JP2013002664A - Refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a refrigerator whose energy saving performance is improved and in which reliability of a damper device is improved.SOLUTION: The refrigerator includes: a storage compartment which is partitioned in a refrigerator body and stores food; a cooler where heat exchange of cold air cooling the storage compartment is performed; a cooler storage compartment provided with the cooler; a heater for defrosting the cooler; an air blower which sends cold air subjected to heat exchange by the cooler to the storage compartment; the damper device which controls blowing of the cold air to the storage compartment; a controller which controls driving of the damper device; and a heating means provided to the periphery of the damper device so as to unfreeze the damper device. The refrigerator determines that the damper device is frozen when opening operation or closing operation of the damper device is not performed based upon an input signal, and then drives the heating means to unfreeze the damper device.

Description

  The present invention relates to a refrigerator having a damper for adjusting the amount of cold air flowing into a storage room.

  Conventionally, in each refrigerator having a refrigerated temperature zone and a refrigeration temperature zone, the cold air heat-exchanged by the cooler is blown to each of the storage chambers by a blowing means. In order to control the flow rate of cool air to the air, there is known a configuration that includes an open / close damper device and controls the opening / closing of the damper device.

  Since the cold air does not flow when the damper device is in the closed state, the humid air in the refrigerator compartment flows backward from the cold air outlet of the refrigerator compartment to the damper device portion. At that time, since the temperature of the damper unit is lower than that of the humid air, condensation occurs, and since the cool air is 0 ° C. or less, the condensed moisture freezes. Therefore, even if the damper device is next opened, the damper device opening / closing part does not move due to freezing, and cold air does not flow into the refrigerator compartment. Therefore, the temperature of the refrigerator compartment becomes high and cannot serve as a refrigerator.

  In Patent Document 1, a defrosting unit for melting frost is provided around the damper device in order to prevent the damper device from freezing, and the defrosting unit is operated when a defrosting heater for defrosting the evaporator is operated. A technique related to a refrigerator characterized by operating simultaneously is disclosed.

  In Patent Document 2, a damper device that opens and closes a cold air inlet to a storage chamber and a damper heater for preventing the damper device from freezing are provided, and the damper heater is turned off when the damper device is opened, and the damper heater is opened when the damper device is closed. There is disclosed a technique relating to a refrigerator, characterized in that a control device for turning on is provided.

JP 2009-63244 A JP 62-49174 A

  However, in Patent Document 1, the defrosting means for preventing the damper device from freezing is energized in order to energize in synchronism with the defrost heater and energize when the damper device is closed regardless of the presence or absence of freezing. Becomes longer and energy-saving performance decreases.

  Moreover, in patent document 2, since there is no control for canceling freezing at the time of freezing in the damper device, when it is frozen, it cannot function as a refrigerator.

  The present invention solves the above problems. The objective of this invention is providing the refrigerator which improved the energy-saving performance and improved the reliability of the damper apparatus.

  In order to solve the above problems, for example, the configuration described in the claims is adopted. The present application includes a plurality of means for solving the above-mentioned problems. To give an example, a storage room that is partitioned in the refrigerator main body and stores food, and cooling that cools the storage room is heat-exchanged. , A cooler storage chamber in which the cooler is provided, a heater for performing defrosting of the cooler, a blower for blowing cool air heat-exchanged by the cooler to the storage chamber, and the storage chamber A refrigerator provided with a damper device that controls the blowing of cold air to the fan, a control device that controls the drive of the damper device, and heating means provided around the damper device to release the freeze of the damper device When the opening or closing operation of the damper device is not performed based on the input signal, it is determined that the damper device is frozen, and the heating unit is driven to release the freeze of the damper device. .

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the energizing time of the heater for the freeze prevention of a damper apparatus can be decreased, and the refrigerator which improves energy saving performance can be provided.

  In addition, it is possible to perform a control for canceling the operation failure due to the freezing of the damper device, and when it is determined that there is a failure, it is possible to perform a failure display, and it is possible to provide a refrigerator with improved reliability.

