JPH02118384A - Refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To contrive the even cooling of the inside of a cooling chamber by a method wherein a cold air outflow position switching mechanism is switched so that cold air is made to flow out of a cold air outlet port corresponding to a temperature sensor showing a higher detecting temperature when the detecting temperatures of more than two sets of temperature sensors are higher than a predetermined cooling starting temperature. CONSTITUTION:The detecting temperatures of temperature sensors 11, 12 for upper and lower stages are judged whether they are higher than a predetermined cooling starting temperature Tu or not and when it is judged YES, an upper stage in a refrigerating chamber 3 is judged whether it is being cooled or not (whether cold air is made to flow out of the cold air outlet port 8 of the upper stage or not). When the same temperatures are judged that both of the temperatures in the upper and lower stages are higher than the cooling starting temperature Tu, the detecting temperatures of both of the temperature sensors 11, 12 are compared and when the detecting temperature of the upper stage is higher than the same of the lower stage, a 'flag showing the detecting temperature is higher than the cooling starting temperature' and 'flag showing that the upper stage is being cooled' are reset and cold air is made to flow out of the cold air outlet port 8 of the upper stage. The operation is effected by starting the motor 14 of a cold air outflow position switching mechanism 13 to pivot a cam 15 whereby a movable opening body 18 is moved to an upper stage cooling position.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Object of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to a refrigerator equipped with a cooling chamber of a so-called indirect cooling type.

(Prior Art) Conventionally, an indirect cooling type cooling room (for example, a refrigerator room) generally has one cold air outlet and one temperature sensor in the cooling room.
Based on the temperature detected by the temperature sensor, the opening degree of the cold air outlet is adjusted using, for example, a motor damper, and the amount of cold air blown out is adjusted, thereby controlling the temperature inside the cooling chamber.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) In the above conventional configuration, the cold air is always blown from the same position, so if there is an object with poor ventilation, such as a glass shelf, in the cooling chamber, or if there are many foods on the shelf, If the ventilation of the shelf becomes poor due to the presence of a
The disadvantage is that the inside of the cooling chamber cannot be cooled uniformly. In particular, as cooling rooms (refrigerating rooms) have become larger in recent years, it has become increasingly difficult for cold air to spread to every corner, and this, combined with the above-mentioned circumstances, tends to worsen the temperature distribution within the cooling room. Ta.

The present invention has been made in consideration of these circumstances, and its purpose is to sequentially correct the imbalance in temperature distribution within the cooling chamber.
A: To provide a refrigerator that is well-organized and can cool the cooling chamber evenly.

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problems) The refrigerator of the present invention has a plurality of cold air outlets provided at a plurality of locations in a cooling chamber, and a cold air outlet that selectively outputs cold air from among the plurality of cold air outlets. and a plurality of temperature sensors that detect the temperature at each position corresponding to each of the cold air outlets in the cooling chamber. When the detected temperature is equal to or higher than a predetermined cooling start temperature, the cold air blowing position switching mechanism is switched so that the cold air is blown out from the cold air outlet corresponding to the temperature sensor whose detected temperature is higher, and the cold air is blown out. After the temperature detected by the temperature sensor corresponding to the cold air outlet becomes lower than the cooling start temperature, the cold air is blown out from the cold air outlet until the temperature detected by the temperature sensor corresponding to the cold air outlet reaches the predetermined cooling stop temperature. A control means is provided to continue the process until the following.

(Function) Temperatures at multiple locations within the cooling chamber are detected by temperature sensors provided at each location. When the detected temperatures of two or more temperature sensors are equal to or higher than a predetermined cooling start temperature, the cold air blowout position switching mechanism is switched so that the cold air is blown out from the cold air outlet corresponding to the temperature sensor whose detected temperature is higher. , it is possible to selectively cool a portion of the cooling chamber with a higher temperature. Therefore, even if there is an object that obstructs the circulation of cold air in the cooling chamber (for example, food on two glass shelves, etc.), the resulting bias in the temperature distribution within the cooling chamber (particularly the bias in the high temperature area) can be successively adjusted. The cooling chamber can be cooled evenly.

