JPH05141839A - Controller of rapid cooling of cold storage box - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a controller of rapid cooling which judges automatically an applied load and determines automatically rapid cooling time for carrying out rapid cooling according to the largeness of the applied load. CONSTITUTION:A rapid refrigeration controller 60 is provided which judges load application based on detected temperature of a load temperature sensor 54 that detects the temperature at the bottom of a rapid refrigeration chamber and judges the largeness of the load based on both detected temperatures by a rapid-cooled room temperature sensor 53 for detecting the temperature of rapid refrigeration chamber and load temperature and automatically determines rapid cooling time and starts rapid cooling.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention automatically detects the heat capacity of food (that is, the size of the input load) when the food is put into the quick freezing chamber, and quickly detects the load according to the detected load. The present invention relates to a quick cooling control device for a refrigerator that determines a cooling time.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Japanese Utility Model Publication No.
No. 9 discloses that a temperature-sensing part of a temperature controller is fixed to a shelf plate forming a floor surface of a quick freezing chamber, and a compressor motor and a fan motor are continuously operated until the floor surface falls below a set temperature. A refrigerator with a quick freezer is disclosed. In this publication, the start of the quick freezing operation is determined by whether or not the push button is operated.

Japanese Patent Publication No. 3-51 prior to the present invention.
Japanese Patent No. 988 discloses specification switching by supplying a refrigerant to an auxiliary cooling device and supplying a part of cold air cooled by a main cooling device to a specification switching chamber based on operation of a quick freezing operation switch. A refrigerator for rapid cooling of a room has been disclosed. In this publication, the rapid cooling operation is performed for a fixed time.

[0004]

In the above and both publications, the rapid cooling is started based on the operation of the rapid cooling switch, and the rapid cooling is performed according to the size of the applied load. It does not change the set time of
The same cooling method was used for any load. Further, it does not have a function of automatically starting the rapid cooling when a load is applied, which is a little troublesome in terms of usability. Furthermore, no measures have been taken to suppress the temperature rise in the other room during rapid cooling, and if the temperature rise in the other room is severe, there is a danger of impairing the quality of the stored food.

Therefore, in the present invention, rapid cooling of a refrigerator which is easy to use is performed by automatically performing rapid cooling according to the load application and determining the rapid cooling time according to the size of the input load (specifically, heat capacity). An object is to provide a cooling control device.

[0006]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION The present invention comprises a quick freezing chamber independently formed in a freezing chamber, a blower for circulating cold air cooled by a cooler in the chamber, a compressor, and In a refrigerator equipped with a control device for controlling the operations of a compressor and a blower, the control device comprises a quenching chamber temperature sensor for detecting the temperature of the quick freezing chamber and a load temperature sensor for detecting the temperature of the bottom of the quick freezing chamber. The load temperature is determined based on the temperature detected by the load temperature sensor, the heat capacity of the load is determined based on the temperature detected by both temperature sensors, and the time for continuously operating the compressor and the blower is determined according to the heat capacity. A quick cooling control device for a refrigerator provided with a quick freezing control means for determining.

[0007]

The quick-freezing control means determines the load application based on the gradient of the temperature detected by the load temperature sensor, and the magnitude of the load is determined by the temperature rise value, the temperature decrease rate, and the temperature detected by the quenching chamber temperature sensor after the application. (= Heat capacity) is determined, and the quenching time is determined based on this value.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

Reference numeral 1 denotes a household refrigerator, which is composed of a heat insulating box 2 having a front opening which constitutes the main body thereof, and doors 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 which close the opening. There is.

Reference numeral 11 denotes a horizontal partition wall which divides the inside of the heat insulating box 2 into upper and lower parts. In this embodiment, the upper part of the horizontal partition wall 11 is a freezing chamber 12 which is cooled to a freezing temperature, and the lower part is a temperature at which food is not frozen. The storage room is to be cooled. The storage chamber is further divided into upper and lower parts by a pre-partitioning member 13 and a partition plate 14, a refrigerating chamber 15 is cooled above the partition plate 14 to a temperature of about 3 ° C., and a lower part thereof is at a temperature of about -1 ° C. to 7 ° C. The selection chamber 16 in which the temperature can be set in the band is used.

The doors 3 and 4 are rotatable doors corresponding to the freezing compartment 12, and the door 4 is provided with a partition body 17 for partitioning the opening of the freezing compartment into left and right. The doors 5 and 6 are pivotable doors corresponding to the refrigerating compartment 15, and the door 6 is provided with a partition 18 for partitioning the opening of the refrigerating compartment into left and right.