It is a front external view of the refrigerator which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is XX sectional drawing of FIG. 1 showing the structure in the store | warehouse | chamber of a refrigerator. It is a front view showing the structure in the store | warehouse | chamber of a refrigerator. FIG. 3 is an enlarged explanatory view of main parts of FIG. 2. It is a perspective view which shows the whole structure of a damper. It is a perspective view which shows the whole structure of a damper. FIG. 6 is a YY sectional view of FIG. 5 showing the configuration of the damper. It is the schematic which looked at the drive means of the damper in the arrow Z direction of FIG. It is the schematic which looked at the drive means of the damper in the arrow Z direction of FIG. It is the schematic which looked at the drive means of the damper in the arrow Z direction of FIG. It is the schematic which looked at the drive means of the damper in the arrow Z direction of FIG. It is a timing chart at the time of normal operation of a damper. It is a flowchart at the time of the state transition from fully closed to fully open of the damper. It is a timing chart when returning to a normal operation | movement after a damper confirmation / freezing release operation | movement. It is a timing chart when performing a failure display without returning to a normal operation after a damper confirmation / freezing release operation. It is a flowchart at the time of the state transition from fully open to fully closed of the damper.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

(First embodiment)
FIG. 1 is a front outline view of the refrigerator of the present embodiment. FIG. 2 is an XX longitudinal cross-sectional view in FIG. 1 illustrating a configuration inside the refrigerator. FIG. 3 is a front view showing the configuration of the refrigerator interior, and FIG. 4 is an enlarged explanatory view of the main part of FIG. 2, showing the arrangement of cold air ducts and air outlets. As shown in FIG. 1, the refrigerator 1 of this embodiment has the refrigerator compartment 2, the ice making room 3, the upper freezer compartment 4, the lower freezer compartment 5, and the vegetable compartment 6 from upper direction. As an example, the refrigerator compartment 2 and the vegetable compartment 6 are storage rooms in a refrigerator temperature zone of approximately 3 to 5 ° C. Further, the ice making room 3, the upper freezing room 4 and the lower freezing room 5 are storage rooms in a freezing temperature zone of approximately −18 ° C.

  The refrigerating room 2 includes, on the front side, refrigerating room doors 2a and 2b with double doors (so-called French type) divided into left and right. The ice making room 3, the upper freezing room 4, the lower freezing room 5, and the vegetable room 6 include a drawer type ice making room door 3a, an upper freezing room door 4a, a lower freezing room door 5a, and a vegetable room door 6a. Hereinafter, the refrigerator compartment doors 2a and 2b, the ice making compartment door 3a, the upper freezer compartment door 4a, the lower freezer compartment door 5a, and the vegetable compartment door 6a are simply referred to as doors 2a, 2b, 3a, 4a, 5a, and 6a.

  The refrigerator 1 includes a door sensor (not shown) that detects the open / closed state of the doors 2a, 2b, 3a, 4a, 5a, and 6a, and a state in which each door is determined to be open for a predetermined time, for example, An alarm (not shown) for notifying the user when the operation is continued for one minute or more and a temperature setting device (not shown) for setting the temperature of the refrigerator compartment 2 and the temperature of the upper freezer compartment 4 and the lower freezer compartment 5 And a display 2c for displaying temperature setting and the like.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the outside of the refrigerator 1 and the inside of the refrigerator 1 are separated by a heat insulating box 10 formed by filling a foam heat insulating material (foamed polyurethane) between the inner box 10a and the outer box 10b. ing. Moreover, the heat insulation box 10 of the refrigerator 1 has a plurality of vacuum heat insulating materials 25 mounted thereon.

  The inside of the refrigerator is separated from the refrigerator compartment 2 by the heat insulating partition wall 28, the upper freezing chamber 4 and the ice making chamber 3 (see FIG. 1, the ice making chamber 3 is not shown in FIG. 2). The lower freezer compartment 5 and the vegetable compartment 6 are separated.

  A plurality of door pockets 32 are provided inside the doors 2a and 2b (see FIGS. 1 and 2). The refrigerator compartment 2 is partitioned into a plurality of storage spaces in the vertical direction by a plurality of shelves 36.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the upper freezer compartment 4, the lower freezer compartment 5, and the vegetable compartment 6 are integrated with doors 3a, 4a, 5a, 6a provided in front of the respective compartments, and storage containers 3b, 4b, 5b. , 6b are provided. The storage containers 4b, 5b, and 6b can be pulled out by placing a hand on a handle portion (not shown) of the doors 4a, 5a, and 6a and pulling it out toward the front side. Similarly, the ice making chamber 3 shown in FIG. 1 is provided with an unillustrated storage container (indicated by (3b) in FIG. 2) integrally with the door 3a. The container 3b can be pulled out by pulling it out.

