JP2010112574A - Refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a refrigerator capable of preventing a defrosting operation until a food has a desired state, and suppressing temperature rise of a storage compartment or the food placed in the storage compartment. <P>SOLUTION: This refrigerator has the storage compartments 200, 300, ..., for storing food, cooling mechanisms 2, 3, 4 including at least a cooler 3 and cooling the inside of the storage compartments, a defrosting heater 6 for removing frost attached to the cooler 3, and a temperature detecting sensor 31a for detecting a temperature of the food. In such a case that a timing when the defrosting heater 6 performs the defrosting operation is overlapped to a supercool freezing period from the start of the supercooling operation to a time when the temperature of food detected by the temperature detecting sensor 31a reaches a prescribed value, the defrosting by the defrosting heater 6 is performed after the supercool freezing period. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a refrigerator for storing food, and particularly to a defrosting operation of the cooler.

  Conventionally, a method has been employed in which the defrosting operation of the refrigerator is automatically started when the driving time of the cooling device is accumulated up to a predetermined time. Control is performed such that the integrated driving time of the cooling device is stopped during the defrosting operation so that the defrosting operation is not performed during or immediately after the quick freezing operation (see, for example, Patent Document 1). Further, control is performed in a time zone where the number of door opening / closing times per unit time is small (see, for example, Patent Document 2 and Patent Document 3). Further, in order to prevent the use of the user from being hindered by the defrosting operation, the defrosting prohibition time zone is calculated from the number of times of use of the quick freezing operation, the number of times of opening / closing the door, and the brightness outside the refrigerator, and defrosting is performed. (For example, refer to Patent Document 4).

JP 63-58077 A (first page) Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-1878 (summary, FIG. 5) Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-18654 (Summary, FIG. 5) JP 2007-333318 A (summary, FIG. 3)

  However, in such a control of the defrosting operation, the defrosting operation is performed regardless of the freezing rate of the food. For example, when applied to a refrigerator capable of the supercooling operation, the food after the supercooling operation is finished. The defrosting operation is started at the stage where it is not completely frozen, and the temperature in the storage chamber rises. Then, the temperature of the food during supercooled freezing also rises, so that the fine ice crystals generated in the food by supercooling are dissolved. Then, after the defrosting operation is finished, the cooling device is restarted, and ice crystals grow in the process of cooling the storage room and freezing the food. There was a problem that the flavor was impaired.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, avoids defrosting operation until the food is in a desired state, and suppresses the temperature rise of the food stored in the storage room or the storage room. It is intended to provide a refrigerator that can.

  The refrigerator according to the present invention includes at least a storage room for storing food, a cooler, a cooling mechanism for cooling the storage room, and defrosting that removes frost attached to the cooler at a predetermined timing. A defrosting device that operates, a supercooling operation that controls the cooling mechanism to maintain a supercooled state in which the food is not frozen even at a temperature below the freezing point, and the food is frozen after the supercooling operation and frozen. A control device capable of performing a freezing operation for storage and a temperature detection means for detecting the temperature of the food, and after the supercooling operation is started, the temperature of the food detected by the temperature detection means is predetermined. The supercooling freezing period is the time until the value is reached, and the defrosting operation is performed after the supercooling freezing period when the timing when the defrosting apparatus performs the defrosting operation overlaps with the supercooling freezing period. is there.

  According to the present invention, the period from when the supercooling operation is started until the temperature of the food detected by the temperature detection means reaches a predetermined value is set as the supercooling freezing period, and the timing when the defroster performs the defrosting operation. When the supercooling freezing period overlaps, the defrosting operation is performed after the supercooling freezing period, and it is possible to suppress the temperature rise of the storage room and the food while the food is not sufficiently frozen. effective. In addition, by suppressing the temperature rise of the storage room and food as described above, the freezing of the food is completed in a state where the fine ice crystals generated inside the food by supercooled freezing are maintained. There is almost no umami spillage at the time of thawing, and the original texture and flavor can be maintained after thawing.