The doors 7 and 8 are drawer-type doors corresponding to the bottle room and the vegetable room, which are partitioned by the vertical partition wall 30 into the left and right sides in the selection room 16, and both doors mainly store the bottle and the vegetable, respectively. Container 2 with a top opening
1, 22 are detachably provided.

At the back of the freezer compartment 12 is a cooler compartment formed by a cooler cover 31 and a heat insulating box 2. In this cooler compartment, a plate fin type evaporator (not shown) as a cooler and A blower 32 such as a sirocco fan is arranged. In addition, the cooler chamber has a blowout port 3 formed in the cover 32.
3, 34 and 35 communicate with the freezing compartment 12, while the horizontal partition wall 11 communicates with the refrigerating compartment 15.

The freezer compartment 12 is divided into upper, middle and lower three stages by shelves 36 and 37, and the lower stage is divided into left and right by a vertical partition plate 38.

Further, an automatic ice maker 3 is provided at the middle and rear of the left side.
9 is arranged, and this rear space is called an ice making chamber. The ice making chamber is covered with the ice making machine cover 40 and is partitioned from the front part on the left side of the middle stage. Further, in the space on the left side of the vertical partition plate 38, a container 41 for storing ice produced by an automatic ice making machine is arranged so as to be freely taken in and out. In the space on the right side of the vertical partition plate 38, a container 43 including a bottom plate 42, left and right side plates, and a back plate is arranged so as to be freely drawn out at a distance from the upper surface of the horizontal partition wall 11 serving as the bottom wall of the freezer compartment. This space is called a quick freezer. The bottom plate of this container is made of a metal plate having good thermal conductivity such as aluminum.

The cool air blown into the freezer compartment 12 returns to the lower part of the cooler compartment through a cool air return path 44 formed by the bottom plate 42 of the container 43 and the horizontal partition wall 11. Further, for convenience of the following description, the freezing chambers other than the quick freezing chamber 46 are referred to as the first freezing chamber 45.

The first freezing chamber 45 is provided with two temperature sensors for detecting its temperature, one of the two is a main temperature sensor 51 provided in the vicinity of the air outlet 34, and The other of the two is a secondary temperature sensor 52 provided near the ice tray in the ice making chamber. Further, in the quick freezing chamber 46, a quenching chamber temperature sensor 53 is provided near the blowout port 35, and a load temperature sensor 54 that comes into contact with the lower surface of the bottom plate 42 of the container 43 is provided.

Reference numeral 55 is a compressor motor for driving an electric compressor for supplying refrigerant to the cooler, 56 is a motor for the blower 32,
Reference numeral 57 is an ice temperature damper device that controls the supply of cold air to the ice greenhouse, and 58 is a refrigeration damper device that controls the supply of cold air to the refrigerating compartment. The ice temperature damper device (hereinafter referred to as “H damper”) 57 is arranged in the ice greenhouse, and its opening / closing operation is controlled based on the detected temperature of the ice greenhouse temperature sensor for detecting the temperature of the ice greenhouse. Damper device for refrigeration (hereinafter R
A damper (58) controls the opening / closing operation based on the temperature detected by the refrigerating compartment temperature sensor that detects the temperature of the refrigerating compartment.

Next, a quick cooling control device 60 for controlling the quick cooling of the quick freezing chamber 46 will be described with reference to the block circuit diagram of FIG. Reference numeral 61 designates a micro as a quick freezing control means for determining the time during which the blower motor 56 and the compressor motor 55 are continuously operated (this is referred to as a quenching time) based on both the temperatures detected by the quenching chamber temperature sensor 53 and the load temperature sensor 54. It is a computer. In the present embodiment, the quick cooling control device 60 is composed of the quick freezing control means 61, the quench chamber temperature sensor 53 and the load temperature sensor 54.

The quick-freezing control means 61 judges the loading of the load based on the temperature detected by the load temperature sensor 54 and outputs a loading signal, and based on the temperatures detected by the load temperature sensor 54 and the quenching chamber temperature sensor 53. A load determination unit 62 that determines the magnitude of the load and determines a quenching time according to the magnitude of the load, and a compressor motor 55, a blower motor 56, an H damper 57, and an R damper based on the closing signal and the quenching time. And a control unit 63 for controlling the operation of 58.

