CN109387011B

CN109387011B - Refrigerator with a door

Info

Publication number: CN109387011B
Application number: CN201810734866.3A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 森胁实
Original assignee: Toshiba Lifestyle Products and Services Corp
Current assignee: Toshiba Lifestyle Products and Services Corp
Priority date: 2017-08-03
Filing date: 2018-07-06
Publication date: 2021-08-17
Anticipated expiration: 2038-07-06
Also published as: CN109387011A; JP6967904B2; JP2019027761A

Abstract

The invention provides a refrigerator, which can remind a user that a door of a storage room at the upper layer is opened even if a plurality of different storage rooms are at separated positions when doors of the plurality of different storage rooms such as a refrigerating room and a freezing room are opened, thereby considering safety. The refrigerator is provided with: a main body; a plurality of storage chambers arranged in the main body and having doors and a door; a vegetable compartment illumination unit which is disposed in a door of a refrigerating compartment, which is a storage compartment located at an upper-stage position, and which, as an illumination unit, illuminates another storage compartment, such as a vegetable compartment, located at a lower position than the refrigerating compartment located at the upper-stage position; and a control part for giving a warning notification by changing the lighting state of the vegetable room illumination if the door of the lower freezing room is opened in the state that the door of the refrigerating room on the upper layer side is opened.

Description

Refrigerator with a door

Technical Field

Embodiments of the present invention relate to a refrigerator.

Background

When a user uses a refrigerator, if a room in which the refrigerator is disposed is dark, the user operates an illumination switch of the room to turn on illumination of the room, thereby making the room bright.

Further, patent document 1 discloses, in paragraph 0345 and fig. 59, that if a proximity sensor of a refrigerator detects the approach of a person, a control unit turns on an LED (light emitting diode) of a door opening operation unit for opening a door of the refrigerator, thereby clearly showing the position of the door opening operation unit.

Documents of the prior art

Patent document

Patent document 1: japanese laid-open patent publication No. 2016-14484

Disclosure of Invention

However, according to a recent refrigerator, it is possible to use a function of transferring food items frozen and preserved in a freezing chamber from the freezing chamber to a refrigerating chamber and thawing the frozen food items using a thermostatic chamber of the refrigerating chamber. In this way, when frozen food is placed in the thermostatic chamber and thawed, there is an operation of moving the frozen food from the freezing chamber into the thermostatic chamber of the refrigerating chamber.

However, the refrigerating chamber and the freezing chamber are located at upper and lower stages of the main body of the refrigerator and separated from each other, and the drawer type door of the freezing chamber at the lower stage can be pulled out in a state where the hinge type door of the refrigerating chamber at the upper stage is opened.

When the door of both the refrigerating chamber and the freezing chamber is opened to move the frozen food, and the head of the frozen food is lifted by taking the frozen food out of the freezing chamber from a state in which the head of the frozen food is slightly lowered in order to take the frozen food out of the freezing chamber, the door of the refrigerating chamber is opened, and therefore, a user needs to operate the door to avoid the refrigerating chamber. Therefore, smooth movement of the frozen food is sometimes hindered.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a refrigerator capable of notifying a user that a door of a storage room on an upper stage is opened even when a plurality of different storage rooms are separated from each other when the doors of the plurality of different storage rooms such as a refrigerating room and a freezing room are opened, thereby taking safety into consideration.

A refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention includes: a main body; a plurality of storage chambers arranged in the main body and having doors; an illumination unit which is disposed on the door of the storage room located at an upper side and irradiates the other storage rooms located below the storage room located at the upper side; and a control unit that, in a state where the door of the storage room on the upper side is opened, if the door of the other storage room located on the lower side is opened, performs a warning notification by changing a lighting state of the illumination unit.