Embodiment 1 FIG.
Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of a refrigerator according to the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following drawings, the same numbered components are the same.
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing the structure of the refrigerator according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.
In FIG. 1, the food storage room of the refrigerator body 1 includes a refrigeration room 100 disposed with an open / close door at the top, and a refrigeration, vegetable, chilled, A switching chamber 200 having a drawer door that can be switched to a temperature zone such as soft refrigeration (−7 ° C.), an ice making chamber 500 having a drawer door in parallel with the switching chamber 200, and a drawer door at the bottom are arranged. It is comprised from the freezer compartment 300, the vegetable compartment 400 etc. which are arrange | positioned with the drawer door between the switching chamber 200 and the freezer compartment 300. On the door surface of the refrigerator compartment 100, there is provided an operation panel 5 composed of an operation switch for adjusting the temperature and setting of each chamber and a liquid crystal for displaying the temperature of each storage chamber at that time. In addition, the operation panel 5 may be installed in the side surface of the refrigerator compartment 100 in a refrigerator, for example.

  On the back side of the refrigerator body 1, a cooler chamber 600 that houses the compressor 10 and the cooler 3 constituting the refrigeration cycle is disposed, and further, the cool air generated by the cooler 3 is transferred to each storage chamber in the refrigerator. A fan 2 for blowing air and an air passage 4 for introducing cold air generated by the cooler 3 into each storage chamber are provided. In this air passage 4, the downstream side of the fan 2 (or the upper side of the fan 2) is the blower air passage 4 a and the upstream side of the cooler 3 (or the lower side of the cooler 3) is the return air passage 4 b. Below the cooler 3, a defrost heater 6 that operates only during defrost control is provided. In addition, this defrost heater 6 comprises the defrost apparatus of this invention. Moreover, the control part 7 can control the fan 2, the cooler 3, the compressor 10, the defrost heater 6, etc. The storage unit 8 stores various data such as the time period during which the supercooling operation, the supercooling release operation and the quick freezing operation are performed, the number of times of the supercooling operation, the number of times of door opening / closing from the door opening / closing sensor 9 and the like. The The timer unit 11 measures an elapsed time from the time when the supercooling operation or the quick freezing operation is finished.

  The refrigerated room 100 is provided with a chilled room 101 set to a minimum temperature (0 ° C.) at which food can be stored at a temperature higher than the freezing temperature, and a dedicated storage case is installed in the lower part of the refrigerated room 100. The switching chamber 200 is provided with a switching case 201 that can be pulled out and has an open upper surface, and can store food in the case. Similarly, a freezing case 301 is installed in the freezer compartment 300, and a vegetable case 401 is installed in the vegetable compartment 400, and food can be stored in each case. Note that the number of cases may be one, but two or more cases may be provided in the case where the organization and the like are improved from the capacity of the entire refrigerator.

  The switching chamber 200 and the freezing chamber 300 are provided with a temperature detection sensor (not shown) (refer to FIG. 2), and can detect the temperature of the food. The temperature detection sensors may be installed on the upper and lower surfaces, the front and rear surfaces, and the left and right surfaces of the switching chamber 200 and the freezing chamber 300, or the number of temperature detection sensors may be one or more. As the temperature detection sensor, a sensor that can detect the temperature of food without contact, such as a thermistor or an infrared sensor, is suitable. However, it is indirectly detected from the temperature detection sensor that detects food by contact with food or the temperature in the storage space. That can be detected automatically.

  The cold air cooled by the cooler 3 passes through the blower air passage 4a and is blown to the freezing room 300, the switching room 200, the refrigerating room 100, and the ice making room 500 to cool each room. The air that has been blown out into the freezing room 300, the switching room 200, and the ice making room 500 and cooled each storage room returns to the lower side of the cooler 3 through the return air passage 4b from the suction port provided in each storage room.

  The vegetable compartment 400 is cooled by circulating the return cold air from the refrigerator compartment 100 from the return air passage for the refrigerator compartment, and is returned to the cooler 3 from the return air passage for the vegetable compartment. The temperature of each storage room is detected by a thermistor (not shown) installed in each storage room. Basically, the output of the compressor 10 and the air flow rate of the fan 2 are adjusted based on the output of the temperature detection sensor (thermistor) of the freezer compartment 300, and the air is sent so that the other rooms have a preset temperature. It is controlled by changing the opening of a damper (not shown) (see FIG. 2) installed in the air passage 4a. However, the load on the room other than the freezer room 300 is very high, for example, when quick freezing is set, the compressor 10 and the fan 2 operate according to the control, and the temperature of the freezer room 300 is also controlled by adjusting the opening of the damper. Is done.