The load discriminating unit 62 has a fuzzy inference unit 65 which determines a quenching time Q by fuzzy inference from a temperature rise value B, a temperature lowering speed C and a quenching chamber temperature A due to load application.
There is.

The flow of operation of the quick cooling controller 60 will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. 5 and 6 based on the following configuration.

First, in step S1, it is judged whether or not the rise value of the temperature detected by the load temperature sensor 54 during a predetermined time (for example, 30 seconds) is a constant temperature (for example, 0.8 ° C.) or more. Returns to step S1, and if the temperature is equal to or higher than a certain temperature, a load input signal is output in step S2 to operate the compressor motor 56 and the blower motor 57 at high speed, and in step S3, the temperature detected by the load temperature sensor is detected. Is sampled as a starting temperature TI.

Since the compressor and the blower are forcibly operated by this load input signal, cold air is forcibly supplied to the freezer compartment 12, the refrigerator compartment 15 and the ice greenhouse, and the cooling operation of the entire refrigerator is performed. .. This cooling operation is a cooling operation that is performed after it is determined that a load has been applied and that suppresses a temperature rise due to the application of a load. Since this cooling operation is performed prior to a rapid cooling operation that will be described later, it is generally called a preliminary cooling operation.

In step S4, it is judged whether or not the temperature detected by the load temperature sensor 54 changes from an increasing tendency to a decreasing tendency, and it is continued until it changes, and if it changes, step S5
In step S6, the temperature detected by the load temperature sensor is sampled as the maximum temperature TO, and in step S6 the timer is set to a stable time (for example, 10 minutes). A value obtained by subtracting the starting temperature TI from the maximum temperature TO is set as a temperature increase value B.

In step S7, it is judged whether or not the stable time has elapsed, and this operation is performed until the stable time elapses. After that, in step S8, a damper closing signal for forcibly closing the H damper 57 and the R damper 58. Is output. In step S9, the temperature detected by the load temperature sensor 54 is sampled as the measurement start temperature TA of the descending speed, and in step S10 the timer is set to the measurement time (for example, 1 minute). In step S11, it is determined whether or not the measurement time has elapsed, and if it has elapsed, the temperature detected by the load temperature sensor 54 is sampled as the measurement end temperature TB in step S12.

Although not shown in the flow chart, the value obtained by subtracting the measurement end temperature TB from the measurement start temperature TA is the falling temperature. Based on this falling temperature and measurement time, the falling speed C
Is calculated. Since the R damper 58 and the H damper 57 are closed by the damper closing signal in step S8, the only cool air that returns to the cooler is the cool air from the freezer compartment 12, which causes a temperature change in the freezer compartment, especially in the quick freezer compartment 46. The cooling rate of the load can be detected more accurately by reducing the above. If the descending speed C can be measured, the damper closing signal is released in step S13, and the operation control of the H damper 57 based on the temperature of the ice greenhouse and the operation control of the R damper 58 based on the temperature of the refrigerating room, that is, the normal damper control are performed. return.

The operations from step S4 to step S13 are necessary for measuring the magnitude of the load, and this is called load discriminating operation.

Next, in step S15, the temperature detected by the quenching chamber temperature sensor 53 is sampled as the quenching chamber temperature A,
In step S16, the fuzzy inference unit 65 performs fuzzy inference to determine the quenching time Q. In step S17, the rapid cooling time Q is set in the timer and a rapid cooling signal is output. In step S18, it is determined whether or not the quenching time Q has elapsed, and if this operation continues until the time elapses, the process returns to step S1. The quench motor signal causes the compressor motor 55 and the blower motor 56 to operate regardless of the temperature of the freezer compartment 12.
Is operated, the quick freezing chamber can be rapidly cooled. At this time, the operation control of both HR dampers 57 and 58 is a normal control.

Here, the fuzzy inference in the fuzzy inference unit 65 will be described. First, the membership function with respect to the quenching room temperature A is set to variables [-21.2, -14.
6] is normalized to two types (low / high), and the membership function for the temperature rise value B due to loading is set to the variable [4.6, 24.0] (small / medium / large). The membership function with respect to the temperature decrease rate C is normalized in three ways (slow / slow) in the interval of [0.2, 2.8].
Normalize into 3 ways (medium / fast). In addition, the membership function for the quenching time Q as an output based on these inputs is normalized in six ways (ultra short / short / slightly short / normal / slightly long / long) in the interval of the variable [30,150]. .. However, from the "ultra-short" vertex to the portion where the "short" fitness is 1 is the same 30 minutes, and from the portion where the "normal" fitness is 1 to the "long" vertex is the same 150 minutes. .. Figure 7 shows the definition of the above fuzzy variables.
8 and FIG.