  As shown in FIG. 2 (see FIG. 3 as appropriate), the cooler 7 is provided in a cooler storage chamber 8 provided substantially at the back of the lower freezing chamber 5. An internal fan 9 (blower) is provided above the cooler 7. Air cooled by heat exchange in the cooler 7 (hereinafter, low-temperature air heat-exchanged by the cooler 7 is referred to as “cold air”) is blown into the refrigerator compartment air duct 11 by the internal fan 9, and the vegetable room air blown by reference numerals. Refrigeration room 2, vegetable room 6, upper freezer room 4, lower freezer room 5, ice making through duct (see FIG. 3), upper freezer room air duct 12, lower freezer room air duct 13, and ice making room air duct (not shown) It is sent to each room of room 3. Air blowing to each room is controlled by opening and closing the refrigerator compartment damper 20 and the freezer compartment damper 50.

  Here, the refrigerator compartment damper 20 or the freezer compartment damper 50 is located at the boundary with the storage compartment. Therefore, due to the temperature difference between the storage chambers and the cooling chamber, the water vapor reaches the dew point and becomes water droplets, and the water droplets are further cooled to easily form frost. For this reason, in order to melt the frost attached to the open / close body of the refrigerator compartment damper 20 or the freezer compartment damper 50, a damper heater 20a is provided around the refrigerator compartment damper 20 and a damper heater 50a is provided around the refrigerator compartment damper 50.

  The damper heater 20a and the damper heater 50a are installed so as to cover the outer periphery of the refrigerator compartment damper 20 or the freezer compartment damper 50. In the configuration of the damper heater 50a, aluminum is disposed so as to cover an electric heating portion such as a heater cord and the electric heating portion. The heater capacity is about 5.1W.

  Incidentally, the air ducts to the refrigerator compartment 2, the ice making room 3, the upper freezer room 4, the lower freezer room 5, and the vegetable room 6 are provided on the back side of each room of the refrigerator 1 as indicated by broken lines in FIG. Yes.

  Specifically, when the refrigerator compartment damper 20 is in the open state and the freezer compartment damper 50 is in the closed state, the cold air is sent to the refrigerator compartment 2 from the outlets 2d provided in multiple stages via the refrigerator compartment air duct 11. And it sends to the vegetable compartment 6 from the blower outlet 6c through the vegetable compartment ventilation duct (refer FIG. 3) branched from the refrigerator compartment ventilation duct 11. FIG.

  Note that the cold air that has cooled the refrigerator compartment 2 is, for example, in the lower right portion as viewed from the front of the cooler storage chamber 8 through the refrigerator outlet return duct 16 from the return port 2d provided on the lower surface of the refrigerator compartment 2. Return. The return air from the vegetable compartment 6 returns to the lower part of the cooler storage compartment 8 through the return opening 6d.

  When the freezer damper 50 is in the open state, the cold air heat-exchanged by the cooler 7 passes through the ice making chamber air duct and the upper freezer room air duct 12 (not shown) by the internal blower 9, and the ice making chambers from the outlets 3c and 4c, respectively. 3. The air is blown into the upper freezer compartment 4. Further, the air is blown from the outlet 5 c to the lower freezer compartment 5 through the lower freezer compartment air duct 13. In this respect, the freezer compartment damper 50 is attached above a blower cover 56 described later, and facilitates the previous ice making chamber blow.

  In addition, the cold air that has cooled the upper freezer room 4, the lower freezer room 5, and the ice making room 3 returns to the cooler storage room 8 through the freezer return port 17 provided in the lower part of the lower freezer room 5.

  Thus, in FIG. 4, the partition 54 forms the outlets 3c, 4c, 5c. The partition 54 divides the upper freezing chamber 4, the ice making chamber 3, the lower freezing chamber 5, and the cooler storage chamber 8.