Thus, when the door of the storage room, for example, the refrigerating room, is opened, even if the refrigerating room and the other storage rooms are located at the positions separated from the uppermost layer and the lowermost layer, the control unit can notify the user of the opening of the door of the refrigerating room as a warning by changing the lighting state of the lighting unit. Therefore, the safety when using the refrigerator is improved, and the convenience of use is improved. That is, when the doors of both of the plurality of different storage compartments such as the refrigerating compartment and the freezing compartment are opened, even if the plurality of different storage compartments are located at the separated positions, it is possible to take safety into consideration by notifying the user that the door of the storage compartment at the upper stage is opened.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a block diagram showing the control unit and each controlled element shown in fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a view showing an example of a state in which at least one of the doors of the refrigerating compartment and the drawer-type door of the lower freezing compartment of the refrigerator shown in fig. 1 and 2 are simultaneously opened.

Fig. 4 is a view showing a state in which at least one of the doors of the refrigerating compartment and the drawer-type door of the lower freezing compartment of the refrigerator shown in fig. 1 and 2 is simultaneously opened, and the vegetable compartment illumination portion issues a warning message.

Fig. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a mode of generating various types of alert notifications by lighting the refrigerator compartment interior lamp and the vegetable compartment illumination unit, and an alert notification generation mode based on a sound of the alert notification generation unit.

Fig. 6 is a diagram showing a lighting pattern a to a lighting pattern F as an example of a lighting pattern of a warning lamp for calling the attention of a user in the refrigerator 1 shown in fig. 1 and 2.

Description of the reference numerals

1 … refrigerator; 2 … a main body; 3 … doors; 4 … doors; 5 … refrigerator compartment (storage compartment); 7 … vegetable room (storage room); 7a … drawer door; 8 … ice making chamber (storage compartment); 8a … drawer door; 9 … upper freezer compartment (storage compartment); 9a … drawer door; 10 … lower freezing chamber (storage chamber); 10a … drawer-type door; 20 … refrigerator compartment in-box lights (in-box lights); 100 … control section; 110 … vegetable room lighting part (lighting part); 120 … vegetable room illumination unit (illumination unit); 130 … alert the notification generator.

Detailed Description

Hereinafter, a mode for carrying out the present invention (hereinafter, referred to as an embodiment) will be described with reference to the drawings.

(integral structure of refrigerator 1)

Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing the entire refrigerator according to the embodiment of the present invention.

The refrigerator 1 shown in fig. 1 has a main body 2. At the uppermost position of the main body 2, there are provided: and a refrigerating chamber 5 of a double-door type opened and closed by

doors

3 and 4 of a left-right double-door type. The

doors

3 and 4 are mounted to be openable and closable around the

hinge portions

2A and 2A of the main body 2, respectively.

Provided below the refrigerating chamber 5 are: a vegetable compartment 7 opened and closed by a drawer door 7 a. On the lower side of the vegetable compartment 7, an ice making compartment 8 and an upper freezing compartment (small freezing compartment) 9 are provided side by side in the lateral direction. Ice making compartment 8 is opened and closed by drawer door 8a, and upper freezing compartment 9 is opened and closed by drawer door 9 a. A lower freezing chamber (large freezing chamber) 10 is provided at the lowermost portion of the main body 2 and below the ice making chamber 8 and the upper freezing chamber 9. The lower freezing chamber 10 is opened and closed by a drawer door 10 a.

Concave handles

3b and 4b for gripping with fingers are provided at the lower portions of the

doors

3 and 4, respectively, inside the doors. The

drawer doors

7a, 8a, 9a, and 10a are provided at their upper portions with:

concave grips

7b, 8b, 9b, 10b for gripping with fingers.

Refrigerating chamber 5, vegetable chamber 7, ice making chamber 8, upper freezing chamber 9, and lower freezing chamber 10 are storage chambers for storing and storing stored items such as food.

The outer surfaces of the

doors

3, 4 shown in fig. 1 are covered, for example, by glass plates or by steel sheets. Likewise, the outer surfaces of the

drawer doors

7a, 8a, 9a, 10a are covered by, for example, glass plates or by steel plates.

As shown in fig. 1, above the main body 2 are provided: door opening/

closing operation units

11 and 12 are examples of door opening/closing operation means.

As shown in fig. 1, the control unit 100 is disposed on the upper portion of the main body 2. A refrigerating compartment interior lamp 20 is disposed on the inner bottom surface of the interior of the refrigerating compartment 5. An operation panel 30 is disposed on the front surface of the left door 3. An electrostatic touch panel 41 is disposed on the front surface of the left door 3, and an electrostatic touch panel 42 is disposed on the front surface of the right door 4.

