Ice cubes for cooling and mixing into drinks are usually produced in a purpose-made ice machine. The water to be frozen is filled in a tilt container where a pipe loop is located above the water surface in the tilt container, which pipe loop constitutes the evaporating section of a cooling circuit. According to prior art, a number of ice pipes project down into the water from the evaporaiing ; pi-pe ccil.

The evaporating section draws heat out of the water by the ice pipes, whereby there is a build-up of a predominantly cylindrical ice layer surrounding each ice pipe.

After the freezing process has gone on for a certain period of time and the ice has attained a desired size, the cooling

circuit is changed over to allow hot fluid from the compressor of the cooling circuit to flow through said pipe coil. The hot fluid melts that part of the piece of ice which is located closest to each ice pipe, whereby the pieces of ice loose their attachment to the ice pipes, falling into the tilt container below. The tilt container is tipped so that the ice cubes, along with some water, fall into a basin/ice bank from where the ice cubes may be collected.

The water that is transferred to the ice bank along with the ice cubes, plus any melt water, is drained from the ice bank to a drain.

In many areas, drinking tap water is not advisable unless it has gone through an extensive purifying process. Such water is not suited for ice making either, and therefore it is quite common to use bottled water in ice machines of the type in question. In order to make better use of the relatively costly bottled water, excess water and melt water is now normally returned from the ice bank to the tilt container, where it is re-used for ice making.

It is obvious that the transfer of water from the ice bank, which is accessible to utensils and hands, back to the ice production is risky with regard to hygiene. In Norway, this practice is not permitted in public-places.

The aim of the invention is to remedy the disadvantages of prior art.

The aim is achieved in accordance with the invention by the characteristics stated in the description below and in the appended claims.

At the discharge edge, a tilt container is equipped with a drainage opening designed to drain the excess water from the ice production before this runs down into the ice bank.

When a number of ice cubes is finished, the tilt container is slowly tipped to allow any water present in the container to flow out through the drainage opening in the tilt container.

At a certain angle of tilt, all the water in the tilt container has drained out through the drainage opening and into a return container below. While the tilt container is in this position, the finished ice cubes fall into the tilt container and immediately continue down into the ice bank.

Any melt water from the ice bank is drained to a drain. The excess water present in the return container, and which has not been in contact with any other objects, may be pumped back to the tilting container and re-used for ice production with no hygienic risk involved.

The following describes a non-limiting example of a preferred embodiment illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of an ice machine with the lid, jacket, insulation and front panel removed;

Figure 2 is a perspective view of some of the components of the ice machine in a section 1-1 in figure 1, where the tilt container is in the initial position; Figure 3 shows the same as figure 2, but here the tilt container is in an intermediate position in which the excess water flows out through the opening in the tilt container; and Figure 4 shows the same as figure 3, but here the tilt container is in the emptying position.

In the drawings, reference number 1 denotes an ice machine comprising a cooling unit 2 of a type that is known per se, which is connected to an evaporator 4 via pipe 6, a machine frame 8, a tilt container 10, a return container 12 and an ice bank 14. In figure 1, essential details such as covers, insulating boards and the front panel are not shown.

Water is pumped up into the tilt container 10 from the return container 12 at a predetermined rate via a pump (not shown).

The return container 12 is filled to a predetermined level via e. g. an intake valve 16. The ice pipes 18 of the evaporator 4 project down into the water 20 that is present in the tilt container 10. As the evaporator 4 cools the water 20 via the ice pipes 18, ice forms, surrounding the ice pipes 18. When a predetermined time has elapsed and the ice cubes 19 have attained a sufficient size, the tilt container is rotated about its rotational axis 22 by means of a tilt motor 24 and a rod connection 26 until the excess water 20 in the

tilt container 10 flows out through a through-going drainage opening 28 located near the outlet side 27 of the tilt container 10, and then down into the return container 12 via a deflector plate 30, see figure 3.

In figure 4, the tilt container 10 is in the emptying position, where all excess water has been drained to the return container 12. The heat flow through the evaporator 4 is switched over so as to heat the evaporator 4 and the ice pipes 18, whereby the ice nearest the heat pipes is caused to melt. Consequently, the ice cubes loose their attachment to the ice pipes 18, falling down onto the tilt container 10 and further down into the ice bank 14. The tilt container 10 is then rotated to its initial position, whereupon it is filled with water from the return container 12, see figure 2.

The invention allows the utilisation of excess water in an ice machine 1 without the risk of it becoming contaminated by unclean utensils or hands. This results in a considerable reduction of the water consumption during ice production of the type in question.