  55 is a fan motor fixing | fixed part to which the internal fan 9 is attached. The fan motor fixing portion 55 partitions the cooler storage chamber 8 and the partition 54.

  The internal fan 9 is attached to the fan motor fixing portion 55. A blower cover 56 covers the front surface of the internal fan 9. A cool air duct 13 is formed between the blower cover 56 and the partition 54. Further, the upper portion of the blower cover 56 forms a blowout port 56 a of the freezer compartment damper 50.

  The blower cover 56 includes a rectifying unit 56 b that covers the front surface of the blower 9. This rectifies the turbulent flow caused by the cold air blown out and prevents the generation of noise and the like.

  The blower cover 56 forms an upper freezer compartment air duct 12 and a lower freezer compartment air duct 13 so as to guide the cold air blown from the internal fan 9 to the outlets 3c, 4c, 5c, etc. between the blower cover 56 and the partition 54. doing.

  Further, the blower cover 56 also plays a role of blowing the cool air blown out by the internal blower 9 to the refrigerator compartment damper 20 side. That is, the cold air that does not enter the freezer damper 50 provided in the blower cover 56 part goes to the refrigerating room damper 20 side through the refrigerating room duct 15 as shown in FIG.

  And the cold air which passed through the cooler 7 is sent to both the freezing temperature zone room (the upper freezing room 4, the lower freezing room 5, and the ice making room 3) and the refrigeration temperature zone room (the refrigeration room 2 and the vegetable room 6). In some cases, the cool air is overwhelmingly sent to the freezer damper 50 side, but a slight amount of cool air goes to the refrigerating chamber duct 15 side.

  The refrigerator compartment damper 20 is attached to the rear part of the refrigerator compartment 2 as shown in FIG.

  A defrost heater 22 is installed below the cooler 7, and an upper cover 53 is provided above the defrost heater 22 to prevent defrost water from dripping onto the defrost heater 22. It has been.

  The defrost water generated by the defrosting (melting) of the frost attached to the wall of the cooler 7 and the surrounding cooler storage chamber 8 flows into the trough 23 provided at the lower part of the cooler storage chamber 8. It reaches the evaporating dish 21 disposed in the machine room 19 described later via the drain pipe 27 and is evaporated by the heat of a condenser (not shown) described later.

  In addition, a cooler temperature sensor 35 attached to the cooler is located in the upper right portion when viewed from the front of the cooler 7, a refrigerator temperature sensor 33 is provided in the refrigerator compartment 2, and a freezer compartment temperature sensor 34 is provided in the lower freezer compartment 5. The temperature of the cooler 7 (hereinafter referred to as “cooler temperature”), the temperature of the refrigerator compartment 2 (hereinafter referred to as “refrigerator compartment temperature”), and the temperature of the lower freezer compartment 5 (hereinafter referred to as “freezer compartment temperature”). Can be detected).

  Furthermore, the refrigerator 1 includes an outside air temperature sensor and an outside air humidity sensor (not shown) that detect a temperature and humidity environment (outside air temperature, outside air humidity) outside the refrigerator. Note that the vegetable room temperature sensor 33a may also be arranged in the vegetable room 6.

  A machine room 19 is provided on the lower back side of the heat insulating box 10. The machine room 19 contains a compressor 24 and a condenser (not shown). Is removed. Incidentally, in this embodiment, isobutane is used as a refrigerant, and the amount of refrigerant enclosed is as small as about 80 g.

  A control board 31 on which a CPU, a memory such as a ROM and a RAM, an interface circuit, and the like are mounted is disposed on the top surface side of the refrigerator 1. The control board 31 opens and closes the doors of the outside temperature sensor, the outside humidity sensor, the cooler temperature sensor 35, the refrigerator temperature sensor 33, the freezer temperature sensor 34, and the doors 2a, 2b, 3a, 4a, 5a, and 6a. The door sensor for detecting the state, the temperature setter (not shown) provided on the inner wall of the refrigerator compartment 2, the temperature setter (not shown) provided on the inner wall of the lower freezer compartment 5, and the like are connected. And by the program previously installed in the ROM, the compressor 24 is turned on / off, the number of revolutions is controlled, the refrigerator motor 20 and the freezer damper 50 are individually driven. Control such as ON / OFF of the blower 9 and control of the rotational speed, control of ON / OFF of the external fan and control of the rotational speed, and control of ON / OFF of the alarm for notifying the door open state are performed.

