JP2009115372A - Refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a refrigerator, reducing a temperature stress of an illuminating device due to opening and closing of a door to lengthen the life of the illuminating device in the case of using a light emitting diode emitting light of a wavelength in a visible ray region as an in-storage illumination such as a refrigerator. <P>SOLUTION: When the illuminating device 20 puts out, after the door 25 is closed, the illuminating device 20 is put out with a delay of a fixed time, whereby in the case of again opening the door 25 within a fixed time, the illuminating device 20 is still in the lighting state, and light-out is not performed, so that a temperature variation due to a change in lighting-extinguish state is hardly caused, temperature stress applied to the illuminating device 20 can be reduced, and the life of the illuminating device can be lengthened. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a refrigerator in which a lighting device is installed in a cabinet.

  In recent years, as an in-refrigerator lighting device, a device using a semiconductor issue element has been proposed for reasons such as low heat generation, no infrared wavelength, and low voltage driving, instead of conventional incandescent lamps and light bulbs.

  As a refrigerator using a conventional light-emitting diode as a lighting device, there is a refrigerator in which a plurality of light-emitting diodes are arranged in a square shape and installed on the top surface of the interior to irradiate the interior (for example, see Patent Document 1).

  FIG. 6 is a perspective view of an illumination device for a conventional ice making machine described in Patent Document 1, and FIG. 7 is a conceptual diagram in which the illumination device of FIG. 6 is installed on the top surface of the ice making machine.

  In the lighting device 100 of FIG. 6, the mounting substrate 101 has a flat plate shape, a circuit pattern (not shown) is formed on one surface or both surfaces, and an epoxy resin-based substrate or an insulating metal substrate with good thermal conductivity is used. The white LED 102 is formed in a bullet shape, and has a structure in which white light is obtained by exciting a fluorescent material using blue light from a GaN-based blue LED, and two energization terminals 103 for energizing current are derived.

  The heat insulating plate 104 is formed in a flat plate shape using a resin such as urethane, and is provided between the mounting substrate 101 and the light emitting diode 102 with a plurality of insertion holes arranged in parallel. Here, the light-emitting diodes 102 are mounted with the current-carrying terminals 103 inserted through the insertion holes of the heat insulating plate 104 and soldered to the circuit pattern of the mounting substrate 101, and a plurality of the light-emitting diodes 102 are arranged in parallel on the mounting substrate 101. Note that when the light emitting amount of the light emitting diode 102 is small, the heat insulating plate 104 may be omitted.

  In FIG. 7, the lighting device 100 is disposed on the top surface 112 in the warehouse of the ice making machine 111.

  The operation of the refrigerator using the light emitting diode configured as described above as a lighting device will be described below.

First, when the refrigerator door is closed, the light emitting diode 102 is not energized and the interior is not illuminated. When the door is opened, an electronic switch such as a mechanical switch or a Hall IC determines that the door is open, a forward current flows through the light emitting diode 102, white light is emitted, and the interior is irradiated.
JP 2001-82869 A

  However, in the above conventional configuration, since the lighting device is repeatedly turned on and off every time the refrigerator door is opened and closed, there is a problem that rapid temperature stress is applied to the lighting device and the life of the lighting device is shortened.

  The present invention solves the above-described conventional problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a refrigerator that reduces the temperature stress of the lighting device that accompanies the opening and closing of the door of the refrigerator and extends the life of the lighting device.

  In order to solve the above-described conventional problems, the refrigerator of the present invention turns off the lighting device using a mounting substrate mounted with a light emitting diode that emits a wavelength in the visible light region for a certain period of time when the refrigerator door is closed. It is meant to be delayed.

  As a result, when the door is opened again within a certain period of time, the lighting device remains in the lit state and is not turned off. Temperature stress is reduced.

  Further, the refrigerator of the present invention is to turn on / off an illumination device using a mounting board on which a light emitting diode emitting a wavelength in the visible light region is mounted when the door of the refrigerator is in a closed state. .