As shown in fig. 1, a refrigerating compartment door switch 45 is disposed at a lower position on the front surface of the left door 3, and a refrigerating compartment door switch 46 is disposed at a lower position on the front surface of the right door 4. A vegetable room door switch 50 is disposed at a lower left position in front of the drawer-type door 7a of the vegetable room 7. An ice making compartment door switch 60 is disposed at an upper right position in front of the drawer door 8a of the ice making compartment 8. A freezer compartment door switch 70 is disposed in front of the drawer door 9a of the upper freezer compartment 9 at a lower right position. Further, a freezer door switch 80 is disposed at a lower left position in front of the drawer door 10a of the lower freezer compartment 10.

As shown in fig. 1, vegetable compartment illumination unit 110 is disposed at a lower position on the front surface of left door 3, and vegetable compartment illumination unit 120 is disposed at a lower position on the front surface of right door 4. A reminder generation unit 130 such as a buzzer is disposed in the main body 2.

(electric connection example of refrigerator 1)

Fig. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of electrical connection between the control unit 100 shown in fig. 1 and each controlled element.

The door

opening operation portions

11 and 12 shown in fig. 2 and 1 can be electric actuators such as electromagnetic solenoids.

The operation panel 30 shown in fig. 2 and 1 has switches, buttons, and the like. Preferably, the operation panel 30 uses: for example, a capacitive touch sensor detects a change in capacitance due to a user's touch and generates an on signal. For example, the user can input, by touching a switch such as an electrostatic touch switch or a button of the operation panel 30 with a finger, the following: for setting the matters necessary for various operation functions of the refrigerator 1. The operation panel 30 can display various display items such as operation setting conditions of the refrigerator 1.

Specifically, for example, operation panel 30 executes the functions of the refrigerator such as temperature setting of refrigerating compartment 5, vegetable compartment 7, ice making compartment 8, upper freezing compartment 9, and lower freezing compartment 10, ice making priority processing, quick freezing processing, and thawing processing in response to an instruction from control unit 100 by a touch of a user. The operation panel 30 performs with the user: the relationship (interface) such as the current temperature display, setting display, and function display during execution is used as various display items such as the operation setting status.

Preferably, the operation panel 30 is illuminated from behind by an LED (light emitting diode) or the like to clearly show the operation content and the display content, so that the user can more easily know the operation content and the display content.

Electrostatic touch panels

41 and 42 shown in fig. 2 and 1 perform automatic opening/closing instructions of

doors

3 and 4 of refrigerating compartment 5 and detection of human proximity in response to an instruction from control unit 100. Specifically, the

electrostatic touch panels

41 and 42 are door opening operation switches that are touched by, for example, a finger or an elbow to open the

doors

3 and 4.

When the

electrostatic touch panels

41 and 42 are touched, for example, the door

opening operation units

11 and 12 are operated in response to a command from the control unit 100, and the left and

right doors

3 and 4 can be automatically pushed and opened individually. Preferably, the

electrostatic touch panels

41 and 42 use: for example, a capacitance type touch sensor detects a change in capacitance caused by a touch of a user and generates an on signal.

The refrigerating compartment door switches 45 and 46 shown in fig. 2 and 1 detect the open/close states of the

doors

3 and 4, respectively. When the

doors

3 and 4 are opened, the refrigerating compartment door switches 45 and 46 notify the controller 100 that the

doors

3 and 4 are opened. Preferably, the

electrostatic touch panels

The vegetable compartment door switch 50 shown in fig. 2 and 1 detects the open/closed state of the drawer type door 7 a. When the drawer-type door 7a is opened, the vegetable compartment door switch 50 notifies the control part 100 of the opening of the drawer-type door 7 a.

The ice making compartment door switch 60 shown in fig. 2 and 1 detects the open/closed state of the drawer door 8 a. When the drawer door 8a is opened, the ice making compartment door switch 60 notifies the controller 100 that the drawer door 8a is opened.

