KR101678436B1

KR101678436B1 - Refrigerator

Info

Publication number: KR101678436B1
Application number: KR1020100073303A
Authority: KR
Inventors: 민들레; 박은영
Original assignee: 엘지전자 주식회사
Priority date: 2010-07-29
Filing date: 2010-07-29
Publication date: 2016-12-06
Also published as: KR20120011485A

Abstract

The present invention relates to a refrigerator, which comprises a body, a door rotatably coupled to the body, a storage room provided inside the body for storing the stored food, and an infrared sensor installed in the storage room for sensing infrared rays radiated from the storage A memory unit for storing a surface temperature distribution of the stored product visualized by the camera unit, and a memory unit for storing the surface temperature distribution of the stored product, And a control unit for determining whether or not there is a difference.

Description

Refrigerator {REFRIGERATOR}

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a refrigerator, and more particularly, to a refrigerator capable of improving convenience of a user by displaying a change in quality of a stored product stored in a refrigerator to a user, and preventing use of a deteriorated stored product.

The refrigerator is a device for supplying the cold air generated by the refrigeration cycle to the refrigerator compartment and the freezer compartment to maintain the freshness of various foods for a long time.

Generally, a refrigerator includes a main body having a refrigerator compartment and a freezer compartment for storing food, and a door pivotally connected to one side of the main body to open and close the refrigerator compartment and the freezer compartment, and a compressor, an evaporator, And the refrigerating chamber and the freezing chamber are supplied with cool air generated from the evaporator so that the stored food and the like stored in the refrigerating chamber and the freezing chamber can be stored at a low temperature for a long period of time.

That is, the freezing chamber generally maintains a cooling temperature of -18 占 폚 or lower, and the refrigerating chamber has a cooling temperature range of around 2 占 폚.

The refrigerating compartment is partitioned into a plurality of spaces by a shelf or the like so as to efficiently store and store the refrigerated compartment according to the kind of the stored food. A storage room for storing fish or the like is provided in an upper area of the refrigerating compartment, A storage room for storing vegetables and fruits is provided.

Vegetables and fruits stored in such a storage room are damaged by microorganisms existing on the surface of moisture, vegetable and fruit in the storage room and the like even after being stored at a low temperature for a certain period of time.

However, in order to judge the quality of vegetables and fruits, it is necessary to perform a separate quality analysis process for measuring the degree of drying and the change of nutrients, so that it takes a lot of time and complicated procedures.

In addition, the consumer will not use the above-described separate quality analysis process for reasons such as the time, cost, and complicated procedure when the vegetables and fruits in the storage room are consumed. Therefore, There was a risk that the possibility increased.

In recent years, as demand for a refrigerator has been gradually increased due to improved living environment, a display unit such as an LCD panel is provided on the door of a refrigerator for providing information on the refrigerator and for controlling the refrigerator.

However, the display unit only provides the user with basic information such as time, the temperature of the refrigerating chamber and the freezing chamber, and does not indicate whether the food stored in the refrigerating chamber is altered, and stores the deteriorated food continuously in the refrigerating chamber, .

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems and it is an object of the present invention to provide a camera unit for detecting a surface temperature distribution of vegetables and fruits in a storage room in which vegetables and fruits are stored, The present invention provides a refrigerator capable of easily judging whether or not the vegetables and fruits are damaged in a non-destructive manner without going through a separate process .

The technical object of the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned technical objects and other technical objects which are not mentioned can be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the following description will be.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a refrigerator comprising: a main body; A door rotatably coupled to the main body; A storage chamber provided in the main body and storing a stored product; A camera unit mounted inside the storage room for sensing infrared radiation radiated from the storage and visualizing a surface temperature distribution of the storage; A memory unit for storing a surface temperature distribution of the stored visualized by the camera unit; And a controller for determining whether the stored product is damaged according to a difference in surface temperature distribution of the stored product stored in the memory unit. .

According to the present invention, a separate camera unit is provided in the storage room, and the camera unit senses the infrared rays radiated from vegetables and fruits stored in the storage room to visualize the surface temperature distribution of the vegetables and fruits, There is an advantage that it is possible to easily judge whether or not the vegetables and fruits are damaged in a non-destructive manner without going through a separate process such as measurement, measurement of nutrient composition change and the like.

In addition, by displaying the damage of the vegetables and fruits to the user through the display unit provided on the outer surface of the door, if the vegetables and fruits are altered, the deteriorated vegetables and fruits can be quickly removed from the inside of the refrigerator There is an advantage.

1 is a perspective view illustrating a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a perspective view of a storage compartment provided in a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a block diagram illustrating a control unit of a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention.
4 to 5 are diagrams showing surface temperature distributions of the stored product stored in the storage room of the refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention.
6 is a view illustrating a message displayed on a display unit provided on a front surface of a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The sizes and shapes of the components shown in the drawings may be exaggerated for clarity and convenience. In addition, terms defined in consideration of the configuration and operation of the present invention may be changed according to the intention or custom of the user, the operator. Definitions of these terms should be based on the content of this specification.

