicated with the die cavities are formed in bottoms of the ice containers, and water outlet holes communicated with the die cavities are formed in tops of the ice containers. The refrigeration assembly includes a fan, an evaporator, a compressor, and a condenser. The fan and the evaporator are disposed in the refrigeration box and located above the ice containers, and the compressor and the condenser are disposed outside the refrigeration box and connected to the evaporator. A heating pipe wraps the refrigeration box. A thermal insulation layer wrapping the refrigeration box and the heating pipe is provided in the cabinet body and a cabinet door. A pump configured to drive water in the refrigeration box to flow is provided outside the refrigeration box, and the pump is connected to the refrigeration box through a pipe. Compared with the prior art, the ice maker has an ingenious structural design, achieves high transparency of prepared ice and has low cost of ice making with short time.
The foregoing are merely descriptions of the preferred embodiments of the present disclosure. It should be noted that several improvements and replacements, which can realize that the phase change process of water from liquid to solid exhibits a single directionality, can be made by a person of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the technical principle of the present disclosure, and these improvements and replacements shall also be deemed as falling within the protection scope of the present disclosure.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
202210566597.0 | May 2022 | CN | national |