The freezer compartment door switch 70 shown in fig. 2 and 1 detects the open/close state of the drawer door 9 a. When the drawer door 9a is opened, the freezer compartment door switch 70 notifies the controller 100 that the drawer door 9a is opened.

The freezer door switch 80 shown in fig. 2 and 1 detects the open/close state of the drawer door 10 a. When the drawer door 10a is opened, the freezer door switch 80 notifies the controller 100 that the drawer door 10a is opened.

Preferably, the refrigerator compartment interior lamp 20 shown in fig. 2 and 1 can be configured using 1 or more LEDs (light emitting diodes). When at least one of

doors

3 and 4 is opened, refrigerating room interior lamp 20 is turned on in response to an instruction from control unit 100, and illuminates the inside of refrigerating room 5.

Preferably, the vegetable

room illumination units

110 and 120 shown in fig. 2 and 1 can be configured using 1 or more LEDs (light emitting diodes). The vegetable

room illumination units

110 and 120 are downward illumination units that emit downward light. When the drawer door 7a is pulled out toward the front side from the vegetable compartment 7, the vegetable

compartment illumination units

110 and 120 are turned on in response to a command from the control unit 100, and thereby the inside of the vegetable container held in the drawer door 7a can be illuminated.

Preferably, the refrigerating compartment door switches 45 and 46, the vegetable compartment door switch 50, the ice compartment door switch 60, the freezing compartment door switch 70, and the freezing compartment door switch 80 are illuminated from behind by LEDs (light emitting diodes) or the like, thereby allowing the user to easily know the positions of the switches.

The reminder notification generation unit 130 shown in fig. 2 and 1 notifies various reminder notifications by sound or voice using a buzzer or a speaker.

Fig. 3 and 4 show: fig. 1 and 2 show an example of a state in which at least one of the

doors

3 and 4 of the refrigerating compartment 5 and the drawer-type door 10a of the lower freezing compartment 10 of the refrigerator 1 are simultaneously opened. Shown in fig. 3 are: a situation that usually requires attention so that the head H of the user does not collide with at least one of the

doors

3, 4. Shown in fig. 4: in the embodiment of the present invention, the vegetable

room illumination portions

110 and 120 give the warning message so that the head H of the user avoids at least one of the

doors

3 and 4.

As described above, an example in which the user opens at least one of the

doors

3 and 4 of the refrigerating compartment 5 and the drawer-type door 10a of the lower freezing compartment 10 at the same time is as follows. That is, frozen food G frozen and stored in lower freezer compartment 10 is moved from lower freezer compartment 10 to thermostatic chamber 5C in upper refrigerating chamber 5, and frozen food G is thawed using thermostatic chamber 5C.

However, as shown in fig. 3, since the refrigerating chamber 5 is located at an upper level and the lower freezing chamber 10 is located at a lower level, the refrigerating chamber 5 and the lower freezing chamber 10 are separated. When the drawer door 10a of the lower freezing chamber 10 is pulled out again with the

doors

3 and 4 of the upper refrigerating chamber 5 opened and the frozen food G is moved, if the frozen food G is to be taken out from the lower freezing chamber 10, the head H is slightly lowered.

Furthermore, if frozen food G is taken out from lower freezer compartment 10 and head H is to be raised, it is at a position where

doors

3 and 4 of refrigerating compartment 5 are opened, and therefore, the user needs to perform an operation of moving head H to avoid

doors

3 and 4 of refrigerating compartment 5.

Here, to call the user notice: in the case where at least one of the

doors

3 and 4 is opened, as shown in fig. 5, the refrigerator 1 shown in fig. 1 and 2 performs visual alert notification and alert notification based on sound or voice as described below.

Fig. 5 shows: examples of the method of generating various warning messages by lighting or blinking vegetable

room lighting units

110 and 120, and the method of generating warning messages by the sound of warning message generating unit 130.

As illustrated in fig. 5, in order to cause vegetable

room illumination units

110 and 120 to function as reminder lights for the user, the states of "on", "blink" and "on color" are changed from the normal mode to the reminder mode with respect to the lighting of vegetable

room illumination units

110 and 120, so as to call the user's attention.

