CN111288713B

CN111288713B - Refrigerator with a door

Info

Publication number: CN111288713B
Application number: CN201910468378.7A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 石冰洁; 渡边浩太
Original assignee: Toshiba Lifestyle Products and Services Corp
Current assignee: Toshiba Lifestyle Products and Services Corp
Priority date: 2018-12-10
Filing date: 2019-05-31
Publication date: 2022-03-15
Anticipated expiration: 2039-05-31
Also published as: JP2020094711A; CN111288713A; JP6998292B2

Abstract

Provided is a refrigerator which can easily preserve food well. The refrigerator of the embodiment comprises a shell, a cooling part and a control part. The housing includes a storage compartment. The cooling unit cools the storage chamber. The control unit may control the cooling unit in a cooling mode including: the storage chamber is cooled in a first temperature zone or a temperature zone lower than the first temperature zone, the storage chamber is cooled in a second temperature zone higher than the first temperature zone, and the storage chamber is cooled in the first temperature zone.

Description

Refrigerator with a door

Technical Field

Embodiments of the present invention relate to a refrigerator.

Background

Refrigerators having a chill chamber maintained at a lower temperature than a refrigerator compartment are known. The chilling chamber stores food such as fermented food or fresh food at a temperature as low as possible and not frozen.

Patent document 1: japanese laid-open patent publication (JP 2015-102320)

However, in recent years, the expectations of users for refrigerators have been increasing, and particularly, with regard to preservation of foods in storage compartments of refrigerators, improvement in preservation states such as the number of days until rotting or the number of days in which a taste can be maintained has been desired.

Disclosure of Invention

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a refrigerator which can easily preserve food satisfactorily.

The refrigerator of the embodiment comprises a shell, a cooling part and a control part. The housing includes a storage compartment. The cooling unit cools the storage chamber. The control unit may control the cooling unit in a cooling mode including: the storage chamber is cooled in a first temperature zone or a temperature zone lower than the first temperature zone, the storage chamber is cooled in a second temperature zone higher than the first temperature zone, and the storage chamber is cooled in the first temperature zone.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a longitudinal sectional side view showing an overall schematic structure of a refrigerator according to an embodiment.

Fig. 2 is a front view illustrating a refrigerator of an embodiment.

Fig. 3 is a schematic view illustrating a configuration of a cool air supply duct and a refrigerating compartment temperature sensor of a refrigerator of an embodiment.

Fig. 4 is a configuration diagram of a refrigeration cycle of the embodiment.

Fig. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a control apparatus of a refrigerator of an embodiment.

Fig. 6 is a diagram illustrating an operation panel portion of the refrigerator of the embodiment.

Fig. 7 is a graph showing the measurement results of the air temperature of the quench chamber when the refrigerator of the embodiment is cooled in the special quench operation.

Fig. 8 is a graph showing the measurement results of the air temperature of the quench chamber in the low-temperature cooling when the refrigerator according to the embodiment is cooled in the special quench operation.

Fig. 9 is a flowchart showing a defrosting operation of the extended defrosting time type performed by the refrigerator according to the embodiment.

Fig. 10 is a graph showing measurement results of the temperature of the cooler for cold storage and the air temperature of the quench chamber when the refrigerator of the embodiment performs the defrosting operation.

Fig. 11 is a flowchart showing a defrosting operation of the minimum defrosting time setting type performed by the refrigerator according to the embodiment.

Fig. 12 is a diagram showing a change in the implementation ratio of the high-temperature operation time in the defrosting operation performed by the refrigerator according to the embodiment.

Fig. 13 is a vertical cross-sectional side view showing a schematic configuration of the entire refrigerator according to a modification.

Description of the reference numerals

1. 200 … refrigerator, 2 … casing, 3 … refrigerating chamber, 3a … heat insulation door, 4 … vegetable chamber, 5 … ice making chamber, 6 … small freezing chamber, 7 … freezing chamber, 12 … chilling chamber, 16 … refrigeration cycle device, 17 … cooler for refrigerating, 18 … cooler for freezing, 20 … compressor, 30 … cold air supply duct, 53 … control panel, 100 … control part, 110 … refrigerating chamber temperature sensor, 112 … freezing chamber temperature sensor, 114 … external temperature sensor, 150 … operation panel part, 200 … refrigerator, 208 … common cooler chamber, 210 … common cooler, 210a … common cooler temperature sensor, 220 … defrosting heater, 230 … blowing fan, 240 … blowing freezing chamber, 260 … first damper device, 265 … chilling chamber blowing duct, 270 … second damper device

Detailed Description

Hereinafter, a refrigerator according to an embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings. In the following description, the same reference numerals are given to the same or similar structures having similar functions. Further, a repetitive description of these structures may be omitted. In the present specification, the left and right sides are defined with reference to a direction in which a user standing on the front side of the refrigerator views the refrigerator. Also, a side close to a user standing on the front side of the refrigerator as viewed from the refrigerator is defined as "front", and a side far from the user is defined as "rear".

In the present specification, "based on XX" means "based on at least XX", and also includes the case where the base is based on other elements in addition to XX. Further, "based on XX" is not limited to the case of using XX directly, and includes the case of using parameters obtained by performing calculation or processing on XX. "XX" is an arbitrary element (e.g., arbitrary information).

(first embodiment)

< Structure of refrigerator >

Fig. 1 is a vertical sectional side view showing an overall schematic structure of a refrigerator 1 according to an embodiment. Fig. 2 is a front view of the refrigerator 1 illustrating the embodiment. The refrigerator 1 is configured such that a plurality of storage chambers are provided in a heat insulating case 2 in the form of a rectangular box having an open front surface. Specifically, in the heat insulating casing 2, a refrigerating chamber 3 and a vegetable chamber 4 are provided in this order from the upper layer, an ice making chamber 5 and a small freezing chamber 6 (see fig. 2) are provided in parallel on the left and right below the chambers, and a freezing chamber 7 is provided below the chambers. As shown in fig. 1, an automatic ice making device 8 is provided in the ice making compartment 5. The heat insulating casing 2 is configured to have a heat insulating material between an outer box 2a made of a steel plate and an inner box 2b made of a synthetic resin, which will be described in detail later. The heat insulating case 2 is an example of a "case".

The refrigerating chamber 3 and the vegetable chamber 4 are storage chambers having a refrigerating temperature zone (for example, a positive temperature zone of 1 to 4 ℃), and are vertically partitioned by a partition wall 9 made of plastic. A hinge-openable heat-insulating door 3a is provided on the front surface of the refrigerating compartment 3, and a pull-out heat-insulating door 4a is provided on the front surface of the vegetable compartment 4. A lower case 10 constituting a storage container is connected to the rear surface of the heat insulating door 4 a. An upper case 11 smaller than the lower case 10 is provided above the lower case 10.

A chilling chamber 12 is provided on the right side at the lowermost portion (upper portion of the partition wall 9) in the refrigerating chamber 3. The chilling chamber 12 is used for storing fermented foods such as yogurt and fresh cream, fresh foods, meat emulsion, and dairy products at a temperature as low as possible and not frozen, for example, at a temperature of 1 ℃. In addition, the quench chamber 12 may also preserve food products at-3℃ (partially frozen) in the micro-freeze zone. A crisper 13 is provided in the quench chamber 12 so as to be able to be pulled out and pushed in. The quench chamber 12 is an example of each of the "storage portion" and the "first storage portion". A water storage tank (not shown) for storing water supplied to ice making tray 8a of automatic ice making device 8 is provided on the left side of chilling chamber 12.

The ice making chamber 5, the small freezing chamber 6, and the freezing chamber 7 are storage chambers having freezing temperature zones (for example, negative temperature zones of-10 to-20 ℃), and the vegetable chamber 4 is vertically partitioned from the ice making chamber 5 and the small freezing chamber 6 by a heat-insulating partition wall 14. As shown in fig. 1, a pull-out type heat insulating door 5a is provided on a front surface portion of the ice making chamber 5, and an ice storage container 15 is connected to a rear surface portion of the heat insulating door 5 a. A pull-out type heat insulating door 6a to which a storage container is connected is also provided on the front surface of the small freezing chamber 6. A pull-out type heat insulating door 7a, to which a lower storage container 7b and an upper storage container 7c are connected, is also provided on the front surface of the freezing chamber 7. Each of ice making chamber 5, small freezing chamber 6, and freezing chamber 7 is an example of a "second storage unit" thermally isolated from chilling chamber 12.

A refrigeration cycle device 16 (see fig. 4) for cooling each storage chamber is incorporated in the refrigerator 1. As will be described in detail later, the refrigeration cycle apparatus 16 includes a cooler 17 for refrigeration for cooling the storage compartments (the refrigerating compartment 3, the chilling compartment 12, and the vegetable compartment 4) in the refrigeration temperature range, and a cooler 18 for freezing for cooling the storage compartments (the ice making compartment 5, the small freezing compartment 6, and the freezing compartment 7) in the freezing temperature range.

The cooler 17 for cold storage is provided with a cooler temperature sensor 17a for cold storage. The cooler temperature sensor 17a for cold storage is provided, for example, at an upper end portion of the cooler 17 for cold storage as shown in fig. 1, and detects the temperature of the cooler 17 for cold storage. The refrigerating cooler 18 is provided with a refrigerating cooler temperature sensor 18 a. The refrigeration chiller temperature sensor 18a is provided, for example, at an upper end portion of the refrigeration chiller 18, and detects the temperature of the refrigeration chiller 18. The cooler temperature sensor for cold storage 17a and the cooler temperature sensor for freezing 18a are composed of, for example, thermistors.

As shown in fig. 1, a machine chamber 19 is provided on the rear side of the lower end portion of the refrigerator 1. In the machine chamber 19, a compressor 20 and a condenser 21 (see fig. 4) constituting the refrigeration cycle apparatus 16, a cooling fan (not shown) for cooling them, a defrosting water evaporating dish 35 described later, and the like are disposed. As shown in fig. 1, a control board 53 having a control unit 100 including a computer such as a microcomputer is provided in a lower portion of the back surface of the refrigerator 1, and the control unit 100 controls the entire refrigerator 1. The control unit 100 will be described later.

As shown in fig. 1, a refrigerating side water connection 33 is provided at a lower portion in the refrigerating cooler chamber 32, which is located below the refrigerating cooler 17 and receives defrost water from the refrigerating cooler 17. The refrigerating-side water-discharging unit 33 is connected to a defrosting water-evaporating dish 35 provided in the machine room 19 via a refrigerating-side water-discharging hose 34. The defrosting water received by the refrigerating side water drain portion 33 is guided to the defrosting water evaporating dish 35 through the refrigerating side water drain hose 34, and is evaporated in the defrosting water evaporating dish 35.

A refrigerating blower fan 31 located below the refrigerating side water-receiving portion 33 is disposed behind the vegetable compartment 4, and a blower duct 36 and an air inlet 37 are provided. The cooling blower fan 31 is an example of a blower, and blows air to the cooling unit 17. In the present specification, "the air is blown toward the cooler" is not limited to being arranged on the upstream side of the cooler in the air flow direction, and the air is blown toward the cooler, and includes a case where the air is arranged on the downstream side of the cooler in the air flow direction, and the ambient air is further blown toward the downstream side, so that the air on the upstream side of the cooler is moved toward the cooler. The upper end of the air duct 36 communicates with the cooler compartment 32 for cooling so as to bypass the cooling-side water connection 33. The suction port 37 is opened in the vegetable compartment 4, for example.

Further, the chill chamber 12 is provided with a plurality of chill (chilled) cold air supply ports 30b so as to penetrate through a front wall portion 32a of the cooler chamber 32 for cold storage (rear wall portion of the chill chamber 12). The cooler chamber 32 for cold storage and the chilling chamber 12 are communicated through a plurality of chilled cold air supply ports 30 b. Thus, part of the cold air immediately after passing through the cold storage cooler 17 of the cold storage cooler chamber 32 is directly supplied to the cold storage chamber 12 through the cold air supply port for cold storage 30 b. The temperature of the chill chamber 12 can be maintained at about-5 ℃ during low-temperature cooling described later by the cold gas directly supplied through the cold gas supply port 30b for chilling.

