Devices for producing clear ice products

A device for making clear ice comprising:

• a housing comprising a plurality of elongate troughs, each of the plurality of elongate troughs having at least one flume surface wall in thermal communication with a cooling source while the housing is submerged in a fluid bath;
• at least one fluid intake disposed to provide a flow of the fluid to the housing;
• and
• a means for distributing the flow of fluid from the at least one fluid intake into the plurality of elongate troughs;
• and
• a plurality of pneumatic actuators operatively connected between the housing and a frame structure affixed to and supporting the housing, wherein the plurality of pneumatic actuators are actuatable to generate waves within the fluid bath by oscillating the frame structure, during a freezing operation of the device and while the housing is submerged in the fluid bath, according to a predefined recipe.

A device for making clear ice comprising:

• a housing comprising a plurality of elongate troughs, each of the plurality of elongate troughs having at least one flume surface wall in thermal communication with a cooling source while the housing is submerged in a fluid bath;
• at least one fluid intake disposed to provide a flow of the fluid to the housing;
• and
• a means for distributing the flow of fluid from the at least one fluid intake into the plurality of elongate troughs while maintaining a substantially laminar fluid flow and substantially equal fluid pressure along the plurality of elongate troughs while the housing is submerged in the fluid bath and during a freezing operation of the device, wherein the fluid bath provides a fluid level that is between 2.5 centimeters to about 10.1 centimeters above a top surface of the submerged housing.

A device for making clear ice comprising:

• a housing comprising a plurality of elongate troughs, each of the plurality of elongate troughs having at least one flume surface wall in thermal communication with a cooling source while the housing is submerged in a fluid bath;
• at least one fluid intake disposed to provide a flow of the fluid to the housing;
• and
• a means for distributing the flow of fluid from the at least one fluid intake into the plurality of elongate troughs while maintaining a substantially laminar fluid flow and substantially equal fluid pressure along the plurality of elongate troughs while the housing is submerged in the fluid bath and during a freezing operation of the device,
• wherein:
• the cooling source is coupled to a plurality of pressurized cooling cavities configured to control temperature for facilitating ice formation within the plurality of elongate troughs by flowing a coolant through the plurality of cooling cavities, each of the cooling cavities forming a coolant intake valve for receiving coolant from the cooling source and forming a coolant outtake valve disposed to remove the coolant from the cooling cavity;
• and
• the cooling source is coupled to a manifold having at least one inlet for each of the plurality of cooling cavities, the manifold being configured to select a flow rate for the coolant flowing through each coolant intake valve associated with a respective cooling cavity in the plurality of cooling cavities to cause laminar flow of coolant through the plurality of cooling cavities or turbulent flow of coolant through the plurality of cooling cavities.