JP2008101811A - Refrigerator-freezer - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a refrigerator-freezer which comprises opening and closing bodies such as at least two opposed doors, reduces the number of switches for detecting the opening and closing state of each opening and closing body, uses a material other than metal as the material of each opening and closing body, and detects the inclination of each opening body. <P>SOLUTION: The refrigerator-freezer comprises the opening and closing bodies 12, a Hall element 13, a magnetic body 14, an announcement means 15 and a control part, and the Hall element 13 and the magnetic body 14 are disposed on the opposed end surfaces of the opening and closing bodies 12. The control part includes a Hall element magnetic flux density comparison part for comparing a detected magnetic flux density of the Hall element 13 with a threshold 1 and a threshold 2. Thus, materials other than metal can be used for the opening and closing bodies 12. Opening of the opening and closing body is determined when the detected magnetic flux density of the Hall element 13 is less than the threshold 1, inclination of the opening and closing body is determined when the detected magnetic flux density of the Hall element 13 is the threshold 1 or more and the threshold 2 or less, and that effect is announced to a user. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a refrigerator-freezer, and more particularly to a method for detecting door opening / closing and door inclination of a refrigerator-freezer.

  Conventionally, in order to prevent cold air inside the refrigerator-freezer from leaking to the outside by opening the door of the refrigerator-freezer, one door opening / closing detecting means for detecting the opening / closing of each door of the refrigerator-freezer is provided for each door. I came. However, in a refrigerator / freezer having a plurality of doors, door opening / closing detection means for detecting the opening / closing of each door is required by the number of doors, so that there is a problem that the structure becomes complicated and the cost increases. . Therefore, what can detect the opening and closing of each door with a smaller number of door opening and closing detection means is desired. As an example, non-contact that detects metal on one of the opposing end surfaces of two opening and closing bodies such as doors. A refrigerator-freezer provided with a mold proximity switch is disclosed (for example, see Patent Document 1).

  Hereinafter, the door open / close detection means of the conventional refrigerator-freezer will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a conventional refrigerator-freezer described in Patent Document 1. As shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 6, the refrigerator-freezer 1 is provided with two sets, that is, four sets of opening / closing bodies 3 formed by rotating doors that are open to the front and facing each other, and upper opening / closing bodies 3 a, 3 b are provided. The lower opening / closing bodies 3c and 3d are opposed to each other. When the upper opening / closing bodies 3a, 3b are closed, the opposed end faces 10 of the opening / closing bodies 3a, 3b are close to each other, and when the lower opening / closing bodies 3c, 3d are closed, the opening / closing bodies 3c, 3d are opposed to each other. The end face 10 is close. In the upper opening / closing bodies 3a and 3b, a single non-contact type proximity switch 9 for detecting metal is attached to the opposing end face 10 of one opening / closing body 3a, and in the lower opening / closing bodies 3c and 3d, A single non-contact type proximity switch 9 for detecting metal is attached to the opposite end face 10 of the opening / closing body 3c.

  About the conventional refrigerator-freezer comprised as mentioned above, the operation | movement is demonstrated below.

First, if each opening / closing body 3 is made of metal such as stainless steel, each switch 9 operates only when each opening / closing body 3 is in the closed position, and when each opening / closing body 3 is in the opened position. It is not working. In this way, by providing a single switch 9 on only one of the opposing open / close bodies 3, the open / close state of the open / close body 3 can be detected, so that the number of switches 9 is reduced compared to the number of open / close bodies 3. And cost reduction is possible.
JP 2000-199680 A

  However, in the above conventional technology, the switch for detecting the open / closed state of each open / close body is a single non-contact type proximity switch for detecting metal. Inability to detect the state, and even if the material of each open / close body is metal, it becomes impossible to detect the open / closed state of each open / close body even if dirt or rust occurs on the opposite end face of each open / close body There was a point.

  The present invention solves the above-described conventional problems, and in a refrigerator-freezer comprising at least two opening / closing bodies such as opposing doors, the number of switches for detecting the opening / closing state of each opening / closing body is reduced, and An object of the present invention is to provide a refrigerator-freezer capable of more reliably detecting the open / closed state of each open / close body even when a material other than metal is used.

