What Are The Types of Ice Maker?

Ice has good cold storage performance and low temperature characteristics, hence it is widely used in fisheries, chemicals, air conditioning and other industries and large concrete projects.

Customer’s demand for the quality and quantity of ice is constantly growing and changing, and ice-making equipment is constantly changing with it, and various types of commercial ice maker have emerged.

In this blog, we will look at the types of ice-making machines according to different classification standards.

1. What Are the Different Types of Ice Maker?

Commercial ice makers are refrigeration machinery that cools water through an evaporator and generates ice through the refrigerant in the refrigeration system.

• According to the purpose, ice machines can be divided into: commercial ice machines and industrial ice machines.
• Commercial ice maker has 2 types: Split ice maker and integrated ice maker
• According to ice shape, ice machines can be divided into: cube ice, snowflake ice, flake ice, bullet ice, tube ice, and block ice.
• classified by structure: running water type and immersion type according to the ice making method.
• Refrigeration method can be divided into: water-cooled ice machine, air-cooled ice machine.

2. Commercial Ice Maker VS Industrial Ice Maker

Kommerzieller Eisbereiter

Compared with industrial ones, the capacity of commercial ice making machines is smaller, and the commercial ice maker can be used as long as they are connected to the power supply.

Commercial ice makers with larger ice production are generally split-type, and some are even similar to industrial ice makers.

Commercial ice making machines are mainly suitable for supermarkets, convenience stores, retail industries, food processing industries, hotels and restaurants, transportation and civil aviation systems, Western fast food restaurants, etc.

Industrial Ice Maker

Industrial ice makers have a larger ice production capacity and require a corresponding refrigeration system. There are also large differences in the use requirements. Industrial ice maker often require non-standard products and refrigeration and corresponding circulating water, electronic control system design, factory prefabrication, and on-site assembly. Therefore, industrial ice makers need to have strong professional technical capabilities.

They are mainly used in large ice-using places, food processing, seafood sales, chemical industry, water conservancy and electricity, medical, construction, mining and engineering construction industries for cooling, storage and preservation.

Knowing the characteristics of commercial ice makers and industrial ice makers, you can use the product characteristics to make the ice maker better meet your needs.

3. Split ice machine VS integrated ice maker

• Split ice machine

A split ice machine consists of two parts: the head, i.e. the “ice-making system”, and the ice storage bucket.

Split ice machines have a variety of outputs, ranging from 150 kg to 900 kg in 24 hours. The capacity of the ice storage bucket can be determined according to usage, ranging from 100 kg to 500 kg.

Since the ice storage bucket only has short-term heat preservation capacity, you need to choose an ice storage bucket of appropriate capacity based on the estimated ice usage.

• Integrated Ice Maker

As the name suggests, an integrated ice machine, also known as an “undercounter ice machine”, is an ice-making device that integrates ice making and ice storage systems and can be installed under the bar.

This type of ice machine is easy to install and operate, just plug in and connect to water.

Integrated ice machines are generally used in bars or small restaurants with small customer traffic. The rated output of commercial undercounter ice machines is generally between 25 kg and 140 kg per 24 hours.

4. Ice Maker of Different Ice Shapes

The common shapes of ice produced by commercial ice machines are cube ice, mineral ice, snowflake ice, flake ice, tube ice and bullet ice. The ice produced by industrial ice machines is mainly tube ice, cube ice, flake ice and brick ice.

The shape of ice determines its different properties, so there are various usage scenarios.

• Structural Classification

According to different water supply methods, it can be divided into three types: spray type, immersion type and flow type.

• Spray Eiswürfelbereiter

The water pump sprays water onto the evaporator at the top, and the evaporator ice tray is installed horizontally. The ice cubes produced by this method are of high hardness, low temperature (the temperature of ice cubes can be lower than -20℃), excellent texture, and long-lasting cooling effect.

• Immersion Ice Maker

Immersion ice making has fast ice making speed, beautiful ice appearance, and the sliding door adopts a unique slide design, which is flexible to open.

• Flowing Ice Maker

Flowing ice making, water flows from the upper part of the ice tray through the ice tray by gravity of water, and the ice tray is installed vertically. The ice cubes produced by this method are not as hard as those produced by the spray type, but the ice production volume is large and the efficiency is high, which is suitable for occasions with large ice consumption.

5. Different Cooling Methods

The compressor generates a lot of heat in the process of compressing gas, so it needs to be dissipated.

The method of using a fan to generate airflow and force it to blow to the cylinder to remove the heat is called air cooling; making the cylinder double-layered and passing circulating water in the middle to remove the heat is called water cooling.

6. In Conclusion

Ice makers play an important role in all areas of our work and life. This article introduces the types of ice makers by introducing various classification methods. I believe it can help readers better understand ice makers.