JP2651348B2 - Ice making control system and control method for refrigerator - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ice making control system for a refrigerator which automatically performs ice making, deicing and water supply, and a control method thereof. The present invention relates to an ice making control system and a control method thereof.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 5 shows a conventional ice making control system. The tank shelf 1 is installed on the inner side wall of the refrigerator compartment and supports the ice making water case 2 and the ice making water tank 3. Ice making water is always stored in the ice making water case 2, and the ice making water is supplied by a water supply pump 4 to an ice making container 7 installed in a freezing room through a water supply hose 6. A temperature sensing sensor 8 is provided on the bottom surface of the ice making container 7, and an ice storage amount detecting lever 9 is installed so as to be operable by an operating portion 7 </ b> A of the ice making container 7.
An ice storage container 10 is detachably provided below the ice making container 7.

[0003] In the ice making machine thus configured, the float switch 5 interlocked with the operation of the water supply pump 4.
Is turned on, water is supplied to the ice making container 7. When ice cubes are formed in the ice making container 7 by the cool air in the freezer compartment, the temperature sensor 8 detects the temperature of the ice making container 7. A system controller (not shown) generates a signal according to the sensed temperature to activate an ice removal motor (not shown). In accordance with the operation of the ice removing motor, the ice making container 7 is turned upside down and twisted, so that the ice cubes in the ice making container 7 are released and dropped into the ice storage container 10.

At this time, the amount of ice stored in the ice storage container 10 is checked by the ice storage amount detecting lever 9 before the operation of the ice removal motor, and the ice removal motor is controlled to operate only when the ice storage amount is equal to or less than a predetermined amount.

After the ice cubes in the ice making container 7 are dropped into the ice storage container 10, the ice making container 7 is returned to a horizontal position to supply water.
A representative example of such a conventional ice making control system is disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 55-29402.

[0006]

However, in such a conventional ice making control system, if all the ice cubes in the ice making container remain without being dropped, if the re-water supply amount is always the same, Water was supplied in excess of the specified water level in the ice-making container, and thus ice cubes in which respective ice cubes were interconnected were sometimes formed. It is difficult to separate ice cubes integrally connected in this way, and even if ice cubes are separated, ice cubes of a preferable size cannot be obtained.

Further, the ice making water overflows from the ice making container so that the ice cubes stored in the ice storage container are entangled with each other. there were.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an ice-making control that supplies an ice-making container with only a required amount of ice-making water so that ice-releasing operation is easy and a beautiful form of ice cubes is obtained. It is to provide a system and a control method thereof.

[0009]

To achieve the above object, an ice making control system according to the present invention comprises a system controller, means for sensing the temperature of the ice making container, and rotating the ice making container according to a control signal of the system controller. It comprises a rotating means for rotating, a means for sensing the weight of the ice storage container, and a water supply means for supplying water to the ice making container according to a control signal of the system controller.

[0010] When the temperature detected by the temperature sensing means is equal to the set temperature, the system controller operates the rotating means. Further, the number of ice pieces removed from the ice storage container is determined based on the difference between the weight of the ice storage container before ice removal and the weight after ice removal detected by the weight sensing means. Thereafter, a control signal is sent to the water supply means to supply water to the ice making container after the ice removal operation by the number of ice removed.

Further, according to the present invention, a method for controlling an ice making system for automatically performing ice making, de-icing and water supply includes: (a) measuring the current weight of an ice storage container to determine whether the ice storage container is in a full ice state; Determining; (b) a first memory step of storing the weight of the ice storage container in a memory when the ice is not full; (c)
After the first memory step, a second memory step of operating the ice removing motor to release ice cubes in the ice making container to the ice storage container and storing the weight of the ice storage container in the memory; (d) a first memory step; And a third memory step of calculating the number of ice pieces separated from the ice based on the numerical value measured in the second memory step and storing this value in a memory; and (e) calculating the number of ice pieces separated from the ice. And a water supply control step of calculating the amount of water to be supplied to the ice making container.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a control system according to the present invention.