  In the process of repeating the above operation, moisture generated by opening / closing the doors of each storage room and evaporation / sublimation from stored food moves together with the air returning from the suction port to the cooler room 600 through the return air passage 4b. The cooler 3 that is the lowest temperature in the path 4 is frosted. The growth of frost starts from the vicinity of the return port of the return air passage 4b below the cooler 3. At first, the air passes through the fins of the cooler 3, but when the gap between the fins is blocked by the grown frost, it passes through a bypass air passage formed around the cooler 3 and is not frosted above the cooler 3. Frosts and grows. Thus, the frost grows from the lower side of the cooler 3, and the cooling performance of the cooler 3 decreases with the growth of the frost. In addition, said fan 2, the cooler 3, the air path 4, and a damper comprise the cooling mechanism of this invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the control system of the refrigerator of FIG. Note that FIG. 2 is a diagram in which components related to the defrosting operation described later are extracted.
The control part 7 is comprised, for example from a microcomputer etc., The output of the temperature detection sensors 31a and 31b installed in the switching room 200 and the freezer compartment 300 is each connected to the input side. A drive circuit 32 to a drive circuit 35 are connected to the output side of the control unit 7. The drive circuit 32 drives the drive motor 10 a of the compressor 10, and the drive circuit 33 drives the fan 2. The drive circuit 34 drives the damper 36, and the drive circuit 35 drives the defrost heater 6.

In the switching room 200 and the freezing room 300, the food can be frozen and frozen by the supercooling operation, the supercooling release operation, and the quick freezing operation. The supercooling freezing period including these operating periods is the defrosting operation. (Refer to FIGS. 3 to 5 for details).
In addition, said supercooling driving | operation is operation | movement which makes a food a supercooling state. This supercooled state refers to a state where the material is not frozen by 100% despite being below the freezing point of the substance. For example, the freezing point of water is 0 ° C., but this freezing point varies depending on the substance, and tends to be lower than 0 ° C. in foods with a high salt concentration and high sugar content.
Further, the supercooling release operation is an operation in which the supercooled state is released by applying a stimulus such as vibration or temperature change to the supercooled food, and the whole food is instantaneously frozen.
The quick freezing operation is an operation that applies cold air at a temperature lower than that of the normal freezing operation, and the ice begins to freeze from the surface and grows inward as in the normal freezing, but the internal temperature also suddenly increases. As it falls, ice nuclei are easily formed inside, and ice crystals are smaller than in normal freezing. For this reason, the possibility of further enlargement of ice crystals is reduced by rapid freezing in the freezing process after supercooled freezing, and it is possible to avoid food quality deterioration factors other than ice crystals such as bacteria. In addition, the quality can be frozen.
Note that the above-described supercooling release operation and quick freezing operation (or quick freezing operation) correspond to the freezing operation of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the process of the defrosting operation of the refrigerator of FIG. 1 and the process of the supercooling freezing period of the switching chamber 200. In addition, although the supercooling freezing period of the switching chamber 200 is demonstrated, the operation | movement of the freezer compartment 300 is also the same. Here, an example will be described in which the defrosting operation is performed when the driving time of the compressor 10 reaches a predetermined time.
When the time measuring unit 11 measures the driving time of the compressor 10 and the driving time reaches a predetermined time, the control unit 7 checks the supercooling freezing period. Here, first, the processing operation of the supercooling freezing period is performed. (See the right side of FIG. 3). As shown in FIG. 3, the supercooling freezing period includes periods of supercooling operation, supercooling release operation, and quick freezing operation, and these operation processes will be described.

  First, food is put into the switching chamber 200 (S101). Thereafter, the process proceeds to the supercooling operation (stage 1).

  In the supercooling operation (stage 1), the control circuit 47 sets the supercooling operation cooling rate A, the supercooling operation time t (larger the supercooling degree becomes larger), and the freezing storage operation cooling rate that is optimum for the input food. B is selected, input of the compressor 10, the damper 36 and the fan 2 is set according to the selection, and cooling is started at the cooling rate A. Further, when the surface temperature of the food is detected by the temperature detection sensor 31a and the freezing temperature of the food is reached, integration of the supercooling time is started (S110), and it is detected that the food temperature is gradually decreasing (S111). ). When the accumulated time has passed the supercooling operation time t (S112), the process proceeds to a supercooling release operation (stage 2) for canceling the supercooling state. If the food temperature rises before reaching the supercooling operation time t, it is recognized that the supercooled state has been naturally released, and the process proceeds to a frozen storage operation (stage 3) in which the food is frozen and stored.