In this configuration, when the cooling blower fan 31 is driven, air in the vegetable compartment 4 is sucked from the suction port 37 toward the cooling blower fan 31 side, and the sucked air is blown out toward the blower duct 36 side, as indicated by the open arrows in fig. 1. The air blown toward the air duct 36 passes through the cooler chamber 32 for refrigeration and the cold air supply duct 30, is blown into the refrigerator compartment 3 from the plurality of cold air supply ports 30a for refrigeration, and is blown into the chill chamber 12 from the plurality of cold air supply ports 30b for chilling. The following cycle is performed: the air blown into the refrigerating compartment 3 flows from the refrigerating compartment 3 to the vegetable compartment 4, and the air blown into the chilling compartment 12 flows from the chilling compartment 12 to the vegetable compartment 4, and is finally sucked into the refrigerating blower fan 31.

In this process, the air passing through the refrigerating cooler chamber 32 is cooled by the refrigerating cooler 17 to become cold air, and the cold air is supplied to the refrigerating chamber 3 and the vegetable chamber 4, whereby the refrigerating chamber 3 and the vegetable chamber 4 are cooled to the temperature of the refrigerating temperature range. At this time, the cooling blower fan 31 including a heat generating component (motor) is disposed on the windward side of the cooling cooler 17 and behind the vegetable compartment 4 having a higher temperature than the refrigerating compartment 3 (and the chilling compartment 12), and the cooling cooler 17 having the lowest temperature is disposed behind the chilling compartment 12 having a lower temperature than the refrigerating compartment 3 or the vegetable compartment 4. Therefore, the arrangement of the components can be made to correspond to the temperature distribution of the refrigerating chamber 3, the chilling chamber 12, and the vegetable chamber 4, cooling performance can be obtained according to the respective chambers, and the heat insulating structure and the like can be simplified.

A refrigerating cooler chamber 38 is provided on a back wall portion of storage chambers (ice making chamber 5, small freezing chamber 6, and freezing chamber 7) of the refrigerating temperature range of refrigerator 1. A refrigeration cooler 18, a defrosting heater (not shown), and the like are disposed in a lower portion of the refrigeration cooler chamber 38. A cooling blower fan 39 is disposed above the cooling cooler chamber 38. A cold air outlet 38a is provided at an intermediate portion of the front surface of the refrigeration cooler compartment 38, and a return port 38b is provided at a lower end portion.

As shown in fig. 1, a freezing-side water connection part 40 that receives defrost water during defrosting of the freezing cooler 18 is provided below the freezing cooler 18. The freezing-side water-discharging unit 40 is connected to the defrosting water-evaporating dish 35 provided in the machine chamber 19 via a freezing-side water-discharging hose 41. Accordingly, the defrosting water received by the freezing-side water discharging unit 40 is also guided to the defrosting water evaporation tray 35 by the freezing-side water discharging hose 41, and is evaporated in the defrosting water evaporation tray 35.

In this configuration, when the freezing blower fan 39 is driven, the cold air generated by the freezing cooler 18 is circulated as follows: after being supplied from the cold air outlet 38a into the ice making compartment 5, the small freezing compartment 6, and the freezing compartment 7, the refrigerant returns to the freezer cooler compartment 38 through the return port 38 b. Thereby, the ice making compartment 5, the small freezing compartment 6, and the freezing compartment 7 are cooled.

In the present embodiment, the compressor 20, the cooler 17 for cold storage, the blower fan 31 for cold storage, the cooler 18 for freezing, and the blower fan 39 for freezing constitute an example of a "cooling unit". The phrase "controlling the cooling unit" means, for example, controlling 1 or more of the compressor 20, the cooling blower fan 31, and the freezing blower fan 39.

A cooler 17 for cold storage, a cold air supply duct 30 for supplying cold air generated by the cooler 17 for cold storage into the cold storage chamber 3 (and the vegetable chamber 4), a cold air supply fan 31 for cold storage for circulating the cold air, and the like are disposed in the rear wall portion of the storage chambers (the cold storage chamber 3, the chill chamber 12, and the vegetable chamber 4) of the cold storage temperature zone of the refrigerator 1 as follows. That is, a cooler chamber 32 for cold storage is provided in a rear wall portion of the refrigerator 1 at a position behind the chilling chamber 12 located in the lowermost layer of the cold storage chamber 3. Further, the cooler 17 for cold storage is disposed in the cooler chamber 32 for cold storage. The front wall portion 32a of the cooler chamber 32 for cold storage (the rear wall portion of the quench chamber 12) has heat insulation properties. An upper end portion of the cooler chamber 32 for cold storage is connected to a lower end portion of a cold air supply duct 30 provided to extend upward a back wall portion of the cold storage chamber 3 with a constant width. The cool air supply duct 30 includes: a plurality of cold air supply ports 30a for cold storage opened in the cold storage compartment 3; and a plurality of chilled cold gas supply ports 30b opening into the quench chamber.

Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating the configuration of the cool air supply duct 30 and the refrigerating compartment temperature sensor 110 of the refrigerator 1 of the embodiment. Fig. 3 is a front view of the refrigerator 1 of fig. 2 showing the cool air supply duct 30 and the cooler 17 for cold storage in a perspective view. Actually, the cool air supply duct 30 and the cooler 17 for cold storage are provided in the back wall portion of the cold storage room 3. When the heat insulating door 3a is opened, a part of the cool air supply duct 30 can be seen from the front of the refrigerator 1 through the opening of the opened heat insulating door 3a, but the other part is not actually seen from the front of the refrigerator 1. As shown in fig. 3, cool air supply duct 30 includes a flow portion 30A at the center in the width direction thereof, and

non-flow portions

30B and 30C at both ends in the width direction thereof. The circulation portion 30A is hollow inside and is a portion through which cold air blown from the cooler compartment 32 for cooling circulates. The plurality of cold air supply ports 30A for cold storage are provided in the flow portion 30A. The

non-circulation portions

30B and 30C are portions isolated from the circulation portion 30A by a partition wall or the like, and are portions through which the cold air blown from the cooler compartment 32 for cooling does not flow. The non-flow portion 30B includes a through portion 30Ba that penetrates the non-flow portion 30B in the depth direction of the refrigerator 1 in the vicinity of the substantial center of the cool air supply duct 30 in the height direction of the refrigerator 1. Refrigerating room temperature sensor 110 is fixed to a back wall portion of refrigerating room 3 corresponding to the position of through-portion 30 Ba. Refrigerating room temperature sensor 110 is electrically connected to control unit 100 described later, and is disposed so as to be exposed to the air inside refrigerating room 3 through penetration portion 30 Ba. Thus, the refrigerating compartment temperature sensor 110 measures the air temperature of the refrigerating compartment 3. The refrigerating compartment temperature sensor 110 will be described later.

Next, the structure of the refrigeration cycle device 16 will be described in detail.

Fig. 4 is a configuration diagram of the refrigeration cycle device 16 of the embodiment. As shown in the drawing, the refrigeration cycle apparatus 16 is formed by connecting a compressor 20, a condenser 21, a dryer 22, a three-way valve 23,

capillary tubes

24 and 25, and

coolers

17 and 18 in an annular shape in the order of flow of the refrigerant. At the high-pressure discharge port of the compressor 20, a condenser 21 and a dryer 22 are connected in this order via a connection pipe 26. A three-way valve 23 is connected to the discharge side of the dryer 22. The three-way valve 23 has 1 inlet and 2 outlets to which the dryer 22 is connected. A refrigerating side capillary 24 and a refrigerating cooler 17 are connected in this order to one of the 2 outlets of the three-way valve 23. The cooler 17 for refrigeration is connected to the compressor 20 via a refrigeration-side suction pipe 27 as a connection pipe.

The freezing-side capillary tube 25 and the freezing cooler 18 are connected in this order to the other of the 2 outlets of the three-way valve 23. The refrigeration chiller 18 is connected to the compressor 20 via a refrigeration-side suction pipe 28 as a connection pipe. Further, a check valve 29 for preventing the refrigerant from the refrigerating cooler 17 from flowing backward toward the refrigerating cooler 18 is provided between the refrigerating cooler 18 and the compressor 20.

Next, the flow of the refrigerant in the refrigeration cycle device 16 will be described.

First, the refrigerant circulating through the refrigeration cycle device 16 is compressed by the compressor 20, and turns into a high-temperature, high-pressure gas refrigerant. The gaseous refrigerant is radiated by the condenser 21 to become a medium-temperature high-pressure liquid refrigerant. Then, the liquid refrigerant from which impurities such as dirt and moisture have been removed by the dryer 22 enters the refrigerating-side capillary 24 (or the freezing-side capillary 25) while being controlled in terms of throttle by the three-way valve 23. At this time, the medium-temperature and high-pressure liquid refrigerant in the refrigerating side capillary tube 24 (or the freezing side capillary tube 25) is decompressed while exchanging heat with the refrigerant in the refrigerating side suction tube 27 (or the freezing side suction tube 28). The refrigerant evaporates while passing through the refrigerating cooler 17 (or the freezing cooler 18), and the inside of the refrigerating cooler chamber 32 (or the freezing cooler chamber 38) is cooled. Then, the refrigerant in the form of a low-temperature low-pressure gas flows into the refrigerating side suction pipe 27 (or the freezing side suction pipe 28). At this time, the temperature of the refrigerant gas immediately after flowing from the cooler 17 for cold storage (or the cooler 18 for freezing) into the suction pipe 27 for cold storage (or the suction pipe 28 for freezing) is low at about-10 ℃. However, the refrigerant gas exchanges heat with the refrigerant in the capillary tube 24 (or the capillary tube 25) while passing through the suction tube 27 (or the suction tube 28), and finally is heated to room temperature. Then, the refrigerant gas is again sucked into the compressor 20, and the circulation of the refrigerant is completed.

In the refrigeration cycle apparatus 16 described above, the three-way valve 23 is controlled by the control unit 100 (see fig. 5) to select one or both of the flow paths B and C. The flow path B is a flow path for cooling the storage chambers (the refrigerating chamber 3, the chilling chamber 12, and the vegetable chamber 4) in the refrigerating temperature range, and the flow path C is a flow path for cooling the storage chambers (the ice making chamber 5, the small freezing chamber 6, and the freezing chamber 7) in the freezing temperature range. The two flow paths merge at a junction point D, from which the refrigerant flows in the direction of arrow E back to the compressor 20.

By switching the flow paths of the refrigerant as described above, a refrigerating operation for cooling the storage chambers (refrigerating chamber 3, chilling chamber 12, vegetable chamber 4) of the refrigerating temperature zone is performed when the flow path B is selected, a freezing operation for cooling the storage chambers (ice making chamber 5, freezer chamber 6, freezer chamber 7) of the freezing temperature zone is performed when the flow path C is selected, and both the refrigerating operation and the freezing operation are performed when both the flow path B and the flow path C are selected. When the refrigerating operation is stopped (when only the freezing operation is performed or when the compressor 20 is stopped), by driving the refrigerating blower fan 31 for the refrigerating temperature zone (see fig. 1, 2, and 3), frost adhering to the refrigerating cooler 17 can be melted and evaporated, and moisture can be supplied to the storage chambers (the refrigerating chamber 3, the chilling chamber 12, and the vegetable chamber 4) of the refrigerating temperature zone (defrosting operation).

Fig. 5 is a block diagram showing the control section 100 of the refrigerator 1 of the embodiment. The control board 53 includes a control unit 100 including a computer having a microcomputer, a timer, and the like, and controls the entire refrigerator 1. Refrigerating room temperature sensor 110, freezing room temperature sensor 112, outside temperature sensor 114, storage unit 116, refrigerating cooler temperature sensor 17a, refrigerating cooler temperature sensor 18a, compressor 20, three-way valve 23, refrigerating air blowing fan 31, refrigerating air blowing fan 39, and operation panel unit 150 are connected to control unit 100, and are driven and controlled by commands from control unit 100.

The refrigerating compartment temperature sensor 110 is provided in the refrigerating compartment 3 as described above, and detects the temperature of air in the refrigerating compartment 3. A freezing chamber temperature sensor 112 is also provided in the freezing chamber 7, and detects the temperature of the air in the freezing chamber 7. Each of refrigerating room temperature sensor 110, freezing room temperature sensor 112, refrigerating cooler temperature sensor 17a, and freezing cooler temperature sensor 18a is an example of a "sensor for detecting the state of the inside of the casing". On the other hand, the outside temperature sensor 114 is provided outside the storage compartment, that is, outside the compartment, and detects the outside temperature, that is, the temperature inside the compartment in which the refrigerator 1 is installed. The outside temperature sensor 114 is an example of a "sensor for detecting the state of the outside of the casing".

