Maintenance and cleaning for an ice machine
View Patent ↗An ice-making machine and method of maintaining and cleaning an ice-making machine are provided. The ice-making machine has predictive maintenance and cleaning. Operational conditions of the ice-making machine, such as, for example, water quality, are used to establish service intervals and/or types of service, and the service intervals and/or types of service are indicated to the user with a lead-time to allow for timely obtaining the service.
1. An ice-making machine comprising:
a compressor, a condenser, an evaporator, and a sensor, wherein said sensor determines an operational condition of the ice-making machine, and a microprocessor that schedules a service based at least in part when said operational condition reaches a predetermined level and on a service interval derived from said operational condition.
2. The ice-making machine of claim 1 , wherein said operational condition is a quality of water supplied to the ice-making machine.
3. The ice-making machine of claim 2 , wherein said sensor measures water conductivity.
4. The ice-making machine of claim 2 , wherein said sensor measures a total dissolved solid content of said water.
5. The ice-making machine of claim 1 , further comprising an indicator in communication with said sensor, wherein said indicator notifies a user of scheduling of said service.
6. The ice-making machine of claim 5 , wherein said indicator is a visual indicator.
7. The ice-making machine of claim 5 , wherein said indicator is an audio indicator.
8. The ice-making machine of claim 1 , further comprising an automatic service system operably connected to the ice-making machine that provides said service to the ice-making machine automatically.
9. The ice-making machine of claim 8 , wherein said microprocessor is in communication with said automatic service system and said sensor, wherein said service is a plurality of services, and wherein one or more of said plurality of services can be automatically actuated by said microprocessor.
10. The ice-making machine of claim 8 , further comprising an indicator in communication with said sensor, wherein said indicator notifies a user of actuation of said automatic service.
11. A method of servicing an ice-making machine comprising:
determining an operational condition of the ice-making machine; and
scheduling a service of the ice-making machine based at least in part when said operational condition reaches a pre-determined level and on a service interval derived from said operational condition.
12. The method of claim 11 , wherein said operational condition is a quality of water supplied to the ice-making machine.
13. The method of claim 11 , wherein said operational condition is determined by measuring water conductivity.
14. The method of claim 12 , wherein said operational condition is determined by measuring a total dissolved solid content of said water.
15. The method of claim 11 , further comprising; notifying a user of the scheduling of the service.
16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the user is notified visually.
17. The method of claim 15 , wherein the user is notified audibly.
18. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
determining a type of service required by the ice-making machine based at least in part upon said operational condition.
19. The method of claim 18 , further comprising: notifying a user of the type of service required by the ice-making machine.
20. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
automatically providing the service to the ice-making machine via an automatic service system operably connected to the ice-making machine.