A spherical ice cube ice making mold and a spherical ice cube ice maker including the same

Abstract

The application relates to the technical field of ice machines, and discloses a spherical ice block ice making mold and a spherical ice ice machine comprising the same, which comprises: an upper hemispherical mold and a lower hemispherical mold, the two molds can be mutually buckled, and ice making cavities for forming spherical ice blocks are arranged in the molds; and flow channels which respectively penetrate the upper hemispherical mold and the lower hemispherical mold and are spirally arranged on the inner wall surface of the ice making cavities, the inlet end of the flow channel is located at the bottom end of the lower hemispherical mold, and the outlet end of the flow channel is located at the top end of the upper hemispherical mold, so that the liquid in the ice making cavities is directionally frozen from bottom to top. Through the design of the flow channels as 'bottom inlet and top outlet' and the spiral arrangement on the inner wall, the ice making mold realizes the directional freezing from bottom to top, releases the ice expansion stress by using the fluidity of the liquid, fundamentally eliminates the stress concentration problem causing cracks, provides a controllable and stable freezing mode, and improves the ice making quality and reliability.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application relates to the field of ice maker technology, and in particular to a spherical ice block ice maker mold and a spherical ice maker including the mold. Background Technology

[0002] Currently, most household ice makers primarily produce bullet-shaped and cube-shaped ice. Spherical ice is typically made by hand-cutting or using molds placed inside the freezer. These methods are usually time-consuming, labor-intensive, and inconvenient. Furthermore, with existing ice makers and ice-making technology, maintaining high transparency and preventing internal cracks caused by freezing stress concentration remains challenging. In particular, dissolved air in the water cannot escape quickly enough during the ice-making process, leading to the accumulation of irregularly shaped air bubbles of varying sizes inside the ice balls, affecting their appearance. Summary of the Invention

[0003] To address the aforementioned problems, this application provides a spherical ice-making mold, comprising: The upper and lower hemisphere molds can be interlocked and have an ice-making cavity inside for forming spherical ice blocks; The flow channel passes through the upper hemisphere mold and the lower hemisphere mold respectively, and is coiled on the inner wall of the ice-making cavity. The inlet end of the flow channel is located at the bottom end of the lower hemisphere mold, and the outlet end of the flow channel is located at the top end of the upper hemisphere mold, so that the liquid in the ice-making cavity freezes directionally from bottom to top.

[0004] Preferably, it also includes a connecting pipe, which is disposed on the outer wall surface of the upper hemisphere mold and the lower hemisphere mold. One end of the connecting pipe is connected to the outlet of the flow channel of the lower hemisphere mold, and the other end is connected to the inlet of the upper hemisphere mold.

[0005] Preferably, the top of the upper hemispherical mold is provided with a through hole for liquid injection and / or liquid discharge from the ice-making cavity.

[0006] Preferably, the inner wall of the ice-making cavity is provided with a thermally conductive material layer, the thermal conductivity of which is between that of water and that of metal.

[0007] Preferably, an electric heating device is provided on the outer wall surface of the upper hemisphere mold and / or the lower hemisphere mold to accelerate the de-icing process.

[0008] This application also discloses a ball ice maker, which includes: A refrigeration system includes a compressor, a condenser, a throttling device, and an evaporator arranged sequentially along the direction of refrigerant flow; The spherical ice-making mold described in any of the above embodiments, wherein the flow channel of the spherical ice-making mold is connected to the refrigeration system; A liquid storage system, connected to the ice-making mold via pipelines, is used to supply liquid to the ice-making chamber.

[0009] Preferably, the system also includes a degassing system disposed between the liquid storage system and the ice-making mold, for degassing the liquid in the liquid storage system before ice making.

[0010] Preferably, the degassing system includes a heating element and a heat exchanger, the heating element and the heat exchanger being arranged sequentially along the liquid flow direction, or the heat exchanger being arranged between the inlet end and the outlet end of the heating element; An exhaust section is also provided on the pipeline located between the outlet end of the heating element and the heat exchanger. The heating element is used to heat the liquid to a preset temperature so that the dissolved gas in the liquid is discharged from the exhaust section. The heat exchanger is used to cool the degassed liquid.

[0011] Preferably, the heat exchanger is disposed between the inlet and outlet ends of the heating element, and the heat exchanger is a counter-current heat exchanger, so that the degassed hot liquid can exchange heat with the cold liquid from the liquid storage system in the heat exchanger.