  Next, when the refrigerating room damper 20 is closed and the freezing room damper 50 is open, only the freezing temperature zone (the ice making room 3, the upper freezing room 4 and the lower freezing room 5) is cooled. The cold air blown to the ice making chamber 3 through the ice making chamber air duct and the cold air blown to the upper freezer chamber 4 via the upper freezer chamber air duct 12 (see FIG. 2) descend to the lower freezer chamber 5. And it flows like the freezing room return air shown by the arrow C in FIG. 4 with the cold air sent to the lower freezing room 5 through the lower freezing room ventilation duct 13 (refer FIG. 2). That is, it flows into the cooler storage chamber 8 from the lower front of the cooler storage chamber 8 via the freezer return port 17 arranged at the lower back of the lower freezer chamber 5, and a large number of fins are attached to the cooler piping 7a. Heat exchange is performed with the cooler 7 configured as described above.

  Incidentally, the width of the freezer compartment return port 17 is substantially equal to the width of the cooler 7.

  On the other hand, when the refrigerator compartment damper 20 is in the open state and the freezer compartment damper 50 is in the closed state, and only the refrigerator compartment temperature zone (refrigerator compartment 2 and vegetable compartment 6) is being cooled, the return from the refrigerator compartment 2 is performed. The cold air flows into the cooler storage chamber 8 from the lower side of the cooler storage chamber 8 via the cooler chamber return duct 16 like the cooler return air indicated by the arrow D in FIG. Exchange heat with.

  The cold air that has cooled the vegetable compartment 6 flows into the lower part of the cooler storage chamber 8 via the vegetable compartment return port 6d (see FIG. 4), as shown in FIG. Less than the amount of air circulating and the amount of air circulating through the refrigerator compartment 2.

  As described above, the cold air in the refrigerator 1 is switched by appropriately opening and closing each of the refrigerator compartment damper 20 and the freezer compartment damper 50. Next, an example of the configuration and operation of the damper device will be described using the freezer compartment damper 50 as an example with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing an example of the configuration of the freezer compartment damper 50. FIG. 6 is a view of FIG. 5 as seen from the direction of the arrow S. 7 is a cross-sectional view in the YY direction in FIG.

  The freezer compartment damper 50 is provided with an opening 62 on one side, for example, a horizontally long frame 63 made of resin, for example, and a drive system such as a motor and a reduction gear at one end (rectangular short portion) of the frame 63. A built-in driving means 60 is provided, and a driving force is output from the driving shaft 61. The opening / closing body 64 is provided facing the opening 62 of the frame 63, one end of the opening / closing body 64 is pivotally supported by the drive shaft 61, and the other end of the opening / closing body 64 is provided at the other end of the frame 63. The support shaft 65 is rotatably provided. The opening / closing body 64 includes a resin-like plate-like opening / closing plate 64a and a buffer member 64b formed on one surface of the opening / closing plate 64a, for example, from a flexible material such as urethane foam or polyethylene foam. The opening / closing body 64 is swingable about a rotation shaft connecting the drive shaft 61 and the support shaft 65, and the rotation shaft is substantially parallel along one side in the longitudinal direction of the opening / closing body 64, It is arranged near the one side.

  The opening 62 of the frame 63 has a horizontally long substantially rectangular shape. A connecting means 62 a for connecting one side and the other side of the opening 62 and suppressing deformation of the opening 62 is provided at a substantially central portion in the longitudinal direction of the opening 62. The connecting means 62a serves as a support column for reinforcement. The connecting means 62a may be integrated with the frame 63 or may be a separate body as long as it suppresses the deformation of the opening 62.

  5 to 7 show a state where the opening / closing body 64 is closed. In the closed position, the opening / closing body 64 comes into contact with a contact portion 66 erected on the opening / closing body 64 side along the inner periphery of the opening 62 of the frame 63. This suppresses the flow of cool air through the opening 62. When the motor is rotated, the opening / closing body 64 is rotated by about 90 ° in the direction of the arrow (see FIGS. 5 and 7) via the drive shaft 61, so that the opening / closing body is in the open position indicated by 64 '. By opening and closing the opening / closing body 64 between the positions, the cool air can pass through the opening 62 in the open position, and the cool air flow is blocked and closed in the closed position.

