JP2011220597A - Refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce wasteful electric power consumed by an in-container light and to reduce a load on the eyes of users, in the refrigerator of a French door.SOLUTION: The refrigerator includes: a refrigeration chamber provided to the refrigerator body, refrigeration chamber right and left doors opening and closing the opening of the refrigeration chamber right and left; a door switch detecting opening/closing states of the left/right doors; an illuminance sensor detecting brightness of the circumference of the refrigerator; in-container light constituted of a plurality of LEDs which are provided to a top face in the refrigeration chamber; and a control part individually controlling turning on and turning off of respective in-container lights. Control is performed so that only the in-container light arranged at refrigeration chamber top face facing a door in which opening is detected is turned on according to opening-detection of any one door out of right and left doors by the door switch. Control is performed so that brightness of the in-container light is increased time sequentially and gradually from a turned-off state when darkness of the surrounding of the refrigerator is detected by the illuminance sensor.

Description

  The present invention relates to a refrigerator, and more particularly to control of a refrigerator interior lamp.

  A conventional refrigerator is provided with an interior lamp in order to make it easy to see the stored items such as food and drinking water stored in the refrigerator when the user opens the door. A circuit block diagram for turning on and off the interior lamp is shown in FIG. The circuit having the configuration shown in FIG. 14 inputs signals from the left door opening / closing state detection device 3 a and the right door opening / closing state detection device 3 b to the control unit 5, and turns on the interior lamp 10 via the interior lamp drive circuit 9. Or control to turn off the light.

  Moreover, the flowchart of control of lighting or extinguishing of the interior lamp is shown in FIG. In the control shown in FIG. 15, the signals of the left door open / close state detection device 3a and the right door open / close state detection device 3b are input to the control unit 5, and when the left or right door is open, the interior lamp 10 is turned on. The interior lamp 10 is turned off when both the left and right doors are closed.

  Furthermore, some recent refrigerators are provided with two doors at the opening, and a French door (a double door) configured to be opened from the left and right. An example of this French door is described in Patent Document 1. According to this patent document 1, it is shown that a switch for turning on and off the interior lamp is provided in accordance with opening and closing of at least one of the double doors. In the conventional refrigerator, as shown in FIG. 15, the interior lights are turned on and off by simple on / off control even when only one of the left and right doors is opened. To do.

No. 2-5351

  In the conventional French door refrigerator including the above-mentioned Patent Document 1, even when only one of the left and right doors is opened, all the interior lights are lit and illuminate the entire interior. ing. Moreover, since the lighting and extinguishing are performed by simple on / off control, when the interior lamp is lit in a dark place, the difference in brightness (illuminance in the interior) is extremely large and brightens rapidly. Therefore, the subject that the user's eyes are dazzled and burdened has arisen.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a refrigerator that efficiently lights the interior when the door of the French door is opened and performs lighting control that does not make the user feel dazzled.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention mainly adopts the following configuration.
A storage room for storing foods; left and right doors that open and close the opening of the storage room; a door open / close detection unit that detects an open / closed state of the door; and an illuminance sensor that detects brightness around the refrigerator; A plurality of interior lamps provided on the top surface of the storage room, and a control unit that controls lighting and extinguishing of the interior lamps, the interior lamps facing the left and right doors, respectively. Arranged on the top surface, and the control unit is opposed to the door detected to be opened based on detection of opening of the left door and / or the right door among the left and right doors by the door opening / closing detection unit. It is set as the structure controlled so that the arranged interior lamp is lighted.

  Further, the control unit turns on only the interior lamps arranged to face the doors detected to be opened based on the opening detection of any one of the left and right doors by the door opening / closing detection unit. It is set as the structure controlled as follows. Furthermore, the interior lamp has a light source group in which a plurality of light sources are arranged in one direction as a structural unit, and the structural unit consisting of the light source group is disposed to face the left and right doors, respectively, Arranged in the direction, the depth direction of the storage room, or in the oblique direction of the depth of the storage room, and the control unit individually controls turning on and off for each structural unit of the interior light To do.

  Moreover, the said control part is set as the structure which controls to increase the brightness of the said interior lamp in time series from a light extinction state based on the detection of the brightness around the refrigerator by the said illumination intensity sensor. Further, the control unit raises the output duty of the LED (light source) of the interior lamp in a time-series stepwise manner from the extinguished state when it is determined by the illuminance sensor that the surroundings of the refrigerator is dark as compared with a set value. It is set as the structure controlled as follows.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, when the door of the French door of a refrigerator is opened, only the area | region which needs a light can be illuminated efficiently and the effect which suppresses power consumption can be acquired.

