JPH01118084A - Refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To prevent a drink from being frozen by accident by a method wherein a time required to cool the drink to a suitable temperature is computed in respect to data stored in advance and the fact that the drink is cooled to a suitable temperature is informed in reference to a result of calculation. CONSTITUTION: When the fact that some drinks 8 are stored is detected in reference to a variation of detected temperature of a temperature sensor 7 more than a predetermined amount, i.e., a variation of a temperature signal Sd more than a predetermined amount a data signal Sx is read and stored in RAM 17 and further the temperature signal Sd at that time, i.e., an initial temperature T0 of the drinks 8 is stored in RAM 17. A control circuit 14 calculates a time Ts required for cooling the drinks 8 down to an appropriate temperature in reference to a stored data signal Sx, the initial temperature T0 and time data stored in ROM 16, stores the calculated time in RAM 17 and then displays the time Ts which is a result of calculation at a display device 11 in a digital form. Gas of high temperature and high pressure passes through a high pressure gas pipe 6 within a gas thermal radiation tower 4, it is cooled with surrounding sea water, passes through a pressure adjusting tank and then the gas is infected at a nozzle 8. The injected gas is cooled rapidly, passes through a low temperature gas pipe 9 within a sea water cooling tower 10 and the gas is circulated to a compressor 5 while cooling the surrounding sea water. In turn, a temperature of sea water generated by a water pump 11 directly connected to the compressor 5 causes a temperature of sea water circulated in the sea water cooling tower 10 to be decreased. An informing instruction signal Sa0 is outputted to ring an electronic buzzer 12.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Object of the Invention] (Industrial Field of Application) The present invention is suitable for use in refrigerators equipped with a freezer compartment, and particularly for quickly cooling beverages to the temperature at which they are ready for drinking in the freezer compartment. Regarding refrigerators.

(Prior art) Conventionally, especially during periods of high temperature (room temperature) such as summer, when beverages such as beer and juice have not been cooled down to a drinking temperature, it is possible to quickly cool down the beverages. An emergency practice is to store the beverage in the freezer compartment of a refrigerator to cool it down, and then take the beverage out at a certain time and make it available for drinking.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) When a beverage is temporarily cooled in a freezer as described above, the time required to take out the beverage for consumption depends on the intuition and experience of the user. It is decided based on the estimation according to '. For this reason, when cooling beverages in a freezer, it is extremely difficult to cool them to the appropriate temperature, resulting in drinks being either under-cooled or over-chilled. There are many failures. Also,
It is common for people to forget that they have stored beverages in the freezer and leave them in the freezer.In this case, the beverages freeze and the beverage containers break. An unexpected situation such as ff1 (beer bottles, etc. may explode) may occur.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and its purpose is to easily know the appropriate time to take out the beverage from the freezer when the beverage is temporarily cooled in the freezer. This makes it possible to provide drinks that are always cooled to an appropriate temperature, and also prevents the drinks from accidentally freezing when performing emergency cooling as described above. To provide a refrigerator that can also contribute to preventing the occurrence of such a situation.

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problems) The present invention provides a calculation means for calculating the time required to cool a beverage stored in a freezing chamber to an appropriate temperature based on pre-stored data; The apparatus is provided with a notification means for notifying that the beverage has been cooled to an appropriate temperature based on the result calculated by the calculation means.

(Function) When a beverage is stored in the freezer for emergency cooling, the calculation means calculates the time required to cool the beverage to an appropriate temperature based on pre-stored data. Further, the notification means notifies that the beverage has been cooled to an appropriate temperature based on the required cooling time of the beverage calculated by the calculation means as described in section 2. Therefore, when a beverage is temporarily cooled in the freezer, the user can easily know the appropriate time to take out the beverage from the freezer by the notice such as "-".

(Example) First, in FIG. 3 schematically showing the overall configuration of a refrigerator, reference numeral 1 denotes a refrigerator body in which a freezing compartment 2 and a refrigerating compartment 3 are provided above and below. At the front opening there are doors 4 and 5, respectively. Reference numeral 6 denotes an operation display panel provided in front of the door 4 of the freezer compartment 2, which will be described later. Reference numeral 7 denotes a temperature sensor installed in the freezer compartment 2, which is composed of, for example, a temperature-sensitive resistance element, and when a beverage 8 such as beer is stored in the freezer compartment 2, the temperature sensor They are provided in such a way that they can be in thermal contact with each other. Therefore, when the beverage 8 is in contact with the temperature sensor 7, the temperature sensor 7 outputs a temperature signal indicating the temperature of the container of the beverage 8. Note that 9 is a compressor for cooling operation of the refrigerator.

