JPH0493570A - Refrigerator with automatic ice making device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce a cooling load, improve a cooling efficiency of a cooling device and further reduce the amount of consumed power by a method wherein after an ice removing operation of an ice removing device is completed, an electric heater disposed in a water supplying device is operated only for a specified period of time and upon the end of the heating, a water supplying operation of the water supplying device is started. CONSTITUTION:A control device 20 supplies power to an electric heater 19 only for a specified period of time after ice removing operation of an ice removing device 15 in accordance with a pre-stored program is carried out so as to release a freezing in a water supplying device 18 and then a water supplying operation is started. Since the heater 19 is operated only for a specified period of time upon the completion of the ice removing operation, heat generated by the heater 19 is not released into the ice making chamber 4 from a part adjacent to the ice making chamber 4 of the water supplying pipe 18B at the water supplying device 18 and then the amount of consumed power of the heater 19 can be reduced. In addition, a thermal load during the ice making operation can be reduced and heat loss caused by the cooling device can be reduced and further it is possible to shorten the ice making time at the ice making device 10.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Object of the Invention] Industrial Field of Use The present invention relates to a refrigerator with an automatic ice-making device, and more specifically to a control means for controlling water supply from a water supply device in an automatic ice-making device.

A conventional refrigerator with an automatic ice making device is disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 51-40121. According to this publication, water from a water tank installed in the refrigerator compartment is supplied to an automatic ice maker installed in the freezer compartment through a water supply pipe using a pump, and the water supply pipe is arranged approximately at the center of the insulation material of the refrigerator body. τAn automatic ice maker configured to have an opening in the ice tray of the ice maker, a freeze prevention heater being wound around the water supply pipe, and the amount of heating by the heater in the opening portion being sufficiently larger than in other parts. An anti-freeze device for a refrigerator with a device is disclosed.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention In the above technology, the heating amount of the freeze-prevention heater wound around the opening of the water supply pipe facing the ice making room is sufficiently large compared to the heating amount of other heaters. Because the heater capacity is set to Even if the cooling device is operated continuously, the heat generated by the heater acts as a cooling load on the cooling device, and not only does the cooling load on the cooling device increase, but it also increases the cooling load due to the heat generated by the heater. There is a problem in that the time required to freeze the water in the ice tray (i.e., the ice making time) becomes long. Moreover, since the heater is continuously energized, the power required for the heater cannot be ignored, and there is a problem in that the amount of power consumed is large.

Therefore, the present invention provides a refrigerator with an automatic ice-making device in which the heater disposed in the water supply pipe is energized for a certain period of time after the ice-making operation in the ice-making device is completed.

[Structure of the invention]

Means for Solving the Problems The present invention provides an automatic system that performs an ice-making operation by supplying water to an ice-making tray and cooling it with a water supply device, and also performs an ice-removing operation by inverting the ice-making tray with an ice-removal device when the ice-making is completed. A refrigerator with an ice making device is provided, in which after the ice removal operation of the ice removal device is finished, a heater provided in the water supply device is energized for a certain period of time, and after the energization is finished, the water supply operation of the water supply device is started. It is equipped with a water supply control means.

Since the heater is turned on for a certain period of time after the ice removal operation is completed by the action control device, during the ice making operation of the ice making device,
The heat generated by the heater is not released into the ice-making compartment from the portion of the water supply pipe facing the ice-making compartment in the water supply system, reducing the cooling load, improving the cooling efficiency of the cooling system and reducing power consumption. .

Example Embodiments of the present invention will be described below based on the drawings.

Figure 4 shows the refrigerator body 1 with the refrigerator door removed. Ice greenhouse 3. Ice making room4. Refrigerator room 5. A vegetable compartment 6 and a bottle storage compartment 7 are formed, and an automatic ice making device 10 is provided in the ice making compartment 4.

