Ice making apparatus and process of reducing scale buildup and flushing the apparatus

摘要

An ice making apparatus is provided for making ice of the nugget-forming type from ice shavings that are compacted, wherein inlet water is provided to a freezing chamber having a rotatable auger therein, for flow of the inlet water and water squeezed from ice leaving the freezing chamber at the discharge end thereof along the auger, for flow of water through the freezing chamber, to a water reservoir at an opposite end of the freezing chamber, whereby ice flow through the freezing chamber is in one direction, and water flow through the freezing chamber is in an opposite direction. Dissolved minerals are thereby substantially removed from the ice being discharged from the freezing chamber, and are conveyed from a zone of lesser water volume to a zone of higher water volume where they are more substantially dispersed. Water is flushed from the freezing chamber, by dispensing water containing dissolved minerals from a reservoir of greater volume than the volume of water at the water inlet end of the freezing chamber.

主权项

1. An ice making apparatus for making ice of a nugget-forming type from ice shavings that are compacted, comprising:
a refrigeration system for providing refrigerant to a freezing chamber of a hollow cylinder type; the freezing chamber being a hollow cylindrical inner wall for receiving water on said hollow cylindrical inner wall for forming ice on the hollow cylindrical inner wall; a rotatable ice auger sized to fit inside said freezing chamber and comprising means for scraping the ice formed on the hollow cylindrical inner wall of said freezing chamber and conveying the ice from the hollow cylindrical inner wall of said chamber, along said rotatable auger, to an ice discharge end of the auger in the freezing chamber and squeezing the water from the ice shavings at the discharge end of the auger, and after squeezing the water from the ice shavings conveying the ice shavings to an ice compression means; means to cause rotation of said rotatable ice auger; means for supplying inlet water to said freezing chamber; the ice compression means outside the freezing chamber for receiving ice shavings from said freezing chamber and compressing the ice shavings into compacted solid form ice while squeezing water from the ice shavings; a water reservoir located at an end of the rotatable ice auger opposite the ice discharge end of the rotatable ice auger; and wherein the means for supplying inlet water to the freezing chamber is at the ice discharge end of the rotatable auger, so as to generate a first flow of water from the means for supplying inlet water, the first flow of water and the water squeezed from the ice compression means are combined at the ice discharge end of the auger and travel from the ice discharge end of the rotatable ice auger to the water reservoir.