(Example) Hereinafter, one example of the present invention will be described based on the drawings. First, in No. 41 showing a longitudinal side view of the refrigerator, 1 is a refrigerator main body, and inside thereof, a freezing chamber 2, a refrigerating chamber 3 as a cooling chamber, and a vegetable storage chamber 4 are provided in three upper and lower levels, and each of these chambers is They are opened and closed by doors 2a, 3a, and 4a, respectively. 5 is refrigerator compartment 3
A glass shelf 6 installed in the middle of the freezer compartment 2 is a main air duct installed on the back of the refrigerator main body 1, and the cold air generated by the cooler 7 and the air blower fan 7a installed on the back of the freezer compartment 2 is It is led to the refrigerator compartment 3 side through the main air duct 6. The lower end opening of this main air duct 6 is located at the upper part of the refrigerator compartment 3 (above the glass shelf 5) as an upper cold air outlet 8.

Furthermore, at the back of the refrigerator compartment 3, there is a rectangular cylindrical extended ventilation duct 9.
is arranged so that its upper end opening faces the upper cold air outlet 8, and its lower end opening is located at the lower part of the refrigerator compartment 3 (below the glass shelf 5) as the lower cold air outlet 10. In order to detect the temperature at each position corresponding to each of the upper and lower cold air outlets 8.10, temperature sensors 11.12 are provided at the upper part of the glass shelf 5 and at the bottom of the refrigerator compartment 3, respectively. ing. Reference numeral 13 denotes a cold air blowing position switching mechanism that selectively allows cold air to be blown out from the cold air blowing ports 8 and 1° in both the upper and lower stages.This configuration will be explained below with reference to FIGS. . That is, this cold air blowing position switching mechanism 13
consists of a cam 15 rotated by a motor 14, a spindle 16 slid back and forth by the rotation of the cam 15, and a movable eye 18 pivoted about a shaft 17 by the spindle 16. ing.

A hinge portion 19 is provided on the back wall 18a of the movable eye body 18.
A wind direction plate portion 20 is formed through the wind direction plate portion 20, and convex portions 21 protruding from both sides of the upper end of this wind direction plate portion 20 can slide up and down in guide groove portions 22 formed on both sides of the back inside the main air duct 6. ing. In this case, the position of the movable eye body 18 can be switched to three stages shown in FIG. 2 to FIG. 4, and the position shown in FIG. 2 (hereinafter referred to as "upper open position")
In this case, the lower end of the back wall 18a of the movable eye body 18 matches the upper end of the front wall 9a of the extended ventilation duct 9, and the lower end opening of the movable eye body 18 is opened toward the upper part of the refrigerator compartment 3. Allows cold air to be blown into the refrigerator compartment 3 from the cold air outlet 8. In the position shown in FIG. 3 (hereinafter referred to as the "lower open position"), the lower end opening of the movable eye 18 is aligned with the upper end opening of the extended air duct 9, and the lower cold air outlet 1
Allow cold air to blow out from 0. Furthermore, the position W in Figure 4
t (hereinafter referred to as the "closed position"), the lower end opening of the movable eye body 18 is located in the closed surface portion 2 located behind the extended ventilation duct 9.
3, both upper and lower cold air outlets 8,
10 are closed together. In addition, the movable eye body 18 is equipped with a spring (
(not shown) etc., a return force is applied in the six directions of the arrows in FIG.

