Method for manufacturing auger-type ice maker and the manufactured auger-type ice maker
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing auger-type ice makers face inefficiencies in ice-making performance due to empty spaces between the refrigerant pipe and the ice-making tube, leading to reduced thermal conductivity and increased ice-making time.
Innovation Solution
A method for manufacturing an auger-type ice maker that involves heating and feeding a metal core material to fill the spiral space between the ice-making tube and the refrigerant pipe, which is then wound together with the refrigerant pipe around the ice-making tube, and finally bonded using a welding agent heated within the ice-making tube.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If a refrigerant pipe is spirally wound around an ice-making tube with empty spaces between them, then the device complexity is reduced and ease of manufacture is improved, but the contact area between the refrigerant pipe and ice-making tube decreases, leading to reduced thermal conductivity and ice-making performance
Solution Approach 1:
A metal wire is introduced as an intermediary material to fill the empty spaces between the spirally wound refrigerant pipe and the ice-making tube. This metal wire acts as a mediator that improves thermal contact without requiring complex bonding processes, thus maintaining ease of manufacture while enhancing ice-making performance through increased contact area.
Solution Approach 2:
The solution combines the refrigerant pipe, metal wire filler, and ice-making tube into a composite structure. The metal wire material is selected to be compatible with both components, creating a composite assembly that maximizes thermal conductivity while maintaining the simple spirally wound configuration.
2Reliability
If soldering is used to fix the refrigerant pipe to the ice-making tube, then the contact area increases and heat transfer efficiency improves, but the manufacturing process becomes more complex and time-consuming due to additional molten lead immersion steps
Solution Approach 1:
The complex molten lead immersion process is extracted and replaced with a simpler metal wire insertion method. Instead of using soldering and molten lead to fill gaps, the invention extracts the essential function of filling empty spaces and achieves it through straightforward metal wire insertion, thereby reducing device complexity while maintaining heat transfer efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The metal wire used to fill empty spaces serves as a simple, inexpensive, and permanent solution that eliminates the need for complex soldering processes. This disposable-like approach (where the metal wire is a simple consumable component) replaces the elaborate soldering procedure, reducing overall manufacturing complexity.
3Reliability
If the refrigerant pipe is formed to have a tight spiral coil spring shape to increase contact area, then the contact area with the ice-making tube increases, but the gap between refrigerant pipes becomes insufficient, preventing molten lead from penetrating and charging the empty spaces during soldering
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of trying to force molten lead into tight gaps through complex soldering processes, the invention inverts the approach by first inserting metal wire into the empty spaces before the refrigerant pipe is tightly wound. This reversal of the sequence allows the metal wire to occupy the spaces that would otherwise be inaccessible, eliminating the need for difficult penetration operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The metal wire is preliminarily inserted into the empty spaces between the refrigerant pipe and ice-making tube before the refrigerant pipe is tightly wound into its final spiral configuration. This preliminary action ensures that the empty spaces are filled before the tightening process, making the subsequent winding operation simpler and more manufacturable.
4Reliability
If molten lead immersion is performed for a long time to ensure complete filling of empty spaces, then the bonding reliability improves, but the manufacturing time and productivity are significantly reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The invention skips the time-consuming molten lead immersion process entirely by using metal wire insertion as a faster alternative. The metal wire can be quickly inserted and positioned in the empty spaces without requiring prolonged immersion times, thus maintaining bonding reliability through proper material selection while dramatically improving manufacturing productivity.
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 solution ensures complete bonding of the refrigerant pipe and ice-making tube without gaps, enhancing heat transfer efficiency and improving ice-making performance by eliminating empty spaces and reducing the need for additional molten lead immersion processes.
Implementation Method 1
heating a welding agent through an internal space of the ice-making tube to perform adhesion between the metal core material and both of the refrigerant pipe and the ice-making tube
Implementation Method 2
circulating a refrigerant through a refrigerant pipe mounted on an outer circumferential surface of the ice-making tube to generate ice
Data Source
AI summary
According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a method for manufacturing an auger-type ice maker including an ice-making tube, an auger, a refrigerant pipe, and a metal core material, includes heating and feeding the metal core material to the ice-making tube; winding the metal core material together with the refrigerant pipe around the ice-making tube; and heating a welding agent through an internal space of the ice-making tube to perform adhesion between the metal core material and both of the refrigerant pipe and the ice-making tube, wherein, in the winding the metal core material together with the refrigerant pipe on the ice-making tube, the heated metal core material is pressurized by pressure of winding the refrigerant pipe around the ice-making tube, to completely fill the spiral space with the heated metal core material, or to form a uniform interval in the spiral space.