Flow-Down Ice Making Plate Structure for Clean Ice Cube Release
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Solution Overview
Problem
The flow down type ice making machine faces issues with ice cubes not being properly separated from the ice making surface due to frictional forces and surface tension, leading to reduced ice storage capacity and poor ice quality, especially when the ice guide member is positioned close to the lower end of the ice making plate.
Innovation Solution
The machine features an ice making plate with a meandering evaporation tube and projecting portions on its surface, including a lower end projection that helps separate ice cubes from the top surface, allowing them to drop smoothly and preventing unnecessary melting, along with an inclined ice guide member positioned close to the ice making plate to enhance ice storage capacity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If the ice guide member is arranged close to the lower end of the ice making plate, then the amount of ice storage is increased, but ice cubes remain unseparated from the ice making surface due to frictional force and surface tension
Solution Approach 1:
The ice making plate surface is segmented into multiple ice making areas by projecting portions, which divide the continuous ice making surface into discrete zones. This segmentation allows ice cubes to form in separated areas and facilitates their individual dropping and collection, resolving the separation issue while maintaining close positioning of the ice guide member.
Solution Approach 2:
The projecting portions act as intermediary elements between the ice making surface and the ice cubes. These projections create physical barriers that prevent ice cubes from adhering to the plate surface through friction and surface tension, enabling reliable separation while allowing the ice guide member to be positioned close to the plate for maximum storage capacity.
2Reliability
If the ice guide member is spaced apart downward from the ice making plates, then ice cubes are properly separated, but the position of the ice-making water tank is lowered, reducing the amount of ice stored
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting the ice making surface into multiple discrete areas using projecting portions, the system enables reliable ice cube separation even when the ice guide member is positioned close to the plate. This eliminates the need to space the guide member apart downward, thereby maintaining the ice-making water tank in a higher position and maximizing ice storage capacity.
3Quantity of substance
If ice cubes remain between the ice guide member and the ice making plates, then the ice cubes are melted more than necessary, but proper separation would require spacing that reduces storage capacity
Solution Approach 1:
The projecting portions segment the ice making surface into distinct areas, ensuring that ice cubes are properly separated from the plate surface. This prevents ice cubes from remaining in contact with the plate between the guide member and plate, thereby eliminating excessive melting while allowing the ice guide member to be positioned close to maximize storage capacity.
Solution Approach 2:
The projecting portions create preliminary separation of ice cubes from the ice making surface before the ice cubes reach the space between the guide member and plate. This preliminary action prevents the harmful melting effect by ensuring ice cubes are already separated and can drop cleanly into the collection area without prolonged contact that would cause excessive melting.
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
This configuration ensures effective separation and dropping of ice cubes, preventing excessive melting and double ice making, thereby increasing the amount of ice stored in the bin while maintaining ice quality.
Implementation Method 1
an evaporation tube, where a coolant is circulatively supplied, is disposed meandering at a back surface of the ice making plate
Implementation Method 2
ice cubes are produced by letting ice-making water flow down to ice making areas defined by the projecting portions of the ice making plate cooled by circulative supply of the coolant to the evaporation tube
Implementation Method 3
a lower end projection which separates the ice cubes, separated and dropped from the ice making areas, from the top surface of the ice making plate is provided at a lower end of the top surface of the ice making plate
Implementation Method 4
An ice guide member which guides ice cubes, separated and dropped from the ice making plates, into an ice storage bin is disposed inclined below the ice making plates
Implementation Method 5
an evaporation tube, where a coolant is circulatively supplied, is disposed meandering at a back surface of the ice making plate
Data Source
AI summary
A flow-down-type ice making machine in which ice cubes reliably separate and drop from the lower end of an ice making plate, an ice guiding member can be placed close to the ice making plate, and the amount of ice storage is increased. An ice making section (10) is made up of a pair of ice making plates (12, 12) placed opposed to each other in a substantially vertical position and of evaporation tube (14) provided meandering between the ice making plates (12, 12). The ice guiding member (32) attached to an ice making water tank (22) is placed right under and close to the ice making section (10). The ice guiding member (32) is formed in a reverse V-shaped cross-section and is placed so that the top of the ice guiding member is located in the middle between the back sides of the ice making plates (12, 12). A slope (32a) tilting from the top of the ice guiding member (32) to one side of the top faces below one ice making plate (12), and a slope (32a) tilting from the top of the ice guiding member (32) to the other side of the top faces below the other ice making plate (12). An outwardly projecting lower end projection (20) is formed on each ice making plate (12), at the lower end of its surface facing each ice making region (12) of the ice making plate (12). Because of the presence of the lower end projection (20), an ice cube (M) running onto the lower end projection (20) is separated from an ice making surface.