The "lighting" includes the intensity of the lighting illuminance of vegetable

room lighting units

110 and 120, and is "low-light lighting" in the normal mode and "high-light lighting" in the alert notification mode for calling the user's attention.

The "blinking" is "always on" in the normal mode, and the vegetable

room illumination units

110 and 120 are set to "blinking" when the reminder notification mode to call the attention of the user is provided.

The "lighting color" is, for example, "white" in the normal mode, and "yellow or red" in the alert notification mode for calling the attention of the user.

As shown in fig. 5, the reminder notification generation unit 130 generates at least one of a reminder notification sound by a buzzer and a reminder notification prompt sound by a speaker.

(example of action to call attention)

Fig. 6 shows: in the refrigerator 1 shown in fig. 1 and 2, the lighting patterns a to F are lighting patterns as the case of the lighting pattern of the warning notification lamp for calling the attention of the user. Here, the lighting pattern a to the lighting pattern F are sequentially described with reference to fig. 6.

In fig. 6, the horizontal axis direction shows: lighting pattern a to lighting pattern F, showing in the direction of the longitudinal axis: the upper layer (G), the middle layer (H), the lower layer (I), and the illumination portions (vegetable compartment illumination portions 110 and 120) at the positions of the doors in the main body 2 of the refrigerator 1, and the open/close states of the doors in the refrigerator 1 are illustrated as examples, (G) the upper layer doors are

doors

3 and 4 of the refrigerating compartment 5, and (H) the middle layer door is a drawer door 7a of the vegetable compartment 7. The lower doors (I) include a drawer door 8a of the ice making compartment 8, a door 9a of the upper freezing compartment 9, and a drawer door 10a of the lower freezing compartment 10. In fig. 6, "open/close" indicates: the door may be in either an "open" or "closed" state.

(1) Lighting pattern a, lighting pattern B, and lighting pattern C are examples of normally turning on or normally turning off vegetable

room illumination portions

110 and 120 in the normal mode. Lighting pattern D, lighting pattern E, and lighting pattern F are examples of using vegetable

room illumination portions

110 and 120 as reminder lights in the reminder notification mode.

< light pattern A: general mode >

In fig. 6, the lighting pattern a means:

doors

3 and 4 of refrigerating room 5 are opened/closed, drawer door 7a of vegetable room 7 is opened, drawer door 8a of ice-making room 8 is opened/closed, door 9a of upper freezing room 9 is opened/closed, and drawer door 10a of lower freezing room 10 is opened/closed. In the lighting pattern a, the vegetable

room lighting units

110 and 120 are always lit at a normal illuminance. Therefore, the vegetable

compartment illumination units

110 and 120 illuminate the inside of the drawer door 7a of the opened vegetable compartment 7, and the user confirms the stored material in the drawer door 7a of the vegetable compartment 7.

< light pattern B: general mode >

In fig. 6, the lighting pattern B means: the

doors

3 and 4 of the refrigerating compartment 5 and the drawer door 7a of the vegetable compartment 7 are in the state of being "closed", the drawer door 8a of the ice making compartment 8 is in the state of being "opened/closed", the door 9a of the upper freezing compartment 9 is in the state of being "opened/closed", and the drawer door 10a of the lower freezing compartment 10 is in the state of being "opened/closed". In the lighting pattern B, since the drawer door 7a of the vegetable room 7 is closed, the vegetable

room lighting units

110 and 120 are turned off.

< light pattern C: general mode >

In fig. 6, the lighting pattern C means:

only doors

3 and 4 of refrigerating room 5 are opened, and all of drawer-type door 7a of vegetable room 7, drawer-type door 8a of ice making room 8, door 9a of upper freezing room 9, and drawer-type door 10a of lower freezing room 10 are closed. In the lighting pattern C, the vegetable

room lighting portions

110 and 120 are turned off. In this case, since the drawer door 7a of the vegetable room 7 is also closed, the vegetable

room illumination units

110 and 120 are turned off.