  Also, when the surroundings of the refrigerator are dark, the darkness is detected by an illuminance sensor provided in the refrigerator, and the brightness (luminance) of the interior lamp is gradually raised from the extinguished state to make it brighter. Thus, the user's eyes can be prevented from being dazzled, and the burden on the user can be reduced.

It is a figure which shows the front when a French door is opened in the refrigerator which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a top view which shows the arrangement | positioning pattern 1 of the interior lamp regarding this embodiment. It is a top view which shows the arrangement | positioning pattern 2 of the interior lamp regarding this embodiment. It is a top view which shows the arrangement pattern 3 of the interior lamp regarding this embodiment. It is a top view which shows the arrangement | positioning pattern 4 of the interior lamp regarding this embodiment. It is a top view which shows the arrangement pattern 5 of the interior lamp regarding this embodiment. It is a top view which shows the arrangement pattern 6 of the interior lamp regarding this embodiment. It is a block diagram of the control circuit for turning on and off the interior lamp regarding this embodiment. It is a flowchart of the control circuit for lighting and extinguishing the interior lamp regarding this embodiment. It is another block diagram of the control circuit for turning on and off the interior lamp concerning this embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which controls the brightness of the interior lamp regarding this embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which shows the change of the output of the interior lamp regarding this embodiment. It is a flowchart of the control circuit which controls the output of the interior lamp regarding this embodiment. It is a block diagram of the control circuit for lighting and extinguishing the interior lamp regarding a prior art. It is a flowchart of the control circuit for lighting and extinguishing the interior lamp regarding a prior art.

  The internal lamp regarding the refrigerator which concerns on embodiment of this invention is demonstrated below, referring FIGS. In FIG. 1, a refrigerator main body 1 has a refrigerator compartment left door 2a and a refrigerator right door 2b in a refrigerator compartment (one of storage compartments) arranged above, and a left door switch 3a and a right door switch 3b respectively. The open / closed state of the doors 2a and 2b is detected.

  Moreover, the refrigerator main body 1 has the illumination intensity sensor 4, the interior lamp 6, and the control part 5 etc. which perform these control, and the interior lamp 6 has several LED in the interior top surface part from FIG. Are arranged in a pattern as shown in FIG. The illuminance sensor 4 detects the brightness around the refrigerator, and is arranged on the upper surface plate of the refrigerator body 1, the upper surface portion near the hinge portion of the door, or the operation switch portion 7 on the entire door surface as shown in the figure. Yes.

  The arrangement of the interior lamp 6 will be described in detail. In FIG. 2, as viewed from the top of the refrigerator, the first interior lamp 8a (corresponding to the refrigerator door left door 2a) composed of a plurality of LEDs arranged in a horizontal row. And the second interior lamp 8b (arranged corresponding to the refrigerator door right door 2b) are arranged in one row × two columns on the top surface of the refrigerator compartment. Moreover, in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, the 1st interior lamp 8a and the 2nd interior lamp 8b which made four LED a structural unit in illustration are diagonally corresponding to each door 2a, 2b. Is arranged. Moreover, in FIG. 5, the 1st interior lamp 8a comprised by several LED arrange | positioned in the vertical line (depth direction of a refrigerator compartment) and the 2nd interior lamp 8b are arrange | positioned at 1 row x 2 rows. (In other words, each of the interior lamps 8a and 8b in the vertical row is composed of two interior lamps arranged side by side in the illustrated example to form one row, and each interior lamp is 2 Form a column).

  Moreover, in FIG. 6, the 1st indoor lamp | ramp 8a comprised by several LED arrange | positioned in a horizontal line (In the example, what used 2 LED of a horizontal line as a structural unit), and a 2nd warehouse. The inner lamps 8b are arranged in one row and two columns, and similar third and fourth inner lamps 8c and 8d are arranged in the vicinity of the first and second inner lamps 8a and 8b, respectively. First and third interior lamps 8a and 8c arranged corresponding to the refrigerator compartment left door 2a, and second and fourth interior lamps 8b and 8d arranged corresponding to the refrigerator compartment left door 2b. Is arranged at the top of the refrigerator compartment with a gap. The first to fourth internal lamps shown in FIG. 6 are arranged in 2 rows × 2 columns as a whole. Moreover, in FIG. 7, the 1st interior lamp 8a comprised by several LED arrange | positioned in a horizontal line, the 2nd interior lamp 8b, the 3rd interior lamp 8c, and the 4th interior lamp 8d. Are arranged in two rows and two columns. The illustrated structure shown in FIG. 7 is different from that shown in FIG. 6 in that 8a, 8c and 8b, 8d forming two rows are arranged adjacent to each other.

