JPH0777370A - Refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To early complete icemaking when cooled water is supplied or an operating rate of a compressor is high (substantial icemaking time is short). CONSTITUTION:The refrigerator comprises control means 33 of a microcomputer, etc., having a water supply timer 29, icemaking timers 34, 35 and an icemaking speed timer 13, inputting from freezing chamber temperature detecting means 12, icemaking temperature detecting means 16, position detecting means 22 and horizontal position detecting means 23, and outputting to drive means 26 for driving a motor 20, drive means 27 for driving a water supply pump motor 18 and drive means 31 for driving a compressor 11.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a refrigerator having an automatic ice-making device which automatically rotates an ice-making container after completion of ice-making to perform an ice removing operation.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, household refrigerators having an automatic ice maker have been put on the market. The configuration will be described below with reference to FIGS. 3 to 8.

In FIG. 6, reference numeral 1 denotes a refrigerator body, which is composed of an outer box 2, an inner box 3 and a heat insulating material 4 filled between the boxes 2 and 3. A partition wall 5 contains a cooler 6 and a blower 7 for forced ventilation therein, a freezer compartment 8 is formed in the upper part, and a refrigerating compartment 9 is formed in the lower part.

The air cooled by the cooler 6 is blown to the freezer compartment 8 and the refrigerating compartment 9 by the blower 7. A damper thermostat 10 for adjusting the amount of cold air flowing in is provided at the entrance of the refrigerator compartment 9. A refrigerating cycle compressor 11 is provided at the bottom of the refrigerator body 1.

Reference numeral 12 is a freezing compartment temperature detecting means for detecting the temperature in the freezing compartment, which is installed in the freezing compartment 8.
Reference numeral 14 is an automatic ice making device, and its configuration will be described below with reference to FIGS. Reference numeral 15 denotes an ice making container, which is arranged in the freezer compartment 8. 16 is the ice making container 15
Is an ice making temperature detecting means including a thermistor attached to the outer bottom surface for detecting the completion of ice making.

Reference numeral 17 denotes a water supply tank, which is arranged in the refrigerating compartment 9. Reference numeral 18 denotes a water supply pump motor for supplying water from the water supply tank 17 to the ice making container 15.

The water supply tank 17 and the water supply pump motor 18 constitute a water supply mechanism 40. Reference numeral 19 denotes an ice removing mechanism for rotating the ice making container 15 to perform an ice removing operation, and a twisting portion 2 for applying a twist to the motor 20 for rotating the ice making container 15 and the rotating ice making container 15 for removing ice.
1, a position detecting unit 22 including a micro switch indicating the completion of twisting, and a horizontal position detecting unit 23 including a micro switch indicating the horizontal position of the ice making container 15. Further, below the ice making container 15, an ice storage box 24 for storing the dropped ice is installed.

Next, the control circuit will be described with reference to FIG.
Reference numeral 25 is a control means composed of a microcomputer or the like, and its input terminals are connected to the ice making temperature detection means 16, the position detection means 22, the freezer compartment temperature detection means 12 and the horizontal position detection means 23. Driving means 26, 27 and 31 for operating the motor 20, the feed pump motor 18 and the compressor 11 are connected to the output terminals. The control means 25 is provided with a water supply timer 29 for counting the time during which the water supply pump motor 18 is operated and an ice making timer 30 for counting the ice making time.

The operation of this structure will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4. First, the operation of the compressor 11 will be described. In step 101, the freezer temperature detecting means 12
It is determined whether or not the freezer temperature detected by is higher than a preset temperature. If it is determined here that the freezer compartment temperature is higher than the set temperature, step 10
The operation proceeds to 2 and the compressor 11 is operated. When the freezer compartment temperature is lower than the set temperature, the process proceeds to step 103 and the compressor 1
Stop 1 When steps 102 and 103 are executed, the process returns to step 101 again. With the above operation, the temperature in the freezer compartment 8 is maintained at a constant temperature.

Next, the operation of the automatic ice making device 14 will be described. First, at step 201, the horizontal position detecting means 23 is turned on.
If the horizontal position detecting means 23 is not turned on, that is, if the ice making container 15 is not horizontal, it is determined whether the ice making container 15 is horizontal. Turn on until is horizontal. In step 201, the horizontal position detecting means 2
If 3 is turned on, the process proceeds to step 203, the motor 20 is stopped, and the count of the ice making timer 30 is started in step 204. In step 205, the count of the ice making timer 30 is checked and it is judged whether or not a predetermined time, which is considered to be the completion of ice making, has elapsed.

When it is determined that the predetermined time (eg 150 minutes) has elapsed, the ice making temperature detected by the ice making temperature detecting means 16 in step 206 is set to a set value (eg -1).
2 ° C.) or less. If it is less than the set value, it is determined that ice making is completed, and the motor 20 is turned on in step 207. If the ice making temperature is equal to or higher than the set value, the process stands by until the ice making temperature becomes equal to or lower than the set value, and then the motor 20 is turned on in step 207 to rotate the ice making container 15. And the twisted portion 21
A twist is applied to separate the ice from the ice making container 15.

Therefore, in step 208, the position detecting means 2
When the state of 2 is turned on, it is determined that the ice removal is completed, the process proceeds to step 209, the motor 20 is continuously moved until the ice making container 15 becomes horizontal, and at step 209, the horizontal position detecting means 23 is turned on. .

At steps 208 and 209, the process returns to step 208 until both the position detecting means 22 and the horizontal position detecting means 23 are turned on. When the horizontal position detecting means 23 is turned on in step 209, it is determined that the ice making container 15 is horizontal, and the motor 20 is stopped in step 210. In step 211, the water supply pump motor 18 is operated to supply water to the empty ice making container 15, and step 2
In 12, the water supply timer 29 is started, and step 21
The water feed pump motor 18 is operated until the time is up at 3.