[0012] Preferably, the evaporator and the ice-making mold are arranged side by side; Both of their inlet ends are connected to the outlet end of the condenser, and both of their outlet ends are connected to the inlet end of the compressor. And / or, the outlet end of the compressor is connected to the inlet end of the evaporator and the inlet end of the ice-making mold, respectively, so as to defrost the evaporator and thaw the ice-making mold.

[0013] Based on the above technical solution, the spherical ice-making mold and the spherical ice-making machine including the mold described in this application have the following beneficial effects: By designing the flow channel as "bottom in, top out" and spiraling on the inner wall, this ice-making mold achieves bottom-up directional freezing. It utilizes the fluidity of the liquid to release the stress caused by ice expansion, fundamentally eliminating the stress concentration problem that leads to cracks. This provides a controllable and stable freezing mode, improving the quality and reliability of ice making. Attached Figure Description

[0014] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of this application, the accompanying drawings used in the description of the embodiments or prior art will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are merely some embodiments of this application. For those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without any creative effort.

[0015] Figure 1 This is a simplified diagram of the component connections of the ball ice maker provided in the embodiments of this application.

[0016] Figure 2 yes Figure 1 A magnified view of section A in the image.

[0017] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram showing the refrigerant flowing within an ice-making mold, as provided in an embodiment of this application.

[0018] Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram showing the state of ice balls being discharged from the ice-making mold provided in this application embodiment when it is in the open state.

[0019] Figure 5 This is a top view of the internal flow channel of the ice-making mold provided in the embodiment of this application.

[0020] The following are explanations of the reference numerals in the attached figures: 100. Ice-making mold; 11. Upper hemisphere mold; 12. Lower hemisphere mold; 13. Ice-making cavity; 14. Flow channel; 141. Inlet end of the flow channel; 142. Outlet end of the flow channel; 15. Connecting pipe; 16. Connecting parts; 200. Refrigeration system; 21. Compressor; 22. Condenser; 221. Drain outlet; 23. Capillary tube; 24. Evaporator; 25. Evaporator fan; 26. Hot gas bypass valve; 27. Dryer filter; 300. Liquid storage system; 31. Liquid storage tank; 32. Liquid pump; 400. Degassing system; 41. Heating element; 42. Heat exchanger; 43. Exhaust pipe; 44. Solenoid valve; 500. Ice hockey maker; 51. Ice storage box; 52. Ice hockey chute; 600. Ice hockey. Detailed Implementation

[0021] The technical solutions of the embodiments of this application will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only some embodiments of this application, and not all embodiments. Based on the embodiments of this application, all other embodiments obtained by those of ordinary skill in the art without creative effort are within the scope of protection of this application.

[0022] The term "an embodiment" or "embodiment" as used herein refers to a specific feature, structure, or characteristic that may be included in at least one implementation of this application. In the description of this application, it should be understood that the terms "upper," "lower," "left," "right," "top," "bottom," etc., indicating orientation or positional relationships based on the orientation or positional relationships shown in the accompanying drawings, are only for the convenience of describing this application and simplifying the description, and do not indicate or imply that the device or element referred to must have a specific orientation, or be constructed and operated in a specific orientation, and therefore should not be construed as a limitation of this application. Furthermore, the terms "first" and "second" are used for descriptive purposes only and should not be construed as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly specifying the number of indicated technical features. Thus, a feature defined as "first" or "second" may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of that feature. Moreover, the terms "first," "second," etc., are used to distinguish similar objects and are not necessarily used to describe a specific order or sequence. It should be understood that such data can be interchanged where appropriate so that the embodiments of this application described herein can be implemented in orders other than those illustrated or described herein.

[0023] To achieve quick and convenient production of spherical ice cubes, the ice-making time of household ice makers should not be too long, such as overnight or several hours. Therefore, existing household ice makers use a hollow metal or rubber mold filled with water to obtain spherical ice. A refrigerant is circulated around the outside or inside of the metal mold, and the mold is directly cooled, for example, to -20°C, causing the water inside the hollow cavity to freeze into a spherical shape. However, due to the high symmetry of the sphere, cooling can only proceed from the periphery towards the center. This causes the outer edge of the sphere to freeze first, while the center remains liquid. Water expands in volume by about 10% after freezing. Since the outer edge is already frozen and cannot expand outwards, stress can only concentrate inwards. As cooling continues, more water freezes, and the stress concentration increases, eventually leading to many cracks inside the sphere, affecting its appearance.