  Thereby, even if the door of the refrigerator is in a closed state, the lighting device is not cooled too much, so that temperature fluctuation at the time of lighting when the door is opened is small, and temperature stress applied to the lighting device is reduced.

  The refrigerator of the present invention can reduce the temperature stress applied to the lighting device and can extend the life of the lighting device.

  The invention according to claim 1 is a lighting device that uses a mounting board on which a light emitting diode emitting light in the visible light region is mounted as a lighting device that illuminates the inside of the refrigerator, and a door that detects opening and closing of the refrigerator door. An opening / closing detection means and a control device are provided, and when the door is opened again within a predetermined time by delaying turning off the lighting device after the door is closed, the lighting device remains in a lighting state. In addition, since the light is not turned off, there is little temperature fluctuation caused by fluctuations in the lighting / light-off state, temperature stress applied to the lighting device is reduced, and the life of the lighting device can be extended.

  According to a second aspect of the invention, in the first aspect of the invention, when the lighting device is turned off, the temperature change of the lighting device at the time of turning off becomes gradual when the lighting device is gradually turned off by duty control. The temperature stress applied to the lighting device is reduced, and the lifetime of the lighting device can be extended.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a lighting device that uses a mounting board on which a light emitting diode that emits a wavelength in the visible light region is mounted as a lighting device that illuminates the inside of the refrigerator, and a door that detects opening and closing of the refrigerator door. Because the lighting device is provided with an open / close detection means and a control device, and the lighting device is turned on / off when the door is closed, the lighting device is not overcooled even when the door of the refrigerator is closed. The temperature fluctuation at the time of lighting when the refrigerator door is opened is small, the temperature stress applied to the lighting device is reduced, and the life of the lighting device can be extended.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the third aspect of the present invention, the lighting device is turned on / off gradually by duty control when the lighting device is turned on / off. The temperature change of the lighting device becomes moderate, the temperature stress applied to the lighting device is reduced, and the lifetime of the lighting device can be extended.

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

(Embodiment 1)
Embodiment 1 of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of the refrigerator according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. The illuminating device 20 is disposed in the vertical direction on the left wall surface and the right wall surface in the refrigerator compartment 13. The door open / close detection means 24 is constituted by an electronic switch such as a mechanical switch or a Hall IC, and detects the open / closed state of the door 25 of the refrigerator compartment 13. The control device 26 is installed in the substrate storage unit 28. The freezer compartment fan 10 circulates cold air in the freezer compartment 11 and also circulates cold air to the refrigerator compartment 13 when the damper 12 is open. When the cool room 13 does not require cold air, the damper 12 is closed. The compressor fan 14 air-cools the compressor 16 and the condenser (not shown) installed in the machine room 15. The electromagnetic valve 17 controls the flow rate of the refrigerant to the cooler 18. The automatic ice maker 19 twists the ice tray 21 and performs an ice removing operation. The temperature detection means 22 makes the control device 26 detect the temperature of each part of the refrigerator.

  FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of a main part of the illumination device 20 according to the embodiment. The mounting substrate 1 has a flat plate shape, a circuit pattern (not shown) is formed on one surface or both surfaces, and an epoxy resin-based substrate or an insulating metal substrate having good thermal conductivity is used. The light-emitting diode 2 is formed in a bullet shape, and has a structure in which white light is obtained by exciting a fluorescent material using blue light from a GaN-based blue LED. The heat insulating plate 4 is formed in a flat plate shape using a resin such as urethane, and is provided between the mounting substrate 1 and the light emitting diode 2 with a plurality of insertion holes arranged in parallel. Here, the light-emitting diode 2 is mounted with the energization terminal 3 inserted through the insertion hole of the heat insulating plate 4 and soldered to the circuit pattern of the mounting substrate 1, and a plurality of the light-emitting diodes 2 are arranged in parallel on the mounting substrate 1. In addition, when the emitted-heat amount of the light emitting diode 2 is small, you may abolish the heat insulation board 4. FIG.

