Hoshizaki Denki Kabushiki Kaisha

Hideyuki Ikari

Susumu Tatematsu

Syuji Kado

Junichi Hida

Takashi Hibino

Yasumitsu Tsukiyama

Koji Tsuchikawa

Naoya Uchida

Hiroyuki Sugie

Kazuhiro Mori

Hiroshi Ueno

Noboru Watanabe

A method of operating an auger ice-making machine having a refrigeration casing, an auger screw rotatably disposed inside the casing and feeding, while scraping, the ice frozen on an inner wall surface of the casing, a stocker for storing/retaining the ice fed, the stocker being formed with an ice discharge port of the stocker in order to discharge the ice to an exterior of the machine by being opened, and a stored-ice detector for detecting a high level, and a low level, of a quantity of ice stored within the stocker, wherein: when the stored-ice detector detects the high level, a controller is activated to stop ice-making operation, and when the quantity of ice stored decreases below the low level by a required quantity, the controller restarts the ice-making operation; and when the controller judges, during a stopped state of the ice-making operation, that a block of ice has occurred in the stocker, the controller restarts the ice-making operation, provided that the stored-ice detector has detected the low level.

Method of operating auger ice-making machine

Method of operating auger icemaking machine

An ice dispenser includes a metal bracket fixed to the outer wall surface of an ice stocker and supports a shutter mechanism. A spacer made of a thermally insulating material is intervened between the bracket and the shutter mechanism. This will prevent cold inside the ice stocker from being conducted into the shutter mechanism to obviate the deposition of dew-condensation water on the shutter mechanism.

Ice dispenser

An ice dispenser comprises an ice making device including an auger that rotates around a substantially vertical axis; a chip ice stocker having a cylindrical wall formed around an agitator that is attached to an upper end portion of the auger, and an opening formed on the cylindrical wall; and an opening open/closure device including a shutter pivotably joined to a bracket that is attached to the cylindrical wall via a connecting shaft, a plunger that is actuated at right angle to the connecting shaft by the electromagnetic action of a solenoid fixed on the bracket, and a link for joining the shutter and the plunger, a supporting pivot attached to the link parallel to the connecting shaft, a shutter lock arm pivotably supported around the supporting pivot and having a hollow portion shaped so as to engage an outer peripheral surface of the connecting shaft, and shutter lock spring means for locking the shutter by applying spring force to the shutter lock arm pivoted around the supporting pivot thereby pressing the hollow portion on the outer peripheral surface of the connecting shaft. The connecting shaft is provided with a sleeve formed from material which is softer than the shutter lock arm, and having an outer periphery surface which engages to the hollow portion.

Ice dispenser for producing chip ice to deliver the same to user

An auger-type ice making machine includes an ice making barrel, an auger provided in the ice making barrel, an upper bearing and a lower bearing which are provided inside the ice making barrel for supporting the auger rotatably, and a drive unit for rotating the auger. At the bottom end of the ice making barrel, a connecting flange extending outwardly in the radial direction is formed integrally with the ice making barrel by friction welding. The connecting flange is tightened to the top surface of a casing of the drive unit with bolts. A bearing housing of the lower bearing is fixed in the ice making barrel apart from the casing with a bolt which is screwed in the ice making barrel. The bearing housing of the lower bearing may alternatively be fixed by forming an outward flange and a plurality of projections extending outwardly at the bottom end of the bearing housing and by fitting the plurality of projections in a fitting groove of the casing of the drive unit.

Auger-type ice making machine

A bearing structure for an auger-type ice making machine 10 includes an auger 17 having a helical blade 17a which rotates within a cylindrical refrigeration casing 11 so as to scrape off ice generated on the inner surface of the refrigeration casing 11 and push it up and out of the casing. A slide bearing 27 for supports an upper shaft section 17b of the auger 17 and a press head 25 is provided inside the upper end portion of the refrigeration casing 11 and which supports the slide bearing 27. Even if the upper shaft section 17b of the auger 17 and the press head 25 axially relatively move as a result of the scraping oil and feeding-out of the ice, substantially closed first and second foreign matter trapp spaces A and B are formed in close proximity to the lower and upper ends of the slide bearing. Further, a high-hardness metal layer 17f having a thickness, for example, of approximately 0.5 mm is formed on the surface of the upper shaft section 17b of the auger 17. Any exfoliated portion of the bearing section is trapped in the foreign matter trap spaces, and a satisfactory slideface is formed between the slide bearing and the high-hardness metal layer to achieve a substantial improvement in wear resistance properties.