  In order to solve the above-described conventional problems, the refrigerator-freezer of the present invention is a refrigerator-freezer having at least two opening / closing bodies such as doors facing each other, each facing end face facing each other when the opening / closing bodies are in a closed position. Further, a Hall element and a magnetic body for detecting a change in magnetic flux density of the magnetic body are provided.

  This makes it possible to reduce the number of detection means for detecting the open / closed state of each open / close body, thereby reducing the cost and detecting the open / closed state of each open / close body even if the material of each open / close body is not metal. can do.

  The refrigerator-freezer of the present invention is a refrigerator-freezer provided with at least two opening / closing bodies such as opposing doors, and changes the magnetic flux density of the magnetic body on each opposing end surface facing each other when the opening / closing bodies are in a closed position. It is characterized by the provision of a Hall element to detect and a magnetic body, which makes it possible to reduce the number of detection means for detecting the open / closed state of each open / close body, thereby reducing the cost and reducing the cost of each open / close body. Since the opening / closing state of each opening / closing body can be detected even if the material is not metal, each opening / closing body can be made of various materials such as resin other than metal.

  Moreover, the refrigerator-freezer of the present invention is a refrigerator-freezer provided with at least two opening / closing bodies such as opposing doors, and the change in magnetic flux density of the magnetic body on each facing end face facing each other when the opening / closing bodies are in a closed position. When the magnetic flux density value detected by the Hall element falls within a certain range even though each opening and closing body is in the closed position, the Hall element and the magnetic body are detected. It is characterized in that each opening / closing body is judged to be tilted, and it is possible to improve the appearance quality of the refrigerator-freezer by detecting that the tilt has occurred when attaching each opening / closing body in the production process of the refrigerator-freezer. In addition, it is possible to prevent the inclination of each opening / closing body from further increasing by detecting that the opening / closing body is inclined during use.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, in the refrigerator-freezer including at least two opening / closing bodies such as opposing doors, magnetic flux density of the magnetic material is provided on each opposing end surface facing each other when the opening / closing bodies are in the closed position. A hall element and a magnetic body for detecting a change are provided, which makes it possible to reduce the number of detecting means for detecting the open / closed state of each open / close body, thereby reducing the cost and reducing the cost of each open / close body. Since the opening / closing state of each opening / closing body can be detected even if the material is not metal, each opening / closing body can be made of various materials such as resin other than metal.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the invention, when the value of the magnetic flux density detected by the Hall element is lowered within a certain range at the position where each of the opening / closing bodies is closed, It is judged that each open / close body has been tilted, and it is possible to improve the appearance quality of the refrigerator / freezer by detecting the tilt when the open / close body is mounted in the production process of the refrigerator / freezer. It is possible to prevent the inclination of each open / close body from further increasing by detecting that the open / close bodies are inclined.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect of the present invention, when the value of the magnetic flux density detected by the Hall element is equal to or less than a predetermined value, the user is inclined to the opening / closing body. It has means for notifying that the opening / closing body has been opened and the opening / closing body is in an open state, and when the opening / closing body is tilted during use of the refrigerator-freezer, the user tilts the opening / closing body. Can be recognized, and the open state of each open / close body can be recognized, so that the inclination of each open / close body further increases and the cool air in the refrigerator / freezer compartment leaks. It can be prevented in advance.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings, but the same reference numerals are given to the same configurations as those of the conventional example or the above-described embodiments, and detailed description thereof will be omitted. The present invention is not limited to the embodiments.

(Embodiment 1)
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a configuration of a refrigerator-freezer in Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

  In FIG. 1, the refrigerator / freezer 11 has an open / close body 12 composed of upper and lower opening / closing bodies 12a and 12b and lower opening / closing bodies 12c and 12d, and magnetic flux densities on the opposing end faces of the upper and lower opening / closing bodies 12a and 12b and the lower opening / closing bodies 12c and 12d. And a notifying means 15 for notifying the user of the opening and inclination of the upper opening / closing bodies 12a, 12b or the lower opening / closing bodies 12c, 12d.