  Next, the mounting substrate 1 on which a plurality of light emitting diodes are mounted in the vertical direction is held by a spacer 6 integrally formed with an outer frame 9 in a recess 5 provided in a refrigerator side wall 8. The lamp cover 7 is arranged as a lighting device 20 on the left and right wall surfaces in the refrigerator cabinet so as to cover the entire light emitting part of the light emitting diode 2 at a certain distance from the light emitting part.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the refrigerator in the first embodiment of the present invention.

  In FIG. 3, the microcomputer 30 in the control device 26 acquires the temperature of each part of the refrigerator from the temperature detection means 22, and issues a drive command to the freezer fan 10, the compressor fan 14, the electromagnetic valve 17, and the automatic ice maker 19. Since the solenoid valve 17 and the automatic ice maker 19 use a large amount of current, they are programmed in the microcomputer 30 so as not to be driven simultaneously. Further, the door open / close detection means 24 detects the open / closed state of the door 25, and in the open state, the lighting device driving circuit 31 drives the lighting device 20. The freezer compartment fan 10 is driven by a freezer compartment fan drive circuit 32. The freezer compartment fan 10 can be operated at a variable speed by the freezer compartment fan drive circuit 32, and when the microcomputer 30 determines that the freezer compartment fan 10 needs to be rotated based on the temperature signal of the temperature detecting means 22, the state is shown. Thus, high speed rotation and low speed rotation can be switched. The compressor fan 14 is driven by a compressor fan drive circuit 33. The solenoid valve 17 is driven by a solenoid valve drive circuit 34. The automatic ice maker 19 is driven by an automatic ice maker drive circuit 35. The timer counter 36 is built in the microcomputer 30 and integrates the elapsed time since the door 25 is closed.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart regarding the open / close state of the door 25 of the refrigerator and the drive control of the lighting device 20 according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

  About the refrigerator comprised as mentioned above, operation | movement and an effect | action are demonstrated below using FIG. 3 and FIG.

  When the door 25 is opened by the door opening / closing detection means 24 in step 101, the lighting device drive circuit 31 is turned on and the light emitting diode 2 of the lighting device 20 is turned on (step 102). In step 103, when the door 25 by the door opening / closing detection means 24 has continued the open state, it returns to step 102 and the lighting state of the light emitting diode 2 is continued. In step 103, when the door opening / closing detection means 24 detects the closed state of the door 25, the timer counter 36 for accumulating the elapsed time from the closing state is reset (step 105), and the process returns to the top step 100.

  If the door 25 is closed by the door opening / closing detection means 24 in step 101, it is compared in step 106 whether the timer counter has elapsed T1 seconds. If T1 seconds have not elapsed, the light emitting diode 2 is turned on. The process returns to the first step 100 while keeping it. In step 106, if the timer counter has elapsed for T1 seconds, the lighting device drive circuit 31 is turned off and the light emitting diode 2 of the lighting device 20 is turned off (step 107).

  As described above, in the present embodiment, the door 25 is closed when the lighting device 20 using the mounting substrate 1 mounted with the light emitting diode 2 that emits light in the visible light region is turned on and then turned off. In order to turn off the light after T1 second, the lighting device 20 remains in the lighting state when the door 25 is opened again within T1 seconds. Temperature fluctuations due to fluctuations are small, temperature stress applied to the lighting device 20 is reduced, and the life of the lighting device 20 can be extended.

  In this embodiment, when the light emitting diode 2 is turned off in step 107, duty control is performed and the light emitting diode 20 is gradually turned off, so that the temperature change of the lighting device 20 at the time of turning off becomes gradual. Such temperature stress is further reduced, and the lifetime of the lighting device 20 can be extended.

(Embodiment 2)
FIG. 5 is a flowchart regarding the open / close state of the door 25 of the refrigerator and the drive control of the lighting device 20 according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

  Detailed description of the same configuration as that of the first embodiment will be omitted.