The control system according to the present invention includes a system controller 20 for controlling the operation of the entire refrigerator system according to a stored program. A power supply unit 21 is connected to the system controller 20 to supply a constant voltage to components of the entire system. Also,
A temperature sensor 22 is connected to the system controller 20 via an A / D1, and a signal detected by a temperature sensor 8 (FIG. 2) installed at a lower portion of the ice making container 7 is used for an A / D in the system controller 20. Supply to converter.

Further, the system controller 20 is connected to an ice release motor drive section 23 by a connection P2, and
The ice cube in the ice making container is released by rotating and twisting the ice cube, and the ice cube is dropped into the ice storage container 10.

Further, an ice storage container weight sensing unit 24 is connected to the system controller 20 via an A / D2 so that the weight of the ice storage container is sensed every time ice is removed, and the signal is transmitted to the system controller 20. Send to In addition, a water supply control unit 25 is connected to the system controller 20.
In step 3, a fixed amount of ice making water is supplied to the ice making container based on a signal from the system controller 20.

As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG.
Is installed in a freezer compartment 12, and an ice storage container 10 is installed below the freezer compartment 12. Further, a sensing sensor 11 for measuring the weight of the ice storage container is provided on the bottom surface 13 of the freezing compartment below the ice storage container 10.

The operation of the ice making control system of the present invention configured as described above will now be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

When AC power is supplied to the refrigerator by the user, the power supply unit 21 (FIG. 3) converts the AC power into DC power required for circuit operation of the system and supplies the DC power to peripheral systems.

When the operating voltage is supplied from the power supply unit 21, the system controller 20 adjusts the horizontal position of the ice making container 7 in step S1, shifts to step S2, delays the ice releasing operation for a predetermined time, and Maintain water supply to the

In step S2, if the predetermined time has elapsed, the temperature sensor 8 of the temperature sensor 22
Measures the temperature of the ice making container and sets the temperature (for example, -1).
(2 ° C.) or less is determined in step S3.

If the measured temperature of the ice making container is equal to or lower than the set temperature, the process proceeds to step S4, and the weight of the ice storage container is measured. Based on the measured weight, it is determined in step S5 whether the ice stored in the ice storage container is full.

If the ice is full in step S5, the system controller 20
3 and the operation of the water supply control unit 25 are stopped, whereby the ice in the ice making container 7 falls into the ice storage container 10 and the ice storage container 10
To prevent excess.

On the other hand, if the ice is not full, the process proceeds to step S6, where the weight M of the ice stored in the ice storage container is set.
1 is detected by the weight detection sensor 11 of the ice storage container weight detection unit 24, and this is detected by the first
Store in the memory area.

In step S7, by controlling the ice removing motor drive unit 23 to operate the ice removing motor,
The ice made in the ice making container 7 is dropped into the ice storage container 10.

Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S8, where the weight M of the ice stored in the ice storage container containing the dropped ice is stored.
2 is sensed again by the weight sensor 11 of the ice storage container weight sensing unit 24 and stored in the second memory area of the system controller 20.

In step S9, the difference between the weight M2 stored in the second memory area and the weight M1 stored in the first memory area (that is, the weight of ice separated from the ice making container). ) Is determined, and the weight M3 of the separated ice is determined by dividing the weight per ice.

That is, it can be expressed by the formula: M3 = (M2-M1) / (weight of ice per piece).

Here, the number M3 of the separated ice is stored in the third memory area of the system controller 20.

In step S10, it is determined whether ice water is present in the water supply tank. For example, if there is no water, the user will be warned to refill the water tank with water,
If there is water, the process proceeds to step S11.

In step S11, the water supply control unit 25
Is controlled to adjust the water supply time T. The water supply time T is a time for adjusting the water supply amount when there is no residual ice in the ice making container. When there is residual ice in the ice making container, the water supply time T ′ excluding the water supply amount of this amount is as follows. Is calculated.