FIG. 1 shows the electrical configuration of parts related to the gist of the present invention using functional blocks. That is, the operation display panel 6 includes an input device 10. For example, a display 11 serving as notification means and an electronic buzzer 12 serving as notification means are provided. The input device I ¥10 is the following (I) of the beverage 8 when the beverage 8 is temporarily cooled in the freezer compartment 2.

It is for manually inputting data as described in (n) and (m), and generates a data signal Sx indicating the input contents.

(1) Type of beverage (for example, type of beer, soft drink, coffee, etc.).

(II) Capacity of beverages (e.g. 633cc, 500cc
, 350cc, 250cc, etc.).

(II[) Type of beverage container (e.g. glass.

Types of paper, plastic, metal (by iron, aluminum, etc.).

In addition, the display 11 displays the beverages 8 stored in the freezer compartment 2.
The electronic buzzer 12 is configured to digitally display a predicted value of the time required to cool down to an appropriate temperature, and the electronic buzzer 12 is configured to sound when the above-mentioned time has elapsed.

13 is an A/D conversion circuit which converts the temperature signal from the temperature sensor 7 into a digital temperature signal Sd and outputs it. 14 is a control circuit serving as an arithmetic means receiving the temperature signal Sd and the data signal Sx as input; ROMI 6. RAMI 7. It is configured as a microcomputer including a clock oscillator 18, etc., and receives the input signals Sd, Sx and ROM1.
Control as shown in FIG. 2 is performed based on the program stored in advance in 6 and data transfer with RAM 17. In addition to the above control program, ROMI 7 contains data on the time required to cool several types of beverages to their respective appropriate temperatures, including the initial temperature of the beverage, the amount of beverage, and the type of container. It is remembered in response to such things.

19 is a defrosting counter that counts clock pulses from the clock oscillator 18, which supplies a time signal sh indicating the count value to the CPU 15, and also outputs a static elimination signal S when the count value reaches a predetermined value. dof', and the counting operation is stopped when the inhibit signal St' from the CPU 15 is applied to the disable terminal. Note that the defrosting counter 19 can also be configured by an internal counter of the CPU 15. In addition, the defrosting signal S dor
When this is output, the operation of the compressor 9 is stopped and a defrosting heater (not shown) is energized, thereby carrying out a well-known defrosting operation. Further, 20 and 21 are drivers for driving the display device 11 and the electronic buzzer 12, respectively.

Now, FIG. 2 shows a portion of the content of control by the control circuit 14 that is related to the gist of the present invention, and this will be explained below along with the overall operation.

That is, when temporarily cooling the beverage 8, the beverage 8 is stored in the freezer compartment 2 and brought into contact with the temperature sensor 7, and data such as the type and capacity of the beverage 8 are collected by the human-powered device 10. input.

Then, the control circuit 14 first detects a change in the temperature detected by the temperature sensor 7 by a predetermined amount or more in response to the beverage 8 being stored in the freezer compartment 2 (that is, if the temperature signal Sd exceeds a predetermined maximum value). It is detected based on the change in
1) When it is detected that the beverage 8 that requires cooling is stored, the data signal Sx is read and stored in the RAM1.
Further, the temperature signal Sd at that point, that is, the initial temperature To of the beverage 8 is stored in the RAM 1.
7 (step #3). The control circuit 14 then determines the time 1! required to cool the beverage 8 to the appropriate temperature based on the data signal Sx and the initial temperature To thus stored and the time data stored in the ROM 16. l T s is calculated and stored in the RAMI 7, and the time T s', which is the calculation result, is digitally displayed on the display 11 (step #4.5).

Thereafter, the control circuit 14 calculates the time Td (remaining time until the defrosting operation starts) until the defrosting signal S dot is output based on the time signal sh from the defrosting counter 19. Then, the above time Td is stored in the RAM 17 in step #6), and then the above time Td becomes the memory time T8 in the above step #4.
It is determined whether the length is shorter (step #7). Here r
If it is determined to be NOJ, the output of the prohibition signal St is started to stop the counting operation of the defrosting counter 19 (step #8), and then the process moves to step #9.