  Next, an example of the configuration and operation of the driving unit 60 will be described with reference to FIGS. 8 to 11 are schematic views of the driving means 60 viewed in the direction of arrow Z in FIG. The driving means 60 includes a motor 70, and an output shaft 71 of the motor 70 is provided with a pinion gear 72 that rotates with the driving of the motor 70 and outputs torque. The idler gear 73 is a reduction gear that is rotatably supported around an idler fulcrum 74. A gear 73a meshing with the pinion gear 72 is provided on the outer periphery of the idler gear 73, and the torque from the pinion gear 72 is transmitted while being reduced. A part of the idler gear 73 is provided with a partial gear 73b. For example, the idler gear 73 is provided only in a range where the idler gear 73 rotates 90 °. A cylindrical portion 73c having a cylindrical shape is provided in a portion of the partial gear 73b other than the gear shape.

  The output gear 75 is pivotally supported around the drive shaft 61, and the drive shaft 61 is fitted to the opening / closing body 64. The opening / closing body 64 (opening / closing plate 64a, buffer member 64b) and the output gear 75 are connected to each other. It is connected and rotates as a unit. That is, the opening / closing body 64 is rotated around a longitudinal driving shaft of the opening / closing body 64 (a driving shaft in which one end of the opening / closing body 64 is pivotally supported by the driving shaft 61 and the other end is pivotally supported by the supporting shaft 65 of the frame 63). To drive.

  A partial gear 75 b is provided in a part of the output gear 75, meshes with a partial gear 73 b provided in a part of the idler gear 73, and rotates by, for example, 90 ° in conjunction with the idler gear 73. On both sides of the partial gear 75b of the output gear 75, an arc-shaped first stopper 75c and a second stopper 75d are provided. The first stopper 75c and the second stopper 75d are in a positional relationship in which the opening / closing body 64 contacts the cylindrical portion 73c of the idler gear 73 at the open position and the closed position. When the output gear 75 is rotated by approximately 90 °, which is a range where the partial gear 75b is engaged, the opening / closing body 64 connected to the output gear 75 is rotated, and then the first stopper 75c and the second stopper 75d. Comes into contact with the idler gear 73 and its rotation is restricted.

  Next, the operation of the driving unit 60 will be described. In FIG. 8, the driving means 60 shows a state similar to that shown in FIGS. 5 to 7, with the opening / closing body 64 in the closed state. A cylindrical portion 73c provided on the idler gear 73 is fitted with the second stopper 75d of the output gear 75, and holds the opening / closing body 64 in a closed state. 9 shows a state in which the motor 70 is driven from the state of FIG. 8 and the pinion gear 72, the idler gear 73, and the output gear 75 are rotated in the directions of the arrows, respectively. The partial gear 75b and the idler gear that are part of the output gear 75 are shown. 73 is engaged with a partial gear 73b provided in a part of 73. The second stopper 75 d of the output gear 75 is positioned away from the cylindrical portion 73 c of the idler gear 73. FIG. 10 shows a position rotated further in the direction of the arrow as compared with FIG. In FIG. 11, the rotation of the partial gear 75b, which is a part of the output gear 75, and the partial gear 73b provided in a part of the idler gear 73 are finished, and the first gear of the output gear 75 is turned. One stopper 75c is in a position where it is engaged with the cylindrical portion 73c of the idler gear 73, and holds the opening / closing body 64 in an open state. When the opening / closing body 64 is closed again, the state shown in FIG. 11 is reached from the state shown in FIG. 11 through the states shown in FIGS.

  By operating as described above, the freezer damper 50 opens and closes the opening / closing body 64.

  Next, opening / closing detection of the freezer damper 50 will be described. 8 to 11, one or more open / close detection switches 76 are provided in the vicinity of the open / close body 64 or the output gear 75, and are arranged so as to detect full open, full close, or an arbitrary angle. The open / close detection switch 76 may be configured to be able to detect an open / close operation in the outer periphery of the damper device. The state of the open / close body 64 of the freezer compartment damper 50 can be detected by the open / close detection switch 76 when a damper open / close signal is sent to the open / close body 64 of the freezer compartment damper.

