KR-20260067205-A - Plate-type ice evaporator

Abstract

The present invention relates to an ice-making evaporator capable of improving ice-making efficiency while simplifying the structure. The ice-making evaporator of the present embodiment comprises an upper freezing plate and a lower freezing plate arranged to face each other while spaced apart by a predetermined distance; a refrigerant pipe formed by at least one pair of refrigerant walls interposed between the upper freezing plate and the lower freezing plate, with a predetermined spacing; and a plurality of flow path walls formed protruding from the surface of the upper freezing plate or the lower freezing plate in a direction perpendicular to the refrigerant pipe, providing a flow path for ice-making water to flow through. When refrigerant flows through the refrigerant pipe, the ice-making water flowing along the flow path freezes on the surface of the refrigerant pipe to grow ice.

Inventors

• 우상운
• 우민희

Assignees

• (주)신우엠테크

Dates

Publication Date

20260512

Application Date

20241105

Claims (4)

1. An upper freezing plate and a lower freezing plate arranged to face each other while spaced apart at a predetermined distance; A refrigerant pipe formed by at least one pair of refrigerant walls interposed between the upper freezing plate and the lower freezing plate, with a predetermined spacing; A plurality of flow path walls formed protruding from the surface of the upper freezing plate or the lower freezing plate in a direction perpendicular to the refrigerant pipe to provide a flow path for ice-making water to flow through; An ice-making evaporator that, when a refrigerant flows through the above-mentioned refrigerant pipe, the ice-making water flowing along the above-mentioned path freezes on the surface of the above-mentioned refrigerant pipe to grow ice.
2. In Article 1, An evaporator for making ice, wherein the upper freezing plate or the lower freezing plate comprises a freezing surface formed by convexly curving the surface of the refrigerant pipe region on the flow path.
3. In Article 1, An evaporator for making ice, wherein the above refrigerant tube includes a freezing tube formed by expanding the diameter in the above flow path area.
4. In Article 1, An evaporator for making ice, further comprising: a stagnation protrusion formed by protruding from both sides of the refrigerant pipe on the above-mentioned Euro to the surface of the upper freezing plate or the lower freezing plate to induce stagnation of the ice-making water.

Description

Plate-type ice evaporator having refrigerant tubes with a bulkhead structure The present invention relates to an evaporator for ice making, and more specifically, to an evaporator for ice making that can improve ice making efficiency while simplifying the structure. A traditional cooling system consists of a compressor that compresses low-temperature, low-pressure gaseous refrigerant supplied from an evaporator into high temperature, high pressure; a condenser that converts the high-temperature, high-pressure gaseous refrigerant supplied from the compressor into medium-temperature, high-pressure liquid refrigerant; an expansion valve (capillary tube) that reduces the refrigerant supplied from the condenser to low temperature, low pressure; and an evaporator that enables cooling by absorbing ambient heat as the low-temperature, low-pressure refrigerant vaporizes. Such cooling systems are used in various devices, such as air conditioners, ice makers, and water chillers. In particular, ice-making evaporators are used to make ice and can be classified into tubular evaporators in which freezing occurs on the surface of the finger member and plate-type evaporators in which freezing occurs on the surface of the plate. Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a conventional plate-type evaporator (10) has a structure in which a plurality of refrigerant pipes (12) are arranged at a predetermined interval between a pair of freezing plates (11U, 11D), and a plurality of flow paths (14) through which ice-making water (W) flows in a direction perpendicular to the refrigerant pipes (12) are formed on the surface of each freezing plate (11) by means of partitions (13) spaced apart at a predetermined interval. Accordingly, when refrigerant is supplied through the refrigerant pipes (12) and ice-making water (W) flows in and out along the surface of each flow path (14) at the same time, the cold air from the refrigerant pipes (12) is transferred to the freezing plates (11), and ice (20) is formed as it grows on the surface of the freezing plates (11) where the refrigerant pipes (12) are located. This plate-type evaporator (10) has the advantage of being able to generate a large amount of ice simultaneously by increasing the surface area of the freezing plates (11). Meanwhile, in a plate-type evaporator with the configuration described above, the cold air from the refrigerant tubes is transferred to the ice-making water via the freezing plate, resulting in reduced ice-making efficiency. Furthermore, in the above evaporator, the contact between the refrigerant tubes and the freezing plate forms a linear contact, thereby reducing both the cold air transfer efficiency and the ice-making efficiency. To overcome these drawbacks, Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2024-0112671 introduces an evaporator for ice making that improves ice making efficiency. The evaporator of the above patent document is configured such that perforated holes are formed in the freezing plate, allowing the surface of the refrigerant pipe to be exposed to the outside of the freezing plate. Accordingly, the ice-making water flowing through the path comes into direct contact with the refrigerant pipe to generate ice, thereby exhibiting the effect of improving ice making efficiency. However, the evaporator of the aforementioned patent document also shows limitations in improving ice-making efficiency because the ice-making water comes into contact with the refrigerant pipe only in a narrow area where perforated holes are formed. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an evaporator for ice making according to the prior art. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing the ice-making evaporator of FIG. 1. FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing an evaporator for ice making according to the present embodiment, FIG. 4 is a plan view showing the ice-making evaporator of FIG. 3. FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing the ice-making evaporator of FIG. 3. FIGS. 6 to 8 are drawings showing various modified examples of an ice-making evaporator according to the present embodiment. The technical problems achieved by the present invention and its implementation will be clarified by the preferred embodiments described below. Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be examined in detail with reference to the attached drawings. It should be understood that the differences in the embodiments described below are not mutually exclusive. That is, without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, specific shapes, structures, and characteristics described may be implemented in other embodiments in relation to one embodiment, and the location or arrangement of individual components within each disclosed embodiment may be changed, and similar reference numerals in the drawings refer to the same or similar functions across various aspects. FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing an ice-making evaporator according to the present embodiment, and FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 are a plan v