(2) The lighting patterns D, E, and F are examples of, for example: the control unit 100 increases the illuminance of the vegetable

room illumination units

110 and 120 or blinks the vegetable

room illumination units

110 and 120 to notify the user of a warning by light, thereby further ensuring safety.

< lighting pattern D: reminder notification mode

In fig. 6, the lighting pattern D means:

doors

3 and 4 of refrigerating room 5 are opened, "drawer door 7a of vegetable room 7 is closed," drawer door 8a of ice making room 8 is opened, "door 9a of upper freezing room 9 is opened/closed," and drawer door 10a of lower freezing room 10 is opened/closed. In the lighting pattern D, the vegetable

room lighting units

110 and 120 are set to the "lighting state" with an illuminance higher than the normal illuminance, or set to the "blinking state" with the normal illuminance or the illuminance higher than the normal illuminance, for example, so that the vegetable

room lighting units

110 and 120 function as warning lights for the user.

That is, for example, since the drawer-type door 8a of the ice making chamber 8 in the lower stage is in the "open/closed" state, the door 9a of the upper freezing chamber 9 in the lower stage is in the "open/closed" state, and the

doors

3 and 4 of the refrigerating chamber 5 in the upper stage are also in the "open" state, the vegetable

chamber illumination portions

110 and 120 issue a warning message to a user in a slightly lowered state by light so that the user operates to keep his head away from the

doors

3 and 4 of the refrigerating chamber 5 that have been opened. Thus, the user can safely perform: the stored material is put into/taken out of at least one of the drawer-type door 8a of the ice making chamber 8 of the lower stage and the door 9a of the upper freezing chamber 9 of the lower stage.

< light pattern E: reminder notification mode

In fig. 6, the lighting pattern E means:

doors

3 and 4 of refrigerating room 5 are opened, "drawer door 7a of vegetable room 7 is closed," drawer door 8a of ice making room 8 is opened/closed, "door 9a of upper freezing room 9 is opened," and drawer door 10a of lower freezing room 10 is opened/closed. In the lighting pattern E, the vegetable

room lighting units

110 and 120 are set to the "lighting state" at an illuminance higher than the normal illuminance, or set to the "blinking state" at the normal illuminance or the illuminance higher than the normal illuminance, for example, so that the vegetable

room lighting units

110 and 120 function as warning lights for the user.

That is, for example, since the drawer-type door 8a of the ice making chamber 8 in the lower stage is in the "open/closed" state, the door 9a of the upper freezing chamber 9 in the lower stage is in the "open" state, and the

doors

chamber illumination portions

110 and 120 give a warning to the user by blinking so that the user in the low head state operates to avoid the

doors

< light pattern F: reminder notification mode

In fig. 6, the lighting pattern F means:

doors

3 and 4 of refrigerating room 5 are opened, "drawer door 7a of vegetable room 7 is closed," drawer door 8a of ice making room 8 is opened/closed, "door 9a of upper freezing room 9 is opened/closed," and drawer door 10a of lower freezing room 10 is opened. In the lighting pattern F, the vegetable

room lighting units

110 and 120 function as warning lights for the user.

That is, as illustrated in fig. 3 and 4, when drawer door 10a of lower freezing chamber 10 in the lower stage is in the "open" state and

doors

3 and 4 of refrigerating chamber 5 in the upper stage are also in the "open" state, vegetable

chamber illumination portions

110 and 120 flash to notify the user that the user is in a slightly lowered state to operate so that the user can avoid the opened

doors

3 and 4 of refrigerating chamber 5. Thus, the user can safely perform: the stored things are put in/taken out of the drawer-type door 10a of the lower freezing chamber 10.

However, in order to give a warning to the user, as illustrated in fig. 5, control unit 100 causes vegetable

room illumination units

110 and 120 to function as warning lights for the user, and the user can be alerted by lighting up vegetable

room illumination units

110 and 120.

The "lighting" is notified by further increasing the lighting illuminance of the vegetable

room lighting units

110 and 120. The "lighting of weak illuminance" is usually set to "lighting of strong illuminance" when the user is alerted.