Further, if rYESJ is determined in step #7, the process jumps to step #8 and proceeds to step #9. The control circuit 14 starts outputting the drive command f Sco in step #9, and in response to this, the compressor 9 is forced to start operating, and the cooling operation in the freezer compartment 2 is controlled by its internal tolerance. It is done regardless of the degree.

Thereafter, the control circuit 14 determines whether or not the time Ts has elapsed based on the count value of the internal counter (step #10), and only when rYESJ is determined here,
Proceed to the next step #11. The control circuit 14 outputs the notification command signal Sao to make the electronic buzzer 12 sound in step #11, and also stops outputting the drive command signal Sco to stop the forced operation of the compressor 9. After this, (Step #12) in which it is determined whether or not the beverage 8 has been taken out from the freezer compartment 2 based on the state of change of the temperature signal Sd. And here rYE
The electronic buzzer 12 is kept in a ringing state until it is determined that SJ is determined, and when it is determined that it is YESJ, the output of the prohibition signal St is stopped and the counting operation of the defrosting counter 19 is restarted (step #13), After this, the state shifts to the normal operation control state.

In short, according to the configuration described above, when the beverage 8 is temporarily cooled in the freezer compartment 2, if data such as the type and capacity of the beverage 8 are manually entered through the input device 10, the relevant The time Ts required for the beverage 8 to be cooled to an appropriate temperature is calculated and displayed on the display 11, and the time Ts
When the time has elapsed, the electronic buzzer 12- sounds to notify that the beverage 8 has been cooled to an appropriate temperature.

Therefore, it is possible to know in advance when to take out the beverage 8 from the freezer compartment 2, and the most appropriate timing for taking out the beverage 8 is notified, so that the time to take out the beverage 8 is not changed from the conventional method. This prevents insufficient cooling or excessive cooling. Of course, as a result of the above-mentioned display and notification, beverages.

This reduces the possibility of forgetting to take out the beverage product 8 from the freezer compartment 2, thereby preventing the beverage product 8 from being inadvertently frozen.

In the above embodiment, the timing of the sound of the electronic buzzer 12 is determined based on the calculation result of the control circuit 14, but this takes into account the time delay between the internal temperature of the beverage 8 and the temperature of the container. Therefore, when there is no need to take such consideration, the timing of the sounding of the electronic buzzer 12 may be determined based on the output of the temperature sensor 7. Further, since the temperature at which the beverage 8 is ready to drink varies from person to person, the human-powered device 10 may be provided with a function of manually inputting data for correcting the cooling temperature of the beverage 8, for example.

Furthermore, the input data by the input device 10 includes the number of beverages in order to cope with the case where several beverages are cooled at the same time. You can do it like this.

In addition, in the above embodiment, the temperature sensor 7 is not necessarily necessary; for example, if the input device 10 is provided with a function of inputting temperature data of a beverage to be cooled, the temperature sensor 7 can be eliminated. It is what it is.

[Effects of the Invention] According to the present invention, as is clear from the explanation of [-], a calculation is performed based on pre-stored data on the time required to cool a beverage stored in a freezer to an appropriate temperature. In addition to providing a notification means to notify that the beverage has been cooled to the appropriate temperature based on the result calculated by the calculation means, the system is configured to provide a notification means to notify that the beverage has been cooled to the appropriate temperature, so that it can be used when the beverage is temporarily cooled in the freezer. , it is possible to easily know the appropriate time to take out the beverage from the freezer, and it is possible to always serve the beverage cooled to the appropriate temperature, and to prevent the beverage from being left unprepared. This has the excellent effect of being able to prevent the occurrence of a situation where the liquid freezes.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the electrical configuration of the main parts, FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the main parts of the control content by the calculation means, and FIG. FIG. 2 is a schematic vertical cross-sectional view. In the figure, 1 is the refrigerator body, 2 is the freezer compartment, 6 is the operation display panel,
7 is a temperature sensor, 8 is a beverage product, 9 is a compressor, 10
11 is an input device, 11 is a display (notification means), 12 is an electronic buzzer (notification means), and 14 is a control circuit (arithmetic means). Applicant Osamu Toshiba Co., Ltd. 1 Figure

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Calculating means for calculating the time required to cool the beverage to an appropriate temperature when a beverage that requires cooling is stored in the freezer compartment, based on pre-stored data; A refrigerator comprising a notification means for notifying that the beverage has been cooled to an appropriate temperature based on the result.