What is the Working Principle of an Air Cooled Ice Machine?

The core working principle of an air cooled ice machine is based on a vapor compression refrigeration cycle. Using air as the heat dissipation medium for the condenser, it can continuously make ice without an external cooling water system. The system consists of three core stages: refrigeration cycle, ice making, and ice removal.

1. Core Refrigeration Cycle

The entire system comprises a closed-loop pipeline consisting of four main components: a compressor, an air-cooled condenser, an expansion valve, and an evaporator.

The compressor compresses low-temperature, low-pressure refrigerant vapor into high-temperature, high-pressure gas, which is then sent to the air-cooled condenser.

The axial flow fan in the condenser drives ambient air to flow rapidly over the heat exchange fins, directly removing heat from the refrigerant through air convection, causing the high-temperature, high-pressure gaseous refrigerant to condense into a medium-temperature, high-pressure liquid refrigerant.

The liquid refrigerant is throttled and depressurized by the expansion valve, becoming a low-temperature, low-pressure gas-liquid two-phase mixture, which is then sent to the evaporator.

Inside the evaporator, the refrigerant directly evaporates and absorbs heat, lowering the evaporator surface temperature to -10 to -18°C, completing the refrigeration process. After absorbing heat and returning to a gaseous state, the refrigerant is drawn back into the compressor to begin the next cycle.

2. Ice Making Process

The inlet valve automatically opens, allowing water to enter the storage tank. The water pump then delivers the water to the distribution head, where it is evenly sprayed or flows onto the surface of the low-temperature evaporator, forming a water film similar to a water curtain.

Upon contact with the evaporator wall, which is far below the freezing point, the water rapidly cools and gradually condenses into ice on the evaporator surface. Incompletely frozen water flows back to the storage tank through a return channel and is pumped back for ice making, preventing water waste.

3. De-icing Process

When the ice layer thickness reaches the user-preset value, the control system automatically switches states:

High-temperature, high-pressure hot gas discharged from the compressor is directly introduced into the evaporator jacket through a reversing valve, replacing the original low-temperature liquid refrigerant.

The evaporator surface rapidly heats up, melting the contact surface between the ice layer and the evaporator to form a thin water film, which acts as a lubricant. The ice blocks automatically fall off under their own gravity into the ice storage tank below.

The meltwater generated during the de-icing process also flows back to the storage tank, preventing the discharge of wet ice. After completion, the equipment automatically restarts the ice making cycle.

Tianyicool is one of the excellent manufactures in commercial and industrial refrigeration field, building the its vision of being the first choice in refrigeration. For more information about air cooled ice machine, please contact us.

Email: tianyicool@vip.163.com / info@tianyicool.cn

Address: No.9, Guangzhou Road, Pingdu City, Qingdao, Shandong,China.

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