The "blinking" causes the vegetable

room illumination units

110 and 120 to blink when the user's attention is called. In this case, the lighting illuminance is preferably high. The "lighting color" of vegetable

room illumination units

110 and 120 may be, for example, "white" in the normal mode, and "yellow or red" in the alert notification mode for calling the attention of the user.

As shown in fig. 5, the reminder generation unit 130 can generate, in response to an instruction from the control unit 100, at the time of calling attention: at least one of a buzzer-based reminder notification sound, and a speaker-based reminder notification voice.

The lighting patterns D, E, and F, which are the reminder modes, are examples in which the control unit 100 increases the illuminance of the vegetable

room illumination units

110 and 120 or blinks the vegetable

room illumination units

110 and 120 to give a reminder to the user by light, thereby further ensuring safety. In this case, the control unit 100 shown in fig. 2 preferably turns off the refrigerator compartment internal lamp 20. This makes it easier to know the positions of

doors

3 and 4 of refrigerating compartment 5, and can further emphasize that: the warning notification is realized by increasing the illuminance of the vegetable

room illumination units

110 and 120 or by flashing the vegetable

room illumination units

110 and 120.

In addition, the control unit 100 turns off the refrigerator interior lamp 20 only for a certain time in this manner, and after the certain time has elapsed, the refrigerator interior lamp 20 is turned off to return to the normal operation of the refrigerator interior lamp 20. This allows the user to immediately confirm the stored material in refrigerating compartment 5.

As described above, the refrigerator 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention includes: a main body 2; storage compartments (5, 7, 8, 9, 10) in which a plurality of

doors

3, 4 and

doors

7a, 8a, 9a, 10a are arranged in the main body 2; vegetable

room illumination units

110 and 120 which are disposed on

doors

3 and 4 of refrigerating room 5, which is a storage room located on the upper side, and which serve as illumination units for illuminating, for example, vegetable room 7, which is another storage room located below refrigerating room 5 located on the upper side; and a control unit 100 that, when

doors

3 and 4 of refrigerating room 5 on the upper side are opened, if door 10a of lower freezing room 10, for example, on the lower side is opened, controls unit 100 to change the lighting state of vegetable

room lighting units

110 and 120 to notify a reminder.

Thus, when

doors

3 and 4 of refrigerating room 5 and door 10a of freezing room 10 are opened, for example, even if refrigerating room 5 and freezing room 10 are located at the uppermost and lowermost layers, controller 100 can notify the user of the opening of

doors

3 and 4 of refrigerating room 5 as a warning by changing the lighting state of vegetable

room lighting units

110 and 120. Therefore, safety when using the refrigerator 1 is improved, and convenience of use is improved. That is, when the doors of both of the plurality of different storage compartments such as the refrigerating compartment and the freezing compartment are opened, even if the plurality of different storage compartments are located at the separated positions, it is possible to take safety into consideration by notifying the user that the door of the storage compartment at the upper stage is opened.

The vegetable

room illumination units

110 and 120 serving as illumination are disposed: the vegetable

compartment illumination units

110 and 120 are positioned below the

doors

3 and 4 of the upper refrigerating compartment, and emit light downward in response to an instruction from the control unit 100, thereby giving a warning message by the illumination units.

Accordingly, the vegetable

room illumination units

110 and 120 can notify that any of the

lower doors

7a, 8a, 9a, and 10a is opened by emitting downward light, and thus safety can be further ensured.

The control unit 100 changes the lighting state of the vegetable

room lighting units

110 and 120 by making the intensity of the light of the vegetable

room lighting units

110 and 120 stronger than that at the time of normal lighting or by flashing the light of the vegetable

room lighting units

110 and 120, thereby performing notification by the lighting units.

Accordingly, the intensity of the light of the vegetable

room illumination units

110 and 120 is made higher than that in the normal lighting, or the light of the vegetable

room illumination units

110 and 120 is made to blink, whereby the user can be more reliably notified of the warning, and therefore, the safety can be further ensured.

Comprising: in the refrigerator room interior lamp 20 for illuminating the inside of the refrigerator room, which is the upper side of the storage room, the control unit 100 turns off the refrigerator room interior lamp 20 when the warning notification is given by the vegetable

room illumination units

110 and 120.