A control rule (1 for determining the quenching time Q)
(18 rules up to 18) are defined as shown in Table 1.

[0032]

[Table 1]

For example, when the quenching chamber temperature A is "low", the temperature rise value B is "large", and the descending speed C is "slow",
Based on Rule 7, the quenching time Q is determined to be “long”.
Further, when the quenching chamber temperature A is “high”, the temperature increase value B is “small”, and the descending speed C is “fast”, the quenching time Q is determined to be “ultra short” based on the rule 12.

Next, the process of fuzzy inference will be described with reference to FIGS. In addition, the conclusion (quenching time Q and its compatibility 0 to 1) for each rule is obtained by the MIN-MAX method and the center of gravity method.

That is, the smallest fit (MIN) among the goodness of fit for the three variables A, B, and C with respect to the rule.
Is the fitness of the rule, and the answer to the rule is the length of the quenching time Q. Then, the answer corresponding to the one with the highest suitability (MAX) among the rule conclusions is taken as the length of the quenching time, the centroid values for all the conclusions of the rule are obtained by the centroid method, and the time corresponding to the centroid values is the quenching time Q. And

Finally, as an example of experimental values, when the quenching chamber temperature A was -19 ° C, the temperature increase value B was 20 ° C, and the temperature decrease rate C was 1.6, A was "low, 0. ．
625 "and" high, 0.375 ", B as" medium, 0.625 "and" large, 0.375 ", and C as" medium, 0.875 "and" fast, 0. 12
5 ”is obtained, and when the results are combined, eight rules with rule numbers 5, 6, 8, 9, 14, 15, 17, and 18 are created. MIN for 8 rules
The MAX method infers a "normal" quenching time length, and the centroid method infers a quenching time (125 minutes).

As another example, A is -14 ° C and B is 10 ° C.
And C is 1.0, A is “low, 0.12
5 "and" high, 0.875 ", B as" small, 0.375 "and" medium, 0.625 ", and C
2 as "slow, 0.375" and "medium, 0.625"
You get street results. Combining each result, a total of 8 rule numbers 1, 2, 4, 5, 10, 11, 13, 14
You can do street rules. MIN for these 8 rules
-The MAX method infers a length of "slightly short" and the center of gravity method infers a quenching time of "135 minutes".

Execution of such inference can be realized by using a general-purpose microcomputer or digital signal processor.

[0039]

As described above, according to the present invention, the quick freezing control means determines the load application based on the temperature detected by the load temperature sensor. Rapid cooling can be started without performing it, and the rapid cooling switch can be omitted. Also,
Since the quick-freezing control means determines the heat capacity of the load based on both the temperature detected by the quenching chamber temperature sensor and the load temperature sensor, and determines the time for continuously operating the compressor and the blower based on the determined heat capacity, It is possible to automatically control everything from the start to the end of the cooling operation and provide a refrigerator that is easy to use.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block circuit diagram showing a rapid cooling control device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an external perspective view of the refrigerator with the door open.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a state in which a door of the refrigerator is removed.

FIG. 4 is a front view of a freezing room.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a control operation of the quick cooling control device.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart showing the control operation of the rapid cooling control device as in FIG.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a process of fuzzy inference.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example different from FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Refrigerator 12 Freezing room 46 Rapid freezing room 53 Rapid cooling room temperature sensor 54 Load temperature sensor 55 Compressor motor 56 Blower motor 60 Rapid cooling control device 61 Rapid freezing control means

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A quick freezer compartment independently formed in the freezer compartment, a blower for circulating cold air cooled by a cooler in the refrigerator, a compressor, and control of operations of the compressor and the blower. In a refrigerator equipped with a control device, the control device, a quenching chamber temperature sensor for detecting the temperature of the quick freezing chamber,
A load temperature sensor that detects the temperature of the bottom of the quick freezer,
The load is judged based on the temperature detected by the load temperature sensor, the heat capacity of the load is judged based on the temperature detected by these temperature sensors, and the time for continuously operating the compressor and the blower is determined in accordance with the heat capacity. A quick cooling control device for a refrigerator, comprising: a quick freezing control means.