  About the refrigerator comprised as mentioned above, operation | movement and an effect | action are demonstrated below using FIG. 3 and FIG.

  When the door 25 is opened by the door opening / closing detection means 24 in step 101, the lighting device drive circuit 31 is turned on and the light emitting diode 2 of the lighting device 20 is turned on (step 102). In Step 103, when the door 25 is kept open by the door open / close detection means 24, the process returns to Step 102, and the light emitting diode 2 is kept on. In step 103, when the door opening / closing detection means 24 detects that the door 25 is closed, the lighting device drive circuit 31 is turned off, the light emitting diode 2 of the lighting device 20 is turned off (step 108), and the timer counter 36 is reset. (Step 109).

  If the door 25 is closed by the door opening / closing detection means 24 in step 101, it is compared in step 110 whether the timer counter has elapsed T2 seconds. If T2 seconds have not elapsed, the light emitting diode 2 is turned off. The process returns to the first step 100 while keeping it. In step 110, if the timer counter has elapsed T2 seconds, it is compared in step 111 whether the timer counter has elapsed T3 seconds. If T3 seconds have not elapsed, the lighting device drive circuit 31 is turned on to turn on the light emitting diode 2. Turn on (step 114). When T3 seconds have elapsed in step 111, the lighting device drive circuit 31 is turned off, the light emitting diode 2 of the lighting device 20 is turned off (step 112), and the timer counter is reset (step 113).

  As described above, in the present embodiment, the lighting device 20 using the mounting substrate 1 on which the light emitting diode 2 that emits a wavelength in the visible light region is mounted is turned on / off even when the door 25 is in the closed state. Thus, since the lighting device 20 is not overcooled even when the door 25 is in the closed state, there is little temperature fluctuation when the lighting device 20 is turned on when the door 25 is opened, and the temperature applied to the lighting device 20 The stress can be reduced and the life of the lighting device 20 can be extended.

  In this embodiment, when the light emitting diode 2 is turned off in step 112 and when the light emitting diode 2 is turned on in step 114, duty control is performed to gradually turn the light on and off, thereby turning on and off. The temperature change of the lighting device 20 becomes gradual, the temperature stress applied to the lighting device 20 is further reduced, and the life of the lighting device 20 can be extended.

  As described above, the refrigerator according to the present invention is not only implemented when light-emitting diode illumination is applied to household or commercial refrigerators, but also a wide range of equipment that applies light-emitting diode illumination, such as an article storage device with a door. It can be applied to.

Sectional drawing of the refrigerator in Embodiment 1 of this invention The principal part longitudinal cross-sectional view of the illuminating device in the embodiment Block diagram of refrigerator of the embodiment Flow chart of the refrigerator of the same embodiment Flowchart of refrigerator in Embodiment 2 of the present invention A perspective view of a conventional ice making machine lighting device Conceptual diagram of the lighting device of FIG. 6 installed on the top of the ice machine

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Mounting board 2 Light emitting diode 20 Illuminating device 24 Door opening / closing detection means 25 Door 26 Control apparatus

Claims (4)

  As an illuminating device for illuminating the inside of the refrigerator, an illuminating device using a mounting board on which a light emitting diode emitting a wavelength in the visible light region is mounted, a door opening / closing detecting means for detecting opening / closing of the refrigerator door, and a control device, A refrigerator that delays turning off the lighting device for a predetermined time after the door is closed.   The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein when the lighting device is turned off, the lighting device is gradually turned off by duty control.   As an illuminating device for illuminating the inside of the refrigerator, an illuminating device using a mounting board on which a light emitting diode emitting a wavelength in the visible light region is mounted, a door opening / closing detecting means for detecting opening / closing of the refrigerator door, and a control device, Provided, and the lighting device is turned on / off when the door is closed.   The refrigerator according to claim 3, wherein the lighting device is gradually turned on / off by duty control when the lighting device is turned on / off.

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