Thus, by turning off the refrigerator compartment interior lamp 20, the reminder notification by the vegetable

compartment illumination units

110 and 120 is emphasized, and the reminder notification can be given to the user more reliably, and therefore, the safety can be further ensured.

The control unit 100 turns off the refrigerator interior lamp 20 for a predetermined time, and turns on the refrigerator interior lamp 20 again after the predetermined time.

Thus, if the lighting-off of the refrigerator interior lamp 20 is performed for a certain period of time, the reminder can be emphasized, and therefore, if the certain period of time elapses, the lighting state of the normal refrigerator interior lamp 20 is returned to, and the user can immediately confirm the stored material in the refrigerator compartment 5.

The upper compartment is a refrigerating compartment 5,

doors

3 and 4 of the refrigerating compartment 5 are opened by hinges, and the other compartment located below is a lower freezing compartment 10.

Accordingly, when the user opens the

doors

3 and 4 of the refrigerating compartment 5 and the door 10a of the lower freezing compartment 10 at the same time to move frozen food in the lower freezing compartment 10 to, for example, a thermostatic chamber of the refrigerating compartment 5 and thaw it, the user can be notified more reliably, and therefore, safety can be further ensured.

The control unit 100 includes a reminder generation unit 130, and the reminder generation unit 130 generates a reminder by sound when the reminder is given by changing the lighting state of the vegetable

room illumination units

110 and 120, for example.

Thus, for example, when the lighting state of the vegetable

room lighting units

110 and 120 is changed to issue the warning message, the warning message generating unit 130 issues the warning message by sound, thereby further ensuring safety.

The embodiments of the present invention have been described above, but the embodiments are shown as examples and are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention. The new embodiment can be implemented in other various forms, and various omissions, substitutions, and changes can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention. The present embodiment and its modifications are included in the scope and gist of the present invention, and are also included in the inventions described in the claims and their equivalent scope.

The configuration of the refrigerator 1 shown in fig. 1 is an example, and any configuration may be adopted. For example, the refrigerating chamber 5 uses the double-

opening type doors

3 and 4, but may be a single-opening type door. The arrangement relationship of vegetable compartment 7, ice making compartment 8, upper freezer compartment 9, and lower freezer compartment 10 in main body 2 is not limited to the illustrated example, and may be changed.

Claims

1. A refrigerator is characterized by comprising:

a main body;

a plurality of storage chambers arranged in the main body and having doors;

an illumination unit that is turned on when both the door of the storage room located at an upper position and the doors of the other storage rooms located below the storage room located at the upper position are opened; and

and a control unit that gives a warning by turning on the illumination unit when both the door of the storage room located at an upper position and the doors of the other storage rooms located below the storage room located at the upper position are in an opened state.

2. The refrigerator according to claim 1,

the illumination unit is disposed on the door of the storage room on the upper side, and illuminates the other storage rooms located on the lower side.

3. The refrigerator according to claim 2,

the illumination unit is disposed: a lower portion of the door of the storage compartment on the upper layer side,

the illumination unit is turned on in accordance with an instruction from the control unit, and thereby emits light to the outside, and the notification by the illumination unit is performed.

4. The refrigerator according to claim 3,

the control unit performs the notification of the reminder by the illumination unit by making the intensity of the light of the illumination unit stronger than that at the time of normal lighting or by blinking the light of the illumination unit.

5. The refrigerator according to any one of claims 2 to 4,

comprising: and an in-box lamp for illuminating the storage room on the upper layer side, wherein the control unit turns off the in-box lamp when the notification of the warning by the illumination unit is performed.

6. The refrigerator according to claim 5,

the control unit turns off the in-box lamp for a predetermined time, and turns on the in-box lamp again after the predetermined time.

7. The refrigerator according to claim 1,

the storage compartment on the upper side is a refrigerating compartment, the door of the refrigerating compartment is opened by a hinge, and the other storage compartments located at the lower position are freezing compartments.

8. The refrigerator according to claim 2,

the control unit includes a reminder generation unit that generates the reminder by sound when the reminder is to be notified by changing the lighting state of the illumination unit.