The storage unit 116 stores information necessary for the operation of the refrigerator 1. For example, the storage unit 116 stores a defrosting operation execution flag indicating whether or not the defrosting operation is being executed.

For example, when

doors

3a and 4a of storage compartments (refrigerating compartment 3, chilling compartment 12, and vegetable compartment 4) in a refrigerating temperature range are opened and closed, or when the amount of stored materials in refrigerating compartment 3 and vegetable compartment 4 increases, the temperature of air in refrigerating compartment 3 and vegetable compartment 4 detected by refrigerating compartment temperature sensor 110 increases to a predetermined temperature or higher. In this case, control unit 100 drives refrigeration cycle device 16 to perform a refrigerating and cooling operation to cool refrigerating compartment 3 and vegetable compartment 4 to a target temperature. Similarly, for example, when

doors

5a, 6a, and 7a of storage compartments (ice making compartment 5, small freezing compartment 6, and freezing compartment 7) in the freezing temperature range are opened or closed, or when the stored contents in ice making compartment 5, small freezing compartment 6, and freezing compartment 7 increase, the air temperature in ice making compartment 5, small freezing compartment 6, and freezing compartment 7 detected by freezing compartment temperature sensor 112 increases to a predetermined temperature or higher. Then, control unit 100 drives refrigeration cycle device 16 to perform a freezing and cooling operation to cool ice making chamber 5, small freezing chamber 6, and freezing chamber 7 to a target temperature.

Fig. 6 is a diagram illustrating an operation panel portion 150 of the refrigerator 1 according to the embodiment. The operation panel unit 150 is provided in a vertically long rectangular region on the opening operation side opposite to the hinge, that is, in the vicinity of the right side portion of the front surface of the left door 3a (see fig. 2). The operation panel unit 150 is electrically connected to the control unit 100. The operation panel unit 150 receives an operation for switching the set temperature and the operation mode of each storage room, and displays the setting contents and the current operation state. The operation panel unit 150 is, for example, a so-called touch type operation panel unit. The touch-type operation panel portion includes a touch sensor including a capacitance-type switch. In this case, the operation panel portion 150 is located on the surface of the refrigerating chamber door 3a as shown in fig. 2, and is provided integrally with the refrigerating chamber door 3 a.

In this case, as shown in fig. 6, the operation panel unit 150 includes a plurality of, in this case, 7 operation units 151 to 157 arranged in a vertical row on the right side for a user to perform a touch operation with a finger. At the same time, display units 158 to 163 corresponding to the respective operation units 151 to 157 are arranged in the vertical direction on the left side of the operation units 151 to 157. Each of the operation units 151 to 157 is composed of a capacitance type touch sensor, and includes operation buttons 151a to 157a virtually set on the front surface of the operation panel unit 150 and a capacitance detection unit, not shown, located on the back surface side thereof.

Specifically, as shown in fig. 6, an operation portion 151 (operation button 151a) of "cold storage", an operation portion 152 (operation button 152a) of "cold storage", an operation portion 153 (operation button 153a) of "freezing function", an operation portion 154 (operation button 154a) of "ice making", an operation portion 155 (operation button 155a) of "power saving", an operation portion 156 (operation button 156a) of "special chilling", and an operation portion 157 (operation button 157a) of "home" are provided in this order from the upper side.

On the other hand, the uppermost display unit 158 is provided at a height between the

operation units

151 and 152 for "cold storage" and "freezing", and is composed of characters "strong" and "weak" and 5 circular-arc marks arranged in a circular shape as a whole, and forms an indicator in which the number of lighted points indicates the intensity level. The display unit 159 one below corresponds to the operation unit 153 of the "freezing function", and characters of "quick freezing", "hot product freezing", "vegetable freezing", and "drying" are selectively displayed in this order from the upper side.

The display portion 160 below corresponds to the operation portion 154 for "ice making", and selectively displays characters of "rapid ice making" and "ice making stop". The display unit 161 on the lower side corresponds to the "power saving" operation unit 155, and characters of "power saving", "going out", and "off peak" are selectively displayed in this order from the upper side. The display portion 162 below corresponds to the "extra-chilled" operation portion 156, and characters of "ordinary chilled" and "extra-chilled" are selectively displayed. The lowermost display unit 163 corresponds to the operation unit 156 of the "home page", and displays the text of the "economy mode" and the mark of the "key (lock)".

The control unit 100 controls the operation of the refrigerator 1 in accordance with the operation of the operation panel unit 150 by the user. In a default state at the time of shipment of the refrigerator 1, the control unit 100 is in a state in which "normal chilling" is selected. In the state where the "normal quench" is selected, a normal quench operation described later is performed. When the user selects "extra shock" by touching the operation portion 156 and displays "extra shock" on the display portion 162, the control portion 100 executes the extra shock operation described later. In the default state of the refrigerator 1 at the time of shipment, the control portion 100 is in the state of being selected as the "normal chilling", and thus, it is possible to suppress unnecessary execution of the special chilling operation during an unknown period and unnecessary consumption of electricity charges for a user who does not need the special chilling operation.

The operation panel unit 150 is an example of an "input unit" and receives an input from a user. The "input unit" is not limited to the operation panel unit 150, and may be a physical button provided on the inner wall of the heat insulating case 2 or the door 3a of the refrigerator 1. In the case of the refrigerator 1 corresponding to the voice input, the "input unit" may be a voice analysis unit connected to a microphone that acquires the voice of the user.

< usual quench operation >

First, the normal chilling operation will be described.

In normal quench operation, the control portion 100 cools the quench chamber 12 to a normal quench target temperature by controlling the refrigeration cycle device 16. More specifically, the Control unit 100 converts the normal chilling target temperature into the refrigerating compartment target temperature by a predetermined calculation, and controls the refrigeration cycle device 16 in accordance with feedback Control such as PID Control (Proportional-Integral-Differential Control) so that the air temperature of the refrigerating compartment 3 detected by the refrigerating compartment temperature sensor 110 becomes the refrigerating compartment target temperature. As such, the quench chamber 12 is maintained within a generally chilled temperature band corresponding to a generally chilled target temperature. The target chilling temperature is usually, for example, 0 to 1 ℃. Typically, the quench temperature zone is an example of a "constant temperature zone". The control portion 100 controls the refrigeration cycle apparatus 16 such that the inside of the quench chamber 12 becomes the normal quench target temperature, and thus the center temperature of the normal quench temperature zone is substantially the same as the normal quench target temperature. Thus, the center temperature of the usual quench temperature zone in the usual quench operation is also, for example, 1 ℃. The center temperature is a value obtained by dividing the sum of the maximum temperature and the minimum temperature in the period in which the target operation is performed by 2. The temperature during the period in which the temperature has not stabilized immediately after the control unit 100 switches the operation mode may be excluded from the calculation of the center temperature.

As described above, the control unit 100 controls the three-way valve 23 to alternately switch the flow path of the refrigerant between the flow path B and the flow path C shown in fig. 4. When the refrigerant flows in the flow path B, the storage chambers (the refrigerating chamber 3, the chilling chamber 12, and the vegetable chamber 4) of the refrigerating temperature zone are cooled. When the refrigerant flows in the flow path C, the storage compartments (ice making compartment 5, small freezing compartment 6, freezing compartment 7) of the freezing temperature zone are cooled. The control unit 100, for example, causes the refrigerant to flow through the flow path B for 40 minutes to cool the storage room in the cold storage temperature range, and causes the refrigerant to flow through the flow path C for 60 minutes to cool the storage room in the freezing temperature range. When the storage room in the cold storage temperature range is cooled, the refrigerator cooler 18 is defrosted. When the storage room in the freezing temperature range is cooled, the refrigerator cooler 17 is defrosted. The "control unit 100 causes the refrigerant to flow through the flow path B for 40 minutes to cool the storage room in the cold storage temperature range and causes the refrigerant to flow through the flow path C for 60 minutes to cool the storage room in the freezing temperature range" is an example of the "control unit controlling the three-way valve so as to send the refrigerant compressed by the compressor to the first cooler during a third time and controlling the three-way valve so as to send the refrigerant compressed by the compressor to the second cooler during a fourth time". Defrosting of the refrigerating cooler 17 and the freezing cooler 18 will be described later.

As described above, the control portion 100 is set to cool the quench chamber 12 by a normal quench operation in a default state of the refrigerator 1. That is, when the power of the refrigerator 1 is turned on from the state where the power of the refrigerator 1 is turned off, the control portion 100 cools the chilling chamber 12 by the normal chilling operation. Typically, quench operation is an example of one of the cooling modes of the quench chamber 12, i.e., the "first control mode".

In the above description, during the normal quench operation, the controller 100 cools the inside of the quench chamber 12 to a normal quench target temperature (e.g., 1 ℃) which is a temperature immediately before freezing. However, the control unit 100 may cool the inside of the quench chamber 12 to a temperature of a semi-frozen or micro-frozen state, i.e., a target temperature of so-called partial freezing (e.g., -1 ℃ C. to-3 ℃ C.). As such, the quench chamber 12 is maintained within a partially frozen temperature band corresponding to a target temperature for partial freezing. The partially frozen temperature zone is an example of a "constant temperature zone". When the control unit 100 controls the refrigeration cycle apparatus 16 such that the temperature in the quench chamber 12 becomes a target temperature for partial freezing, the center temperature of the temperature zone of partial freezing becomes substantially the same as the target temperature for partial freezing. Thus, the center temperature of the partially frozen temperature zone is also, for example, any temperature of-1 ℃ to-3 ℃. The calculation of the core temperature is the same as described above. The operation of cooling the quench chamber 12 at the target temperature of partial freezing is an example of a "first control mode" which is one of the cooling modes of the quench chamber 12.

< extraordinary quench operation >

Next, the special quench operation of the embodiment will be described.

Fig. 7 is a graph showing the measurement results of the air temperature in the quench chamber 12 when the refrigerator 1 of the embodiment is cooled in the special quench operation. In FIG. 7, the vertical axis shows the air temperature of the quench chamber 12, and the horizontal axis shows the elapsed time from the start of the measurement.

The control portion 100 of the refrigerator 1 is capable of selectively performing a normal chilling operation and an extra chilling operation with respect to temperature control of the chilling chamber 12. For example, as described above, the user can switch between the normal chilling operation and the special chilling operation by touching the operation portion 156 of the operation panel portion 150. For example, by the user touching the operation portion 156 of the operation panel portion 150, the control portion 100 switches the cooling mode of the quench chamber 12 from the normal quench operation to the special quench operation, and starts the special quench operation. When the user touches the operation portion 156 of the operation panel portion 150 to switch the cooling mode of the quench chamber 12 from the normal quench operation to the special quench operation, the control portion 100 first performs low-temperature cooling control for cooling the quench chamber 12 in a first temperature zone, and then performs high-temperature cooling control for cooling the quench chamber 12 in a second temperature zone higher than the first temperature zone. Fig. 7 shows measurement results during the extra quench operation, not measurement results from the start of the extra quench operation. The operation section 156 of the operation panel section 150 touched by the user is an example of "predetermined input by the user". The extra quench operation is one example of a "second control mode" that is one of the cooling modes of the quench chamber 12.

In the special chilling operation, as shown in fig. 7, the control portion 100 controls the cooler 17 for cold storage in a cooling mode including a low-temperature cooling control of cooling the chilling chamber 12 in a first temperature zone, a high-temperature cooling control of cooling the chilling chamber 12 in a second temperature zone higher than the first temperature zone, and a low-temperature cooling control of cooling the chilling chamber 12 in the first temperature zone. After the low-temperature cooling control for cooling the quench chamber 12 in the first temperature zone and before the high-temperature cooling control for cooling the quench chamber 12 in the second temperature zone higher than the first temperature zone, the control may be arbitrarily performed. After the high-temperature cooling control for cooling the quench chamber 12 in the second temperature zone higher than the first temperature zone and before the low-temperature cooling control for cooling the quench chamber 12 in the first temperature zone are performed, any control may be performed. Here, the arbitrary control is not particularly limited. The arbitrary control may be cooling control in which cooling is performed at a target temperature other than the first temperature zone or the second temperature zone, for example. The special quench operation of the present embodiment can be realized even if arbitrary control is performed. That is, performing arbitrary control between the low-temperature cooling control and the high-temperature cooling control constitutes a part of the special quench operation of the present embodiment.

