Sanitary evaporator assembly
AssigneeTrue Manufacturing Co., Inc.
InventorsKevin Knatt, Edward Hartman
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An ice maker evaporator assembly having an evaporator pan with a back wall and left, right, top and bottom sidewalls extending from the back wall, and a freeze plate located within the evaporator pan. Refrigerant tubing is thermally coupled to the back wall of the evaporator pan opposite the left, right, top and bottom sidewalls. A first layer of insulation is formed on the refrigerant tubing. An evaporator housing having a housing back wall and housing left, right, top and bottom sidewalls extending from the housing back wall is attached to the evaporator pan and covers refrigerant tubing. A second layer of insulation is formed on top of the first layer of insulation.
Claims20
An evaporator assembly for use in an ice maker, the evaporator assembly comprising:
- an evaporator pan comprising a back wall and left, right, top and bottom sidewalls extending from the back wall;
- a freeze plate located within the evaporator pan;
- refrigerant tubing thermally coupled to the back wall of the evaporator pan opposite the left, right, top and bottom sidewalls;
- an evaporator housing attached to the evaporator pan and covering the refrigerant tubing, the evaporator housing comprising:
- housing left, right, top and bottom sidewalls, wherein each of the housing left, right, top and bottom sidewalls comprises a groove;
- and
- a housing back wall on the housing left, right, top and bottom sidewalls opposite the evaporator pan, the housing back wall comprising raised edges seated in the grooves of the housing left, right, top and bottom sidewalls, the housing back wall comprising a raised edge, the raised edge being configured to melt during an ultrasonic welding process to seal the housing back wall to the housing left, right, top and bottom sidewalls.
An evaporator assembly for an ice maker, the evaporator assembly comprising:
- an evaporator pan comprising a back wall and left, right, top and bottom sidewalls extending from the back wall;
- a freeze plate located within the evaporator pan;
- refrigerant tubing thermally coupled to the back wall of the evaporator pan opposite the left, right, top and bottom sidewalls;
- and
- an evaporator housing attached to the evaporator pan and defining an enclosed cavity behind the back wall of the evaporator pan, the evaporator housing containing the refrigerant tubing inside the enclosed cavity;
- wherein the enclosed cavity is sealed water tight.
An ice formation device for an ice maker, the ice formation device comprising:
- an evaporator body having a front surface and a back surface, the front surface configured for exposure to water for freezing the water into ice;
- refrigerant tubing on the back surface of the evaporator body for absorbing heat from the evaporator body;
- and
- a layer of insulation formed on the refrigerant tubing and the back surface of the evaporator body;
- wherein the layer of insulation comprises an integral layer of cured-in-place insulation that conforms to the refrigerant tubing and the back surface of the evaporator body and is impervious to water such that the layer of insulation has no joints through which water can leak onto the back surface of the evaporator body.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.