KR20070043170A - Apparatus and method of thawing control in refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

An apparatus and method for controlling thawing of a refrigerator are disclosed. In the present invention, in determining the thawing time for thawing a frozen food, the thawing time is determined until the product temperature of the food to be thawed reaches the freezing point of the food. This is to prevent the loss of food quality that can occur during the thawing of food. The thawing control apparatus of the refrigerator provided with a thawing chamber for thawing frozen food according to the present invention for such a purpose comprises: a temperature sensor for detecting product temperature of food in the thawing chamber; It includes a control unit for increasing the temperature inside the thawing chamber until the temperature of the food in the thawing room is equal to or higher than the freezing point of the food, and stops thawing when the food temperature of the food reaches the freezing point.

Description

Refrigerator defrosting apparatus and method {APPARATUS AND METHOD OF THAWING CONTROL IN REFRIGERATOR}

1 is a view showing a refrigerator having a thawing room according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a view showing a defrosting control device for the refrigerator shown in FIG. 1. FIG.

3 is a view showing a thawing control method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a graph showing thawing control characteristics according to the present invention;

* Description of the symbols for the main parts of the drawings *

100: main body

102: refrigerator

106: evaporator

108: blower fan

110: temperature sensor

112: food

116: damper

The present invention relates to a refrigerator, and more particularly to a thawing control of a refrigerator having a thawing chamber for thawing frozen food.

The refrigerator is a device for low temperature storage of food, and includes a freezer compartment for freezing and storing food at a relatively low temperature and a refrigerating compartment for storing food in a refrigerated state at a relatively high temperature. The refrigerator includes a main body in which at least one cooling chamber is formed, a compressor disposed at a lower rear region of the main body to compress the refrigerant, a condenser connected to the discharge side of the compressor to radiate the compressed refrigerant, and a rear of the cooling chamber. It is provided with an evaporator disposed in the area and condensed by a condenser and passed through an expansion mechanism, such as a capillary tube, inlet and evaporate to perform a cooling action.

In such a conventional refrigerator, the freezer compartment is usually maintained at a cooling temperature of -18 ° C or less, so that a large amount of time is required when thawing the frozen food at room temperature in order to cook the food stored in the freezer compartment.

In addition, when a microwave oven or the like is used to shorten the thawing time, a separate electric power is consumed, and a speed difference between thawing of the surface of the frozen food and the core is generated so that the temperature of the food surface is excessively increased, and Decreased quality

In the present invention, in determining the thawing time for thawing a frozen food, the thawing time is determined until the product temperature of the food to be thawed reaches the freezing point of the food. This is to prevent the loss of food quality that can occur during the thawing of food.

The thawing control apparatus of the refrigerator provided with a thawing chamber for thawing frozen food according to the present invention for such a purpose comprises: a product temperature sensor for detecting product temperature of food in the thawing chamber; And a control unit for raising the temperature of the thawing chamber until the temperature of the food in the thawing chamber is equal to or higher than the freezing point of the food and stopping the thawing when the food temperature of the food reaches the freezing point.

In addition, the above-mentioned temperature sensor is a structure that can be in direct contact with the food inside the thawing room is connected to the cable so as to communicate with the control unit to the probe-type temperature sensor for measuring the temperature of food.

The apparatus may further include a blowing fan for blowing air into the above-described thawing chamber to increase the temperature inside the thawing chamber.

A thawing control method for a refrigerator having a thawing chamber for thawing frozen food according to the present invention for the above-described object, the method comprising: detecting the temperature of food in the thawing chamber; Raise the temperature inside the thawing chamber until the temperature of the food reaches the freezing point of the food; When the food temperature reaches the freezing point, thaw is stopped.

Referring to Figures 1 to 4 a preferred embodiment of the present invention made as described above are as follows. 1 is a view showing a refrigerator having a thawing room according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, an evaporator 106 is installed inside the refrigerating compartment 102 to cool the refrigerating compartment 102, and a blower fan for supplying cooled air to the refrigerating compartment 102 is provided near the evaporator 106. 108) is installed. On the other hand, under the main body 100, a compressor 104 for compressing a low-temperature, low-pressure gaseous refrigerant to a high-temperature, high-pressure state is installed, the compressor 104 provides power for the circulation of the refrigerant.