  FIG. 8 shows a block diagram of a control circuit for turning on and off the interior lamp relating to the present embodiment, and FIG. 9 is a flowchart of a control circuit for turning on and off the interior lamp relating to the present embodiment. FIG. 10 shows another block diagram of a control circuit for turning on and off the interior lamp according to this embodiment.

  As shown in FIGS. 8 and 10, according to the refrigerator according to the present embodiment, the interior lamp 8 a, the interior lamp 8 b, the interior lamp 8 c, and the interior lamp 8 d are input to the control unit 5. It is turned on and off in conjunction with the outputs of the switch 3a, the right door switch 3b, and the illuminance sensor 4. Specifically, as shown in FIGS. 8 and 10, the outputs from the left door switch 3a, the right door switch 3b, and the illuminance sensor 4 are input to the control unit 5, and the interior lamp ( LED) The driving circuit 9 is operated to turn on / off the interior lamp. In the configuration example shown in FIG. 8, the detection values of the left door switch 3a and the right door switch 3b are input to the control unit 5, and the LED driving circuit is operated by the output from the microcomputer in accordance with each input value. 6 is turned on and off.

  Further, as is apparent from the flowchart shown in FIG. 9, the control unit 5 according to the present embodiment lights only the interior lamp 8a and the interior lamp 8c when only the left door 2a is open, The lamp 8b and the interior lamp 8d are turned off. Similarly, when only the right door 2b is open, only the interior lamp 8b and the interior lamp 8d are turned on, and the interior lamp 8a and the interior lamp 8c are turned off. When both the left and right doors are open, the interior light is turned on, and when both the left and right doors are closed, the interior light is turned off. According to the present embodiment, by turning on only the interior lamp on the door side that is open, the power consumption corresponding to the interior lamp that is turned off when only one of the doors is opened is used. Can save energy.

  Moreover, according to the control block diagram of the interior lamp shown in FIG. 10, the detection value of the illuminance sensor 4 for detecting the brightness around the refrigerator is input to the control unit 5, and the LED is driven by the output from the microcomputer according to the input value. The circuit can be operated to turn on and off the interior lamp 6 and to control the brightness of the interior lamp at the time of lighting according to the detection value of the illuminance sensor.

  FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram for controlling the brightness of the interior lamp according to the present embodiment, and describes the brightness control of the interior lamp. According to this, the output duty indicates the ratio of the time during which the interior lamp is lit during this period T in the fixed time period T when the interior lamp is lit or extinguished, and the output duty is 0%. If the lamp is turned off, the maximum illumination is 100%. According to the present embodiment, even when the refrigerator door is opened when the surroundings of the refrigerator are dark, the interior lamp gradually becomes brighter from the off state, so that the interior lamp is simply turned on / off. In comparison, since the user's eyes can get time to get used to the light, it is difficult to be dazzled and the burden on the user is reduced. In FIG. 11, the on / off control in the period T is visually lit instead of blinking, and the brightness of the light source LED seems to change depending on the value of the duty.

  FIG. 13 shows a flowchart of a control circuit for controlling the output of the interior lamp relating to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 13, when the control unit 5 determines that the periphery of the refrigerator body 1 is dark, the control unit 5 determines an initial value (eg, 20%) of the output duty of the interior lamp 6, and the refrigerator left When the door 2a or the refrigerator right door 2b is opened, the output duty of the interior lamp 6 is gradually increased over time as shown in FIG. Gradually increase. The output duty of the interior lamp shown in FIG. 12 indicates a value obtained by duty control of each structural unit (for example, 4 or 2 LED units surrounded by a frame) of the interior lamp shown in FIGS.

  In FIG. 13, it is detected by the illuminance sensor 4 whether or not the brightness around the refrigerator is dark at step S3, and when it is determined that the brightness is bright compared with the set value, it is lit at an output duty of 100% (S12) and determined to be dark Sometimes, as described above, the initial value is set (for example, 20% is set by program setting). Here, when a program that increases the output duty by 20% is adopted, if the program is such that the number of the set value exceeds 100%, it is determined whether or not the number itself is less than 100 ( S6) The interior lamp is turned on with the current duty increasing by 20% (S7). In step S8, the output duty is further increased, and it is detected by the left and right door open / close detection devices 3a and 3b whether or not the door is closed (S10), and if it is closed, the interior lamp is turned off (S11). If the door is open in step S10, the flow for increasing the output duty stepwise is repeated.

