JPH10111064A - Control method for cooling fan of refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To operate a compressor and a cooling fan, accumulate the opening period of time of a door and the operating period of time of a compressor utilizing a timer to compare them with set period of times and remove frost on an evaporator, then, start the compressor again after the frost of the evaporator is removed and operate the cooling fan again when the temperature of the evaporator is reduced to a set temperature. SOLUTION: The opening period of time of doors 270, 280 and the operating period of time of a compressor 210 are measured by a timer and accumulated by a microcomputer while the accumulated period of time is compared with a set time whereby the frost of an evaporator 220 is judged whether it is to be removed or not. When the evaporator 220 is defrosted, only the compressor 210 is started again and the temperature of the evaporator 220 is detected. When a predetermined temperature is lowered, the cooling fan 230 is driven again. There are merits such that the inflow of high-temperature air, generated by a heated evaporator 220, into a refrigerator is prevented, the cooling efficiency of the refrigerator 200 is improved and an electric power can be saved.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for controlling a temperature of a refrigerator, and more particularly, to a method for controlling a cooling fan of a refrigerator.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, a refrigerator is a device for storing various foods in a frozen or refrigerated state while maintaining a fresh state for a long time. Such a refrigerator has two cooling units,
One of them is a direct cooling type, and an evaporator used in a cooling cycle is installed in a food storage space, and a direct heat exchange is effectively performed. Another type of cooling unit is an indirect cooling type, in which an evaporator is installed in an air passage away from the food storage space, air is heat-exchanged by the evaporator, and the heat-exchanged air (cool air) is blown by a blower fan. It flows into the food storage space.

The above-mentioned refrigerator usually has a freezer compartment and a refrigerator compartment located below the freezer compartment. The refrigerating compartment has a space separated from the main refrigerating compartment and having a temperature difference from the main refrigerating compartment, and is a vegetable storage or a cooling compartment for storing meat and the like in the separated space. In such a space, food can be separated and stored according to a desired condition.
Doors are installed in front of the freezer compartment and the refrigerator compartment so that food can be put in and taken out of the freezer compartment and the refrigerator compartment.

In the above-mentioned general refrigerator, in order to store food in a desired state, that is, to maintain each room at a predetermined temperature, the cool air exchanged by the evaporator is cooled by the blower fan. Cool air flowing into each room and exiting each room flows through the air passages.

[0005] The passage is described in US Pat. No. 4,7,764 to Thomson et al. Entitled "Home Refrigerator Air Flow System".
U.S. Pat. No. 5,388,427 to Sun G. Lee, entitled "Refrigerator with Kimchi Chamber", dated Nov. 14, 1995;
Date), “Refrigerator that independently controls the temperature of many rooms”
U.S. Patent No. 5,433,0 by Cho et al.
No. 86 (July 18, 1995).

FIG. 1 shows a conventional refrigerator by Thomson, Cho and Lee. As shown in FIG. 1, a conventional refrigerator is provided with a freezer compartment 10, a refrigerator compartment 30, which is separated from the freezer compartment by a partition 20, and is located below the freezer compartment, and is provided between the freezer compartment 10 and an outer wall. Evaporator 4 that cools and removes moisture from the air to generate cool air.
0, a blower fan 50 positioned above the evaporator 40 to blow the cool air into the freezing chamber 10 and the refrigerator compartment 30, and the blower fan 50 formed between the evaporator 40 and the outer wall. The main air duct 60 which provides a passage through which the cold air flows inside the refrigerator compartment 30 is formed between the refrigerator compartment 10 and the partition 20 and the refrigerator compartment 1
The first cooling air discharged from the evaporator 40 flows into the evaporator 40.
An air duct 62, a second air duct 64 formed between the partition 20 and the refrigerator compartment 30, through which cool air discharged from the refrigerator compartment 30 flows, and the first air duct 6
2 and a third air duct 66 that combines the cool air flowing through the second air duct 64 to provide a passage toward the evaporator 40.

[0007] The cool air generated by the evaporator 40 flows into the freezing room 10 and the refrigerating room 30 by the blower fan 50, and after cooling the respective rooms 10 and 30, the cold air in the freezing room 10 is cooled. The first formed on the bottom
The first air duct 62 flows through the cool air outlet 12. On the other hand, the cool air flowing into the inside of the refrigerator compartment 30 through the cool air inlet 34 formed on the rear surface of the refrigerator compartment 30 cools the refrigerator compartment 30, and then the cold air formed on the upper surface of the refrigerator compartment 30 is cooled. 2 through the cold air outlet 32
It flows through the air duct 64. The cool air flowing through the first and second air ducts 62 and 64 is supplied to the third air duct 66.
And flows toward the evaporator 40, and is cooled again by the evaporator 40. The cold air is supplied to the evaporator 4
When the cooling air is cooled again, the moisture contained in the cold air changes to frost and adheres to the evaporator 40. The frost adhering to the evaporator 40 is turned into water by a heater 68 installed in the third air duct 66, so that the third frost is removed.
The water is discharged to a water discharge port 69 formed at a lower portion of the air duct 66.

