Refrigeration – Means producing shaped or modified congealed product – Thawing means
Reexamination Certificate
2003-04-11
2003-11-18
Tapolcai, William E. (Department: 3744)
Refrigeration
Means producing shaped or modified congealed product
Thawing means
Reexamination Certificate
active
06647739
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an ice making machine, and more particularly, to an ice making machine enabled to reduce ice making time and minimize the amount of water being wasted.
2. Description of the Background Art
An ice making machine is an apparatus for making pieces of ice by freezing water supplied from an external water supply. Recently, ice making machines have been proposed that enable the prevention of opacification of ice pieces, which occurs as air bubbles inside the water are frozen.
FIGS. 1 and 2
show a conventional ice making machine disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,425,243. The conventional ice making machine, as shown in
FIGS. 1 and 2
, comprises a housing
10
, a freezing unit
20
, and an air removing means
30
.
The housing
10
of the ice making machine comprises an ice bin
11
for storing pieces of ice produced by the freezing unit
20
. A compressor
12
and a condenser
13
are disposed below the ice bin
11
within the housing
10
.
The freezing unit
20
comprises a water tray
21
, a freezing base plate
22
, and an evaporator
23
as shown in FIG.
2
. The water tray
21
is filled with water. A multiplicity of freezing fingers
24
are formed on the lower surface of the freezing base plate
22
for being dipped into the water to be frozen. A pivoting means
25
is disposed at one side of the water tray
21
for tilting the water tray
21
and discharging the water, which has not frozen and does not form ice pieces. The evaporator
23
is disposed on the upper surface of the freezing base plate
22
and is connected with a freezing system
12
,
13
. Refrigerant flows inside the evaporator
23
to cool the freezing base plate
22
and the freezing fingers
24
by the heat exchange of the refrigerant.
The air removing means
30
for preventing opacification from occurring during the ice making process by removing air bubbles in the water to be frozen comprises a rocking plate
31
that rocks up and down inside the water tray
21
, is and a rocking motor
32
for rocking the rocking plate
31
. When an engagement piece
33
disposed in the rocking motor
32
hits an engagement pin
34
, the rocking plate
31
rocks, thereby floating the air bubbles upwardly and outside the water.
The freezing unit
20
further includes a water supply pipe
14
, a pivotal shaft
26
, a water chute
27
, and a water collecting section
15
.
Hereinafter, the operation of a conventional ice making machine having the above structure is described.
When the water is supplied to the water tray
21
through the water supply pipe
14
and the freezing fingers
24
are dipped into the water, the water starts to form ice around the freezing fingers
24
cooled below the freezing point by heat exchange of the refrigerant flowing inside the evaporator
23
. At the same time, the rocking plate
31
disposed under the water rocks up and down as the rocking motor
32
is driven. Accordingly, the air bubbles inside the water are removed and clear ice pieces are gradually formed around the freezing fingers
24
.
After ice pieces having a predetermined size are formed around the freezing fingers
24
, the rocking plate
31
stops rocking, and hot gas is discharged from the compressor
12
directly into the evaporator
23
without passing through the condenser
13
, thereby warming the freezing fingers
24
.
The water tray
21
is tilted on the pivotal shaft
26
by the pivoting means
25
. Therefore, the ice pieces are separated from the freezing fingers
24
, and drop into the ice bin
11
, and the water remaining in the water tray
21
is discharged into the water collecting section
15
by flowing through the water chute
27
.
Such conventional ice making machines require an amount of water exceeding what is actually to be frozen, as the water tray is designed to hold more than the amount of water necessary to make ice pieces, thereby wasting a lot of water that is guided into the water collecting section
15
.
Moreover, since the freezing fingers
24
cool not only the water to be frozen but also the whole water in the water tray
21
, excessive energy is consumed unnecessarily prolonging the time required to freeze the water around the freezing fingers
24
.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the invention is to solve at least the above problems and/or disadvantages and to provide at least the advantages described hereinafter.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to solve the foregoing problems by providing an ice making machine capable of minimizing the waste of water by supplying a predetermined amount of water into a multiplicity of freezing cells formed having a predetermined size and of shortening the time required to form ice pieces by increasing the freezing rate at which the ice freezes around the freezing fingers.
In order to achieve the above objectives, the ice making machine according to present invention comprises a housing, an evaporator connected to a freezing system, a base frame having a lower surface and a multiplicity of freezing cells for containing water to be frozen, a freezing base plate provided adjacent the evaporator and having freezing fingers formed on the lower surface of the freezing base plate to be dipped into the water retained by the freezing cells, and an ultrasonic transducer for removing air bubbles inside the water by vibrating the water contained in the freezing cells with ultrasonic waves.
The ultrasonic transducer preferably is disposed on the lower surface of the base frame.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4602489 (1986-07-01), Hara
patent: 4619117 (1986-10-01), Ito
patent: 4910974 (1990-03-01), Hara
patent: 4924678 (1990-05-01), Ito
patent: 4932216 (1990-06-01), Ito
patent: 5025637 (1991-06-01), Hara
patent: 5425243 (1995-06-01), Sanuki et al.
patent: 6101833 (2000-08-01), Suzuki
patent: 6357720 (2002-03-01), Shapiro et al.
patent: 1209428 (2002-05-01), None
patent: 409079713 (1997-03-01), None
Kim Oh-bok
Nakajo Hideo
Ali Mohammad M.
Ladas & Parry
Samsung Gwangju Electronics Co. Ltd.
Tapolcai William E.
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