The cold air blowing position switching mechanism 13 having such a configuration has a control means (
(not shown) as shown in the flowchart of FIG. That is, first, the upper and lower temperature sensors 11
, 12 is determined to be equal to or higher than a predetermined cooling start temperature Tu (step P1). If NO, the "cooling start temperature or higher flag" is reset (step P2). On the other hand, if it is determined YES in step P1, the process moves to step P3 to check whether the "upper stage cooling flag" is turned on, that is, whether the upper stage in the refrigerator compartment 3 is being cooled. It is determined whether or not (whether or not cold air is blowing out from the upper cold air outlet 8). Here, no (N
O), the process moves to step P4 and checks whether the "lower stage cooling flag" is turned on, that is, whether or not the refrigerator compartment 3
Whether the lower stage of the
It is determined whether cold air is blowing out from the If the determination is No, the process moves to step P5, where it is determined whether the temperature detected by the upper temperature sensor 11 is equal to or higher than the predetermined cooling start temperature Tu. If so, it is determined in step P6 whether the temperature detected by the lower temperature sensor 12 is equal to or higher than a predetermined cooling start temperature Tu.

If it is determined in steps P5 and 6 that both the upper and lower stages are equal to or higher than the cooling start temperature Tu, the detected temperatures of both temperature sensors 11 and 12 are compared in step P7, and the detected temperature of the upper stage is higher than that of the lower stage. If it is high, the "cooling start temperature or higher flag" and the "upper stage cooling flag" are set (step P8.9), and cold air is blown out from the upper stage cold air outlet 8 (step P12). This operation is performed by starting the motor 14 of the cold air blowing position switching mechanism 13 and rotating the cam 15, thereby moving the movable eye body 18 to the upper cooling position in FIG. 2.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step P7 that the detected temperature of the lower stage is higher than that of the upper stage, the r cooling start temperature or higher flag and the lower stage cooling flag are set (step p
H, 12), blowing out cold air from the lower cold air outlet 8 (step P13) This operation is performed by moving the movable eye body 18 to the lower cooling position shown in FIG.

Furthermore, if it is determined in step P5 that the detected temperature of the upper stage is lower than the cooling start temperature Tu, the process proceeds to step P14, where it is determined whether the detected temperature of the lower stage is equal to or higher than the cooling start temperature Tu. Ru. Here, if it is determined to be YES, the process moves to step P12.13, and cold air is blown out from the cold air outlet 10 in the lower stage. On the other hand, step P1
If it is determined NO in step P15, the movable eye body 18 is moved to the closed position shown in FIG. 3 and cooling is stopped.

Moreover, if it is determined that step P6 is negative (NO),
That is, if only the upper stage is at the cooling start temperature Tu or higher,
Proceeding to step P9.10, cooling of the upper stage is started.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step P3 that the "upper stage cooling flag" is turned on (the upper stage is being cooled), the process proceeds to step P16, where the "cooling start temperature or higher flag" is turned on. It is determined whether the This is it (
If it is determined (YES), it is determined whether the detected temperature in the upper row is higher than the detected temperature in the lower row - 1degJ (
Step P17). At this time, if the detected temperature of the upper stage is higher than the detected temperature of the lower stage - 1 dcgJ, cooling of the upper stage is continued; otherwise, the process moves to step P18,
The "upper stage cooling flag" is reset and the "lower stage cooling flag" is set, and the movable eye body 18 is moved to the lower stage cooling position in FIG. 3 to switch to lower stage cooling. In addition, in step P17, the detected temperature of the upper stage is changed to "detected temperature of the lower stage - 1".
The reason for comparing it with 68gJ is to prevent chattering in the control system.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step P16 that the result is negative (NO), the process proceeds to step P19, where it is determined whether the detected temperature of the upper stage is equal to or lower than the predetermined cooling stop temperature TL, and the result is negative (NO). In this case, cooling of the upper stage is continued, but if not, the process moves to step P20, and it is determined whether the detected temperature of the lower stage is equal to or lower than the cooling stop temperature Te.