The first temperature zone is a temperature zone of the quench chamber 12 when the control portion 100 controls the quench chamber 12 to cool the quench chamber 12 to a cryogenic target temperature. The cryogenic target temperature of the cryogenic quench is, for example, -5 ℃. That is, the center temperature of the first temperature zone is also, for example, -5 ℃. The extra-chilled low temperature target temperature (the center temperature of the first temperature zone) is a temperature less than 0 ℃. In the refrigerator 1 of the present embodiment, the maximum value of the first temperature zone is also a temperature of less than 0 ℃. The first temperature band is a lower temperature band than a typical chill temperature band. The first temperature zone is a temperature at which the surface of the storage in the quench chamber 12 is micro-frozen. The first temperature zone is a temperature zone in which an ice layer is formed only on the surface of the storage in the quench chamber 12 without freezing the storage to the very center.

The second temperature zone is a temperature zone of the quench chamber 12 when the control portion 100 controls the quench chamber 12 to cool the quench chamber 12 to the target extra-chilled high temperature. The high-temperature target temperature (the center temperature of the second temperature zone) is chilled in particular, for example, 1 ℃. That is, the center temperature of the second temperature zone is also, for example, 1 ℃. The high-temperature target temperature (center temperature of the second temperature zone) is chilled in particular to a temperature of 0 ℃ or more. In the refrigerator 1 of the embodiment, the maximum value of the second temperature zone is a temperature of 0 ℃ or higher, and the minimum value of the second temperature zone is a temperature of less than 0 ℃. The second temperature zone is a higher temperature zone than the typical chill temperature zone. The second temperature zone is a temperature at which the micro-frozen layer formed on the surface of the stored material can be melted.

In this embodiment, the second temperature zone comprises a temperature higher than the maximum ice crystal generation zone (e.g., -5 ℃ to-1 ℃). The maximum ice crystal generation zone is a temperature zone in which ice crystals in the moisture in the food are generated most and the moisture in the food is almost frozen. The control unit 100 controls the cooling unit in the second temperature zone such that the temperature of the food stored in the chilling chamber 12 becomes higher than the maximum ice crystal generation zone.

The first temperature band may be a temperature band between an average of maximum values and an average of minimum values of the air temperature of the quench chamber 12 when the control portion 100 controls the quench chamber 12 in a manner to cool the quench chamber 12 to the cryogenic target temperature. At this time, in solving for the average of the maximum and minimum values of the air temperature of the quench chamber 12, the deviation values may be excluded and the average calculated. The same applies to the second temperature zone. The center temperature of the first temperature zone may be an average of both an average of the maximum values and an average of the minimum values of the air temperature of the quench chamber 12 when the control portion 100 controls the quench chamber 12 in such a manner as to cool the quench chamber 12 to the extra-chilled low-temperature target temperature. At this time, when solving for the average of the maxima and the average of the minima of the air temperature of the quench chamber 12, the deviation values may be excluded and the average calculated. The same applies to the center temperature of the second temperature zone.

As shown in fig. 7, the control portion 100 may exclude the air temperature of the quench chamber 12 from the maximum value and the minimum value of the air temperature of the first temperature zone during a period in which the cooling of the quench chamber 12 is changed from the second temperature zone to the first temperature zone and the air temperature of the quench chamber 12 is not yet stable. Likewise, the air temperature of the quench chamber 12 during the period in which the control portion 100 changes the cooling of the quench chamber 12 from the first temperature band to the second temperature band while the air temperature of the quench chamber 12 is not yet stable may be excluded from the maximum and minimum values of the air temperature of the second temperature band.

In an embodiment, a first temperature difference (6 ℃) between the extra-chilled low temperature target temperature (the center temperature of the first temperature zone, -5 ℃) and the usual chilled target temperature (1 ℃) is larger than a second temperature difference (0 ℃) between the extra-chilled high temperature target temperature (the center temperature of the second temperature zone, 1 ℃) and the usual chilled target temperature (1 ℃).

As shown in FIG. 7, in the first temperature band, the air temperature of the quench chamber 12 fluctuates up and down over the range of the first temperature band. Also, in the second temperature band, the air temperature of the quench chamber 12 fluctuates up and down over the range of the second temperature band. In the second temperature zone, the air temperature at the time of temperature increase changes gently as compared with the temperature decrease. The rate of temperature change in the temperature rise of the second temperature zone is not constant. That is, in the temperature rise in the second temperature zone, the temperature rises rapidly at first, and the temperature rises gradually from the middle. In other words, in the temperature rise in the second temperature zone, the first temperature change rate is large, and the temperature change rate becomes small from the middle. The temperature change rate during temperature rise is greater than the temperature change rate during temperature fall. The operating frequency of the compressor 20, which will be described later, is adjusted so that the air temperature in the quench chamber 12 changes as described above. Similarly, in the first temperature range, the temperature of the air changes gently when the temperature rises as compared with when the temperature falls. The rate of temperature change in the temperature rise of the first temperature zone is not constant. That is, in the temperature rise in the first temperature zone, the temperature rises rapidly at first, and the temperature rises gradually from the middle. In other words, in the temperature rise in the first temperature zone, the first temperature change rate is large, and the temperature change rate becomes small from the middle. The change in the temperature change rate during temperature rise is larger than the change in the temperature change rate during temperature fall. The adjustment of the operating frequency of the compressor 20 and the control of the three-way valve 23, which will be described later, are performed so as to change the air temperature of the quench chamber 12 as described above.

In the present specification, the expression "a certain temperature zone is higher than other temperature zones" means "the center temperature of a certain temperature zone is higher than the center temperature of other temperature zones", and includes a case where a part of "other temperature zones" overlaps a part of "a certain temperature zone". Similarly, the expression "a certain temperature zone is lower than other temperature zones" means "the center temperature of a certain temperature zone is lower than the center temperature of other temperature zones", and includes a case where a part of "a certain temperature zone" includes a part of "other temperature zones".

The control unit 100 alternately repeats: controlling the cooling portion to cool the quench chamber 12 in a first temperature band during a first time; and controlling the cooling portion in a manner to cool the quench chamber 12 in the second temperature band during the second time. Any control may be used between controlling the cooling portion to cool the quench chamber 12 in the first temperature band during the first time and controlling the cooling portion to cool the quench chamber 12 in the second temperature band during the second time.

The first time is for example 2 hours. The second time is, for example, 5 hours. The second time is longer than the first time. The first time period is longer than (further longer than the total value of) each of a time period (40 minutes) for cooling the storage chamber in the cold storage temperature zone by flowing the refrigerant through the flow path B and a time period (60 minutes) for cooling the storage chamber in the freezing temperature zone by flowing the refrigerant through the flow path C in the normal chilling operation. In other words, the first time period is longer than the defrosting of the refrigerating cooler 17 and the freezing cooler 18 in the normal chilling operation.

The second time period is longer than (further longer than the total value of) each of the time period (40 minutes) for cooling the storage chamber in the cold storage temperature zone by flowing the refrigerant through the flow path B and the time period (60 minutes) for cooling the storage chamber in the freezing temperature zone by flowing the refrigerant through the flow path C in the normal chilling operation. In other words, the second time period is longer than the defrosting time period of the refrigerating cooler 17 and the freezing cooler 18 in the normal chilling operation.

Fig. 8 is a graph showing the measurement results of the air temperature in the quench chamber 12 during low-temperature cooling when the refrigerator 1 according to the embodiment is cooled in the special quench operation. That is, fig. 8 is an enlarged view of the low-temperature cooling of fig. 7. In fig. 8, the vertical axis represents the air temperature of the quench chamber 12, and the horizontal axis represents the elapsed time from the start of measurement. In the cryogenic cooling shown in fig. 8, the inside of the quench chamber 12 is cooled so as to have a target cryogenic temperature of, for example, -5 ℃, and therefore the inside of the quench chamber 12 is maintained at-9.1 ℃ to-1.9 ℃. And, after switching from high temperature cooling to low temperature cooling, a low temperature target temperature of-5 ℃ was reached during 15 minutes.

In the normal chilling operation, if the inside of the chilling chamber 12 is made to be a high-temperature atmosphere, it is difficult to maintain freshness. Conversely, if the inside of the quench chamber 12 is cooled to a temperature at which the food is partially frozen, for example, a target temperature of-1 ℃ to make the inside of the quench chamber 12 a low-temperature atmosphere, the food is frozen, and therefore, if the temperature control is not properly performed, the food is gradually frozen slightly until the inside of the food, and there is a possibility that the frozen portion may be dropped during thawing, or the like, to deteriorate the state of the food. Therefore, in the special chilling operation, for example, by controlling so as to repeat the operation of cooling (low-temperature cooling) so that the target temperature of low temperature of-5 ℃ is reached in a period of 2 hours and cooling (high-temperature cooling) so that the target temperature of high temperature of 1 ℃ is reached in a period of 7 hours in the chilling chamber 12, only the surface of the food is slightly frozen, and thus drying and oxidation of the food can be prevented, and the freshness of the food can be maintained by chilling without freezing the food.

In the special quench operation, the target high temperature of the special quench, the execution time of the high temperature cooling, the target low temperature of the special quench, and the execution time of the low temperature cooling are not limited to the above examples. In the special quenching operation, the special quenching high-temperature target temperature, the high-temperature cooling execution time, the special quenching low-temperature target temperature, and the low-temperature cooling execution time may be any values. Preferably, the target high-temperature chilling temperature, the execution time of high-temperature cooling, the target low-temperature chilling temperature, and the execution time of low-temperature cooling are set to values at which the frozen melting of the surface of the food product formed at the time of low-temperature cooling is not progressed to the inside during high-temperature cooling. However, the present embodiment is not limited thereto. The target extra-chilled high temperature, the time for performing high-temperature cooling, the target extra-chilled low temperature, and the time for performing low-temperature cooling may be set to any values that can improve the quality of the food stored in the refrigerator 1.

The particularly chilled high temperature target temperature may be a temperature above the freezing point (0 ℃) that enables freezing and thawing of the surface of the food product. The target temperature of the high temperature is chilled in particular, for example, 1 ℃. The chilled cryogenic target temperature may be a temperature below freezing (0 ℃) that is capable of maintaining the freshness of the food product. The cryogenic target temperature is chilled in particular to be-5 ℃ for example.

The high-temperature cooling may be performed for any time that can freeze and melt the surface of the food. The time for which the high-temperature cooling is preferentially performed is, for example, 4 hours or more. More preferably, the high-temperature cooling is performed for 7 hours, for example. The time for performing the low-temperature cooling may be 1 hour or more, which can maintain the freshness of the food. The time for performing the low-temperature cooling is, for example, 2 hours.

In the special chilling operation, during the low temperature cooling control, the control unit 100 controls the three-way valve 23 to alternately switch the flow path of the refrigerant between the flow path B and the flow path C shown in fig. 4, thereby alternately repeating the cooling of the storage chambers in the refrigerating temperature range (the refrigerating chamber 3, the chilling chamber 12, and the vegetable chamber 4) and the cooling of the storage chambers in the freezing temperature range (the ice making chamber 5, the small freezing chamber 6, and the freezing chamber 7). The control unit 100 performs defrosting of the cooler 17 for cold storage while the high-temperature cooling control is being performed. The control unit 100 does not basically defrost the refrigerating cooler 17 while the low-temperature cooling control is being performed. That is, the control unit 100 does not defrost the refrigerating cooler 17 even when the time for which the three-way valve is switched to the flow path C to cool the storage chamber in the freezing temperature range comes while the low-temperature cooling control is performed. In other words, when the special chiller operation is performed, the control unit 100 stops defrosting of the refrigerating cooler 17 at least during the first time period of the low-temperature cooling control. On the other hand, while the high-temperature cooling control is being performed, the control unit 100 raises the temperature of the refrigeration chiller 17 to 3 ℃ or higher in order to defrost the refrigeration chiller 17.