It is to be understood that within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described within the spirit and scope of the appended claims. Of course.

1 is a perspective view illustrating a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention. The basic structure of a refrigerator according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

As shown in FIG. 1, the entire outer shape of the refrigerator is formed by a main body 100 provided in a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape.

A storage room 300 is formed in the main body 100 for storage of food and the like and the storage room 300 is divided into a left side and a right side by a barrier 110 provided inside the main body 100, So that refrigerating chambers and freezing chambers are provided.

Of course, depending on the type of the refrigerator, the barrier 110 may divide the storage chamber 300 inside the main body 100 into upper and lower portions, and each of the refrigerating chamber and the freezing chamber may be provided. Applicable to various types of refrigerators without being limited.

The storage room 300 is partitioned into a plurality of spaces by a shelf or the like so that storage and storage can be performed efficiently according to the kind of storage, and a storage room 300 ).

A camera unit 400 is installed in the storage room 300. The camera unit 400 detects infrared rays emitted from vegetables and fruits stored in the storage room 300 and stores the infrared rays of the vegetables and fruit And so on.

The front of the main body 100 is opened so that the door 200 is rotatably mounted on the opened front of the main body 100 and the opened front of the main body 100, As shown in FIG.

That is, the door 200 is configured to open and close the refrigerator compartment and the freezer compartment, respectively, and open and close the refrigerator compartment and the freezer compartment independently by rotating the compartment to both sides.

On the other hand, the door 200 for opening and closing the freezing compartment is provided with a dispenser 230 for allowing the user to easily take out water and ice purified from the outside.

A display unit 210 and a button unit 220 are provided on the dispenser 230. The display unit 210 may include a liquid crystal display (LCD) Temperature, humidity, whether or not the refrigeration cycle is driven, and the surface temperature distribution of the vegetables and fruits stored in the storage room 300, whether or not it is damaged, and the like.

The user controls the temperature and humidity of the refrigerator by operating the button unit 220 provided at one side of the display unit 210 and adjusts the temperature and humidity of the surface of the vegetables and fruits stored in the storage room 300 And whether or not it is damaged is displayed on the display unit 210.

2 is a perspective view illustrating a storage chamber 300 provided in a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 2, a camera unit 400 for detecting infrared rays radiated from vegetable and fruits stored in the storage room 300 will be described in detail.

2, the camera unit 400 is mounted on the upper side of the inside of the storage chamber 300 provided at the lower portion of the refrigerating chamber. The camera unit 400 includes a controller 300 installed at one side of the storage chamber 300, (Not shown).

Meanwhile, the camera unit 400 senses infrared rays radiated from apples, such as vegetables and fruits stored in the storage room 300, and detects infrared rays radiated from the apples, .

That is, the present invention relates to a refrigerator for non-destructively analyzing damage of vegetables and fruits stored in the storage room 300 using a thermal image analysis technique, It is a technology that imaged the emitting infrared rays.

Therefore, the camera unit 400 visualizes the surface temperature distribution of the vegetables and fruits by using infrared rays radiated from vegetables and fruits stored in the storage room 300.

The control unit 500 determines whether the apple is damaged according to a difference in surface temperature distribution of the apple visualized by the camera unit 400.

That is, the surface temperature of a plant is determined by the environmental factor and the action of evaporation (the action of releasing excess heat by evaporation of water through the pores of the plant). When the tissue of the plant is damaged by various stresses, Is closed, and the closed pores do not cause the above-described vaporization.

Damaged tissues that do not cause such a process of evaporation do not emit heat, resulting in high surface temperatures of plants and the like.

The control unit 500 controls the camera unit 400 to visualize the surface temperature distribution of the vegetables and fruits of the storage room 300 at predetermined intervals and displays the visualized temperature distribution of the storage room 300 300), and judges that the vegetables and fruits are damaged if the difference value of the surface temperature distribution exceeds a preset temperature range.

3 is a block diagram showing a control unit 500 constituting a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 3, a detailed description will be made of an operation process for determining damage to vegetables and fruits stored in the storage room 300 using a camera unit 400 for detecting infrared rays of the present invention.

First, when the user wants to know whether the vegetables or fruits stored in the storage room 300 are damaged, the user operates the button unit 220.

That is, when the user operates the button unit 220, the control unit 500 senses the infrared rays radiated from the vegetables and fruits stored in the storage room 300 at a predetermined time interval And controls the camera unit 400 to visualize the surface temperature distribution of the stored product.

Here, the predetermined time interval can be changed by a user at a desired time interval by operating the button unit 220.

In addition, the camera unit 400 can detect infrared rays radiated from the vegetables and fruits by two methods, active thermography and passive thermography.

That is, the active thermography method is a method of detecting infrared rays coming back from the object after supplying a heat source to the object, and the passive thermography method is a method of detecting infrared rays emitted from the object itself.

