JP3825621B2 - refrigerator - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a refrigerator provided with an automatic ice making device capable of automatically supplying water from a water supply tank to an ice tray and automatically making ice.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Today, there are refrigerators equipped with an automatic ice making device. As disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-195167 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-249560, the refrigerator is equipped with a water supply tank and a water receiver in the refrigerator compartment, while an ice tray and an ice storage container are installed in the freezer compartment. (Ice box) is mounted, a certain amount of water stored in the water receiver is supplied to the ice tray by a pump and a water supply pipe, the ice tray is cooled, and the ice tray is inverted and twisted after ice making. Thus, the ice in the ice tray is stored in an ice storage container.
[0003]
And in the refrigerator provided with such an automatic ice making apparatus, the test for confirming whether the water supply to an automatic ice making apparatus is normally performed at the time of the manufacture or service is performed.
[0004]
As an example of this test operation, a test was performed by inserting a power cord of a refrigerator assembled to some extent into an outlet, supplying power, and pressing a test switch.
When this test switch is pressed, first the idle rotation process for rotating the ice tray to empty the ice tray, then the water supply process for supplying a predetermined amount of water to the ice tray, and then the ice tray A rotation process for draining the supplied water is sequentially performed.
The person in charge of the test performs this process by pressing the test switch, checks whether the ice tray rotates smoothly according to this process, and measures the amount of water drained in the rotation process. , It was confirmed whether the amount of water supplied was within a predetermined range.
[0005]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
Although there is no omission or deficiency in the operation test of the automatic ice making apparatus as described above, there is a demand to reduce the assembly cost of the refrigerator by further reducing the test time.
[0006]
The present invention provides a refrigerator that shortens the test time of an automatic ice making apparatus.
[0008]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The present invention includes an automatic ice making device, a control device for controlling the operation of the automatic ice making device, and a test switch for driving the automatic ice making device, and water is stored in the automatic ice making device. A water supply tank, a water supply pump for pumping out water, a water supply pipe for supplying water from the water supply pump, an ice making tray to which water is supplied from the water supply pipe, and rotating the ice making tray to remove ice In a refrigerator having a drive device for dropping and an ice box for storing the fallen ice, the control device includes an idling step for rotating the ice tray to empty the ice tray, and the ice tray. a water supply step for supplying a predetermined amount of water, the test switch with, after the power is turned on within a predetermined time period to sequentially carry out the rotation step for draining water supplied to the ice tray Once turned on, omitting the idling step, characterized in that so as to start from the water supply step.
[0010]
The water supply tank further comprises an automatic ice making device, a control device for controlling the operation of the automatic ice making device, and a test switch for driving the automatic ice making device. A water supply pump for pumping out water, a water supply pipe for supplying water from the water supply pump, an ice tray supplied with water from the water supply pipe, and rotating the ice tray to drop ice In a refrigerator including a drive device and an ice box for storing the fallen ice, the control device includes an idling step of rotating the ice tray to empty the ice tray, and a predetermined amount of the ice tray. A water supply step for supplying water and a rotation step for draining water supplied to the ice tray are sequentially performed, and only when the test switch is first turned on, To omit the step, characterized in that starting from the water supply step.
[0011]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. 1 is a front view showing a state in which the door of the refrigerator of the present invention is removed, FIG. 2 is an explanatory view of an automatic ice making device, and FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the control device.
[0012]
In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a refrigerator according to the present invention, in which a refrigerating room 2, a vegetable room 3, an ice making room 4, a switching room 5, and a freezing room 6 are formed. A partition shelf 2 a is arranged in the refrigerator compartment 2, an ice greenhouse 7 whose temperature is controlled to −1 ° C. is formed on the lower right side of the refrigerator compartment 2, and a water supply tank 8 is arranged on the lower left side. ing.
[0013]
In the vegetable room 3, the switching room 5, and the freezing room 6, a vegetable room container 9, a switching room container 10, and a freezing room container 11 are arranged. Further, the ice making chamber 4 is provided with an ice tray 12 and an ice box 13 for storing ice from the ice tray. A water supply pipe 14 guides water from the water supply tank to the ice tray.
[0014]
In FIG. 2, 15 is a water supply pump disposed on the back side of the water supply tank, 16 is an ice making machine assembly, 17 is a test switch, 18 is a drive device for rotating the ice tray, 19 is a drive of this drive device and a water supply pump. A control device 20 for controlling the operation is a water supply section of a water supply pipe from which water is supplied to the ice tray 12. That is, water flows as shown in the order of (1), (2), (3), (4), (5), and (6) in FIG. 2 and is supplied to the ice tray 12.
[0015]
A water supply tank 8 for storing water, a water supply pump 15 for sending out water, a water supply pipe 14 for supplying water from the water supply pump, and ice making to which water is supplied from the water supply pipe. An automatic ice making device 30 is constituted by the tray 12, the driving device 18 for rotating the ice tray to drop ice, and the ice box 13 for storing the dropped ice. Further, when the test switch 17 is pressed (turned on) under a predetermined condition, the control device 19 performs a part of a series of test operations of the automatic ice making device 30. The following operation is performed without
[0016]
In the refrigerator configured as described above, the test of the automatic ice making device 30 at the time of assembling is performed as described below.
[0017]
First, the tester plugs in the refrigerator and plugs it in. Next, the test switch 17 is pressed. Since the test switch 17 is pushed immediately after the power is turned on, the test switch is naturally pushed within 30 seconds after the power is turned on. The control device 19 first determines whether or not the test switch 17 has been pressed (S1). Since the test switch 17 has been pressed, it is next determined whether or not it is within 30 seconds after the power is turned on (S2). Since it is within 30 seconds after the power is turned on, a water supply step (S4) for supplying a predetermined amount of water to the ice tray 12 is performed. When this step is completed, a rotation step (S5) is performed for rotating the ice tray 12 for draining.
The person in charge of the test confirms whether the amount of water drained from the ice tray is within a predetermined range. If all the steps are performed smoothly and the amount of drained water is within a predetermined range, the test of the automatic ice making device is finished.
[0018]
Moreover, after starting to use the refrigerator, the automatic ice making device 30 may be out of tune. The test in this case will be described.
[0019]
Since it is a test of the automatic ice making device 30 after the start of use of the refrigerator, when the test switch 17 is pressed after 30 seconds have passed since the power is turned on, the control device 19 uses the ice making plate to empty the ice making plate 12. The test is started from the idling process (S3). This is performed to drop water or ice in the ice tray if it remains outside the ice tray. And a water supply process (S4) and a rotation process (S5) are performed in order. If it is normal, the test of the automatic ice making device 30 ends. If any abnormalities are found during these tests, the abnormal parts are identified and repaired on the plate.
[0020]
Next, a second embodiment will be described. The difference from the first embodiment is that S8 in the flowchart of FIG. 5 is added instead of S2 shown in FIG.
[0021]
That is, it is determined whether or not the test switch 17 is pressed (S1). If the test switch 17 is pressed, it is determined whether or not the test switch 17 is pressed first (S8). When the test switch 17 is first pressed, the idling process (S3) is skipped, and the test of the automatic ice making device 30 is started from the water supply process (S4).
[0022]
If it is determined in S8 that the test switch 17 has been pressed and is not the first press, the automatic ice making device 30 starts testing from the idling step (S3).
[0023]
The determination as to whether or not the test switch 17 has been pressed for the first time is performed, for example, as follows. When the test switch 17 is pressed, the control device 19 checks whether information indicating that the test switch 17 has been pressed in the past is stored in a storage device (not shown). If the information that the test switch 17 has been pressed is stored, it can be determined that the test switch 17 has not been pressed first. If the information that the test switch 17 has been pressed is not stored, the test switch 17 can be determined. It is determined that is the first to be pressed.
That is, the control device 19 first checks whether or not the information is stored in the storage device every time the test switch 17 is pressed. At this time, the information indicating that the test switch 17 is pressed is stored in the storage device. If not stored, information indicating that the test switch 17 has been pressed is stored. Thereby, in this refrigerator, only when the test switch 17 is pushed first, an idle rotation process is abbreviate | omitted and it operate | moves so that it may start from a water supply process. Therefore, it is not necessary to perform a special operation such as pressing the test switch 17 for a predetermined time for the first test before shipping the product, and within a predetermined condition such as within 30 seconds after the power is turned on. Thus, it is not necessary to press the test switch 17, and the test of the automatic ice making device can be performed in a short time by pressing the test switch 17 first.
[0024]
In this embodiment, the test switch is described as a dedicated switch for performing the test. However, when the switch normally disposed on the display is turned on under special conditions, the automatic ice maker is tested. You may comprise so that it may be performed. For example, the test may be started by simultaneously pressing a plurality of specific switches.
[0026]
【The invention's effect】
According to the refrigeration apparatus of the first aspect , the control device is configured to sequentially perform the idling rotation process, the water supply process, and the rotation process, and when the test switch is turned on under a predetermined condition. Since the idle rotation process is omitted and the water supply process is started , the automatic ice making device can be tested in a short time by turning on the test switch within a predetermined time after the power supply.
[0028]
According to the second aspect of the present invention, the control device is configured to sequentially perform the idle rotation process, the water supply process, and the rotation process, and the idle rotation process is omitted only when the test switch is first turned on. Since it is configured to start from the water supply step, it is not necessary to perform a special operation, and the automatic ice making device can be tested in a short time.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a front view showing a state in which a door of a refrigerator according to the present invention is removed.
FIG. 2 is an explanatory view showing an automatic ice making device of the refrigerator.
FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing control of the automatic ice making device of the refrigerator.
FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the control of the automatic ice making device according to the second embodiment of the present invention.
[Explanation of symbols]
1 Refrigerator 8 Water supply tank 12 Ice tray 13 Ice box 14 Water supply pipe 15 Water supply pump 17 Test switch 18 Drive device 19 Control device