A plurality of shelves are provided in the refrigerating chamber 102 for storing food, and in particular, a thawing chamber 120 for thawing frozen meat or fish is provided. The air blown by the blowing fan 108 is supplied to the thawing chamber 120 through a damper 116 that can be opened and closed. In addition, in the thawing chamber 120, a high temperature sensor 114 and a temperature sensor 110 in the form of a probe are installed. The internal temperature sensor 114 is for detecting a temperature inside the thawing chamber 120, and the temperature sensor 110 is stored inside the thawing chamber 120 to defrost food 112 (for example, meat or fish) itself. It is for detecting the temperature. The temperature sensor 110 is connected to the control unit (see 202 of FIG. 2) by a cable to a temperature sensor in the form of a probe for temperature measurement, and has a structure capable of directly contacting the food 112 to be thawed.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a defrosting control device of the refrigerator illustrated in FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 2, the product temperature sensor 110 and the internal temperature sensor 114 are connected to an input side of the controller 202 that controls the overall operation of the refrigerator to receive the product temperature and the internal temperature from each other. The blower fan 108 and the damper 116 are connected to the output side of the controller 202 to open the damper 116 during thawing to control the air to be supplied to the thawing chamber 120.

In particular, the control unit 202 checks whether the food temperature of the food 112 in the thawing chamber 120 is lower than the freezing point of the food 112 in the thawing mode, and if the food temperature of the food 112 is When the freezing point is lower than the freezing point, the blowing fan 108 is driven and the damper 116 is opened so that air of relatively room temperature is supplied into the thawing chamber 120 so that the temperature of the food 112 rises and the freezing point of the food 112 is increased. Control to reach For example, since the freezing point of the meat is about -1 ℃, if the food 112 is meat, the product temperature is controlled to reach -1 ℃. When the temperature of the food 112 reaches a temperature above the freezing point of the food 112, the control unit 202 stops the blower fan 108 and closes the damper 116 to stop thawing and maintains the storage state at the current temperature. To be possible.

That is, in the present invention, the thawing time is determined from the time when the thawing mode is started to the time when the temperature of the food 112 reaches the freezing point of the food 112.

3 is a diagram illustrating a thawing control method according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 3, the control unit 202 checks whether the current operation mode is the thawing mode (302). If the current operation mode is the thawing mode, the temperature of the food 112 in the thawing chamber 120 is increased. Check if it is lower than the freezing point of food 112 (304). If the product temperature of the food 112 is lower than the freezing point of the food 112 (Yes of 304), the air blower 108 is driven and the damper 116 is opened to allow air at a relatively room temperature to thaw the chamber 120. The temperature of the food 112 rises by controlling the supply of the food 112 to reach the freezing point of the food 112 (306). When the temperature of the food 112 reaches a temperature above the freezing point of the food 112 through the above process, the control unit 202 stops the blower fan 108 and closes the damper 116 to stop thawing and the current temperature. Allow storage state to be maintained (No in 304).

4 is a graph showing thawing control characteristics according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 4, since the set temperature of the freezer compartment is about -18 ° C, the frozen food (eg meat or fish) stored in the freezer compartment also has a temperature of about -18 ° C. That is, the initial temperature (T1) of the food (meat) taken out of the freezer may be about -18 ° C. In this state, due to the blowing action of the thawing chamber 120, the temperature of the food 112 gradually rises to stop the cotton blowing fan 108 at a time point t1 at which the freezing point T2 of the food 112 is reached. The damper 116 is closed to stop thawing.

That is, in the present invention, the thawing time is determined from the time when the thawing mode is started to the time when the temperature of the food 112 reaches the freezing point of the food 112.

According to the present invention, in determining the thawing time for thawing a frozen food, the thawing time is determined until the product temperature of the food to be thawed reaches the freezing point of the food. The purpose is to prevent quality loss.

In particular, if the thawing time is excessively long when thawing meat, etc., the meat cells are destroyed, the moisture inside the cells is discharged and evaporated, so that the quality of the meat may be greatly deteriorated. The optimum thawing time can be realized because the thawing time is determined in accordance with the current state (temperature) of the food, rather than being set in advance.

Claims (4)

In the thawing control apparatus of the refrigerator provided with a thawing room for thawing frozen food, A product temperature sensor for detecting product temperature of the food in the thawing chamber; And a control unit for raising the temperature inside the thawing chamber until the product temperature of the food in the thawing chamber is equal to or higher than the freezing point of the food, and stopping thawing when the food temperature of the food reaches the freezing point. Thaw control device of the refrigerator. The method of claim 1, The temperature sensor is a thaw control device of the refrigerator having a structure that can be in direct contact with the food inside the thawing room connected to the cable so as to communicate with the control unit to the temperature sensor in the form of a probe for measuring the temperature of food. The method of claim 1, And a blowing fan for blowing air into the thawing chamber to increase a temperature inside the thawing chamber. In the thawing control method of the refrigerator having a thawing room for thawing frozen food, Detecting a temperature of food in the thawing chamber; Raising the temperature inside the thawing chamber until the temperature of the food reaches the freezing point of the food; The thawing control method of the refrigerator which stops thawing when the food temperature of the said food reaches the freezing point.

Images