The structure of a freezer compartment and a refrigerator compartment of a refrigerator for circulating a cool air flow of the refrigerator will be described with reference to FIG.

In the refrigerator as described above, cold air generated through the evaporator 40 is blown by the blower fan 50 into the freezing compartment 10 and the refrigerating compartment 30, the first,
The freezing room 10 and the refrigerating room 30 are cooled while circulating through the second and third air ducts 62, 64, 66 and the evaporator 40.

In cooling the refrigerator compartment 30, the cool air flows into the refrigerator compartment 30 through the main duct 60 by the blower fan 50 and passes through the second discharge port 32 formed in the upper part of the refrigerator compartment 30. It is discharged from the refrigerator compartment 30. The cool air discharged from the refrigerator compartment 30 is supplied to a second air duct 6 formed between the cool air and the partition 20.
4 and the third air duct 66 is combined with the cool air discharged from the freezing room 10 through the inside of the third air duct 66. The cool air discharged from the freezer compartment 10 and the refrigerator compartment 30 is supplied to the evaporator 4.
It is cooled again by 0.

Also, US Pat. No. 5,228, by Jae E. Shim entitled "Automatic Operation Control of Refrigerator"
No. 300 (July 20, 1993) discloses a method for controlling the temperature of a refrigerator.

The method of Shim is based on the number of times the door is opened / closed and the time required for setting the temperature in the refrigerator, a defrost cycle,
Automatically controlled by the operation of compressor and fan.

According to the method of Shim, after the defrost of the evaporator is completed by the defrost cycle, the compressor in order to prevent the air around the evaporator whose temperature has been raised from flowing into the refrigerator. After the is operated, the blower is driven with a delay in time.

[0014]

However, the above Sh
According to the method of im, it is difficult to accurately calculate a delay time for driving the blower after driving the compressor, and it is difficult to accurately control the temperature of the refrigerator.

Accordingly, the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to control the temperature of a refrigerator precisely, improve the cooling efficiency, and easily and easily. An object of the present invention is to provide a method of controlling a cooling fan of a refrigerator that can minimize power loss.

[0016]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, the present invention comprises a step of driving a compressor and a step of supplying cool air in an evaporation chamber generated by driving the compressor to a freezing chamber and a refrigerator of a refrigerator. Analyzing the accumulated driving time of the compressor, and the accumulated opening time of the door to determine whether or not to enter defrost, and when the defrost entry time is reached by the determining step. Stopping the compressor and the cooling fan, and driving a heater to remove frost from the evaporator; and detecting a temperature of the evaporator installed in the evaporator, and setting a temperature of the evaporator to a third temperature. Stopping the heater when the temperature reaches one temperature and driving the compressor; and sensing the temperature of the evaporator and driving the cooling fan when the temperature of the evaporator reaches a second temperature. Have To provide a refrigerator of the cooling fan control method comprising.

[0017]

According to the present invention having the above-described structure, the defrost temperature sensor for detecting the first temperature and the second temperature is installed in the evaporator. The defrost temperature sensor senses the temperature of the evaporator when the evaporator is heated by the heater, and senses the temperature of the evaporator when the compressor is operated after defrosting.

According to the present invention, after the defrosting of the evaporator is completed, when the compressor is operated, air around the evaporator having a high temperature is prevented from directly flowing into the refrigerator, There are advantages that the cooling efficiency of the refrigerator can be improved, the temperature inside the refrigerator can be kept constant, and power can be saved.

The above objects and other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of some preferred embodiments of the present invention to which reference is now made.

[0020]

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. 2 to 4 illustrate a method 100 for controlling a cooling fan of a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a method 100 for controlling a cooling fan of a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 4, the method 100 for controlling the cooling fan of the refrigerator according to the embodiment of the present invention includes driving the compressor 210 (S1) and driving the cooling fan 230 (S1).
2), a step of determining the defrosting of the evaporator 220 (S3), a defrosting step of stopping the compressor 210 and the cooling fan 230 and operating the heater 290 (S4),
When the temperature of 20 reaches the first temperature, the heater is set to 29
0 and restarting the compressor 210 (S8), and driving the cooling fan 230 when the temperature of the evaporator 220 reaches the second temperature (S8).
11).

The compressor 210, the cooling fan 23
0, the defrost temperature sensor 240 for detecting the temperature of the evaporator 220, the heater 290, and the timer 310, as shown in FIG.
0 is electrically connected to the microcomputer 300 that controls the “0”.