In the above-described special chilling operation, the control unit 100 does not basically defrost the refrigerator cooler 17 while the low-temperature cooling control is being performed. However, in the special chiller operation, the control unit 100 may defrost the refrigerator cooler 17 less frequently than the defrosting of the refrigerator cooler 17 performed during the high-temperature cooling control, while the low-temperature cooling control is performed. For example, the control unit 100 may perform control so that the temperature of the refrigeration chiller 17 is increased to a temperature lower than the defrosting of the refrigeration chiller 17 performed during the period in which the high-temperature cooling control is performed, while the low-temperature cooling control is performed. For example, the control unit 100 may control the defrosting of the refrigerating cooler 17 to be performed in a shorter time than the defrosting of the refrigerating cooler 17 performed during the high-temperature cooling control, while the low-temperature cooling control is performed. "defrosting of the refrigerating cooler 17 is not performed in principle during the period in which the low-temperature cooling control is performed" and "defrosting of the refrigerating cooler 17 is performed weaker than defrosting of the refrigerating cooler 17 performed during the period in which the high-temperature cooling control is performed" are examples of "suppressing the execution of defrosting of the above-described coolers".

Extra quench operation based on information detected using sensors

In the above, an example of cooling control by a fixed time period in which 2 hours of low-temperature cooling and 7 hours of high-temperature cooling are performed is shown for the special quench operation. In the special chilling operation, either one of the high-temperature cooling execution time and the low-temperature cooling execution time may be changed based on the information detected by the sensor. For example, either the high-temperature cooling execution time or the low-temperature cooling execution time can be changed based on the outside temperature measured by the outside temperature sensor 114. For example, the high-temperature cooling time may be changed to 5 hours, 7 hours, or 10 hours based on the outside temperature measured by the outside temperature sensor 114. That is, when the outside temperature measured by the outside temperature sensor 114 is high, the high-temperature cooling time is reduced from 7 hours to 5 hours, which is standard, so that the degradation of the food can be prevented. When the outside temperature measured by the outside temperature sensor 114 is low, the time for performing high-temperature cooling is increased from the standard 7 hours to 10 hours, thereby preventing the progress of freezing into the food. Here, the example of changing the time for performing the high-temperature cooling is described, but the time for performing the low-temperature cooling may be changed. Similarly, the high-temperature cooling execution time may be changed based on the air temperature in refrigerating room 3 measured by refrigerating room temperature sensor 110, for example.

In the special chilling operation, either the high-temperature cooling execution time or the low-temperature cooling execution time can be changed based on information detected by various sensors. For example, either the high-temperature cooling execution time or the low-temperature cooling execution time can be changed by a camera that takes an image of the outside or the inside of the cabinet. For example, at least one of the type and the amount of the food stored in the chilling chamber 12 may be determined by a camera that photographs the inside of the bin, and either the high-temperature cooling execution time or the low-temperature cooling execution time may be changed according to the determination result. In the above, an example of changing either the high-temperature cooling execution time or the low-temperature cooling execution time is shown, but the target chilled temperature may be changed based on information detected by various sensors.

For example, any one of the target chilled temperature, the time for performing high-temperature cooling, the target chilled temperature, and the time for performing low-temperature cooling may be changed based on information detected by a sensor that measures the air temperature or the food temperature in the chilling chamber 12. The sensor for measuring the temperature of the food may be a temperature sensor that is in contact with a metal tray on which the food is placed in the quench chamber 12. This enables the special chilling operation to be performed in accordance with more accurate temperature control.

The control unit 100 controls the refrigeration cycle apparatus 16 to perform high-temperature cooling and low-temperature cooling in the special chiller operation, but the control unit 100 may be configured to set the operating frequency of the compressor 20 to be higher when performing low-temperature cooling than when performing high-temperature cooling in the control of the refrigeration cycle apparatus 16. For example, the operating frequency of the compressor 20 when high-temperature cooling is performed may be set to 20Hz, and the operating frequency of the compressor 20 when low-temperature cooling is performed may be set to 60 Hz. By increasing the operating frequency of the compressor 20 during the low-temperature cooling, the cooling capacity is increased, and the inside of the quench chamber 12 can be cooled to a target low-temperature in a short time. This can more reliably prevent deterioration of the food. When it takes time to transition to the low-temperature cooling, the food starts to freeze not only on the surface of the food but also inside the food, and therefore, the freezing inside the food can be prevented by increasing the cooling capacity by increasing the operating frequency of the compressor 20. In contrast to the above, the operating frequency of the compressor 20 may be reduced during the subcooling when the load is light.

< 1 st subcooling for extra-quench operation >

As described above, when the refrigerator 1 performs the normal chilling operation, the user touches the operation portion 156 of the "extra chilling" of the operation panel portion 150, and the control portion 100 starts the extra chilling operation. When the special chilling operation has been started, the primary low-temperature target temperature in the primary low-temperature cooling may be the first temperature zone or may be a third temperature zone lower than the first temperature zone. The central temperature of the third temperature zone is, for example, -10 ℃. In addition, with regard to the definition of the temperature zone or the center temperature, the above description for the first temperature zone and the second temperature zone is applied. The following may be formed: when the special quench operation is started, the control portion 100 controls the cooling portion so as to cool the quench chamber 12 in a third temperature zone lower than the first temperature zone, and then alternately repeats the following operations: the cooling portion is controlled such that the quench chamber 12 is cooled in the second temperature band, and the cooling portion is controlled such that the quench chamber 12 is cooled in the first temperature band.

Further, the following may be formed: when a predetermined time has elapsed after the air temperature of the quench chamber 12 reaches the third temperature band, the control portion 100 changes the low temperature target temperature to the first temperature band. The control unit 100 may control the cooling unit such that the total time of the time for cooling with the target low-temperature in the third temperature range and the time for cooling with the target low-temperature in the first temperature range in the first low-temperature cooling is substantially equal to the time for cooling with the target low-temperature in the first temperature range in the second and subsequent low-temperature cooling.

The following may be formed: when the temperature outside the refrigerator (the temperature inside the room where the refrigerator 1 is installed) detected by the outside temperature sensor 114 is higher than the normal temperature inside the room, the control unit 100 sets the target temperature in the first subcooling to a third temperature band lower than the first temperature band. The refrigerator 1 may further include a sensor for detecting opening and closing of a door, not shown, of the chilling chamber 12, and the control unit 100 may set the target temperature in the first subcooling to a third temperature range lower than the first temperature range when the sensor detects opening and closing of the door of the chilling chamber 12. The refrigerator 1 may further include a sensor for detecting sliding of the crisper 13 in the chilling chamber 12, and when the sensor detects sliding of the crisper 13, the control unit 100 may set the target temperature in the first subcooling to a third temperature range lower than the first temperature range. The refrigerator 1 may further include a sensor for detecting the temperature of the food in the chilling chamber 12, and the control unit 100 may set the target temperature in the first subcooling to a third temperature zone lower than the first temperature zone when the temperature of the food detected by the sensor is higher than a reference value. By setting the target temperature in the first subcooling to a third temperature zone lower than the first temperature zone, the food can be cooled in a short time to maintain the freshness of the food.

< automatic extraordinary chilling mode >

Further, the control portion 100 may be configured to start the special chill operation even if the user does not touch the "special chill" operation portion 156 of the operation panel portion 150. In this case, the first cryogenic cooling is performed in the third temperature zone. For example, the operation panel unit 150 may further include an operation unit of "automatic special chilling mode", not shown, and in this case, when the user touches the operation unit of "automatic special chilling mode" and selects "automatic special chilling mode", the control unit 100 determines whether or not the food material suitable for the special chilling operation is put into the chilling chamber 12 based on the photographed image photographed by the in-tank camera, not shown. If it is determined that the food material suitable for the extra quench operation is introduced into the quench chamber 12, the control portion 100 automatically starts the extra quench operation. The in-box camera in this case is an example of the sensor.

< modification example 1 of the very Cold running mode

In the above embodiment: when the user touches the operation portion 156 of the operation panel portion 150 to switch the cooling mode of the quench chamber 12 from the normal quench operation to the special quench operation, the control portion 100 first performs low-temperature cooling control for cooling the quench chamber 12 in a first temperature zone, and then performs high-temperature cooling control for cooling the quench chamber 12 in a second temperature zone higher than the first temperature zone. However, the special quench operation of the embodiments is not limited to the above-described embodiments. In modification 1 of the special chiller operation, when the user touches the operation portion 156 of the operation panel portion 150 to switch the cooling mode of the chiller chamber 12 from the normal chiller operation to the special chiller operation, the controller 100 first performs high-temperature cooling control for cooling the chiller chamber 12 in the second temperature zone and then performs low-temperature cooling control for cooling the chiller chamber 12 in the first temperature zone lower than the second temperature zone.

< modification example 2 of the extreme Cooling operation

In the above embodiment: the control unit 100 alternately repeats the following operations: controlling the cooling portion in a manner to cool the quench chamber 12 in a first temperature band during a first time; and controlling the cooling portion during a second time in a manner to cool the quench chamber 12 in a second temperature band. However, the special quench operation of the embodiments is not limited to the above-described embodiments. In modification 2 of the special quench operation, control unit 100 performs at least one cycle of the following operations: controlling the cooling portion in a manner to cool the quench chamber 12 in a first temperature band during a first time; and controlling the cooling portion during a second time in a manner to cool the quench chamber 12 in a second temperature band.

< modification using damper >

In the above-described embodiment, the refrigerating chamber 3, the vegetable chamber 4, and the chilling chamber 12 are cooled by the common refrigerating cooler 17 and the refrigerating blower fan 31 at the temperature setting in cooperation. The cooler 17 for cold storage having the lowest temperature is disposed behind the chill chamber 12 having a lower temperature than the cold storage chamber 3 or the vegetable chamber 4, and thus the special chill operation of the present embodiment can be performed even if the cold storage chamber 3, the vegetable chamber 4, and the chill chamber 12 are cooled at the temperature settings in conjunction with each other. However, the refrigerator 1 of the present embodiment is not limited to the above-described structure. For example, a refrigerator according to a modification of the embodiment includes a damper device, not shown, in addition to the configuration of the refrigerator 1 according to the embodiment. The damper device is a so-called double damper device having 2 openings. The damper device individually controls the supply of cold air to the refrigerating chamber 3 and the vegetable chamber 4 and the supply of cold air to the chilling chamber 12, the cold air being supplied from the refrigerating supply fan 31 of the refrigerating cooler 17. Thus, the refrigerator according to the modification of the embodiment can control the temperature of the chilling chamber 12 independently of the temperatures of the refrigerating chamber 3 and the vegetable chamber 4. Accordingly, in the refrigerator according to the modification of the embodiment, the temperature of the chilling chamber 12 can be freely controlled independently of the refrigerating chamber 3 and the vegetable chamber 4 in the special chilling operation, and thus the storage state of the food can be further improved. In the present modification, an example of the "cooling unit" is constituted by the compressor 20, the cooler 17 for cold storage, the blower fan 31 for cold storage, the cooler 18 for freezing, the blower fan 39 for freezing, and the damper device.

< modification using special quench operation and evacuation of quench chamber >

The structure of the quench chamber 12 of the refrigerator 1 of the present embodiment is not limited to the above-described structure. The refrigerator according to the modification of the embodiment may be provided with a reduced-pressure chilling chamber that is depressurized to suppress a decrease in freshness of food, instead of the chilling chamber 12. The reduced-pressure quench chamber is a gas conditioning chamber configured to hermetically seal the chamber, and is a chamber whose interior is reduced in pressure by suction of air by a vacuum pump to, for example, 0.7 gas pressure (70 kPa). The reduced-pressure quench chamber is depressurized, whereby oxygen around the food can be reduced to suppress oxidation, whereby a reduction in freshness of the food can be suppressed. The special quench operation of the present embodiment can also be applied to a refrigerator having such a reduced-pressure quench chamber. By evacuating the inside of the reduced-pressure chilling chamber during high-temperature cooling control of the special chilling operation, the freshness of the food can be maintained even in a situation where the air temperature in the reduced-pressure chilling chamber is high. Further, the vacuum may be evacuated in the reduced-pressure chilling chamber during the low-temperature cooling control of the special chilling operation. When the interior of the reduced-pressure chilling chamber is evacuated during the low-temperature cooling, the food stored in the reduced-pressure chilling chamber is brought into a reduced-pressure state, thereby evaporating moisture contained in the interior of the food and thereby removing the heat of evaporation from the food, thereby promoting the cooling of the food. Therefore, the food can be cooled in a short time, thereby improving the storage state of the food.