The automatic ice making device 10, as schematically shown in FIG.
An ice tray 14 has a temperature sensor 11 attached to its bottom and is rotatably arranged around a shaft 13 attached to a base 12, and a predetermined temperature T at which the temperature detected by the temperature sensor 11 is set in advance. □A motor 15 as a deicing device that rotates the shaft 13 to invert the ice tray 14 and twists it to take out the ice when It includes a container 16, a water supply device 18 that supplies water from a water storage tank 17 after deicing to the ice tray 14, and a control device 20 that controls these operations. Note that the water storage tank 17 is placed in the refrigerator compartment 5 instead of in the ice making compartment 4. A heater 19 is wound around a tip 18B of the water supply pipe 18A of the water supply device 18 facing into the ice making chamber 4, and its energization is controlled by the control device 20.

The control configuration of this automatic ice making device 10 is shown in FIG. 2. The control device 20 is mainly composed of a microcomputer, and the detected temperature signal from the temperature sensor 11 and the water supply tank 17 are set at a predetermined position in the refrigerator compartment 5. A detection signal is input from a tank detection switch 21 which turns on and outputs a detection signal when the tank detection switch 21 is turned on.

The control device 20 is configured to control the operation of the water supply device 18 and the motor 15 via the drive circuit 22 according to a pre-stored program.

In addition, this control device 20 samples the detected temperature signal T of the temperature sensor 11 before the water supply device 18 supplies water according to a pre-stored program, and at regular intervals after the water supply device 18 supplies water to the ice tray 14. The detected temperature signal T of the temperature sensor 11 is sampled, and both detected temperature signals T are sampled.
The deviation ΔT (=T, -T,) of 2°C) or below, it determines that there is no water in the ice tray 14 and lights up the water out lamp 23 as a notification means. It also functions as a determining means for determining whether water is not being supplied to the ice tray 14.

Incidentally, a waterless lamp 23 as a notification means is attached to the front surface of the door of the ice making chamber 4 (not shown). Further, the control device 20 supplies water after the deicing operation by the deicing device 15 according to a pre-stored program, energizing the heater 19 for a certain period of time to unfreeze the water supply device 18 and start the water supply operation. It also functions as a control means.

Here, the operations when the control device 20 determines whether or not water is stored in the ice tray 14 (that is, whether there is water or not) and when operating the heater 19 attached to the water supply device 18 are as follows. This will be explained with reference to the flowchart in FIG.

First, in step S, a temperature signal T based on the temperature detected by the temperature sensor 11 before water supply is sampled. Next, in step S, the water supply device 18 is activated and water from the water storage tank 17 is supplied into the ice tray 14. Step S
It is determined whether or not the water supply operation of the lever has been completed. When the water supply operation has been completed, the process moves to step S, and the timer starts a time counting operation. In step S, a temperature signal T□ based on the temperature detected after the water supply operation by the temperature sensor 11 is performed is sampled at a constant timing. After this, in step S, the deviation ('
r*Tl) is less than or equal to the standard deviation value Ts, and if T*T+≦Ts, the process moves to step S and a certain predetermined time (set to 3 minutes in this example) is reached. Determine whether the time has passed. On the other hand, when T, -T,>Ts, the process moves to step S1°, and it is determined that water is stored in the ice tray 14.

If time has not passed in step S, step S
, and if it has elapsed, go to step S.

As shown in FIG. 2, it is determined that no water is stored in the ice tray 14, and the no-water lamp 23 is turned on in the next step S. By lighting this lamp 23, it is possible to inform the outside of the ice making compartment 4 that the water storage tank 17 has run out of water, and the user sees this and knows that it is necessary to replenish the tank with water. The water storage tank 17 is taken out from the refrigerator compartment 5, water is supplied, and the water storage tank 17 is set at a predetermined position in the refrigerator compartment 5 again. At the time of this operation, the tank detection switch 21 is temporarily disabled, so it is determined in step SII that there is no tank, and the process moves to step S1□, and the presence or absence of the tank is determined again in step Sll. In this case, if the tank is set again, the tank detection switch 21 is turned on again, so the process moves to step S11, turns off the waterless lamp 23, and returns to step SI again.

