A method and apparatus is described that makes wet snow from ice-slurry. The method and apparatus described further delivers wet snow as produced onto the surface and into the cavities of perishable products, such as animal carcasses, where it adheres and melts slowly, thereby resulting in rapid cooling and in case of food products, leading to improved quality and shelf life of the food. The method and apparatus described can also be used to separate ice and liquid from ice-slurry made of wastewater.

Provided is a cold insulation tool capable of easily producing ice slurry. The cold insulation tool includes an outer casing that is provided to accommodate a tubular storage container filled with a beverage, a heat exchange unit that is detachably provided in the outer casing, and a stimulating unit that increases a surface area of at least a part of a gas-liquid interface of the beverage, in which the heat exchange unit includes a heat-storage material having a predetermined melting point, and a filling portion that has an internal space for filling with the heat-storage material liquid-tightly, and the melting point of the heat-storage material is lower than 0.2 C.

An ice making system includes a tank that stores a medium to be cooled, an ice making machine that cools the medium and makes ice, a pump that circulates the medium between the tank and the ice making machine, a de-icing mechanism that heats the medium and melts the ice in the ice making machine, and a control device that controls operations of the ice making machine, the pump, and the de-icing mechanism. The ice making machine includes a cooling chamber that cools the medium, an inflow port through which the medium flows into the cooling chamber, and a discharge port through which the medium is discharged from the cooling chamber. The control device activates the de-icing mechanism when a pressure difference between a pressure of the medium at the inflow port and a pressure of the medium at the discharge port exceeds a predetermined value.

An icemaking system includes: a refrigerant circuit that executes a vapor compression refrigeration cycle; a circulation circuit that circulates solution as a cooling target of the refrigerant circuit; and a control device that controls refrigerant evaporation temperature at the refrigerant circuit. The circulation circuit includes a solution flow path of: an ice generator; a solution tank that stores the solution; and a pump that pressure feeds the solution to the solution flow path. The refrigerant circuit includes: an evaporator of the ice generator; a compressor; a condenser; and an expansion valve. The control device includes a central processing unit (CPU) that adjusts to lower evaporation temperature at the evaporator as the solution has higher solute concentration.

A double pipe icemaker includes an inner pipe, and an outer pipe provided radially outside the inner pipe and coaxially with the inner pipe. The outer pipe allows a cooling target to flow in the inner pipe and a refrigerant to flow in a space between the inner and outer pipes. The outer pipe has a wall provided with at least one nozzle to jet the refrigerant into the space. The nozzle has a jet port. The jet port may allow the refrigerant to jet in a radial direction including at least an axial direction and a circumferential direction of the inner pipe. A shielding plate may be provided ahead of the jet port in a jetting direction such that the refrigerant hitting the shielding plate expands along a surface of the shielding plate in a radial direction.

An ice making system includes: a refrigerant circuit that performs a vapor compression refrigeration cycle and that includes a compressor, a condenser that condenses refrigerant discharged from the compressor, a first expansion valve with an adjustable opening degree that decompresses the refrigerant from the condenser, a flooded evaporator that evaporates the refrigerant decompressed by the first expansion valve, and a superheater that imparts a degree of superheating to the refrigerant discharged from the flooded evaporator; a circulation circuit that circulates a medium that is cooled by the flooded evaporator; and a control device that controls the adjustable opening degree of the first expansion valve such that the superheater imparts to the refrigerant discharged from the flooded evaporator a degree of superheating at which dryness of the refrigerant is kept within a predetermined range of less than 1.

A method for producing frozen fresh plants/animals or portions thereof includes the steps of: producing an ice slurry by mixing ice generated by freezing salt water having a salt concentration of from 13. 6% to 23 .1% and salt water having a salt concentration of from 13. 6% to 23.1%, and instantaneously freezing fresh plants/animals or portions thereof by immersing the fresh plants/animals or portions thereof in the ice slurry.

Systems and devices are provided for generating gel-ice. For example, a gel-ice generator is provided including a rotor apparatus to assist in moving flowable material through a gel-ice formation chamber. The rotor apparatus may include a rotor shaft positioned in the gel-ice formation chamber which is configured to rotate about a longitudinal axis during operation and to maintain flowable material within an annular column around the rotor shaft as the flowable material moves from an inlet end of the gel-ice formation chamber toward an outlet end of the gel-ice formation chamber. The gel-ice formation chamber may be surrounded by a coolant passage that spirals circumferentially along an exterior of the chamber. The rotor apparatus may further include a plurality of scraper elements supported on the rotor shaft to rotate in unison therewith to assist in the production of gel-ice as the rotor shaft rotates during operation by, among other things, scraping ice particles of a wall of a surrounding enclosure. The resultant gel-ice has a variety of uses, including for food processing and preservation.

Methods, systems, and device for solidification and/or solid production, such as ice production, are provided in accordance with various embodiments. For example, some embodiments include a method of solid production that may include contacting a first fluid with a second fluid to facilitate solidifying the second fluid; the first fluid and the second fluid may be immiscible with respect to each other. The method may include solidifying the second fluid. Some embodiments include a solid production system that may include a first fluid and a second fluid; the first fluid and the second fluid may be immiscible with respect to each other. The system may include one or more surfaces configured to contact the first fluid and the second fluid with each other and to form one or more solids from the second fluid.

Provided is a means for easily producing a plurality of types of flake ice each having a different freezing point and approximately uniform solute concentration. There is provides a flake ice production device. A drum includes an inner cylinder, an outer cylinder surrounding the inner cylinder, and a clearance formed between the inner cylinder and the outer cylinder. A refrigerant supply unit supplies a refrigerant to the clearance. A rotary shaft rotates taking a central axis of the drum as an axis. An injection unit rotates together with the rotary shaft and sprays brine toward the inner peripheral surface of the inner cylinder. A scraping unit scrapes off flake ice that is generated as a result of brine having been sprayed from the injection unit becoming attached to the inner peripheral surface of the inner cylinder, which has been cooled by the refrigerant supplied to the clearance.