Further, the vacuum may be drawn in the reduced-pressure chilling chamber during high-temperature cooling control in the special chilling operation. In the case where the inside of the reduced-pressure chilling chamber is evacuated during high-temperature cooling, the reduced-pressure chilling chamber is evacuated and depressurized during high-temperature cooling in which the temperature of the reduced-pressure chilling chamber is high and the freshness of the food tends to decrease, whereby oxygen around the food is reduced to suppress oxidation, thereby suppressing the decrease in the freshness of the food. That is, in this case, the decrease in freshness of the food during high-temperature cooling can be reduced. In addition, when the vacuum is drawn in the reduced-pressure chilling chamber in the low-temperature cooling control of the special chilling operation, the vacuum may not be drawn in the reduced-pressure chilling chamber in the high-temperature cooling control of the special chilling operation, and the vacuum may be drawn in the reduced-pressure chilling chamber in the high-temperature cooling control of the special chilling operation.

Here, the first damper device 260 is a so-called double damper device having 2 openings. The first opening 260a, not shown, controls the air supply to the cool air supply duct 30, and the second opening 260b controls the air supply to the chill chamber air supply duct 265. The quench chamber supply air duct 265 branches off at the right-hand side of the cool air supply duct 30 as viewed from the front of the refrigerator 200 and communicates with the inside of the quench chamber 12.

< defrosting operation >

Next, a defrosting operation of the refrigerator 1 will be described. In the defrosting operation, there are a method of using a defrosting heater and a method of defrosting by blowing air with a blower without using a defrosting heater. In the refrigerator 1 of the embodiment, defrosting of the freezing cooler 18 is performed by a defrosting heater, and defrosting of the refrigerating cooler 17 is performed by air blowing by the refrigerating air blowing fan 31.

The defrosting operation of the refrigeration chiller 18 is performed in a state where the compressor 20 is stopped or in a state where the supply of the refrigerant to the refrigeration chiller 18 is stopped by the three-way valve 23. In this case, the control unit 100 drives a defrosting heater, not shown, when the defrosting operation of the refrigerating cooler 18 is started. Thereby, the refrigerating cooler 18 is heated, and frost adhering to the refrigerating cooler 18 is removed. On the other hand, the defrosting operation of the refrigerating cooler 17 is performed in a state where the compressor 20 is stopped or in a state where the supply of the refrigerant to the refrigerating cooler 17 is stopped by the three-way valve 23.

When the defrosting operation of the cooling unit 17 for cooling starts, the control unit 100 drives the cooling blower fan 31. Then, the air blowing action of the cooling blower fan 31 causes the air in the cooling compartment 3 and the vegetable compartment 4 having a positive temperature to be taken into the cooling cooler compartment 32. The cooler 17 for cold storage is heated by the positive temperature air, and frost adhering to the cooler 17 for cold storage is removed. At this time, the moisture generated by defrosting is supplied to refrigerating room 3 and vegetable room 4 by the blowing action of refrigerating blower fan 31. In this case, the moisture generated by defrosting is mainly supplied to the refrigerating chamber 3 when the refrigerating blower fan 31 is rotated in the normal direction, and mainly supplied to the vegetable chamber 4 when the refrigerating blower fan is rotated in the reverse direction. The operation of supplying the moisture generated by defrosting of the refrigerating cooler 17 to the refrigerating chamber 3 and the vegetable chamber 4 in this manner is referred to as a humidifying operation in this embodiment, and this humidifying operation functions as a humidity control unit. When the temperature of the refrigerating cooler 17 detected by the refrigerating cooler temperature sensor 17a exceeds a predetermined threshold value (3 ℃), the control unit 100 ends the defrosting operation of the refrigerating cooler 17.

< first defrost operation and second defrost operation >

In the refrigerator 1 of the embodiment, the control unit 100 performs a first defrosting operation (defrosting operation according to the first defrosting control) which is a normal defrosting operation when a predetermined condition is satisfied, and performs a second defrosting operation (defrosting operation according to the second defrosting control) having a higher defrosting effect than the first defrosting operation when the predetermined condition is not satisfied. That is, the control unit 100 sets a reference value, and changes the cooling control when the reference value is not the reference value.

The predetermined condition (reference value) is a condition (reference value) related to information obtained from the detection results of at least 1 of the temperature sensors such as the refrigerating compartment temperature sensor 110, the freezing compartment temperature sensor 112, the outside temperature sensor 114, the refrigerating cooler temperature sensor 17a, and the freezing cooler temperature sensor 18 a. The freezing chamber temperature sensor 112, the outside temperature sensor 114, the refrigerating cooler temperature sensor 17a, and the freezing cooler temperature sensor 18a are examples of temperature sensors. The temperature sensor is a temperature sensor (for example, refrigerating room temperature sensor 110 or freezing room temperature sensor 112) for detecting the temperature inside the storage unit, or a temperature sensor (for example, refrigerating cooler temperature sensor 17a or freezing cooler temperature sensor 18a) for detecting the temperature of the cooler.

The second defrosting operation includes at least one of defrosting the refrigerator cooler 17 for a longer time than the first defrosting operation and raising the temperature at which defrosting of the refrigerator cooler 17 is performed. Hereinafter, the defrosting of the cooler 17 for cold storage for a long time will be described in detail. The temperature at which the refrigerator cooler 17 is defrosted includes, for example, the following: the rotational speed of the air blowing fan 31 for the refrigeration to defrost the refrigeration chiller 17 is increased (the air blowing amount is increased) to cause more air in the storage chamber to collide with the refrigeration chiller 17 than in the case of performing the first defrosting operation, thereby increasing the temperature of the refrigeration chiller 17. Further, the increasing of the temperature at which the defrosting of the cooler 17 for cold storage is performed may include: the defrosting completion threshold temperature at which the refrigerator cooler 17 determines completion of defrosting is set higher than that in the case where the first defrosting operation is performed. For example, increasing the temperature at which defrosting of the cooler 17 for cold storage is performed includes changing the defrosting completion threshold temperature, which is normally 3 ℃, to 5 ℃.

In the present embodiment, the second defrosting operation includes: the defrosting operation is performed by at least one of a defrosting operation of a defrosting time extension type in which an operation having a high defrosting effect is performed by extending a defrosting time, and a defrosting operation of a minimum defrosting time setting type in which an operation having a high defrosting effect is performed by setting a minimum defrosting time. First, an example of the defrosting operation of the extended defrosting time type will be described. Fig. 9 is a flowchart showing a defrosting operation of the extended defrosting time type performed by the refrigerator 1 according to the embodiment.

The second defrosting operation of the extended defrosting time type includes, for example: when the information obtained from the detection result of the cooler temperature sensor 17a for cold storage does not satisfy the first predetermined condition (when the second predetermined condition is satisfied), the defrosting time of the cooler 17 for cold storage is extended by a predetermined time regardless of the temperature detected by the cooler temperature sensor 17a for cold storage.

Specifically, first, the control unit 100 determines whether or not the temperature of the refrigeration chiller 17 measured by the refrigeration chiller temperature sensor 17a is equal to or lower than the defrosting start threshold temperature (step S100). The defrosting start threshold temperature is, for example, -20 ℃. When the temperature of the refrigerating cooler 17 is not equal to or lower than the defrosting start threshold temperature, the control unit 100 repeats step S100. When the temperature of the refrigerating cooler 17 is equal to or lower than the defrosting start threshold temperature, the control unit 100 proceeds to step S110.

Next, the control unit 100 determines whether the refrigerator cooler 17 is defrosting based on whether the defrosting operation in the storage unit 116 is being performed or not (step S110). If the refrigeration chiller 17 is defrosting, the process proceeds to step S130. When the refrigerator cooler 17 is not defrosting, the process proceeds to step S120, the defrosting operation is started, and the defrosting operation execution flag of the storage unit 116 is set to a value indicating that the defrosting operation is being executed (step S120).

Next, the control unit 100 determines whether or not the temperature of the refrigerator cooler 17 is equal to or higher than a defrosting end threshold temperature (step S130). The defrosting end threshold temperature is, for example, 3 ℃. If the temperature of the refrigerating cooler 17 is not equal to or higher than the defrosting end threshold temperature, the control unit 100 repeats step S130. When the temperature of the refrigerator cooler 17 is equal to or higher than the defrosting completion threshold temperature, the control unit 100 proceeds to S140.

Next, the control unit 100 starts the defrosting operation and increases the temperature of the refrigerating cooler 17, and at this time, determines whether or not the time taken for the temperature of the refrigerating cooler 17 to change from the defrosting section start temperature to the defrosting end threshold temperature is equal to or less than the defrosting time threshold (step S140). The defrosting interval starting temperature is, for example, -1 ℃. The defrost time threshold is, for example, 15 minutes. When it is determined that the time taken for the temperature of the refrigerator cooler 17 to change from the defrosting section start temperature to the defrosting end threshold temperature is equal to or less than the defrosting time threshold, the control unit 100 proceeds to step S160. When the time taken for the temperature of the refrigerator cooler 17 to change from the defrosting section start temperature to the defrosting end threshold temperature is not equal to or less than the defrosting time threshold, the process proceeds to step S150, and the defrosting operation is ended.

In step S160, the control unit 100 determines whether the additional defrosting operation is completed. The additional defrosting operation is, for example, an additional defrosting operation performed for 10 minutes. If it is not determined that the additional defrosting operation has been completed, the control unit 100 repeats step S160. If it is determined that the additional defrosting operation is completed, the control unit 100 proceeds to step S150 to end the defrosting operation. In addition, the defrosting operation is additionally performed for 10 minutes, which is an example of the second defrosting control. In addition, the time taken for the temperature of the refrigerating cooler 17 to change from-1 ℃ to 3 ℃ when the defrosting operation is started and the temperature of the refrigerating cooler 17 rises is longer than 15 minutes, which is an example of the first predetermined condition. The time taken for the temperature of the cooler 17 for cold storage to change from-1 ℃ to 3 ℃ is 15 minutes or less, which is an example of the second predetermined condition. The description above of the flowchart showing the defrosting operation of the defrosting time extension type is completed.

In step S140 in the above example, a specific numerical value is used for description. In step S140, the control unit 100 starts the defrosting operation and increases the temperature of the refrigeration chiller 17, and at this time, determines whether or not the time taken for the temperature of the refrigeration chiller 17 to change from the defrosting section start temperature to the defrosting end threshold temperature is equal to or less than the defrosting time threshold. That is, in step S140, the control unit 100 determines whether the first predetermined condition (the time taken for the temperature of the cooler 17 for cold storage to change from-1 ℃ to 3 ℃ is longer than 15 minutes) is satisfied or the second predetermined condition (the time taken for the temperature of the cooler 17 for cold storage to change from-1 ℃ to 3 ℃ is shorter than 15 minutes) is satisfied, and if the first predetermined condition (the time taken for the temperature of the cooler 17 for cold storage to change from-1 ℃ to 3 ℃ is longer than 15 minutes) is satisfied, the control unit 100 proceeds to step S150, and if the second predetermined condition (the time taken for the temperature of the cooler 17 for cold storage to change from-1 ℃ to 3 ℃ is shorter than 15 minutes), the control unit 100 proceeds to step S160.

In the above example, the first predetermined condition and the second predetermined condition are conditions based on the same threshold value. However, the first predetermined condition and the second predetermined condition may also be conditions based on different thresholds. For example, the first predetermined condition may be that the time taken for the temperature of the cooler 17 for cold storage to change from-1 ℃ to 3 ℃ is longer than 17 minutes, and the first predetermined condition may be that the time taken for the temperature of the cooler 17 for cold storage to change from-1 ℃ to 3 ℃ is shorter than 13 minutes.

In the defrosting operation of the extended defrosting time type, when the defrosting operation is started and the temperature of the refrigerating cooler 17 rises, and at this time, when the time taken for the temperature of the refrigerating cooler 17 to change from-1 ℃ to 3 ℃ (from the defrosting section start temperature to the defrosting end threshold temperature) is too short (15 minutes or less, that is, less than or equal to the defrosting time threshold)), it is considered that defrosting cannot be sufficiently performed due to half-opening of the refrigerating chamber or the like. This is because, in the case of half-open door, the temperature around the cooler temperature sensor 17a of the cooler 17 tends to rise, but frost may remain in other places of the cooler 17. Therefore, by defrosting the cooler for a longer time than usual, excessive frost formation is suppressed. In the above description, the defrosting operation is additionally performed for 10 minutes as the second defrosting control, but the defrosting operation may be performed until the temperature of the refrigerating cooler 17 detected by the refrigerating cooler temperature sensor 17a becomes equal to or higher than a predetermined temperature (for example, equal to or higher than 5 ℃).

