Scale ice
Encyclopedia
Scale ice is one of the types of ice commonly referred to as Flake ice
Made on a large vertical or horizontal drums, ice is formed on either the inner or outer surface of this drum by pouring a film of water over it, then contact freezing it into a thin sheet of ice. This ice is sub-cooled down to -7degC in order to make it brittle, then cracked off by a harvesting blade. The ice then falls by gravity into the ice store.
The vertical style of drum is usually stationary, with the ice formed on the inner surface. The harvesting blade is motor driven around this surface, cracking it off.
The horizontal style of drum is usually rotating, with the ice formed on the outer surface. As the drum rotates, a stationary blade cracks the ice from the surface
As the ice is made at -7degC, it can be stored in freezers below zero for prolonged storage, however this means that the ice is cold enough to condense and freeze moisture from the air and also re-freeze its own meltwater, thus forming lumps if not used quickly during periods of storage at ambient. It is best stored below zero, but in some applications such as fishing it can be stored at +2degC for moderate lengths of time without too many problems.
Mainly used in the fishing industry, particularly by processors with large ice requirements and the concrete industry where huge volumes are often required in hot climates, thus requiring cold storage.
Most scale ice machines are in the 5 tonne to 30 tonne range, below this they can be very expensive for their size, particularly in very small machines below a tonne. Larger machines up to 50 tonnes are also available, but can be physically large at these capaciities.
Flake ice
Flake ice is a loose definition of a group of ice types with irregular particle sizes. These types can be roughly grouped into two main types, scale ice and granular ice'....
Made on a large vertical or horizontal drums, ice is formed on either the inner or outer surface of this drum by pouring a film of water over it, then contact freezing it into a thin sheet of ice. This ice is sub-cooled down to -7degC in order to make it brittle, then cracked off by a harvesting blade. The ice then falls by gravity into the ice store.
The vertical style of drum is usually stationary, with the ice formed on the inner surface. The harvesting blade is motor driven around this surface, cracking it off.
The horizontal style of drum is usually rotating, with the ice formed on the outer surface. As the drum rotates, a stationary blade cracks the ice from the surface
As the ice is made at -7degC, it can be stored in freezers below zero for prolonged storage, however this means that the ice is cold enough to condense and freeze moisture from the air and also re-freeze its own meltwater, thus forming lumps if not used quickly during periods of storage at ambient. It is best stored below zero, but in some applications such as fishing it can be stored at +2degC for moderate lengths of time without too many problems.
Mainly used in the fishing industry, particularly by processors with large ice requirements and the concrete industry where huge volumes are often required in hot climates, thus requiring cold storage.
Most scale ice machines are in the 5 tonne to 30 tonne range, below this they can be very expensive for their size, particularly in very small machines below a tonne. Larger machines up to 50 tonnes are also available, but can be physically large at these capaciities.