  In the supercooling release operation (stage 2), the cooling rate is increased and time integration is started (S113). Here, the surface temperature of the food is detected by the temperature detection sensor 31a to detect that the food temperature is gradually lowered (S114), and when the food temperature rise is detected, the supercooled state of the food is released. And the process proceeds to a quick freezing operation (stage 3) in which the food is stored frozen. If the predetermined time has elapsed without detecting the temperature rise (S115), it is assumed that the supercooling release has failed or the supercooling state has not been reached, and that the food is frozen and stored rapidly. Transition to freezing operation (stage 3).

  For example, in the above-described supercooling operation (stage 1), the supercooling release operation (stage 1) is performed after the food temperature reaches a temperature that is, for example, 3 ° C. or more lower than the freezing point and the supercooling is maintained for at least about 5 seconds. In stage 2), in the supercooling release operation (stage 2), the input of the compressor 10 is increased and strong cold air is applied to the food to increase the temperature difference in the food and release the supercooled state. The temperature of the food released from the supercooled state rises to around 0 ° C. In addition to the method using the temperature difference as described above, the method of canceling the supercooling is a method of directly applying vibration to food using a motor or the like, or a method of using vibration of operating equipment in the refrigerator, There is a method of applying vibration directly to food without contact using sound waves.

  In the quick freezing operation (stage 3), the food is cooled at the cooling rate B (S116), and when it is detected that the preset frozen storage temperature of the switching chamber 200 is reached (S117), the frozen storage (stage 4) is entered. Transition.

  In frozen storage (stage 4), the speed of the drive motor 10a is decreased to reduce the input of the compressor 10, and the food is stored frozen by controlling the temperature of the switching chamber 200 to be constant (S110).

  After shifting to frozen storage (stage 4), the surface temperature of the food is detected by the temperature detection sensor 31a, and it is determined whether or not the food freezing rate is equal to or higher than a predetermined value (S122). If it is determined that the engine is in the normal operation mode. Thereby, the supercooling freezing period ends. That is, in the present embodiment, the supercooling freezing period is a period from when the supercooling operation is started until the food freezing rate reaches a predetermined value.

Here, the freezing rate of the food will be described.
The freezing rate of food is the ratio of water that is frozen with respect to the total moisture in the food when the food is frozen, and is given by the following equation (1).

Here, g: freezing rate, qf (° C.): freezing point of food, q (° C.): temperature of food.
For example, when a food having a freezing point of −1 ° C. is cooled and the temperature of the food reaches −5 ° C., the freezing rate becomes 0.8, and the freezing has advanced by 80%. According to the above formula (1), the lower the food temperature, the higher the freezing rate. However, in a food with a lot of water, when about 80% of the contained water is changed to ice, the food becomes sufficiently hard, so-called It can be said that it is in a frozen state.
In addition, since the freezing point of food is unique to food, a phenomenon occurs in which the freezing rate differs even at the same product temperature. However, since the freezing point of meat and vegetables frequently frozen in a refrigerator is mostly around -1 ° C, if the temperature of the food reaches -5 ° C, it is considered that the freezing rate has reached about 80%. Can do.

Now that the processing in the supercooling freezing period has been clarified by the above description, the processing of the defrosting operation of the refrigerator will be described.
As described above, when the time measuring unit 11 measures the driving time of the compressor 10 and the driving time reaches a predetermined time, the control unit 7 causes the switching chamber 200 to perform the supercooling operation (stage 1) or the supercooling release operation ( It is determined whether or not the stage 2) is in progress, and if it is in the supercooling operation or the supercooling release operation, the defrosting operation is avoided (S1). If it is determined that the supercooling operation or the supercooling release operation is not being performed, it is then determined whether or not the quick freezing operation is being performed (stage 3). Similarly, defrosting operation is avoided (S2). When it is determined that the quick freezing operation has ended, the control unit 7 next determines whether or not the freezing rate of the food is equal to or higher than a predetermined freezing rate set in advance through experiments or the like. The defrosting operation is avoided until the freezing rate exceeds a predetermined freezing rate (S3). In this way, when the timing for performing the defrosting operation and the supercooling freezing period overlap, the defrosting operation is avoided.

