Refrigeration – Automatic control – Of external fluid or means
Patent
1992-11-23
1994-07-05
Tapolcai, William E.
Refrigeration
Automatic control
Of external fluid or means
62233, F25C 114
Patent
active
053256794
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to an auger type ice making machine, and, more particularly, to an electric control apparatus which automatically controls water supply to an evaporator housing of the auger type ice making machine and the ice making operation of this ice making machine in accordance with the level of water in a water tank connected to the evaporator housing.
BACKGROUND ART
Conventionally, in an auger type ice making machine, as disclosed in, for example, Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 63-10453, a pair of normally open type float switches are provided at the top and bottom of a water tank, so that when the lower float switch is opened, water to be formed into ice is supplied into the water tank from a water source by opening of a solenoid water valve, an ice making operation starts when both float switches are closed in accordance with an increase of water in the water tank to a given quantity to form the water from the water tank into ice crystals and move the ice crystals out of an evaporator housing with an auger to sequentially store them as pieces of hard ice in a storage bin, the same water supply to the water tank and the ice making operation are repeated after the lower float switch is opened in accordance with a decrease of water in the water tank.
With the above structure, as long as both float switches properly function, the ice making operation is automatically ensured when suspension of water supply occurs and water supply is then recovered. When suspension of water supply occurs, however, the lower float switch is opened, holding the solenoid water valve open. For this reason, the longer the suspension of water supply continues, the greater the wasteful power consumption becomes to keep the solenoid water valve open.
Meanwhile, there may be such malfunctions that the individual float switches are disabled to be opened or closed due to dust entering together with water in the water tank or melting of the contacts of each float switch caused by an excessive current flowing therethrough. In those malfunctions, if closing of the upper float switch is not possible, this upper float switch cannot be closed when water in the water tank increases to a given quantity. The solenoid water valve cannot therefore be closed, so that supply of water in the water tank from the water source will continue even after the water tank is filled with water. As a result, water in the water tank is discharged wastefully through an overflow pipe and the place where the ice making machine is set is flooded with water.
If opening of the upper float switch is not possible, this upper float switch cannot be opened even when water in the water tank is insufficient. The solenoid water valve cannot therefore be opened, so that ice making operation will continue even when there is insufficient water in the water tank or insufficient water in the evaporator housing, resulting in over freezing in the evaporator housing. As a result, the amount of circulation of a fluid refrigerant from the evaporator in the evaporator housing to the compressor increases, damaging the components of the compressor or the over freezing in the evaporator housing acts as an over load to a driving mechanism through the auger, damaging the components of this driving mechanism.
If closing of the lower float switch is disabled, this lower float switch cannot be closed even though the level of water in the water tank is kept proper between the locations of the upper and lower float switches. Consequently, water supply to the water tank from the water source via the solenoid water valve starts even though the proper amount of water is remaining in the water tank. Accordingly, in this case water is not used for ice making to sufficiently reduce the water for one cycle retained in the water tank, dropping the ratio of use of the water and shortening the service life of the solenoid water valve due to the increased frequency of opening/closing actions.
If opening of the lower float switch is disabled, this lower float
REFERENCES:
patent: 3740963 (1973-06-01), Lyman et al.
patent: 4644757 (1987-02-01), Hida et al.
patent: 4982573 (1991-01-01), Tatematsu et al.
Hida Junichi
Tatematsu Susumu
Tsukiyama Yasumitsu
Uchida Naoya
Hoshizaki Denki Kabushiki Kaisha
Tapolcai William E.
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