Cooling unit for water purifier
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Solution Overview
Problem
Direct type water purifiers face issues with slow heat exchange between ice and coolant due to stagnant coolant and noise caused by floating ice colliding with the agitator, as the size of ice around the evaporator increases and floating ice melts, leading to inefficient cooling and customer dissatisfaction.
Innovation Solution
A water purifier design featuring a coolant tank with a partitioning plate having a grid rib structure and an outer water flow guide sleeve, which facilitates the circulation of coolant between the upper and lower spaces, ensuring smooth heat exchange and minimizing ice flow to the lower side to prevent agitator collisions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the size of ice generated around the evaporator increases to cool water faster, then cooling efficiency is improved, but heat exchange between ice and coolant becomes slower due to stagnant coolant
Solution Approach 1:
The coolant tank is divided into an upper space and a lower space by a partitioning plate, with grid ribs creating multiple flow channels. This segmentation allows coolant to flow through defined paths, preventing stagnation and improving heat exchange speed between the ice and coolant while maintaining high cooling efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
An agitator is introduced to dynamically move the coolant, transforming it from a stagnant state to a flowing state. This dynamic movement ensures continuous contact between the coolant and ice, maintaining rapid heat exchange even as ice size increases and cooling efficiency improves.
2Productivity
If floating ice melts and flows into the lower space, then heat exchange continues, but noise is generated due to ice collision with the agitator
Solution Approach 1:
The harmful effect of ice collision with the agitator is isolated by creating a separate lower space. The partitioning plate with grid ribs allows coolant flow but restricts ice movement into the lower space, extracting the noise-generating interaction while maintaining heat exchange continuity through the grid structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The partitioning plate with grid ribs acts as an intermediary structure between the upper and lower spaces. It allows coolant to pass through for continuous heat exchange while blocking ice from reaching the agitator, thus mediating between heat exchange continuity and noise reduction.
3Object-generated harmful factors
If the partitioning plate completely separates upper and lower spaces, then ice collision noise is eliminated, but coolant circulation between spaces is blocked
Solution Approach 1:
The partitioning plate is designed with grid ribs that create localized flow channels. Different regions of the partitioning plate have different functions: the grid structure allows coolant passage while the solid portions block ice movement. This local differentiation resolves the contradiction between noise elimination and coolant circulation.
Solution Approach 2:
The partitioning plate incorporates a grid rib structure that functions as a porous-like barrier. The gaps between grid ribs allow coolant to pass through freely, maintaining circulation speed, while the overall structure blocks ice from moving into the lower space, eliminating noise.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The design enhances heat exchange efficiency, reducing cooling time and increasing the amount of drinking water discharged at a reference temperature of 8° C. or less, while minimizing noise by preventing floating ice from colliding with the agitator.
Implementation Method 1
when a lump of ice is generated on the surface of the evaporator to accumulate cold air, since heat exchange is performed by latent heat as well as sensible heat
Implementation Method 2
heat exchange is performed by latent heat as well as sensible heat
Implementation Method 3
coolant at an upper side and cooled by the evaporator flows downwardly toward the cold water pipe by rotation of an agitator
Implementation Method 4
cold water in the space, in which the cold water pipe is received, flows upwardly toward the evaporator
Implementation Method 5
heat exchange is performed by latent heat as well as sensible heat
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed herein is a water purifier including a coolant tank configured to store coolant, a partitioning plate configured to partition an internal space of the coolant tank into an upper space and a lower space and having a grid rib formed therein to enable coolant of the upper space and coolant of the lower space to circulate, a cold water pipe disposed in the lower space, an evaporator disposed in the upper space, and an agitator disposed inside the coolant tank, wherein the partitioning plate includes an outer water flow guide sleeve extending downwardly from a bottom surface thereof.