Bearing structure for auger-type ice making machines

An auger type ice making machine according to the present invention comprises a refrigeration casing 11 around which a refrigerant evaporation pipe 13 is wound, an auger 17 rotatably disposed in said refrigeration casing and having a blade 17b formed thereto, and a press head 27 fixed to the inside of the refrigeration casing at the upper end thereof and having an ice compression passage formed in an axial direction. A high-hardness metal layer 35 composed of a self-melting metal is formed to the upper rotary shaft 17c of the auger 17 passing through the center hole 27c of the press head, a resin slide bearing 29 in contact with the metal layer 35 is fixed to the center hole of the press head in such a manner that the slide bearing 29 projects from the boundaries of the high-hardness metal layer at the both ends thereof and covers the entire surface of the metal layer 35, and the upper rotary shaft 17c of the auger 17 is supported by the press head 27 through the slide bearing 29.

Auger type ice making machine

An ice detection device for detecting ice pieces supplied into and stored in an ice storage bin, which includes a removable lid formed with a cylindrical guide portion and coupled over an upper opening end of the storage bin, a hollow piston mounted for vertical movement within the guide portion of the lid, a float plate fixed to a lower end of the hollow piston to cover the ice pieces stored in the storage bin, a removable cap coupled over the lid, the cap being formed to close an upper opening of the guide portion of the lid and formed at its center with a cylindrical projection extending therefrom into an axial bore of the hollow piston, a permanent magnet mounted on an upper portion of the hollow piston, and a magnetically operated switch mounted within the cylindrical projection of the cap to cooperate with the permanent magnet.

Ice detection device

An auger-type ice making machine includes a refrigerating cylinder 5, an auger 6 disposed rotatably within the refrigerating cylinder 5 and provided with a spiral blade 6a, a driving motor 8 for driving rotatively the auger 6 and an electric heater mounted around an outlet end portion of the refrigerating cylinder into and through which ice is transported under the effect of rotation of the auger. A coolant vaporizing tube is wound around outer periphery of the refrigerating cylinder, and raw water is fed into the refrigerating cylinder via a feed water pipe. When jamming of ice takes place within the refrigerating cylinder 5, an overcurrent flows through the driving motor 8. The overcurrent is detected by a protector 23 incorporated in a control circuit 30, whereupon the electric heater 22 is electrically energized.

A food service counter of the ice storage type which includes an ice storage tank 20 arranged to store an amount of ice and having a discharge hole 24 at a bottom, an ice supply device 30 for automatically producing chips of ice and supplying the same into the ice tank 20, and an agitating device 40 arranged within the ice tank 20 for agitating and leveling the chips of ice stored in the ice tank 20.

Food service counter of the ice storage type

An ice storage type food service counter composed of an ice storage tank 20 arranged to store an amount of ice and having a drain hole 24 at a bottom, an ice supply device 30 for automatically producing chips of ice and supplying them into the tank, an agitating device 40 arranged within the tank for agitating and leveling the chips of ice stored in the tank, a container assembly B detachably mounted on the agitating device 40 and placed on the stored chips of ice to contain drink and food therein, and a transparent cover plate 18 coupled over the ice storage tank 20, the cover plate having an opening through which the container assembly can be placed on the stored chips of ice.

In an ice storage type food service counter with an ice storage tank, an ice supply device is provided to automatically produce chips of ice and supply the same into the ice storage tank, and an agitating device is provided to agitate and level the chips of ice stored in the ice storage tank. Under the ice storage tank, a water supply tank is arranged to store an amount of ice making water, and a discharge tank is arranged to store the water of melted ice discharged from the ice storage tank through a drain hole. Within the ice storage tank, there is provided an overlfow pipe having an upper end opening into the interior of the ice storage tank and extending downward to discharge therethrough the pieces of ice located above the upper end thereof into either one of the water supply tank or the discharge tank.

An auger type ice making machine comprises an ice storage level detecting apparatus (5) including an ice storage level sensing plate (5a) disposed within an ice guide barrel (3) at a position opposing to an ice discharge port (2). A pair of guide plates (7) for guiding ice discharged from the ice discharged port toward a center portion of the ice storage level sensing plate are mounted on both side walls (3b) of the ice guide barrel (3) closely adjacent to the ice storage level sensing plate (5). By mounting the paired guide plates (7), gaps otherwise taking place between the ice storage level sensing plate (5) and the ice guide barrel (3) are closed to thereby prevent the ice from moving to the rear side of the ice storage level sensing plate by circumventing it. The ice storage level sensing plate is thus protected from being blocked. Another guide plate (9) inclined toward a center region of the ice storage level sensing plate (5) is provided on a ceiling plate (3a) of the ice guide barrel (3) closely adjacent to a tip end (5d) of the ice storage level sensing plate (5a) to thereby prevent ice from intruding between the ice storage level sensing plate and the ceiling plate (3a).

Growing community of inventors

Kariya, Japan

Hideyuki Ikari