Ice Making And Refrigeration; How Ice Is Made; The Refrigeration Process; Basics - Dometic Eskimo Ice EI540D Installation & Operation Manual

INTRODUCTION
I M
CE AKING AND
H I I
OW CE S
Fresh water is applied to the interior wall of the evaporator shell.
Using a refrigeration process, heat is removed from the fresh
water in order to freeze it.
As the water freezes onto the wall of the evaporator shell, the
auger scrapes it off and into a discharge port. The ice shavings
are then compressed and pushed into the ice transport tube
which runs to the ice-collection bin. See Figure 1.
T R
HE EFRIGERATION
The basic principle of an ice machine system is that a liquid
refrigerant absorbs heat as it turns into a gaseous state
(evaporates) and releases heat as it turns back into a liquid
state (condenses). The system consists of five main
components:
• Evaporator - Absorbs heat from the fresh water in the
evaporator shell causing the fresh water to freeze.
• Auger - Scrapes the frozen fresh water from the
interior sides of the evaporator shell and extrudes it
into the discharge hose.
• Condenser - Releases heat into the system's
circulating seawater and turns the refrigerant gas back
into a liquid.
• Compressor - Drives the refrigerant through the loop.
• Metering Device - Meters the flow of refrigerant to the
evaporator.
The ice maker's refrigerant compound has a very low boiling point. It flows in a closed loop between an evaporator and a
condenser, alternately absorbing and releasing heat. This process removes the heat from the fresh water in the evaporator/
auger assembly and causes the fresh water to freeze on the inside of the evaporator wall. The heat absorbed by the refrigerant
is transferred to the seawater.
A water pump circulates seawater through the inner tube in the condenser coil which cools the refrigerant in the outer tube and
condenses it from a gas into a liquid. The heat from the refrigerant is exchanged to the seawater and discharged overboard.
The liquid refrigerant is then pumped through the evaporator coil and the cycle repeats. See Figure 2.
2
R
EFRIGERATION
M
ADE
P
ROCESS
Eskimo Ice Installation & Operation Manual
B
ASICS
Figure 1: Ice-Making Process
L-3040 ENGLISH