[0024] Therefore, based on the above, this application discloses a spherical ice-making mold 100, such as... Figures 2-5 As shown, the ice-making mold 100 includes: The upper hemisphere mold 11 and the lower hemisphere mold 12 can be interlocked and have an ice-making cavity 13 inside for forming spherical ice blocks; The flow channel 14 passes through the upper hemisphere mold 11 and the lower hemisphere mold 12 respectively, and is coiled on the inner wall of the ice-making cavity 13. The inlet end of the flow channel 14 is located at the bottom end of the lower hemisphere mold 12, and the outlet end of the flow channel 14 is located at the top end of the upper hemisphere mold 11, so that the liquid in the ice-making cavity 13 freezes directionally from bottom to top.

[0025] Understandably, the core technical effect of this application lies in bottom-up directional freezing, which changes the "outside-in" freezing mode in the traditional ice mold 100 to a controllable, unidirectional "bottom-up" freezing mode.

[0026] Specifically, in this embodiment of the application, freezing begins from the bottom and the ice layer gradually "grows" upwards. During the freezing process, the upper layer remains liquid. When the liquid in the lower layer freezes and expands, the stress generated can be easily released and diffused by squeezing the liquid above. The liquid has fluidity and can effectively buffer and transmit pressure, thereby avoiding stress concentration in local areas and fundamentally solving the problem of cracks inside the ice ball 600.

[0027] Therefore, by designing the flow channel 14 as "bottom in, top out" and spiraling on the inner wall, the ice-making mold 100 achieves bottom-up directional freezing, utilizing the fluidity of the liquid to release the freezing expansion stress, fundamentally eliminating the stress concentration problem that leads to cracks, providing a controllable and stable freezing mode, and improving the quality and reliability of ice making.

[0028] In this embodiment, the upper hemisphere mold 11 and the lower hemisphere mold 12 are fastened / covered by the connector 16.

[0029] like Figure 3 As shown, the ice-making mold 100 also includes a connecting pipe 15, which is disposed on the outer wall surface of the upper hemisphere mold 11 and the lower hemisphere mold 12. One end of the connecting pipe 15 is connected to the outlet of the flow channel 14 of the lower hemisphere mold 12, and the other end is connected to the inlet of the upper hemisphere mold 11.

[0030] Understandably, the connecting pipe 15 is a key structure for constructing the "bottom-up" directional freezing mode. It connects the flow channels 14 in the two originally independent hemispherical molds into a complete and continuous channel. This means that the refrigerant no longer enters the two hemispheres simultaneously or randomly, but must follow a fixed path: first entering the lower hemisphere mold 12 from the bottom, rising along the direction of the flow channel 14 to the outlet of the lower hemisphere mold 12, then entering the upper hemisphere mold 11 through the connecting pipe 15, rising again along the direction of the flow channel 14 to the outlet of the upper hemisphere mold 11, and finally exiting from the top of the upper hemisphere. This series design ensures that the refrigerant energy is applied to the ice-making mold 100 in a sequential manner, which is the physical basis for realizing the core concept of "bottom-priority cooling".

[0031] Furthermore, the coldest refrigerant first enters the lower hemisphere mold 12, making it the lowest-temperature area in the entire ice-making mold 100, thereby initiating and dominating the freezing process from the bottom up. After the refrigerant absorbs heat as it flows through the lower hemisphere, its temperature rises slightly, and then it enters the upper hemisphere through the connecting pipe 15. This naturally makes the cooling intensity of the upper hemisphere weaker than that of the lower hemisphere, forming a stable temperature gradient from bottom to top. This temperature gradient effectively ensures that the liquid freezes "gradually from the bottom up," rather than freezing simultaneously or starting from the top, thereby strengthening the temperature gradient and ensuring the "bottom-up" freezing sequence.

[0032] In a preferred embodiment, the top of the upper hemispherical mold 11 is provided with a through hole for liquid injection and / or liquid discharge from the ice-making cavity 13.