  Next, FIG. 12 shows a timing chart during normal operation of the refrigerator of the damper heater 50a. The damper heater 50a does not energize the damper heater 50a in a normal state when there is no difference between the operation intended to input the damper opening / closing signal and the reaction detected by the opening / closing detection switch 76. If there is a difference, the damper heater 50a is energized when there is an abnormality. Since energization is performed only when there is an abnormality, the energization time can be shortened as much as possible, leading to improved energy saving performance. Details of the flowchart and timing chart for normal and abnormal situations are shown below.

  In the flowchart shown in FIG. 13, when the cooling of the upper freezer compartment 4, the lower freezer compartment 5, and the ice making chamber 3 is started, the damper input signal of the freezer damper 50, the open / close detection switch 76, the damper heater 50a, and the display 2c are controlled. explain. (Refer to FIGS. 1 and 8 as appropriate) Here, as an example, the open / close detection switch 76 is installed so as to be able to detect full open and full close. (Hereinafter, the open / close detection switch 76 for detecting full open is referred to as a full open sensor, and the open / close detection switch 76 for detecting full close is referred to as a full close sensor.) At the start of cooling, the freezer damper 50 receives “open” as a damper input signal. "Is input (ST101). At that time, it is determined whether or not the sensor is fully opened by the fully open sensor (ST102), and the following is performed depending on the state.

(1) Normal operation When fully open is detected, the damper heater 50a is reliably turned off (ST103) (continuously turned off when the damper heater 50a is in an OFF state), and the damper heater 50a is as shown in the timing chart of FIG. Operates normally with OFF.

(2) Confirmation / Freezing Release Operation If the fully open state cannot be detected, it is determined that some trouble such as freezing has occurred, and the energization of the damper heater 50a is turned on (ST104). At this time, the number of undetectable times is counted (ST105). Counting the number of undetectable times ST105 is counted when there is a difference between the operation intended by the damper input signal and the open / close detection sensor, and the following ST110 is the same. When the number of undetectable times is less than or equal to the set number (ST106) (if more than the set number, proceed to (3)), to check the state of the freezer damper 50, whether it is in the fully closed state or fully closed However, it is determined from the fully-closed sensor whether it is not in the state (ST107). In the case of full closure, in order to perform freezing release by turning on the damper heater energization, the energization is left in the ON state for a set time (about 2 to 5 minutes). Thereafter, the process returns to ST101. If it is not fully open or fully closed, “close” is input by a damper input signal (ST108). Thereafter, in order to further check the state of the damper, a determination is made by a fully closed sensor (ST109). If fully closed, the process returns to ST101 via ST111. Go back to ST101 (If the number of undetectable times set in ST106 is, for example, 5 times to 10 times, it is preferable that the time required to determine whether or not a defect has occurred is not too long).

(3) Failure display When the fully open state cannot be detected and the number of undetectable times exceeds the set number (ST106) by the confirmation operation in (2), it is determined as a failure and the failure is displayed on the display 2c in FIG. .

  FIG. 14 shows a timing chart for returning to the normal operation after the confirmation / freezing release operation considered in the flowchart of FIG. 13, and FIG. 15 shows a timing chart for displaying the failure without returning to the normal operation after the confirmation / freezing release operation. Show.

  Between T11 and T12 in FIG. 14, when the damper input signal is “open” (ST101), the fully open sensor does not detect “open” (ST102), and after the confirmation / freezing release operation (ST104 to ST111), normal operation (ST103) An example of a timing chart when returning to FIG. This is because freezing of the freezer compartment damper 50 is released by the damper heater 50a and the control up to the return can be performed quickly, leading to improvement of the cooling efficiency of the storage compartment.

  FIG. 15 shows that when the damper input signal is “open” (ST101), the fully-open sensor does not detect “open” (ST102), and after the confirmation / freezing release operation (ST104 to ST111), the number of detection impossible is set to the set number (5 times). ) As described above (ST106), an example of a timing chart in which failure display is performed is shown. This is a case where the freeze cannot be released by the damper heater 50a, or a case where the operation is not performed due to other causes, and displaying a failure leads to an improvement in reliability.