  When the upper stage opening / closing bodies 12a, 12b or the lower stage opening / closing bodies 12c, 12d are close to each other, that is, in the closed state, the Hall element 13 detects the magnetic flux density of the magnetic body 14 almost as it is. Are arranged to be.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of an informing means for informing the user of the opening and tilting of the upper stage opening / closing body or the lower stage opening / closing body in the first embodiment of the present invention.

  In FIG. 2, the notification means 15 is provided in the upper stage opening / closing body 12b, for example. The notification means 15 includes an opening / closing body opening notification alarm 16 for notifying the user of the open state of the opening / closing body 12 and an opening / closing body inclination notification alarm 17 for notifying the user of the inclination of the opening / closing body 12.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the detected magnetic flux density of the Hall element and the state of the opening / closing body in Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

  When the opening / closing body 12 is not tilted, the Hall element 13 detects the magnetic flux density of the magnetic body 14 as it is when the opening / closing body 12 is closed. Even when the body 12 is in the closed state, the Hall element 13 is separated from the magnetic body 14, so that the detected magnetic flux density of the Hall element 13 becomes lower than the threshold value 2. On the other hand, when the opening / closing body 12 is in the open state, the detected magnetic flux density of the Hall element 13 is substantially 0 regardless of whether the opening / closing body 12 is tilted or less than the threshold value 1. That is, when the opening / closing body 12 is tilted, the detected magnetic flux density of the Hall element 13 is larger than the threshold value 1 and smaller than the threshold value 2.

  FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an electrical configuration mainly including the control unit of the refrigerator-freezer in Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

  The control part 18 consists of microcomputers, for example, and functions as a control means for controlling the entire operation of the refrigerator 11. A hall element magnetic flux density detection signal input 19, which is an input from the hall element 13, is inputted to the control unit 18, and temperature sensor signals provided in each room of the refrigerator / freezer are also inputted. It has become so.

  Then, the control unit 18 performs calculation based on a calculation program stored in advance using those inputs, and outputs the opening / closing body opening notification alarm output 23, which is an output from the drive circuit 22 to the opening / closing body opening notification alarm 16. An opening / closing body inclination notification alarm output 24 that is an output to the inclination notification alarm 17 and a drive control signal for driving other refrigerator driving devices are provided. In addition, the control unit 18 includes a Hall element magnetic flux density comparison unit 20 that compares the value of the Hall element magnetic flux density detection signal input 19 with the threshold values 1 and 2, and the value of the Hall element magnetic flux density detection signal input 19. A hall element magnetic flux density timer 21 that counts the time that is less than the threshold value 1 is built-in, and the opening / closing body opening notification alarm is sent to the notification means 15 based on the calculation results of the hall element magnetic flux density comparison unit 20 and the hall element magnetic flux density timer 21. An opening / closing body opening notification alarm output 23 that is an output to 16 and an opening / closing body inclination notification alarm output 24 that is an output to the opening / closing body inclination notification alarm 17 are output.

  About the refrigerator-freezer comprised as mentioned above, the operation | movement and an effect | action are demonstrated below.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the control operation until the user is notified of the open state of the opening / closing body and the occurrence of the tilt in the first embodiment of the present invention.

  First, when the refrigerator is turned on, it is determined in step ST1 whether the Hall element magnetic flux density detection signal input 19 is equal to or less than the threshold value 2. If the Hall element magnetic flux density detection signal input 19 is less than or equal to the threshold value 2, the process proceeds to step ST2 to determine whether or not the Hall element magnetic flux density detection signal input 19 is less than the threshold value 1. If the Hall element magnetic flux density detection signal input 19 is not less than or equal to the threshold value 2, it is determined that the opening / closing body 12 is closed, and the process returns to step ST1 again.

  Next, when it is determined in step ST2 that the Hall element magnetic flux density detection signal input 19 is less than the threshold value 1, it is determined that the opening / closing body 12 is in an open state, and the process proceeds to step ST3, where a predetermined time or more is reached. When the open state of the opening / closing body 12 continues, the process proceeds to step ST4 to notify the user of the open state of the opening / closing body 12.