[0033] Understandably, at the start of the ice-making cycle, liquid is injected through the through-hole into the spherical ice-making cavity 13 formed by the interlocking of the upper and lower hemispherical molds 12. Furthermore, as described above, water expands in volume by approximately 10% after freezing. If the ice-making cavity 13 is completely filled and sealed, the expansion of the ice will generate enormous internal pressure, potentially causing deformation or damage to the ice-making mold 100, or even causing the ice ball 600 to crack due to excessive stress. Therefore, the through-hole provides an overflow channel for excess liquid that expands during the freezing process. As the liquid freezes from the bottom and expands upwards, the excess liquid can be smoothly discharged from the through-hole at the top, effectively releasing internal pressure. Simultaneously, this complements the "bottom-up freezing" design. Specifically, the stress generated by freezing can not only be diffused through the liquid above but also physically released by discharging excess liquid, providing double protection against cracks in the ice ball 600 due to excessive internal pressure.

[0034] In a preferred embodiment, the inner wall surface of the ice-making cavity 13 is provided with a thermally conductive material layer, the thermal conductivity of which is between that of water and that of metal.

[0035] Understandably, if the refrigerant flow channel 14 is in direct contact with the liquid (i.e., the inner wall is pure metal), the temperature of the metal wall surface will be very low and uneven, causing the liquid in contact with the wall surface to freeze instantly, forming irregular ice crystals. This "rapid cooling" method easily forms fine cracks and "white fog" (i.e., a mixture of countless tiny ice crystals and bubbles) inside the ice ball 600, affecting transparency. Moreover, without intervention, the liquid itself has poor thermal conductivity, which will lead to a slow and uncontrollable freezing process. Therefore, the aforementioned thermally conductive material layer acts like a "buffer pad," which can gently and evenly transfer the intense cooling energy brought by the metal flow channel 14 to the liquid in the ice-making cavity 13, avoiding excessively low local temperatures and making the temperature of the entire inner wall surface more uniform, thus allowing the liquid to begin freezing in a relatively stable and controllable environment.

[0036] Furthermore, by reducing the rate of heat transfer, the thermally conductive material layer can effectively slow down the initial freezing speed of the liquid, providing sufficient time for the liquid molecules to arrange themselves into a regular crystal structure, rather than rapidly solidifying into chaotic ice crystals. This gentle cooling method, in conjunction with the core design of "bottom-up directional freezing," ensures that the freezing interface progresses smoothly and clearly upwards, rather than growing randomly and rapidly on the sidewalls, thereby helping to form a transparent ice body with a single structure that runs from bottom to top.

[0037] In addition, the thermally conductive material layer can make the temperature gradient between the inner wall of the ice-making cavity 13 and the central liquid more gradual. Compared with the huge temperature difference between the metal wall and the liquid, this gradual gradient significantly reduces the thermal stress caused by uneven temperature. This complements the mechanism of releasing volume expansion stress by "freezing from bottom to top", doubly ensuring the integrity of the ice ball 600 and further reducing the generation of cracks.

[0038] In a preferred embodiment, an electric heating device (not shown in the figure) is provided on the outer wall surface of the upper hemisphere mold 11 and / or the lower hemisphere mold 12 to accelerate the de-icing process.

[0039] Understandably, the electric heating device can be directly attached to the outer wall of the ice mold 100 to heat the ice mold 100 quickly and precisely, so that the heat can be efficiently transferred to the inner wall of the ice cavity 13, quickly melting the thin ice in contact with the inner wall of the ice cavity 13. To a certain extent, it acts as a lubricant, breaking the frozen adhesion between the ice ball 600 and the inner wall of the ice mold 100, so that the ice ball 600 can easily detach from the ice mold 100.

[0040] In this embodiment, the electric heating device is a heating film. This heating film can cover most of the outer surface of the ice mold 100, providing a more uniform heating effect and ensuring that the entire surface of the ice ball 600 is heated evenly and detaches synchronously. This uniformity and proactiveness ensure that each detachment is complete and reliable, avoiding situations where the ice ball 600 gets stuck in the ice mold 100 or breaks upon falling due to incomplete detachment, thus improving product consistency and yield.

[0041] like Figure 1 As shown in the embodiments, this application also discloses a ball ice maker 500, which includes: The refrigeration system 200 includes a compressor 21, a condenser 22, a throttling component, and an evaporator 24 arranged sequentially along the refrigerant flow direction; The spherical ice-making mold 100 described above has a flow channel 14 connected to the refrigeration system 200; The liquid storage system 300 is connected to the ice-making mold 100 via a pipeline and is used to supply liquid to the ice-making chamber 13.