  The freezing rate of the food is as described above, but the control unit 7 detects the temperature of the switching chamber 200 that is the target of the supercooling operation, the supercooling release operation, the supercooling release operation, and the quick freezing operation. The temperature θ of the food detected by the sensor 31a is obtained by substituting it into the above equation (1). Here, the switching chamber 200 is a target of the supercooling operation, the supercooling release operation, and the quick freezing operation. However, both of the switching chamber 200 and the freezing chamber 300 are targets of these operations. In some cases, the supercooling freezing period is set until the freezing rate of the food in both rooms reaches a predetermined value or more.

  When the control unit 7 determines that the freezing rate of the food product is equal to or higher than the predetermined freezing rate in the determination process (S3), it is assumed that the supercooling freezing period has ended, and a stop control signal is sent to the drive circuit 32 and the drive circuit 33. And the drive motor 10a and the fan 2 of the compressor 10 are stopped, and a closing control signal is output to the driving circuit 34, and all the dampers 36 of the respective storage chambers are closed so that warm air during defrosting does not flow ( S4). The compressor 10 is turned off when the drive motor 10a is stopped. And the control part 7 outputs a drive control signal to the drive circuit 35, turns on the defrost heater 6, and starts a defrost operation (S5). Thus, when the timing which performs a defrost operation, and a supercooling freezing period overlap, a defrosting operation is performed after a supercooling freezing period. At this time, while it is necessary to avoid the defrosting operation (supercooling / freezing period), for example, a display indicating that the supercooling operation is being performed is continuously lit on the display unit 5a provided on the operation panel 5, for example. By suppressing the opening and closing of the door excessively, it is possible to complete the freezing of the food more quickly.

  In the determination process (S4) of FIG. 3, the food freezing rate is used as a condition for starting the defrosting operation (the end of the supercooling freezing period). May be used.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing processing when the elapsed time of the quick freezing operation is used as a condition for starting the defrosting operation.
The processes up to the supercooling operation (stage 1), the supercooling release operation (stage 2), the quick freezing operation (stage 3), and the frozen storage (stage 4) are the same as those in FIG. 4) After the transition to 4), the time after the quick freezing operation is measured by the time measuring unit 11, and if the predetermined time tt set in advance through experiments or the like has elapsed, the supercooling freezing period has ended. Transition to normal operation (S122a).
Moreover, also about the process of the defrosting operation | movement of a refrigerator, the time after the completion | finish of quick freezing operation was measured after process (S1) (S2), and the measurement time passed the predetermined time tt previously set from experiment etc. When the predetermined time tt has passed, the defrosting operation is started assuming that the supercooling freezing period has ended (S4, S5).

  In the above example, the supercooling freezing period is from the end of the quick freezing operation until the predetermined time tt elapses, but the time required for the supercooling release operation and the quick freezing operation is roughly known. In such a case, the period until the predetermined time elapses after the supercooling operation ends may be set as the supercooling freezing period.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a process when the temperature of the food at the end of the quick freezing operation is used as a condition for starting the defrosting operation.
The processes up to the supercooling operation (stage 1), the supercooling release operation (stage 2), the quick freezing operation (stage 3), and the frozen storage (stage 4) are the same as those in FIG. After shifting to 4), the temperature of the food is measured by the temperature detection sensor 31a, and it is determined whether or not the temperature is equal to or lower than a predetermined temperature TT set in advance through experiments or the like. Shifts to normal operation assuming that the supercooling freezing period has ended (S122b).
Moreover, also about the process of the defrost operation of a refrigerator, after process (S1) (S2), the temperature of the food after completion | finish of quick freezing operation is measured, and when the temperature becomes below predetermined temperature TT, the above-mentioned As in the case of, the defrosting operation is started (S4, S5).

  In addition, when a new food is added during the defrosting operation and the supercooling operation and the quick freezing operation are performed, the defrosting operation is immediately stopped, and then the supercooling operation, the supercooling release operation, and the quick freezing operation are performed. carry out. Then, the defrosting operation is resumed after the food reaches a predetermined freezing rate or more.