Here, if the determination is negative (NO), step P
21, reset and turn off the "upper stage cooling flag" and set the "lower stage cooling flag 7", and set the movable mortar body 1.
8 to the lower cooling position in FIG. 3 to switch to lower cooling. On the other hand, both steps P19 and 20 are YES.
), that is, if both the upper and lower stages are at a cooling stop temperature T (or lower), proceed to step P22, reset the "upper stage cooling flag", and move the movable mortar body 18 to the closed position shown in FIG. Move and stop cooling.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step P4 that the "lower stage cooling flag" is turned on (the lower stage is being cooled), the process proceeds to step P23, where the "cooling start temperature or higher flag" is turned on. It is determined whether the This is it (
If it is determined (YES), it is determined whether the lower detected temperature is higher than the upper detected temperature - 1degJ (
Step P24). At this time, if the detected temperature of the lower stage is higher than the detected temperature of the upper stage - 1 degJ, cooling of the lower stage is continued, otherwise, the process moves to step P25,
The "lower stage cooling flag" is reset and the "upper stage cooling flag" is set, and the movable mortar body 18 is moved to the upper stage cooling position in FIG. 2 to switch to upper stage cooling.

On the other hand, if it is determined NO in step P23, the process moves to step P26, where it is determined whether the detected temperature of the lower stage is below a predetermined cooling stop temperature TI,
If NO (NO), cooling of the lower stage is continued, but if not, the process moves to step P27, where it is determined whether the detected temperature of the upper stage is equal to or lower than the cooling stop temperature Tl. If the determination is NO, the process moves to step P28, where the "lower stage cooling flag" is reset, the "upper stage cooling flag" is set, and the movable mortar body 18 is moved to the second stage. Move to the upper cooling position in the figure and switch to upper cooling. On the other hand, both steps P26 and 27 are correct (Y
ES), that is, when both the upper and lower stages are below the cooling stop temperature Tj, the process moves to step P29, the "lower stage cooling flag" is reset, and the movable mortar body 18 is moved to the closed position shown in FIG. Move and stop cooling.

Next, an example of actual temperature control by the above control means will be explained in the sixth section.
This will be explained based on the diagram. In FIG. 6, at time t1,
Both the upper and lower stages are at or above the cooling start temperature TLI.

This time t! If the control is started from , steps P1, 3 to 10 are sequentially performed, and the movable mortar body 18 is moved to the upper cooling position shown in FIG. 2, and cold air is blown out from the upper cold air outlet 8. Due to this blowing of cold air to the upper side,
When the detected temperature of the upper stage becomes lower than the detected temperature of the lower stage - 1 degJ, in other words, when the detected temperature of the lower stage temperature sensor 12 becomes 1 deg or more higher than the detected temperature of the upper stage (time tz). , move the movable mortar body 18 to the lower cooling position in FIG. 3 and switch to lower cooling (step P
19, 20. 21). Due to this cooling of the lower stage, time t3
After that, the detected temperature of the upper stage becomes higher than that of the lower stage, but within the range where both detected temperatures are equal to or higher than the cooling start temperature Tu (
From time t3 to time ti), since the temperature difference between the two is 1 degree or less, the cold air blowing position is not changed and cooling of the lower stage continues. As a result, when the detected temperature of the lower stage becomes lower than the cooling start temperature Tu, even if the temperature difference between the upper and lower stages becomes 1 deg or more, the cold air blowing position will not be switched, and the cold air blowing position will not change. The detected temperature at a lower level is the cooling stop temperature T1. Continue cooling the lower stage until the Then, the detected temperature in the lower row is the cooling stop temperature T1. At the time (time ts), the movable mortar body 18 is immediately moved to the upper stage cooling position in FIG. 2 and switched to upper stage cooling (steps P 26, 27, and 28). after that,
When the detected temperature on the upper stage becomes lower than the cooling stop temperature T,e at time t6, the lower stage also reaches the cooling stop temperature 7. <Since it is below, move the movable eye body 18 to the closed position shown in Figure ff14 to stop blowing out the cold air (Step P29
). After that, when one of the detected temperatures of both the upper and lower stages becomes equal to or higher than the cooling start temperature Tu (time ty), the blowing of cold air is started, and from then on, the above-mentioned operation is repeated to increase the temperature of the upper and lower stages. are controlled so that both are within the appropriate temperature range θ.