[0042] Understandably, the refrigeration system 200 provides a continuous flow of cryogenic refrigerant to the flow channel 14 of the ice mold 100, thereby creating the temperature field necessary for directional freezing inside the ice mold 100; furthermore, the refrigeration system 200 can precisely control the temperature, pressure and flow rate of the refrigerant flowing into the ice mold 100, thereby precisely controlling the freezing speed and direction, ensuring that each ice-making process can stably reproduce the ideal "bottom-up" freezing process.

[0043] Understandably, the liquid storage system 300 is responsible for automatically injecting liquid into the ice-making chamber 13 at the appropriate time and preparing for the next ice-making cycle after de-icing, so that the entire ice-making process does not require manual intervention and realizes automated and continuous production.

[0044] It can be seen that by integrating the refrigeration system 200, ice mold 100, and liquid storage system 300, the entire ice-making cycle of liquid injection, freezing, de-icing, and ice storage is highly optimized, enabling rapid and mass production.

[0045] In a preferred embodiment, the ball ice maker 500 further includes a degassing system 400, which is disposed between the liquid storage system 300 and the ice-making mold 100, and is used to degas the liquid in the liquid storage system 300 before ice making.

[0046] Understandably, as mentioned above, dissolved air in the liquid is the direct cause of irregular bubbles inside the ice ball 600, affecting its appearance. Even with excellent freezing control, if the raw liquid contains a large amount of gas, this gas will still precipitate out during freezing, forming white, misty bubbles. Therefore, setting up a degassing system 400 to intervene in the liquid before ice making significantly reduces the solubility of gas in the liquid, allowing it to actively escape. This ensures that the liquid injected into the ice mold 100 is a "pure liquid" with low or near-zero gas content, fundamentally eliminating the possibility of a large number of bubbles forming inside the ice ball 600. This is the most direct and effective means of obtaining a high-transparency ice ball 600.

[0047] Furthermore, the degassing system 400 includes a heating element 41 and a heat exchanger 42, which are arranged sequentially along the liquid flow direction. An exhaust section is also provided on the pipeline between the heating element 41 and the heat exchanger 42. The heating element 41 is used to heat the liquid to a preset temperature so that the dissolved gas in the liquid is discharged from the exhaust section. The heat exchanger 42 is used to cool the degassed liquid.

[0048] Understandably, the heating element 41 can heat the liquid to a preset temperature (such as 50-80℃), which can rapidly and significantly reduce the solubility of gas in the liquid, forcing a large amount of dissolved gas to actively and quickly separate from the liquid in the form of bubbles.

[0049] By placing the exhaust section after the heating element 41, a direct and smooth outlet can be provided for the separated bubbles, preventing the gas from redissolving. This combination of heating and exhaust ensures the efficiency and thoroughness of the degassing process.

[0050] After being vented, the high-temperature liquid enters the heat exchanger 42 to cool it, so that the liquid can be injected into the ice mold 100 at a relatively low temperature, reducing the amount of cooling energy required by the ice mold refrigeration system 200 to cool this part of the liquid.

[0051] Alternatively, the heat exchanger 42 can be positioned between the inlet and outlet ends of the heating element 41. The heat exchanger 42 is a counter-current heat exchanger, allowing the degassed hot liquid to exchange heat with the cold liquid from the storage system 300 within the heat exchanger 42. This preheating of the cold liquid before it enters the heating element 41 reduces the electrical energy required for the heating element 41 to reach the preset temperature. It cleverly utilizes the heat of the high-temperature degassed liquid, allowing this portion of the hot liquid to exchange heat with the cold liquid from the storage system 300 that is about to enter the heating element 41, thereby reducing the energy consumption of the degassed process. The high-temperature liquid after exhaust then re-enters the heat exchanger 42 for heat exchange. This internal energy recycling design significantly improves the overall energy efficiency of the machine and reduces operating costs.

[0052] Furthermore, through precise control of the heat exchanger 42, the temperature of the liquid finally injected into the ice mold 100 can be controlled at an ideal low temperature. This temperature will prevent freezing in the pipeline and will not cause excessive impact on the "bottom-up" directional freezing process of the ice mold 100, thus ensuring the stability and controllability of the freezing process.

[0053] In this embodiment of the application, the exhaust section is an exhaust pipe 43.

[0054] The heat exchanger 42 is a counter-current heat exchanger 42, in which the degassed hot liquid can exchange heat with the cold liquid from the liquid storage system 300.

