JPH0493571A - Refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To perform a rapid sensing of no presence of water in a water storing tank by a method wherein when the difference between the sensed temperature of a temperature sensor before supplying water and the sensed temperature after supplying water is below a set difference value, a judging means judges that there is no water in a water storing tank and when there is no water in the tank, an informing means performs its informing operation. CONSTITUTION:A control device 20 performs a sampling operation for a detected temperature signal T1 of a temperature sensor 11 before supplying water of a water supplying device 18 in accordance with a pre-stored program, performs a sampling operation of a detected temperature signal T2 of the temperature sensor 11 for every period after supplying water to an ice making pan 14 of a water supplying device 18. The difference DELTAT between the detected temperature signals T1 and T2 is calculated and even a predetermined time elapses after completion of the water supplying operation, if the difference DELTAT is a predetermined standard deviation Ts or less, it is judged as 'no water' in the ice making pan 14 and then a no-water lamp 23 serving as an informing means is lit. Even if a detected temperature before supplying water is varied, it is possible to judge no-presence of water in response to whether or not the deviation Ts has increased by the detected temperature T1 before supplying water and thus it is possible to perform a rapid judgment of no-presence of water.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Purpose of the invention] Industrial applications The present invention relates to a refrigerator equipped with an automatic ice making device.

Conventional technology As a refrigerator equipped with an automatic ice maker, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 1-23
There is a publication No. 4772. In this publication, a temperature sensor is installed in the ice tray, and when the detected temperature of this temperature sensor becomes less than the temperature set to indicate the completion of ice making, the ice is removed from the ice tray, and then the ice tray is refilled with water. In the refrigerator, the refrigerator is equipped with an automatic ice maker that makes ice using ice, and when the temperature detected by the temperature sensor is below a predetermined temperature after the operation of supplying water to the ice tray is completed, it is determined that there is no water in the ice tray. A technique is disclosed that includes a means and a notifying means that performs a notifying operation when the determining means determines that there is no water.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention A refrigerator equipped with an automatic ice maker is: - whether to place an ice maker equipped with an automatic ice maker in the freezer compartment of a refrigerator on a fishing boat;
In many cases, the freezing compartment and ice-making compartment are separate rooms, and the cold air that has passed through one evaporator is divided into the compartments of the freezing compartment and ice-making compartment, but the set temperature of the ice-making compartment in both The same applies to the above-mentioned technology in which the set temperature of the freezing compartment is often applied, and the predetermined temperature that becomes the reference temperature for determining that there is no water in the judgment means is the set temperature of the freezing compartment, that is, the ice making compartment (
For example, it can always be set to a constant value regardless of whether it is set to strong, medium, or weak. For this reason, there was a problem in that the temperature difference between the set temperature and the predetermined temperature of the ice making compartment varied depending on the setting state. In addition, the temperature of the ice tray before water supply is not used to determine if water is out, so the set temperature of the ice tray cannot be known, and whether water is out is determined only based on the temperature after water supply. Therefore, in order to be able to reliably determine whether there is no water regardless of the setting state, there is a constraint that the time required to make the determination must be long enough to match the lowest temperature setting.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, the present invention provides a refrigerator having an automatic ice-making device that can quickly determine whether there is water in the water storage tank while taking into account the set temperature of the ice-making compartment.

[Structure of the invention]

Means for Solving the Problems The present invention provides a temperature sensor that can be disposed in an ice tray, an ice removal device that removes ice from the ice tray when the detected temperature of the temperature sensor becomes a preset temperature or less, and an ice removal device that A water supply device that supplies water from a rear water storage tank to the ice tray, and a deviation between the temperature detected by the temperature sensor before water supply and the temperature detected by the temperature sensor after the water supply operation of the water supply device is executed is set in advance. An automatic ice-making device for making ice from the water supplied to the ice-making tray, comprising a judgment means for judging that there is no water in the water storage tank when the deviation value is below, and a notification means for operating an alarm when the judgment means judges that there is no water. A refrigerator equipped with an ice making device is provided.

In order to determine if there is no water, the action determining means uses not only the temperature detected after water supply but also the temperature detected by the temperature sensor before water supply, so the temperature detected before water supply is the temperature in the room where the ice tray is installed, that is, the temperature detected by the temperature sensor before water supply. This serves as a confirmation value for confirming the set temperature of the room, and also serves as an initial value for determining the determination temperature each time a determination is made that there is no water.

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

FIG. 4 shows the refrigerator body 1 with the refrigerator door removed, and the refrigerator body 1 includes a freezer compartment 2. 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 serves as a de-icing device that rotates the shaft 13 to invert the ice tray 14 and removes the ice by twisting the ice tray 14 when the ice tray 14 becomes below. a water storage container 16, a water supply device 18 that supplies water from the de-icing water storage tank 17 to the ice tray 14, and a control device 2o 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.