That is, it is calculated by the formula; adjusted water supply time (T ') = (M3 / n) × T. Where n
If the adjusted water supply time T ′ is calculated in step S11, which is the number of ices in one ice making, the system controller 20 activates the water supply control unit 25 for the time T ′ in step S12, Supply ice making water to the ice making container.

[0033]

As described above, the ice making control system according to the present invention provides a method for controlling the weight of an ice storage container before the ice cubes separated from the ice making container fall into the ice storage container and the weight of the ice storage container after falling into the ice storage container. The amount of ice cubes removed from the ice-making container is calculated based on the difference with the weight of the ice storage container, and the time for supplying water to the ice-making container is adjusted based on the amount of ice cubes released. is there.

Accordingly, it is possible to prevent the ice cubes from being connected to each other, and it is possible to obtain ice cubes in a beautiful form that can be easily separated from each other.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a part of a refrigerator employing an ice making control system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing an outline of the ice making control system of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an ice making control system according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of an ice making control system according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view of an ice maker used in a conventional refrigerator.

[Explanation of symbols]

 7 Ice Making Container 8 Temperature Sensor 10 Ice Storage Container 11 Weight Sensor 20 System Controller 21 Power Supply Unit 22 Temperature Sensor 23 Ice Separation Motor Drive Unit 24 Ice Storage Container Weight Sensor 25 Water Supply Control Unit

Claims (6)

(57) [Claims] 1. An ice making control system for a refrigerator, comprising: a refrigerator system controller; a means for sensing the temperature of the ice making container; a rotating means for rotating the ice making container in accordance with a control signal of the system controller; Sensing means, and water supply means for supplying water to the ice making container in accordance with a control signal of the system controller, wherein the system controller controls the rotating means when the temperature sensed by the temperature sensing means is equal to a set temperature. A signal is sent to determine the number of ice pieces removed based on the difference between the weights of the ice storage container before and after ice removal detected by the weight sensing means. An ice making control system for a refrigerator, wherein a control signal is sent to the water supply means so as to supply water by the number of ices. 2. The number M3 of ice pieces removed from the ice is calculated by the following formula: M3 = (M2−M1) / A (where M1 is ice stored in the ice storage vessel.
M2 indicates the weight of the ice stored in the ice storage container before falling , and M2 indicates that ice separated from the ice making container falls into the ice storage container.
Indicates the weight of ice stored in the ice storage container after
Indicates the weight per piece of ice . 2. The ice making control system according to claim 1, wherein the value is obtained by the following. 3. The water supply time T ′ is expressed by the following formula: T ′ = (M3 / n) × T (where T represents the water supply time when the ice cubes in the ice making vessel are completely de-iced, and n is The ice making control system according to claim 2, wherein the number of ice cubes when the ice is completely removed from the ice making container is determined.). 4. An ice making control method for a refrigerator for automatically performing ice making, deicing and water supply, comprising: (a) measuring the current weight of the ice storage container to determine whether the ice storage container is full ice; (B) if the ice is not full, a first memory step of storing the weight of the ice storage container in a memory; and (c) operating the ice release motor after the first memory step, thereby allowing the ice making container to operate. Ice cubes are released into an ice storage container,
A second memory step of storing the weight of the ice storage container in a memory; and (d) calculating the number of ice pieces separated from the ice based on the numerical values measured in the first and second memory steps, and storing this value in a memory. And (e) a water supply control step of calculating an amount of water to be supplied to the ice making container based on the number of ice pieces separated from the ice, and a water supply control step of calculating the amount of water to be supplied to the ice making container. . 5. An expression for the number M3 of de-icing ice in the third memory step: M3 = (M2-M1) / A (where M1 indicates the weight of the ice storage container in the first memory step, M2 5. The ice making control method according to claim 4, wherein: represents the weight of the ice storage container in the second memory step, and A represents the weight per ice cube. 6. A water supply time T ′ according to a water supply amount is represented by the following equation: T ′ = (M3 / n) × T (where T represents a water supply time when ice cubes in an ice storage container are completely de-iced). , N indicates the number of ice cubes when the ice is completely removed from the ice storage container).) The ice making control method according to claim 5, wherein