In this case, if the temperature is below the cooling start temperature Tu, the cold air blowing position will not be switched even if the temperature difference between the upper and lower stages is 1 degree or more. This is because the temperature is suitable for keeping warm.

According to the above embodiment, the two temperature sensors 11 and 12 detect the temperatures of both the upper and lower stages in the refrigerator compartment 3, and when the detected temperatures of the upper and lower stages are equal to or higher than the cooling start temperature Tu, the detected temperatures are Since the cold air is switched to be blown out from the cold air outlet corresponding to the higher temperature sensor, it is possible to selectively cool the higher temperature portion of the refrigerator compartment 3. Therefore, even if there is an object in the refrigerator compartment 3 that obstructs the circulation of cold air (for example, a glass shelf 50 food item, etc.), this will cause an imbalance in the temperature distribution in the refrigerator compartment 3 (in particular, it will have a negative effect on the shelf life of food). This makes it possible to sequentially adjust the deviation in the high temperature region, and the inside of the refrigerator compartment 3 can be cooled evenly.

In the above embodiment, there are two cold air outlets and two temperature sensors each.
Although these are provided one by one, it is also possible to provide three or more of these. Moreover, although the above embodiment is an example of application in the case of cooling the inside of the refrigerator compartment 3, it can also be applied to other cooling compartments, such as a freezing compartment or a so-called ice room (chilled room).

Furthermore, as a cold air blowing position switching mechanism, for example, a damper is provided at each cold air blowing outlet, and each damper is driven by a motor.

It may be configured to selectively open and close using an electromagnet or the like.

[Effects of the Invention] As is clear from the above description, the present invention provides, when the detected temperatures of two or more temperature sensors are equal to or higher than a predetermined cooling start temperature, the cold air outlet corresponding to the temperature sensor with the higher detected temperature. Since the cold air blowout position switching mechanism is switched so that cold air is blown from (Especially the deviation in the high temperature region) can be successively adjusted, and the inside of the cooling chamber can be cooled evenly, which is an excellent effect.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The drawings show one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1 is a vertical sectional side view of the entire refrigerator, and FIGS. 2 to 4 are shown in different states to explain the operation of the cold air blowing position switching mechanism. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the contents of the control program, and FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the relationship between temperature change and switching of the cold air blowing position during cooling operation. In the drawing, 3 is the refrigerator room (cooling room), 5 is the glass shelf, 6 is the main air duct, 8 is the upper cold air outlet, 9 is the extended air duct, 10 is the lower cold air outlet, and 11 is the upper temperature. 12 is a lower temperature sensor, 1°3 is a cold air blowing position switching mechanism, and 18 is a movable eye.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of cold air outlets provided at a plurality of locations in the cooling chamber, a cold air outlet position switching mechanism that selectively allows cold air to be blown out from among the plurality of cold air outlets, and each of the cold air outlets in the cooling chamber. and a plurality of temperature sensors that detect the temperature at each position corresponding to the cold air outlet,
When the detected temperature of the above temperature sensor is equal to or higher than a predetermined cooling start temperature, the cold air blowing position switching mechanism is switched so as to blow out cold air from the cold air blowing outlet corresponding to the temperature sensor whose detected temperature is higher; After the temperature detected by the temperature sensor corresponding to the cold air outlet that is being blown out becomes lower than the cooling start temperature, the cold air is blown out from the cold air outlet until the temperature detected by the temperature sensor corresponding to the cold air outlet is lower than the cooling start temperature. A refrigerator comprising a control means for continuing cooling until the temperature reaches a predetermined stop temperature or lower.