On the other hand, if T, -T, > Ts in step S, and the process moves to step 313, it is determined in the next step SI4 whether or not a stabilization time (2 hours in this example) has elapsed since the water supply operation, and the water supply is stabilized. If the time has elapsed, step S11
The process moves to step SI7 to sample a temperature signal T based on the temperature detected by the temperature sensor 11, and if the detected temperature T is below a predetermined temperature TOFF in step SI7, the process moves to step SI7. Predetermined temperature T. If it exceeds FF, the process returns to step SI8.

In step S IF, the motor 15 is rotated in one direction (for example, clockwise) to invert the ice tray 14 and twisted to take out the ice, and in step S1. Then, the motor 15 is rotated in the other direction (in this case, counterclockwise) to reverse the ice tray 14 and return it to the normal position, and the process moves to step S II. In step S Ll, electricity is started to be applied to the heater 19, and in step S as, the blower fan F of the blower device that sends air to the ice making chamber 4 is stopped, and the cooling operation of the ice making chamber 4 is temporarily stopped. and step Sol
It is determined whether or not a predetermined heating time (for example, 30 minutes) has elapsed. If the heating time has elapsed, step S is performed. Then, the power supply to the heater 19 is stopped, and the operation of the blower fan F is restarted, and the process returns to step S1.

As described above, according to the present invention, when the deviation between the temperature before water supply and the temperature after water supply is equal to or less than the standard deviation value, the determination means determines that there is no water in the ice tray 14 and the water storage tank 17. Even if the temperature detected before water supply by the temperature sensor 11 changes due to a change in the control temperature of the room 4 or the opening/closing of the door, the water will always run out depending on whether the temperature detected before water supply has increased by the deviation value Ts from the temperature T detected before water supply. can make judgments. Therefore, when the control temperature of the ice-making compartment 4 is changed, the reference temperature (predetermined temperature in the conventional technology) for determining that there is no water is used.
This makes it possible to maintain a constant temperature difference from the start of ice making to the time when it is determined that there is no water, which improves the determination performance compared to the conventional method. Moreover, the time required to determine that there is no water available can be made constant regardless of changes in the set temperature state, and the water-out determination can be made quickly in accordance with the set temperature. Furthermore, since the heater 19 is energized for a certain period of time after the deicing device 15 has finished deicing,
In addition to being able to reduce the power consumption of the heater 19 compared to the conventional one, it is also possible to reduce the heat load during the ice making operation and reduce heat loss by the cooling device, thereby shortening the ice making time in the ice making device 10. can.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As detailed above, according to the present invention, since the heater is energized for a certain period of time after the deicing device finishes deicing,
In addition to being able to reduce the amount of power consumed by the heater compared to the conventional method, it is also possible to reduce the heat load during ice-making operation, thereby reducing heat loss by the cooling device, and it is possible to shorten the ice-making time in the ice-making device.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Each figure shows an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing the operation of the water supply control means, FIG. 2 is a control circuit configuration diagram, FIG. The figure is a front view of the refrigerator with the door and drawer removed. 1... Refrigerator, 4... Ice making room, 5... Refrigerator room, 10... Automatic ice making device, 11... Temperature sensor,
14... Ice tray, 15... Motor (deicing device), 16... Ice storage container, 17... Water storage tank, 18... Water supply device, 19... Heater, 2o... Control device, 21...Tank detection switch, 23...Waterless lamp.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In a refrigerator equipped with an automatic ice-making device, the ice-making operation is performed by supplying water to an ice-making tray to cool it using a water supply device, and the ice-making operation is performed by inverting the ice-making tray using the ice-removing device when the ice-making is completed. A refrigerator with an automatic ice making device, comprising a water supply control means that energizes a heater disposed in the water supply device for a certain period of time after the deicing operation of the device is completed, and starts the water supply operation of the water supply device after the energization ends.