  If it is determined in step ST2 that the Hall element magnetic flux density detection signal input 19 is not less than the threshold value 1, it is determined that the opening / closing body 12 is inclined, and the process proceeds to step ST5. A person is informed of the occurrence of the inclination of the opening / closing body 12.

  As described above, the refrigerator-freezer according to the present invention is a refrigerator-freezer provided with at least two opening / closing bodies such as opposing doors, and each of the opposing end faces facing each other when the opening / closing bodies are in the closed position has a magnetic material. Providing Hall elements and magnetic bodies for detecting changes in magnetic flux density can reduce the number of detection means for detecting the open / closed state of each open / close body, thereby reducing costs and Since the opening / closing state of each opening / closing body can be detected even if the material of the opening / closing body is not metal, each opening / closing body can be made of various materials such as resin other than metal.

  In addition, the refrigerator-freezer according to the present invention is configured such that when the value of the magnetic flux density detected by the Hall element falls within a certain range, each open / close body is opened and closed by determining that the open / close body is inclined. It is possible to improve the appearance quality of the refrigerator-freezer by detecting that the tilt has occurred when the body is attached, and to detect the tilt of each open / close body during use. Further increase can be prevented in advance.

  As described above, the refrigerator-freezer according to the present invention can reduce the number of detection means for detecting the open / close state of each open / close body in the refrigerator / freezer having at least two open / close bodies such as opposing doors. The cost can be reduced and the open / close state of each open / close body can be detected even if the material of each open / close body is not a metal as in the past, so each open / close body is made of various materials such as resin other than metal. In addition, when the value of the magnetic flux density detected by the Hall element falls within a certain range, it is possible to detect that the respective opening / closing bodies are tilted. The present invention can also be applied to the detection of the open state of the opening / closing body and the displacement of the position of the opening / closing body regardless of the material of the opening / closing body.

The perspective view which shows the structure of the refrigerator-freezer in Embodiment 1 of this invention. The figure which shows the structure of the alerting | reporting means which alert | reports generation | occurrence | production of the open state of an opening / closing body, or the inclination of an opening / closing body to the user in Embodiment 1 of this invention. The figure which shows the detection magnetic flux density of the Hall element in Embodiment 1 of this invention, and the state of an opening-closing body The block diagram of the control part of the refrigerator-freezer in Embodiment 1 of this invention. The flowchart which alert | reports the presence or absence of generation | occurrence | production of the open state of an opening-closing body, or the inclination of an opening-closing body to the user in Embodiment 1 of this invention. A perspective view of a conventional refrigerator-freezer

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 Refrigerator Refrigerator 12 Opening and closing body 12a Upper stage opening and closing body 12b Upper stage opening and closing body 12c Lower stage opening and closing body 12d Lower stage opening and closing body 13 Hall element 14 Magnetic body 15 Notification means 16 Opening and closing body opening notification alarm 17 Opening and closing body inclination notification alarm 18 Control section 19 Hall element magnetic flux Density detection signal input 20 Hall element magnetic flux density comparison unit 21 Hall element magnetic flux density timer 22 Drive circuit 23 Opening / closing body opening notification alarm output 24 Opening / closing body tilt notification alarm output

Claims (3)

  In a refrigerator / freezer comprising at least two opening / closing bodies such as opposing doors, a hall element and a magnetic body for detecting a change in magnetic flux density of the magnetic body on each opposing end face when each opening / closing body is in a closed position A refrigerator-freezer characterized by providing.   The position of each opening / closing body is determined to be inclined when the value of the magnetic flux density detected by the Hall element falls within a certain range at the position where each opening / closing body is closed. The refrigerator-freezer as described in.   Means for notifying the user that the opening / closing body is tilted or that the opening / closing body is open when the value of the magnetic flux density detected by the Hall element is a certain value or less. The refrigerator-freezer according to claim 1, wherein the refrigerator has a refrigerator.

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