When power is applied to the refrigerator 200, the microcomputer 300 drives the compressor 210 (S1) and drives the cooling fan 230 (S2) to start a cooling cycle of the refrigerator 200. . From this time, the timer 310 is set to the refrigerator 20
The time when the doors 270 and 280 are opened and the time when the compressor 210 is operated are measured and transferred to the microcomputer 300.
0 accumulates the time respectively. The door 270, 2
When the evaporator 220 is opened, moisture flows into the freezing chamber 250 and the refrigerating chamber 260 from outside.
Frost develops.

The microcomputer 300 accumulates the opening time of the doors 270 and 280 and the driving time of the compressor 210, and combines the accumulated opening time and the accumulated driving time of the compressor 210 by an experiment. It is determined whether or not the evaporator 220 is to be defrosted by comparing with the created set time (S3).

When the microcomputer 300 determines that defrosting is to be performed, the microcomputer 300 performs the defrosting step (S4). The defrosting step (S
4) stopping the compressor 210 and the cooling fan 230 (S5), resetting the timer 310, and operating the heater 290 (S6).
The method includes comparing the temperature of the evaporator 220 with the first temperature (S7).

When the start of defrosting of the evaporator 220 is determined in the defrosting determination step (S3), the heater 29
0 is operated, the evaporator 220 is heated, and the frost adhering to the evaporator 220 is melted into water, and the timer 3
10 measures the opening time of the doors 270 and 280 and the operating time of the compressor 210 again (S6), and the defrost temperature sensor 240 detects the temperature of the evaporator 220. The temperature of the evaporator 220 heated by the heater 290 is in a range of about 8 to 10 ° C.

While the heater 290 is operating, the microcomputer 300 operates by the defrost temperature sensor 24.
The temperature of the evaporator 220 sensed by the first
When the temperature of the evaporator 220 reaches the first temperature as compared with the temperature, the microcomputer 300 ends the defrosting of the evaporator 220 (S7).

When the defrosting step (S4) is completed, a restarting step (S8) of the compressor 210 is performed. The restarting operation (S8) of the compressor 210 is performed by the evaporator 220.
When the temperature of the compressor reaches the first temperature, the heater 290 is stopped and the compressor 210 is operated again (S
9) and comparing the temperature of the evaporator 220 with the second temperature (S10).

Even if the compressor 210 is operated again (S
9), the evaporator 220 maintains the heated state. The defrost temperature sensor 240 is connected to the evaporator 220
The microcomputer 300 compares the temperature of the evaporator 220 with the second temperature until the temperature of the evaporator 220 reaches the second temperature (S
9). Preferably, the second temperature is in a range of -11 to -12C. When the temperature of the evaporator 220 reaches the second temperature in the restarting step (S8) of the compressor 210, the microcomputer 300
Keeps the temperature of the refrigerator 200 constant by driving the cooling fan 230.

[0029]

As described above, the method of controlling a cooling fan of a refrigerator according to the present invention prevents high-temperature air generated during a defrost cycle from flowing into the refrigerator, thereby improving the cooling efficiency of the refrigerator. There is an advantage that it can improve and save power.

Although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments. Rather, the invention could be modified or changed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the flow of cold air of a conventional refrigerator.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view illustrating a refrigerator to which a cooling fan control method for a refrigerator according to the present invention is applied;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a control circuit for performing the method of controlling the cooling fan of the refrigerator of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a method of controlling a cooling fan of a refrigerator according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 100 Cooling fan control method 200 Refrigerator 210 Compressor 220 Evaporator 230 Cooling fan 240 Defrost temperature sensor 250 Freezer compartment 260 Refrigerator compartment 270,280 Door 290 Heater 300 Microcomputer 310 Timer

Claims (5)

[Claims] (A) driving a compressor of a refrigerator; (B) driving a cooling fan for supplying cold air generated by an evaporator of the refrigerator to a freezing room and a refrigerator room; and (C). Determining a defrosting of the evaporator by comparing a first time in which the refrigerator door is opened and a second time in which the compressor has accumulated operating time with a set time; (D) removing the frost from the evaporator by stopping the compressor and the cooling fan and operating a heater, and comparing the temperature of the evaporator with a first temperature; and (E) controlling the temperature of the evaporator. Stopping the heater when the temperature reaches the first temperature and restarting the compressor; and (F) driving the cooling fan again when the temperature of the evaporator reaches the second temperature. Cooling fan for refrigerator Your way. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step (D) includes: stopping the compressor and the cooling fan; operating the heater; and comparing a temperature of the evaporator with the first temperature. The method for controlling a cooling fan of a refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein: 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first temperature is in a range of 8 to 10 ° C. 4. The step (E) includes: stopping the heater when the temperature of the evaporator reaches a first temperature and restarting the compressor; and estimating the temperature of the evaporator and the second temperature. 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising comparing 5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the second temperature is in a range of −11 to −12 ° C.