The control configuration of this automatic ice making device 10 is shown in FIG. A detection signal can be input from the tank detection switch 21, which turns on when set and outputs a detection signal.

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.
, , T, is calculated, and the deviation ΔT remains below a preset standard deviation value Ts even after a certain predetermined time (for example, 3 minutes) has elapsed after the end of water supply. When the ice tray 14 is empty, it is determined that there is no water left in the ice tray 14, and a water out lamp 23 serving as a notification means is turned on. Therefore, the control device 20 controls the ice tray 1 even though the water supply operation is performed.
It also functions as a judgment means for determining whether water is not being supplied to the water supply section 4.

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).

Here, the operation 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) will be described with reference to the flowchart shown 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 the water in the water storage tank 17 is poured into the ice tray 14. Supplied. Step S
At step S8, it is determined whether or not this water supply operation has been completed. When the water supply operation has been completed, the process moves to step S4, and the timer starts timing 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, both detected temperatures T, are detected.

It is determined whether the deviation ('r, -'r,) from T, is less than or equal to the standard deviation value Ts, and when T, -T,≦Ts, the process moves to step S, and a certain predetermined value is determined. time (3 in this example)
(set in minutes) has elapsed. On the other hand, Ts
-'I'm>Ts, the process moves to step S18, 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 , it is determined that no water is stored in the ice tray 14, and in the next step S, the no-water lamp 23 is turned on. 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. Since the tank detection switch 21 is once turned off during this operation, it is determined in step S11 that there is no tank, the process moves to step S11, and the presence or absence of a 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 step SI! Then, the waterless lamp 23 is turned off and the process returns to step S.

On the other hand, if Ts Tl > TS in step S and the process moves to step S I8, it is determined in the next step S14 whether or not a stable time (2 hours in this example) has elapsed since the water supply operation, and the time is determined. If it has passed, step S1.
The temperature signal T based on the temperature detected by the temperature sensor 11 is sampled, and in step S18, the detected temperature T is set to a predetermined temperature T. If it is less than 0,
Step Sl? and the predetermined temperature T. 2. If it exceeds step Sl.

Return to

Step SL? In step S1., the motor 15 is rotated in one direction (for example, clockwise) to invert the ice tray 14 and twist it to take out the ice. , the motor 15 is rotated in the other direction (in this case, counterclockwise), the ice tray 14 is reversed and returned to the normal position, and the step S is performed.

Return to

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.
By changing the shape of the ice making system, the temperature difference can be maintained constant from the time when ice making starts until the water-free decision is made, which improves the decision-making 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.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described in detail above, according to the present invention, when the determination means determines that there is no water, it detects the temperature of the ice making tray before water is supplied, so this temperature corresponds to the set temperature of the ice making compartment. This can be done by taking into consideration the set temperature of the ice maker when determining that there is no water. Moreover, the temperature obtained by adding the deviation value to the detected temperature before water supply can be set as the predetermined temperature shown in the prior art. Furthermore, since the temperature before water supply is detected each time a water-out determination is made, the predetermined temperature is automatically determined each time, taking into account the set temperature of the ice maker, and the time required to make a determination is uniform. be able to.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Each figure shows an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing the operation of the determining means, FIG. 2 is a control circuit configuration diagram, FIG. 3 is a vertical cross-sectional view schematically showing the ice-making compartment, and FIG. 4 5 is a front view of the refrigerator with the door and drawer removed, and FIG. 5 is a graph showing changes in temperature detected by the temperature sensor as water supply and ice making operations are repeated. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1...Refrigerator, 4...Ice making room, 5...Refrigerating room, 10...Automatic ice making device, 11...Temperature sensor, 14...Ice making tray, 15...Motor (deicing) device), 16... Ice storage container, 17... Water storage tank, 18... Water supply device, 20... Control device, 21... Tank detection switch, 23...
Waterless lamp.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A temperature sensor disposed on the ice tray, a deicing device that removes ice from the ice tray when the temperature detected by the temperature sensor is below a set temperature, and a device that removes ice from the ice tray from the water storage tank after deicing. When the deviation between the water supply device that supplies water, the temperature detected by the temperature sensor before water supply, and the temperature detected by the temperature sensor after the water supply operation of the water supply device is executed is equal to or less than a preset deviation value, the water storage tank The refrigerator has an automatic ice making device that makes ice from the water supplied to the ice tray, comprising a judgment means for judging that there is no water in the ice tray, and a notification means for notifying when the judgment means judges that there is no water.