  As described above, according to the refrigerator according to the embodiment of the present invention, the detection values of the left door switch 3a and the right door switch 3b are input to the control unit 5, and the control unit 5 opens only the left door 2a. In the case of the state, only the interior lamp 8a and the interior lamp 8c are turned on, and the interior lamp 8b and the interior lamp 8d are turned off. Similarly, when only the right door 2b is open, only the interior lamp 8b and the interior lamp 8d are turned on, and the interior lamp 8a and the interior lamp 8c are turned off. When both the left and right doors are open, the interior light is turned on, and when both the left and right doors are closed, the interior light is turned off.

  When the microcomputer controller 5 determines that the surroundings are dark based on the detection value of the illuminance sensor 4, the controller 5 detects the initial output duty of the interior lamp 8a, the interior lamp 8b, the interior lamp 8c, and the interior lamp 8d. The value is determined (the initial value of the output duty is set by a program), and the interior light 8a, the interior light 8b, the interior light 8c, and the interior are determined according to the detected values of the left door switch 3a and the right door switch 3b. When each of the lamps 8d is turned on, the output duty of each interior lamp is increased stepwise, and the brightness (illuminance) of each interior lamp is changed from a light-off state to a lighting state in which the brightness is increased over time. Bring it.

  By controlling the brightness of the interior lamp in this way, even when the refrigerator door is opened when the surroundings of the refrigerator are dark, the interior lamp gradually becomes brighter from the off state. Compared to simple ON / OFF control, the user's eyes can get time to get used to the light, so that it is less likely to be dazzled and the burden on the user is reduced. In addition, the output duty of the interior lamp 8a, interior lamp 8b, interior lamp 8c, and interior lamp 8d is individually controlled, and only the illuminance of the interior door lamp on the open door side is gradually increased and turned on. Therefore, compared with a conventional refrigerator, when only one of the doors is opened and used, it is possible to reduce the power consumption of the interior lamp that is turned off, which is useful for energy saving.

  Moreover, the refrigerator main body 1 is equipped with the operation switch part 7 electrically connected with the control part 5 in the door front surface, and the user uses this operation switch part 7 and the control part 5 determines surrounding brightness. The threshold value used as a reference can be changed. Thereby, the user can select the determination threshold value of the ambient brightness by the illuminance sensor 4 by the operation switch unit 7, and therefore, it is possible to control according to individual differences such that the eyes are easily dazzled or not easily dazzled.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Refrigerator main body 2a Refrigeration room left door 2b Refrigeration room right door 3a Refrigeration room left door opening / closing detection apparatus 3b Refrigeration room right door opening / closing detection apparatus 4 Illuminance sensor 5 Control part 6 Interior lamp 7 Operation switch part 8a First interior lamp 8b Second interior light 8c Third interior light 8d Fourth interior light 9 Interior light drive circuit 10 Conventional interior light 11 Output power of interior light

Claims (6)

A storage room for storing foods; left and right doors that open and close the opening of the storage room; a door open / close detection unit that detects an open / closed state of the door; and an illuminance sensor that detects brightness around the refrigerator; A plurality of interior lamps provided on the top surface of the storage room, and a control unit that controls turning on and off of each interior lamp,
The interior lamps are arranged on the top surface facing the left and right doors, respectively.
The control unit turns on an interior lamp arranged to face the door detected to be opened based on detection of opening of the left door and / or the right door among the left and right doors by the door opening / closing detection unit. Refrigerator characterized by being controlled. In claim 1,
The interior lamp has a light source group in which a plurality of light sources are arranged in one direction as a constituent unit,
The structural unit consisting of the light source group is arranged to face the left and right doors, respectively, in the left-right direction of the storage room, in the depth direction of the storage room, or in the diagonal direction of the depth of the storage room. ,
The said control part controls lighting and extinction separately for every structural unit of the said interior lamp. The refrigerator characterized by the above-mentioned. In claim 1 or 2,
The control unit turns on only the interior lamps arranged to face the door detected to be opened based on the opening detection of any one of the left and right doors by the door opening / closing detection unit. A refrigerator characterized by being controlled. In claim 1, 2 or 3,
The said control part is controlled to increase the brightness of the said interior lamp in time series from a light extinction state based on the detection of the brightness around the refrigerator by the said illumination intensity sensor. In claim 4,
The refrigerator characterized by controlling so that the output duty of the light source of the said interior lamp may be raised in steps. In any one of claims 1 to 5,
A refrigerator using an LED for the interior lamp.

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