By the way, water droplets may adhere to the cooler 3 after completion of defrosting. In such a case, if the cooling is started as it is, the water droplets adhere as ice, become nucleation frost, and the frost tends to grow, and the cooling performance of the cooler 3 may drop quickly. In order to avoid this possibility, for example, the on-time of the defrosting heater 6 is extended for a predetermined period of time to evaporate water droplets attached to the cooler 3 and dry them.
Moreover, as a drying method of the cooler 3, the evaporation of moisture can be promoted by turning off the defrosting heater 6 and driving the fan 2 to circulate air around the cooler 3 and between its fins. At this time, when the temperature around the cooler 3 is lower than a certain level, for example, when the damper of the refrigerating room 100 is opened and air containing moisture is introduced into the refrigerating room 100, the returned dry air is recirculated around the cooler 3. Therefore, the cooler 3 can be dried more quickly while utilizing moisture without waste in the refrigerator.
Alternatively, outside air may be introduced in the drying process of the cooler 3 to dry the cooler 3, and the air may be discharged again to the outside air. If it does in this way, while the circumference | surroundings of the cooler 3 are high temperature, the drying of the cooler 3 can be accelerated | stimulated, and the time from a defrosting process to the start of cooling operation can be shortened.

As described above, according to the first embodiment, the period from when the supercooling operation is started until the food freeze rate reaches a predetermined value is defined as the supercooling freezing period, and after the supercooling operation is started, The supercooling freezing period is the time until the temperature reaches a predetermined value, or the supercooling freezing period is from the start of the supercooling operation until the elapse of a predetermined time after the supercooling operation or quick freezing operation ends. When the timing when the frost heater 6 performs the defrosting operation and the supercooling freezing period overlap, the defrosting operation is avoided and the defrosting operation is performed after the supercooling freezing period, and the food is completely frozen. Since the defrosting operation is performed later, there is an effect that the temperature rise of the storage room and the food while the food is not sufficiently frozen can be suppressed.
In addition, the defrosting operation during the supercooling freezing period is avoided as described above to suppress the temperature rise of the storage room and the food, so that, for example, the fine ice crystals generated inside the food by the supercooling are maintained. Since the freezing of the food is completed in the state, there is almost no umami outflow at the time of food cell destruction or thawing, and there is an effect that the original texture and flavor of the food can be maintained even after thawing.

Embodiment 2. FIG.
In the first embodiment described above, when the defrosting operation is necessary, the freezing rate and temperature of the food, the elapsed time after the supercooling operation or the quick freezing operation (supercooling freezing period) are excluded. Although the frost operation is performed, an example in which the defrost operation is performed while avoiding the time zone in which the supercooling operation is frequently performed will be described as a second embodiment. When the supercooling operation, the supercooling release operation, and the quick freezing operation of FIGS. 3 to 5 are performed, the control unit 7 measures the time zone, the number of times of the supercooling operation, and data from the door opening / closing sensor 9. It is assumed that the process of storing in the storage unit 8 is performed.

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the process of the defrosting operation in the second embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 6, if the compressor 10 is driving (S21), the controller 7 next determines whether or not there is a supercooling operation record (S22). In this determination (S22), when there is no track record of the supercooling operation, it is determined whether there is a track record of the quick freezing operation (S23), and when there is a track record of the quick freezing operation, the control of the defrosting operation sequence (1) ( The defrosting operation is performed based on FIGS. Moreover, when there is no track record of quick freezing operation in said determination (S23), defrosting operation is performed in the time slot | zone with few door opening / closing times performed conventionally.

  If it is determined in the determination (S22) that there is a supercooling operation result, the control unit 7 next determines whether or not the supercooling operation result is, for example, 5 times or less (S24). This number is set as appropriate. If it is determined that the performance of the supercooling operation is 5 times or less, the time zone in which the immediately preceding supercooling operation to quick freezing operation is performed is the defrosting operation prohibition time zone, and the current time is prohibited. It is determined whether it is a time zone other than the time zone (S25). On the other hand, when the result of the supercooling operation is not five times (six times or more) in the determination (S24), the control unit 7 performs the supercooling operation to the quick freezing operation stored in the storage unit 8. The time zone in which the most subcooling operation to quick freezing operation (supercooling operation and / or supercooling release operation / rapid freezing operation) is performed is the defrosting operation prohibition time zone, and the current time is the It is determined whether it is a time zone other than the frost operation prohibition time zone (S26).

  When the control unit 7 determines that the current time is a time zone other than the defrosting operation prohibited time zone in the above determination (S25, S26), the control unit 7 enters a state where the defrosting operation is necessary (for example, the compressor 10). (S27), the compressor 10 and the fan 2 are stopped, and all the dampers 36 of each storage chamber are closed so that warm air during defrosting does not flow (S28). The defrosting operation is started by turning on the frost heater 6 (S29).