[0055] In a preferred embodiment, the evaporator 24 and the ice mold 100 are arranged side by side, with their inlet ends connected to the outlet end of the condenser 22 and their outlet ends connected to the inlet end of the compressor 21.

[0056] Understandably, in the parallel piping, the liquid refrigerant from condenser 22 is split, with one portion flowing to evaporator 24 and the other to ice-making mold 100. After completing their respective heat exchange tasks, these two refrigerant streams converge and flow back to compressor 21. The evaporator 24 cools the internal environment of the ball ice maker 500, providing a low-temperature storage environment for the formed ice balls 600 and preventing overheating. The ice-making mold 100 precisely cools the liquid within to form the ice balls 600. The parallel setup indicates that these two functions can operate independently. For example, during non-ice-making periods, the ball ice maker 500 can operate only the evaporator 24 to maintain the low temperature of the ice storage environment; while during ice-making periods, both can operate simultaneously.

[0057] In a preferred embodiment, the evaporator 24 and the ice mold 100 are arranged side by side, and the outlet end of the compressor 21 is connected to the inlet end of the evaporator 24 and the inlet end of the ice mold 100, respectively, so as to defrost the evaporator 24 and thaw the ice mold 100.

[0058] In this embodiment of the application, a hot gas bypass valve 26 is also included. The hot gas bypass valve 26 is disposed between the outlet end of the compressor 21 and the inlet end of the evaporator 24 and the inlet end of the ice mold 100. It is used to switch on and off the pipeline between the compressor 21 and the evaporator 24 and to switch on and off the pipeline between the compressor 21 and the ice mold 100.

[0059] Understandably, the refrigerant discharged by compressor 21 is a high-temperature, high-pressure gas. In the defrosting state, the hot gas bypass valve 26 opens, and the high-temperature, high-pressure gas discharged by compressor 21 flows directly into the flow channel 14 of the ice mold 100, rapidly heating the inner wall of the ice mold 100, melting the ice layer frozen to the inner wall, breaking its adhesion, and allowing the ice ball 600 to easily detach. Additionally, the high-temperature, high-pressure gas discharged by compressor 21 flows directly into the evaporator 24, melting the frost layer accumulated on its fin surface under low-temperature, high-humidity conditions. In other words, the operation of the hot gas bypass valve 26 can simultaneously complete two different tasks: "defrosting" and "de-icing." This "dual-purpose valve" design greatly simplifies the control program and mechanical structure of the ice ball maker 500.

[0060] Understandably, the electric heating device can serve as an auxiliary means to the hot gas bypass valve 26. The two work together to complete de-icing more quickly and reduce the operating time of the hot gas bypass valve 26. In some cases, the electric heating device can also be used directly as the primary de-icing method, with the hot gas bypass valve 26 only activated when necessary. This reduces interference with the refrigeration system 200 circulation and extends the service life of the refrigeration system 200 components.

[0061] In this embodiment, the hockey ice maker 500 also includes a hockey chute 52 and an ice storage box 51. The ice-making mold 100 is connected to the ice storage box 51 through the hockey chute 52. When the upper hemisphere mold 11 and the lower hemisphere mold 12 of the ice-making mold 100 are opened, the opening angle is such that the weight of the hockey 600 is sufficient to roll out of the lower hemisphere mold 12 and finally store it in an ice storage box 51, or it can flow out through an outlet for the user to use.

[0062] In this embodiment of the application, the refrigeration system 200 further includes an evaporator fan 25 and a dryer filter 27. Along the direction of liquid flow, the compressor 21, condenser 22, dryer filter 27, throttling component, and evaporator 24 are arranged in sequence. The specific refrigeration mechanism of the compressor 21, condenser 22, throttling component, and evaporator 24 is prior art and will not be described in detail here.

[0063] In this embodiment, the throttling component is a capillary tube 23. It is understood that the inner diameter of the capillary tube 23 is very small (typically only 0.5-2 mm), relying on its long and narrow channel to generate a huge pressure drop, thereby achieving the expansion and cooling of the refrigerant. Because of its narrow channel, it is extremely sensitive to impurities and foreign objects, making it the most easily blocked "throat" part of the entire refrigeration cycle. Once the capillary tube 23 is blocked, the refrigerant circulation will be interrupted, and the entire refrigeration system 200 will completely fail. Therefore, setting a dryer filter 27 at the front end of the capillary tube 23 is a key protective measure to ensure reliable system operation. The dryer filter 27 is filled with a desiccant (such as a molecular sieve), which can strongly absorb residual moisture in the refrigerant, ensuring that the refrigerant entering the capillary tube 23 is highly dry, fundamentally preventing the occurrence of "ice blockage."