Therefore, when visualizing the surface temperature distribution of the vegetables and fruits by the active thermography method, the heat source unit 600 for supplying heat to vegetables and fruits stored in the storage room 300 is installed in the storage room 300, and the camera unit 400 senses infrared radiation radiated from the vegetables and fruits supplied with heat from the heat source unit 600 to visualize the surface temperature distribution of the vegetables and fruits.

In the case of visualizing the surface temperature distribution of the vegetables and fruits by the passive thermography method, the camera unit 400 may be configured to irradiate infra-red rays that are self-copied by the vegetables and fruits stored in the storage room 300 And visualizes the surface temperature distribution of the vegetables and fruits.

Meanwhile, the display unit 210 provided on the outer surface of the door 200 images the surface temperature distribution of the vegetables and fruits visualized by the camera unit 400 and displays them to the user at regular time intervals.

Accordingly, the user can recognize the quality status of the vegetables and fruits at present by referring to the surface temperature distribution of vegetables and fruits stored in the storage room 300 through the display unit 210.

On the other hand, the surface temperature distribution of the vegetables and fruits visualized in the camera unit 400 at predetermined time intervals is stored in the memory unit 600, and the controller 500 controls the temperature of the vegetables And whether the vegetables and fruits are damaged according to the difference in the surface temperature distribution of fruits and the like.

That is, when the surface temperature distribution of the vegetables, fruits, and the like measured at regular time intervals exceeds a preset temperature range, the controller 500 determines that the structure of the vegetables and fruits is damaged.

As shown in FIG. 4, immediately after the fruits such as apples are stored in the storage chamber 300, they are generally yellow and have a relatively low surface temperature distribution.

However, after a certain period of time, the structure of the apple or the like is damaged, and as a result, the pore is closed, so that the evaporation does not occur, so that the surface temperature of the apple or the like is increased.

That is, as shown in FIG. 5, when a fruit such as an apple is damaged over time, it has a relatively high temperature distribution due to a red color around the damaged tissue.

In this case, the controller 500 compares the imaged surface temperature distributions such as apples after a certain period of time and after a certain period of time, and if the difference of the surface temperature distributions exceeds the set temperature range, And so on.

Here, the predetermined temperature range can be changed to a temperature range desired by the user by operating the button unit 220.

6, when the control unit 500 determines that the structure of the vegetables and fruits is damaged, the display unit 210 displays the facts of damage to the vegetables and fruits to the user, Vegetables, fruits, and so on.

Accordingly, when the structure of the stored vegetables such as vegetables and fruits stored in the storage room 300 is damaged, the user can discard or directly consume the damaged structure. Therefore, if the vegetables and fruits are deteriorated, It can be quickly removed from the inside of the refrigerator to prevent odor from being generated.

In addition, it is possible for the user to reduce the possibility of taking a disease by ingesting deteriorated vegetables and fruits and the like.

While the invention has been shown and described with reference to certain preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. Accordingly, the true scope of the present invention should be determined by the following claims.

100: main body 200: door
300: storage room 400: camera unit
500: control unit 510: memory unit

Claims

main body;
A door rotatably coupled to the main body;
A storage chamber provided in the main body and storing a stored product;
A heat source unit for supplying heat to the storage;
A camera unit mounted inside the storage room for sensing infrared radiation radiated from the storage unit and receiving a heat from the heat source unit to visualize the surface temperature distribution of the stored product;
A memory unit for storing a surface temperature distribution of the stored visualized by the camera unit;
A display unit provided on an outer surface of the door and configured to image the surface temperature distribution of the stored visualized by the camera unit and display the visualized temperature distribution to a user; And
And a controller for determining whether the stored object is damaged according to a difference between a current surface temperature distribution of the stored object and a previous surface temperature distribution of the object stored in the memory unit,
Wherein the display unit displays to the user whether the stored product is damaged by the controller.

delete

The method according to claim 1,
The camera unit includes:
Wherein the refrigerator is mounted on an upper portion of the storage compartment.

The method according to claim 1,
A button unit that is provided at one side of the display unit and is operable to detect infrared rays radiated from the storage unit or operable to display a surface temperature distribution of the stored storage unit or damage of the storage unit on the display unit, ; And a refrigerator.

And a camera unit mounted in the storage room and configured to visualize the surface temperature distribution of the stored product by detecting infrared rays radiated from the stored product,
Storing the sensed temperature distribution data of the stored surface temperature distribution by sensing the camera unit;
After the lapse of a predetermined time, re-sensing the surface temperature distribution of the stored product by the photographing of the camera section;
Imaging the surface temperature distribution of the stored visualized by the camera unit and displaying on the display unit provided on the outer surface of the door;
Comparing the surface temperature distribution of the previous storage with the surface temperature distribution of the current storage; And
And generating a warning message indicating storage damage if a result of the comparison is that the difference between the current temperature distribution and the previous temperature distribution is above a predetermined criterion,
Wherein the camera senses infrared rays radiated from the storage material that receives heat applied from a heat source unit that supplies heat to the stored object.

9. The method of claim 8,
Wherein the temperature distribution data to be compared is the temperature distribution data photographed first after storing the storage.