Claims (2)

An automatic ice making device, a control device for controlling the operation of the automatic ice making device, and a test switch for driving the automatic ice making device, the automatic ice making device includes a water supply tank for storing water, A water supply pump for sending water, a water supply pipe for supplying water from the water supply pump, an ice tray supplied with water from the water supply pipe, and a drive device for rotating the ice tray to drop ice And a refrigerator equipped with an ice box for storing the fallen ice,
When the test switch is turned on, the control device rotates the ice tray to empty the ice tray, and a water supply step for supplying a predetermined amount of water to the ice tray. The rotation process for draining the water supplied to the ice tray is sequentially performed, and the idle rotation process is omitted when the test switch is turned on within a predetermined time after the power is turned on. The refrigerator starts from the water supply step. An automatic ice making device, a control device for controlling the operation of the automatic ice making device, and a test switch for driving the automatic ice making device, the automatic ice making device includes a water supply tank for storing water, A water supply pump for sending water, a water supply pipe for supplying water from the water supply pump, an ice tray supplied with water from the water supply pipe, and a drive device for rotating the ice tray to drop ice And a refrigerator equipped with an ice box for storing the fallen ice,
The control device includes an idle rotation step for rotating the ice tray to empty the ice tray, a water supply step for supplying a predetermined amount of water to the ice tray, and water supplied to the ice tray. And a rotation process for draining water, and the idle rotation process is omitted only when the test switch is turned on for the first time, and the water supply process is started. Refrigerator.

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