[0064] If the condenser 22 is air-cooled, a fan will be used; if it is water-cooled, a condensate tank for storing heat dissipation water will also be needed, and a drain outlet 221 will also be required.

[0065] In this embodiment, an evaporator fan 25 is also provided near the evaporator 24 to accelerate heat exchange.

[0066] The liquid storage system 300 includes a liquid storage tank 31 and a liquid pump 32, which drives the liquid in the liquid storage tank 31 to the ice-making chamber 13.

[0067] The foregoing description has fully disclosed the specific embodiments of this application. It should be noted that any modifications made by those skilled in the art to the specific embodiments of this application do not depart from the scope of the claims. Accordingly, the scope of the claims of this application is not limited to the foregoing specific embodiments.

Claims

1. A spherical ice-making mold, characterized in that, It includes: The upper and lower hemisphere molds can be interlocked and have an ice-making cavity inside for forming spherical ice blocks; The flow channel passes through the upper hemisphere mold and the lower hemisphere mold respectively, and is coiled on the inner wall of the ice-making cavity. The inlet end of the flow channel is located at the bottom end of the lower hemisphere mold, and the outlet end of the flow channel is located at the top end of the upper hemisphere mold, so that the liquid in the ice-making cavity freezes directionally from bottom to top.

2. The spherical ice-making mold according to claim 1, characterized in that, It also includes a connecting pipe, which is disposed on the outer wall surface of the upper hemisphere mold and the lower hemisphere mold. One end of the connecting pipe is connected to the outlet of the flow channel of the lower hemisphere mold, and the other end is connected to the inlet of the upper hemisphere mold.

3. The spherical ice-making mold according to claim 1, characterized in that, The top of the upper hemispherical mold is provided with a through hole for injecting liquid and / or draining liquid from the ice-making cavity.

4. The spherical ice-making mold according to claim 1, characterized in that, The inner wall of the ice-making cavity is provided with a thermally conductive material layer, and the thermal conductivity of the thermally conductive material layer is between that of water and that of metal.

5. The spherical ice-making mold according to claim 1, characterized in that, An electric heating device is provided on the outer wall surface of the upper hemisphere mold and / or the lower hemisphere mold to accelerate the de-icing process.

6. A ball ice maker, characterized in that, It includes: A refrigeration system includes a compressor, a condenser, a throttling device, and an evaporator arranged sequentially along the direction of refrigerant flow; The spherical ice-making mold according to any one of claims 1-5, wherein the flow channel of the spherical ice-making mold is connected to the refrigeration system; A liquid storage system, connected to the ice-making mold via pipelines, is used to supply liquid to the ice-making chamber.

7. The ball ice maker according to claim 6, characterized in that, It also includes a degassing system, which is located between the liquid storage system and the ice-making mold, and is used to degas the liquid in the liquid storage system before ice making.

8. The ball ice maker according to claim 7, characterized in that, The degassing system includes a heating element and a heat exchanger, which are arranged sequentially along the liquid flow direction, or the heat exchanger is arranged between the inlet end and the outlet end of the heating element. An exhaust section is also provided on the pipeline located between the outlet end of the heating element and the heat exchanger. The heating element is used to heat the liquid to a preset temperature so that the dissolved gas in the liquid is discharged from the exhaust section. The heat exchanger is used to cool the degassed liquid.

9. The ball ice maker according to claim 8, characterized in that, The heat exchanger is disposed between the inlet and outlet ends of the heating element. The heat exchanger is a counter-current heat exchanger, and the degassed hot liquid can exchange heat with the cold liquid from the liquid storage system in the heat exchanger.

10. The ball ice maker according to claim 6, characterized in that, The evaporator and the ice-making mold are arranged side by side; Both of their inlet ends are connected to the outlet end of the condenser, and both of their outlet ends are connected to the inlet end of the compressor. And / or, the outlet end of the compressor is connected to the inlet end of the evaporator and the inlet end of the ice-making mold, respectively, so as to defrost the evaporator and thaw the ice-making mold.

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