In the above description, it is determined whether or not the time taken for the temperature of the cooler 17 for cold storage to change from-1 ℃ to 3 ℃ is 15 minutes or less in step S140. However, the determination in step 140 is not limited to the determination based on the time taken for the temperature of the refrigeration chiller 17 measured by the refrigeration chiller temperature sensor 17a to change from-1 ℃ to 3 ℃ (from the defrosting section start temperature to the defrosting end threshold temperature), and various other determination methods are possible. For example, the following may be formed: since heat exchange is not performed when frost is deposited on the refrigerating cooler 17, the temperature of the refrigerating cooler 17 decreases rapidly, and it is determined that the second defrosting control is necessary. Therefore, for example, the second defrosting control may be performed when the temperature of the refrigerating cooler 17 is lower than normal, or when the gradient or time of temperature decrease is fast. Further, the following may be formed: when the heat insulation door 3a of the refrigerating compartment 3 is in the half-open state, it is expected that air with a large amount of moisture outside the compartment will flow into the refrigerating compartment 3 and be likely to frost, and therefore it is determined that the second defrosting control is necessary. Therefore, for example, the second defrosting control may be performed when the air temperature in refrigerating room 3 detected by refrigerating room temperature sensor 110 is less likely to decrease than usual. As described above, the determination in step S140 can be performed by using various temperature sensors (for example, refrigerating room temperature sensor 110, freezing room temperature sensor 112, outside temperature sensor 114, refrigerating cooler temperature sensor 17a, and freezing cooler temperature sensor 18a) provided in refrigerator 1. The temperature of the refrigerating cooler 17 measured by the refrigerating cooler temperature sensor 17a may be replaced with a temperature detected by a temperature sensor, not shown, that measures the temperature of an accumulator connected to the refrigerating cooler 17.

Fig. 10 is a graph showing the measurement results of the temperature of the cooler 17 for cold storage and the air temperature of the quench chamber 12 when the refrigerator 1 of the embodiment performs the defrosting operation. In FIG. 10, the vertical axis shows the air temperature of the quench chamber 12, and the horizontal axis shows the elapsed time from the start of the measurement. As shown in the drawing, when the defrosting operation of the refrigerating cooler 17 is performed, the temperature of the refrigerating cooler 17 rises, and frost adhering to the refrigerating cooler 17 is removed. The defrosting of the cooler 17 for cold storage is performed until the temperature of the cooler 17 for cold storage reaches +3 ℃, and in the structure of the refrigerator 1 according to the embodiment, it usually takes 30 minutes or more to defrost.

Next, an example of the defrosting operation of the minimum defrosting time type will be described.

Fig. 11 is a flowchart showing a defrosting operation of the minimum defrosting time setting type performed by the refrigerator 1 of the embodiment. The defrosting operation of the minimum defrosting time setting type is the same as the defrosting operation of the defrosting time extension type except that step S160 in the defrosting operation of the defrosting time extension type is replaced with step S260, and therefore, only the difference will be described below.

The second defrosting operation of the minimum defrosting time type includes, for example: when the information obtained from the detection result of the cooler temperature sensor 17a for cold storage does not satisfy the predetermined condition (when the second predetermined condition is satisfied), the defrosting of the cooler is performed at least at the preset minimum execution time regardless of the temperature detected by the cooler temperature sensor 17a for cold storage.

Specifically, when it is determined in step S140 that the time taken for the temperature of the refrigerating cooler 17 to change from the defrosting section start temperature to the defrosting end threshold temperature is equal to or less than the defrosting time threshold, the control unit 100 proceeds to step S260 to determine whether or not the elapsed time from the start of the defrosting operation is equal to or more than the defrosting minimum implementation time (for example, 30 minutes) (step S260). If it is determined in step S260 that the elapsed time from the start of the defrosting operation is not less than the minimum defrosting time (for example, 30 minutes), the control unit 100 repeats step S260. If it is determined in step S260 that the elapsed time from the start of the defrosting operation is equal to or longer than the defrosting minimum execution time (for example, 30 minutes), the control unit 100 proceeds to step S150 to end the defrosting operation and set a value indicating non-execution of the defrosting operation execution flag. In addition, performing the defrosting operation for a period of time equal to or longer than the defrosting minimum execution time (for example, 30 minutes) is an example of the second defrosting control. The description above of the flowchart showing the defrosting operation of the defrosting time extension type is completed.

According to the defrosting operation of the extended defrosting time type, whether or not to continue the defrosting operation is determined based on the minimum defrosting time (for example, 30 minutes), and therefore the defrosting time can be reliably ensured. Thus, defrosting can be reliably performed. Further, according to the defrosting operation of the defrosting time extension type, the defrosting operation is performed at least during the defrosting minimum execution time (for example, 30 minutes), and therefore, even when a trouble occurs in the sensor, defrosting can be reliably performed.

Combination of extra chilling and defrost operation

When the defrosting operation is performed during the special chilling operation, it is assumed that there are disadvantages such as freezing of food items other than the chilling chamber and excessive frosting of the cooler 17 for refrigeration. In contrast, when the refrigerator 1 is configured to cope with this, the reduction of the internal volume of the refrigerator or the increase of the cost may be caused. In particular, since the cooling to-5 ℃ is promoted in the special chilling operation, the frost formation on the cooler 17 for cold storage is promoted, and therefore, particularly in the case where the door is half-opened in a high-temperature and high-humidity environment, the frost formation may deteriorate and fall into a state where cooling is not possible. In a refrigerator (2 evaporator type) including a refrigerating cooler 17 dedicated for a refrigerating room, such as the refrigerator 1 of the embodiment, defrosting is performed not by a heater but by air blowing by the refrigerating air blowing fan 31. Therefore, in the refrigerator 1 including the refrigerating cooler 17 dedicated to the refrigerating chamber, there is a case where the risk of frost being gradually accumulated is higher than that in the case where defrosting is performed by the heater. Therefore, in the refrigerator 1 of the embodiment, when the first predetermined condition as described above is not satisfied (when the second predetermined condition is satisfied) during the special chiller operation, the above-described problem can be suppressed by performing the defrosting control (second defrosting control) using the information acquired from the cooler temperature sensor 17a for cold storage as indicated by the defrosting operation of the minimum defrosting time setting type or the defrosting operation of the defrosting time extension type described above.

When the defrosting operation is performed during the special chiller operation, the second defrosting control may be performed by changing the length of either the time for performing the low-temperature cooling or the high-temperature cooling of the special chiller operation, in addition to the control for performing the defrosting operation based on the minimum defrosting time setting or the defrosting operation with the extended defrosting time described above.

Fig. 12 is a diagram showing a change in the implementation ratio of the high-temperature operation time in the defrosting operation performed in the refrigerator 1 according to the embodiment. As shown in the figure, as the second defrosting control, the high temperature cooling execution time can be extended. That is, high-temperature cooling is normally performed for 7 hours, but as the second defrosting control, the high-temperature cooling is extended from 7 hours to 10 hours, and the ratio of the high-temperature cooling execution time is increased, whereby defrosting of the cooler 17 for cold storage can be performed.

In addition, when the defrosting operation is performed together with the special chilling operation, the second defrosting control (defrosting time extension type, minimum defrosting time setting type) is executed when the high temperature cooling control is performed. This makes it possible to perform defrosting during high-temperature cooling, and therefore, this does not prevent low-temperature cooling.

< modification of combination of special chilling and defrosting operation >

For example, the control unit 100 may be configured to: when it is detected that the first predetermined condition is not satisfied (the second predetermined condition is satisfied) while the low-temperature cooling control is being performed, the cooling control of the quench chamber 12 is switched from the low-temperature cooling control to the high-temperature cooling control, and the second defrosting control is performed. For example, when the amount of frost is large, excessive frost can be prevented by switching from the low-temperature cooling control to the high-temperature cooling control. This enables the user to cope with the situation where defrosting has to be performed immediately.

< modification of second defrost control >

As the second defrosting control, in addition to the above-described method, the amount of heat exchange may be reduced to suppress the amount of frost by reducing the number of rotations of the cooling blower fan 31 for cooling the storage chamber and reducing the amount of air blown, compared to the case where the first defrosting control is performed. As shown in fig. 2, if the air passage for the chill chamber 12 is the same as the air passage for the other refrigerating chamber 3, the effect of suppressing freezing of food items other than the chill chamber 12 can be obtained by reducing the rotational speed of the cooling blower fan 31 and sending the low-temperature (-5 ℃) cool air mainly to the chill chamber 12 (i.e., not reaching the upper layer of the refrigerating chamber 3). For example, when the rotation speed of the cooling blower fan 31 is reduced, the amount of frost can be suppressed by changing the rotation speed from 1500rpm to 700 rpm.

As the second defrosting control, the following may be adopted: the capacity of the compressor 20 is reduced as compared with the case where the first defrosting control is performed, so that the temperature of the cooler 17 for cold storage is increased to suppress the amount of frost. For example, the operating frequency of the compressor 20 in the first defrosting control, that is, 60Hz, is reduced to 50Hz to 30 Hz.

Further, as the second defrosting control, control unit 100 may increase the target cooling temperature (set temperature) of refrigerating room 3. By raising the target temperature (set temperature) of refrigerating room 3, the cooling time is shortened and the amount of frost is suppressed. For example, the cooling time can be shortened and the amount of blooming can be suppressed by changing the target temperature (set temperature) from 4 ℃ to 5 ℃.

< modification in which a common cooler is used for the refrigerating compartment and the freezing compartment by using a damper >

In the above description, an example of the 2-evaporator refrigerator 1 in which the refrigerating compartment 3 is cooled by the refrigerating cooler 17 and the freezing compartment 7 is cooled by the freezing cooler 18 is described. However, the configurations of the embodiment and the modified examples can be applied even when refrigerating room 3 and freezing room 7 are cooled by a common cooler.

Fig. 13 is a vertical cross-sectional side view showing a schematic configuration of the entire refrigerator 200 according to a modification. In the refrigerator 200 of fig. 13, the same reference numerals are given with respect to structures having the same or similar functions as those of the refrigerator 1 of the embodiment shown in fig. 1. Like the refrigerator 1, the refrigerator 200 is configured by providing a plurality of storage chambers in a heat insulating case 2 in the form of a long rectangular box having an open front surface. In the refrigerator 1, the refrigeration cycle apparatus 16 is configured to include a cooler 17 for refrigerating for cooling the storage chambers (the refrigerating chamber 3, the chilling chamber 12, and the vegetable chamber 4) in the refrigerating temperature range and a cooler 18 for freezing for cooling the storage chambers (the ice making chamber 5 and the freezing chamber 7) in the freezing temperature range, but in the refrigerator 200, the refrigeration cycle apparatus 16 is configured to include a common cooler 210 for cooling both the storage chambers (the refrigerating chamber 3, the chilling chamber 12, and the vegetable chamber 4) in the refrigerating temperature range and the storage chambers (the ice making chamber 5 and the freezing chamber 7) in the freezing temperature range. In the refrigerator 200, the control plate 53 is provided on the upper surface of the casing 2 at a position closer to the rear side in the depth direction. A vacuum insulation panel 2c is provided on the rear surface of the casing 2.

As shown in fig. 13, the common cooler 210 is provided on the back wall portion of the freezing chamber 7. The common cooler 210 is provided with a common cooler temperature sensor 210 a. The cooler temperature sensor 17a for cold storage is provided, for example, at an upper end portion of the common cooler 210 as shown in fig. 1, and detects the temperature of the common cooler 210. An air supply fan 230 is provided above the common cooler 210. The cold air cooled by heat exchange in the common cooler 210 is sent to the refrigerating compartment 3, the chilling compartment 12, the vegetable compartment 4, the ice-making compartment 5, and the freezing compartment 7 by the air-sending fan 230 through the cold air supply duct 30, the chilling compartment air-sending duct 265, the vegetable compartment air-sending duct, the freezing compartment air-sending duct 240, and the ice-making compartment air-sending duct, which are not shown. The air blowing to each storage compartment is controlled by opening and closing the first damper device 260 and the second damper device 270 controlled by the control unit 100.