  As described above, according to the second embodiment, the operation time zone is based on the results (time zone) of the supercooling operation to the quick freezing operation (supercooling operation and / or supercooling release operation / rapid freezing operation). In order to avoid the defrosting operation, the defrosting operation prohibition time zone is provided because the possibility of the supercooling operation to the quick freezing operation is high, so that the temperature rise of the storage room and food can be appropriately suppressed. For example, since the freezing of the food is completed while maintaining the fine ice crystals formed inside the food due to supercooling, there is almost no cell destruction of the food or spilled umami at the time of thawing, and even after thawing, the food There is an effect that a feeling and flavor can be maintained.

It is sectional drawing which shows the structure of the refrigerator in Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is the block diagram which showed the structure of the control system of the refrigerator of FIG. It is a flowchart of the defrost operation control of this Embodiment 1. FIG. It is a flowchart (the 2) of the defrost operation control of this Embodiment 1. It is a flowchart (the 3) of the defrost operation control of this Embodiment 1. It is a flowchart of the defrost operation control in Embodiment 2 of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Refrigerator main body, 2 fan, 3 cooler, 4 air path, 4a ventilation air path, 4b return air path, 5 operation panel, 6 defrost heater, 7 control part, 8 memory | storage part, 10 compressor, 10a drive motor, 11 Timekeeping section, 100 refrigerator compartment, 200 switching room, 201 switching case, 300 freezing room, 301 freezing case, 400 vegetable room, 401 vegetable case, 500 ice making room, 600 cooler room.

Claims (6)

A storage room for storing food,
A cooling mechanism including at least a cooler and cooling the storage chamber;
A defrosting device that performs a defrosting operation for removing frost adhering to the cooler at a timing of a predetermined condition;
Performing a supercooling operation for controlling the cooling mechanism to maintain a supercooling state in which the food is not frozen even at a temperature below the freezing point, and a freezing operation for freezing and storing the food after the supercooling operation. A control device capable of
Temperature detection means for detecting the temperature of the food;
With
The supercooling freezing period is a period from when the supercooling operation is started until the temperature of the food detected by the temperature detecting means reaches a predetermined value, and when the defroster performs the defrosting operation and the supercooling When the freezing period overlaps, the defrosting operation is performed after the supercooling freezing period. Instead of the supercooling freezing period,
The supercooling freezing period is a period from when the supercooling operation is started until a food freezing rate obtained based on the temperature of the food detected by the temperature detecting means reaches a predetermined value. Item 10. The refrigerator according to Item 1. A storage room for storing food,
A cooling mechanism including at least a cooler and cooling the storage chamber;
A defrosting device that performs a defrosting operation for removing frost adhering to the cooler at a timing of a predetermined condition;
Performing a supercooling operation for controlling the cooling mechanism to maintain a supercooling state in which the food is not frozen even at a temperature below the freezing point, and a freezing operation for freezing and storing the food after the supercooling operation. A control device capable of
With
The supercooling freezing period is a period from when the supercooling operation is started to when a predetermined time elapses after the supercooling operation or the refrigeration operation is completed, and when the defrosting device performs the defrosting operation and the supercooling When the freezing period overlaps, the defrosting operation is performed after the supercooling freezing period. A storage room for storing food,
A cooling mechanism including at least a cooler and cooling the storage chamber;
A defrosting device that performs a defrosting operation for removing frost adhering to the cooler at a timing of a predetermined condition;
Performing a supercooling operation for controlling the cooling mechanism to maintain a supercooling state in which the food is not frozen even at a temperature below the freezing point, and a freezing operation for freezing and storing the food after the supercooling operation. A control device capable of,
Storage means for storing a time zone during which the supercooling operation and / or the refrigeration operation is performed,
The refrigerator is characterized in that the time zone stored in the storage means is performed while avoiding the defrosting operation by the defroster. A storage room for storing food,
A cooling mechanism including at least a cooler and cooling the storage chamber;
A defrosting device that performs a defrosting operation for removing frost adhering to the cooler at a timing of a predetermined condition,
The defroster avoids the defrosting operation until the freezing rate of the food reaches a predetermined value. It has a display that displays that it is in supercooling operation,
The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the display unit displays that the supercooling operation is being performed during the supercooling freezing period.

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