  Although FIG. 13 shows a malfunction of the damper device at the start of cooling, it can be considered in the same flow at the end of cooling, and is shown in the flowchart of FIG. Assuming that the damper device is frozen in the open state, there is an effect of preventing the storage chamber from being overcooled or the storage chamber from warming when the defrost heater is turned on by releasing the freeze. In addition, when it is determined that the freeze cannot be released or the failure is caused by other problems, the failure is displayed on the display unit, thereby improving the reliability.

  As described above, a storage chamber that is partitioned in the refrigerator main body and stores food, a cooler in which cold air that cools the storage chamber is heat-exchanged, a cooler storage chamber in which the cooler is provided, and A heater for performing defrosting of the cooler, a blower for blowing cool air heat-exchanged by the cooler to the storage chamber, a damper device for controlling the blowing of cold air to the storage chamber, and the damper device In a refrigerator provided with a control device for controlling driving and heating means provided around the damper device to release freezing of the damper device, the opening operation or closing operation of the damper device is based on an input signal If not, it is determined that the damper device is frozen, and the heating unit is driven to release the freeze of the damper device.

  In addition, when the opening / closing body provided in the damper device includes an opening / closing detection sensor for detecting that the opening / closing body is fully open, fully closed, or in an arbitrary rotational angle position, and an opening / closing input signal is sent to the damper device, When the open / close detection sensor detects a state of the open / close body different from the command from the open / close input signal, it is determined that the open / close body is frozen, and the heating means is driven to release the open / close body from freezing. Do.

  In addition, after driving the heating means, the opening / closing body of the damper device is opened / closed a predetermined number of times by an opening / closing input signal from the control device, and the operating state of the opening / closing body not corresponding to the command from the opening / closing input signal is When it is detected by the open / close detection sensor, it displays a failure.

  That is, by providing an opening / closing detection sensor in the damper device, it is possible to detect the state of the opening / closing body, thereby determining whether the damper device is operating normally. Therefore, by applying the current applied to the damper heater for freezing when it is determined to be an abnormal operation, the current consumption time of the damper heater can be reduced as much as possible, thereby saving energy. Further, when there is an abnormality in the damper device, it is possible to cope with freezing operation and failure display, and a refrigerator with improved reliability can be obtained.

1 Refrigerator 2 Refrigerated room (refrigerated temperature zone)
3 Ice making room (freezing temperature zone)
4 Upper freezer room (freezing temperature room)
5 Lower freezer compartment (freezing temperature zone)
6 Vegetable room (refrigerated temperature room)
20 refrigerator compartment damper 50 freezer damper 50a damper heater 60 driving means 61 driving shaft 62 opening 62a connecting means 63 frame 64 opening and closing body 64a opening and closing plate 65 support shaft 66 contact portion 75 output gear 76 opening and closing detection switch

Claims (3)

A storage compartment that is partitioned into the refrigerator body and stores food;
A cooler in which cold air for cooling the storage chamber is heat-exchanged;
A cooler storage chamber provided with the cooler;
A heater for performing defrosting of the cooler;
A blower for blowing cold air heat-exchanged by the cooler to the storage chamber;
A damper device for controlling the blowing of cool air to the storage room;
A control device for controlling the drive of the damper device;
In the refrigerator provided with heating means provided around the damper device in order to release the freeze of the damper device,
When the opening operation or the closing operation of the damper device is not performed based on an input signal, it is determined that the damper device is frozen, and the heating unit is driven to release the freeze of the damper device. Features a refrigerator.   An opening / closing detection sensor for detecting that the opening / closing body provided in the damper device is fully open, fully closed, or at an arbitrary rotational angle position, and when the opening / closing input signal is sent to the damper device, the opening / closing When the open / close detection sensor detects a state of the open / close body different from a command from an input signal, the open / close body is determined to be frozen, and the heating means is driven to release the open / close body from freezing. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein After driving the heating means, the opening / closing body of the damper device is opened / closed a predetermined number of times by an opening / closing input signal from the control device,
The refrigerator according to claim 2, wherein a failure display is performed when an operation state of the opening / closing body that does not match a command from the opening / closing input signal is detected by the opening / closing detection sensor.