Here, the first damper device 260 is a so-called double damper device having 2 openings. The first opening 260a, not shown, controls the air supply to the cool air supply duct 30, and the second opening 260b controls the air supply to the chill chamber air supply duct 265. Chill chamber supply air duct 265 branches off from the front of refrigerator 200 toward the right-hand side of cool air supply air duct 30, and communicates with the interior of chill chamber 12.

Specifically, the air supply to each storage room is controlled as follows. When the first opening 260a of the first damper device 260 is in the open state and the second damper device 270 is in the closed state, the cold air is sent from the plurality of cold air supply ports 30a for cold storage toward the cold storage room 3 through the cold air supply duct 30.

When the second opening 260b of the first damper device 260 is open and the second damper device 270 is closed, the cold air is delivered toward the quench chamber 12 through the quench chamber supply air duct 265.

Cold air having cooled refrigerating room 3 is returned to the lower right side of refrigerator 200 as viewed from the front through a return port, not shown, provided at the lower portion of refrigerating room 3 and a refrigerating room return duct, not shown. The return air from vegetable compartment 4 passes through vegetable compartment return air duct 285 from return port 280 and returns to the lower portion of common cooler 210.

When second damper device 270 is in the open state, the cold air heat-exchanged in common cooler 210 is blown by blower fan 230 from blow port 38a to ice making compartment 5 and freezing compartment 7 through an ice making compartment air duct or freezing compartment air duct 240, not shown. The cold air having cooled the freezing compartment 7 and the ice-making compartment 5 is returned to the common cooler compartment 208 through the suction port 37 provided at the lower portion of the rear side of the freezing compartment 7.

When the cold air having passed through the common cooler 210 is sent to both of the storage chambers of the refrigerating temperature zone (the refrigerating chamber 3, the chilling chamber 12, and the vegetable chamber 4) and the storage chambers of the freezing temperature zone (the ice making chamber 5 and the freezing chamber 7), most of the cold air is sent to the second damper device 270 side, and the remaining small amount of cold air is sent to the cold air supply duct 30 side.

The cold air guided toward the cold air supply duct 30 is introduced into the cold air supply duct 30 with only the first opening 260a of the first damper device 260 opened. And directed toward quench chamber supply air duct 265 with only second opening 260b open. Is directed toward both sides of cold air supply duct 30 and quench chamber supply air duct 265 with both of first opening 260a and second opening 260b open.

A defrosting heater 220 is provided below the common cooler 210. A water receiving unit 40 that receives defrost water from the common cooler 210 is provided below the common cooler 210. The water receiving unit 40 is connected to the defrosting water evaporating dish 35 provided in the machine chamber 19 via the freezing side drain hose 41. Accordingly, the defrosting water received by the water receiving portion 40 is guided to the defrosting water evaporation tray 35 through the freezing side drain hose 41, and is evaporated in the defrosting water evaporation tray 35.

The common cooler 210 is provided with a common cooler temperature sensor 210 a. The common cooler temperature sensor 210a is provided, for example, at an upper end portion of the common cooler 210 as shown in fig. 1, and detects the temperature of the common cooler 210. The common cooler temperature sensor 210a is formed of, for example, a thermistor.

In the refrigerator 200, the control board 53 is provided with a control unit 100 including a computer having a microcomputer, a timer, and the like, as in the refrigerator 1, and controls the entire refrigerator 1. Refrigerating compartment temperature sensor 110, freezing compartment temperature sensor 112, outside-compartment temperature sensor 114, storage unit 116, common cooler temperature sensor 210a, compressor 20, air-sending fan 230, first damper device 260, second damper device 270, and operation panel unit 150 are connected to control unit 100, and are driven and controlled in accordance with instructions from control unit 100. The control unit 100 controls each drive motor described later that drives the first damper device 260 and the second damper device 270 independently, controls the on/off and the rotational speed of the blower fan 230, and controls the refrigeration cycle device 16.

Next, when the first damper device 260 is in the closed state and the second damper device 270 is in the open state, and only the storage compartments (ice making compartment 5, freezing compartment 7) of the freezing temperature zone are cooled, the cold air blown toward the ice making compartment 5 via the ice making compartment air blowing duct is lowered toward the freezing compartment 7. Further, the air returns from suction port 37 to common cooler chamber 208 together with the cold air blown to freezing room 7, and performs heat exchange with common cooler chamber 208.

On the other hand, when the first damper device 260 is in the open state and the second damper device 270 is in the closed state, and only the refrigerating temperature zone chamber (the refrigerating compartment 3 to the vegetable compartment 4) is cooled, the return cold air from the refrigerating compartment 3 is returned from the suction port 37 to the common cooler chamber 208 via a refrigerating compartment return duct (not shown), and heat exchange with the common cooler 210 is performed.

As described above, in the refrigerator 200, the air blowing to each storage compartment is controlled by opening and closing the first damper device 260 and the second damper device 270 controlled by the control unit 100. Similarly, the above-described special chilling operation, first defrosting control, and second defrosting control can be applied to the refrigerator 200. That is, by replacing the control of the cooler 17 for cold storage in the embodiment with the control of the common cooler 210, the special chiller operation, the first defrosting control, and the second defrosting control of the embodiment can be applied to the present modification. That is, in the present modification, the compressor 20, the common cooler 210, and the blower fan 230 constitute an example of the "cooling unit".

As a modification of the refrigerator 200 in which the refrigerating compartment 3 and the freezing compartment 7 are cooled by a common cooler, an example of the refrigerator 200 in which cold air is supplied from the cooler to the chilling chamber 12 through the chilling chamber air duct 265 dedicated to the chilling chamber 12 has been described above. However, the cold air for cooling freezing room 7 may be supplied to chilling chamber 12 to cool chilling chamber 12. In this case as well, the special chilling operation, the first defrosting control, and the second defrosting control described above can be applied.

< modification using a common cooler for the refrigerating compartment and the freezing compartment using a fan >

In the above-described modification, the first damper device 260 is used to control the flow of cold air into the quench chamber 12. The means for controlling the supply of cold air to the quench chamber 12 is not limited to the first damper device 260, and the supply of cold air to the quench chamber 12 may be controlled by a supply fan, for example. Instead of the first damper device 260, a cool air supply duct air-sending fan for sending cool air to the cool air supply duct 30 and a chill chamber air-sending fan for sending cool air to the chill chamber 12 may be provided. In this case, the temperature of the quench chamber 12 can be controlled by controlling the air supply amounts of the cool air supply duct air supply fan and the quench chamber air supply fan independently. In this case as well, the special chilling operation, the first defrosting control, and the second defrosting control described above can be applied. That is, by replacing the control of the cooler 17 for cold storage in the embodiment with the control of the common cooler 210, the special chiller operation, the first defrosting control, and the second defrosting control of the embodiment can be applied to the present modification. That is, in the present modification, the compressor 20, the common cooler 210, and the quench chamber blower fan constitute an example of the "cooling unit".

The embodiments and the modifications have been described above, but the embodiments are not limited to the above examples. For example, the embodiment and the modification can be combined with each other. The second time is not limited to being longer than the first time, and may be the same as or shorter than the first time. From certain perspectives, the second defrost control may also be implemented independently of the extra chilling operation.

According to at least one embodiment described above, the refrigerator includes a control unit that controls the cooling unit so that the first storage chamber is cooled in a first temperature zone, the storage chamber is cooled in a second temperature zone higher than the first temperature zone, and the first storage chamber is cooled in the first temperature zone. With this configuration, the storage state of the food can be improved.

According to at least one embodiment described above, the refrigerator includes a control unit that performs a first defrosting control when a predetermined condition is satisfied, and performs a second defrosting control having a higher defrosting effect than the first defrosting control when the predetermined condition is not satisfied. With this configuration, it is possible to further improve defrosting control such as prevention of excessive frost formation.

In at least one of the embodiments described above, the center temperature may also be replaced by the average temperature. The average temperature is an average value of temperatures during a period in which the target operation is performed.

While several embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the above embodiments are merely presented as examples, and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. The above embodiments may be implemented in various other ways, and various omissions, substitutions, and changes may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. The above-described embodiments and modifications thereof are included in the scope and gist of the invention, and are also included in the invention described in the claims and the equivalent scope thereof.

Claims

1. A refrigerator is provided with:

a housing including a storage portion;

a cooling unit for cooling the storage unit; and

a control unit capable of controlling the cooling unit in a cooling mode including: cooling the storage part in a first temperature zone or a temperature zone lower than the first temperature zone, cooling the storage part in a second temperature zone higher than the first temperature zone, cooling the storage part in the first temperature zone,

the cooling unit includes: a compressor for compressing a refrigerant; and a cooler to which the refrigerant compressed by the compressor is supplied to cool the air sent to the storage unit,

the control unit performs defrosting of the cooler while the storage unit is cooled in the second temperature range.

2. The refrigerator according to claim 1,

the time for cooling the storage part in the second temperature zone is longer than the time for cooling the storage part in the first temperature zone.

3. The refrigerator according to claim 1,

the control unit alternately repeats: controlling the cooling unit to cool the storage unit at the first temperature zone during a first time period; and controlling the cooling unit to cool the storage unit in the second temperature zone during a second time period,

the second time is longer than the first time.

4. The refrigerator according to claim 3,

a sensor for detecting the state of the outside or inside of the housing,

the control unit changes the length of at least one of the first time and the second time based on the detection result of the sensor.

5. The refrigerator according to claim 1,

the storage part comprises a first storage part and a second storage part,

the cooling unit includes: a first cooler to which the refrigerant is supplied to cool the air sent to the first storage unit; a second cooler to which the refrigerant is supplied to cool the air sent to the second storage unit; and a three-way valve for controlling the amount of the refrigerant supplied to the first cooler and the amount of the refrigerant supplied to the second cooler,

the control unit controls the three-way valve to transfer the refrigerant compressed by the compressor to the first cooler during a third time period and controls the three-way valve to transfer the refrigerant compressed by the compressor to the second cooler during a fourth time period when the first storage unit is cooled in the first temperature range,

the control unit controls the three-way valve to convey the refrigerant compressed by the compressor to the second cooler when the first storage unit is cooled in the first temperature range, and suppresses execution of defrosting of the first cooler.

6. The refrigerator according to claim 1,

comprises an input unit for receiving user input,

the control unit is configured to be switchable between a first control mode in which the cooling unit is controlled so as to cool the storage unit in a constant temperature zone and a second control mode in which the cooling unit is controlled so as to cool the storage unit in the cooling mode, as a cooling mode of the storage unit,

the control unit switches the cooling mode of the storage unit from the first control mode to the second control mode when a predetermined input by the user is received by the input unit.

7. The refrigerator according to claim 6,

the control unit cools the storage unit in the first control mode when the refrigerator is powered on.

8. The refrigerator according to claim 6,

the first temperature zone is a lower temperature zone than the constant temperature zone,

the second temperature zone is a temperature zone higher than the constant temperature zone.

9. The refrigerator according to claim 6,

the control unit performs defrosting of the cooler at a predetermined cycle in the first control mode,

the control unit alternately repeats, in the second control mode: controlling the cooling unit to cool the storage unit at the first temperature zone during a first time period; and controlling the cooling unit to cool the storage unit in the second temperature zone during a second time period,

the first time is longer than the predetermined period,

the control unit stops defrosting of the cooler at least during the first time period in the second control mode.

10. The refrigerator according to claim 1,

comprises an input unit for receiving user input,

the control unit controls the cooling unit to cool the storage unit in a third temperature zone lower than the first temperature zone when a predetermined input by the user is received by the input unit, and alternately repeats: controlling the cooling unit so that the storage unit is cooled in the second temperature zone; and controlling the cooling unit so that the storage unit is cooled in the first temperature zone.

11. The refrigerator according to claim 1,

the control unit controls the cooling unit to cool the storage unit in a third temperature range lower than the first temperature range when the cooling mode is started, and alternately repeats: controlling the cooling unit so that the storage unit is cooled in the second temperature zone; and controlling the cooling unit so that the storage unit is cooled in the first temperature zone.

12. The refrigerator according to any one of claims 1 to 11,

the control unit controls the cooling unit such that a temperature change rate of the air temperature when the air temperature of the storage unit increases in the second temperature zone is lower than a temperature change rate of the air temperature when the air temperature of the storage unit decreases in the second temperature zone.