When the water supply timer 29 times out in step 213, the water supply pump motor 18 is turned off in step 214. Water supply is now complete and the ice making cycle is completed.
After the cycle is completed, the process proceeds to step 204 again, and thereafter this cycle is repeated to automatically make ice.

[0015]

However, in such a configuration, since the ice making timer is counted in step 205 and the ice is not released until a predetermined time (for example, 150 minutes) has expired, the ice is cooled in the refrigerating chamber, for example. When water with low temperature is supplied or the operation rate of the compressor 11 is high, there is a problem that it takes 150 minutes to remove ice even if ice making is completed in 1 hour. Was.

The present invention is intended to solve the above problems, and when ice making is completed quickly such as when the temperature of water to be supplied is low or when the operation rate of a compressor is high, the ice making is quickly released accordingly. The purpose is to reduce the time.

[0017]

In order to solve the above problems, a refrigerator according to the present invention comprises a compressor of a refrigeration cycle, an ice making container and an ice making temperature detecting means attached to the ice making container, and the ice making container being rotated and separated. An ice-making mechanism for making ice, a water-supplying mechanism for supplying water to the ice-making container, an ice-making timer for counting the ice-making time after the water is supplied, and an ice-making temperature detected by the ice-making temperature detecting means after water supply is constant. It consists of an ice making speed timer that counts the time to reach the temperature, and when the time counted by the ice making speed timer from water supply is a certain time or less, the operation time of the ice making timer is made shorter than normal time, The refrigerator is provided with control means for determining whether or not the ice-making temperature is detected by the ice-making temperature detection means after the operation of the ice-making timer is completed.

[0018]

According to the present invention, by the above configuration, the count time of the ice making timer is shortened when the ice making time is substantially short such as when the temperature of water to be supplied is low or when the operation rate of the compressor is high. , The ice can be released earlier than usual, and the ice can be made earlier.

[0019]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. Since the conventional refrigerator and the automatic ice making apparatus have the same overall configuration, the same reference numerals are given, detailed description thereof will be omitted, and only different portions will be described.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 33 is a control means composed of a microcomputer or the like, and its input terminals are connected to the ice making temperature detecting means 16, the position detecting means 22, the freezer compartment temperature detecting means 12 and the horizontal position detecting means 23. ing. Driving means 26, 27 and 31 for operating the motor 20, the feed pump motor 18 and the compressor 11 are connected to the output terminals.

The control means 33 has a water supply pump motor 1
Water supply timer 29 that counts the time when 8 is running,
An ice making timer 34 that counts the ice making time, an ice making timer B35 that also counts the ice making time, and a time from immediately after water supply until the ice making temperature detected by the ice making temperature detecting means 16 reaches a constant temperature (for example, −2 ° C.). It is composed of an ice making speed timer 13.

The operation of this structure will be described with reference to FIG. The operation of the automatic ice making device 14 will be described. First, at step 301, the horizontal position detecting means 23 is turned on.
If the horizontal position detecting means 23 is not turned on, that is, if the ice making container 15 is not horizontal, then step 30 is performed.
At 2, the motor 20 is turned on until the ice making container 15 becomes horizontal.

If the horizontal position detecting means 23 is turned on in step 301, the process proceeds to step 303, the motor 20 is stopped, and the process proceeds to step 304. In step 304, ice making timer A34, ice making timer 35 and ice making speed timer 1
Start 3. In step 305, it is determined whether the ice making temperature detected by the ice making temperature detecting means 16 is equal to or lower than the set value 1 (for example, -2 ° C.), and the ice making temperature is set to the set value 1.
If the following occurs, the process proceeds to step 306.

In step 306, it is determined whether or not the count of the ice making speed timer 13 at that time is less than or equal to a set value (for example, 50 minutes), and if it is less than that, the process proceeds to step 307. In step 307, if the count of the ice making timer A34 is judged and the time is up (for example, 50 minutes have elapsed)
If so, the process proceeds to step 309.

In step 306, the ice making speed timer 1
If the count of 3 is greater than or equal to the set value, the process proceeds to step 308. In step 308, if the count of the ice making timer B35 is judged and the time is up (for example, 100 minutes have elapsed)
If so, the process proceeds to step 309.

The operation from step 309 to step 317 is performed from step 206 to step 21 in the conventional example.
It is similar to the operation up to 4.

Therefore, when the actual ice making time is short such as when the cooled water is supplied or when the operation rate of the compressor 11 is high, in step 306 the ice making speed timer 13
Becomes less than or equal to the set value, and the subsequent time count is counted by the ice making timer 34. Therefore, the time to be counted is shorter than when it is counted by the normal time ice making timer 35, and the ice making time becomes shorter. .

[0028]

As is clear from the above description, in the refrigerator according to the present invention, when the time until the ice making temperature reaches the constant temperature after the water supply is shorter than the predetermined time, the counting time of the ice making timer thereafter is shortened. Thus, the ice making time can be shortened when the actual ice making time is short, such as when the temperature of water to be supplied is low or when the operation rate of the compressor is high.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a control circuit of a refrigerator showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing control of the automatic ice making device.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing control of a conventional automatic ice making device.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing control of the refrigerator.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a control circuit of the refrigerator.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of the refrigerator.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the automatic ice making device.

FIG. 8 is a plan view showing the inside of the ice removing mechanism of the automatic ice making device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11 Compressor 13 Ice Making Speed Timer 14 Automatic Ice Making Device 15 Ice Making Container 16 Ice Making Temperature Detecting Means 17 Water Supply Tank 18 Water Supply Pump Motor 19 Ice Removing Mechanism 33 Control Means 34 Ice Making Timer 35 Ice Making Timer 40 Water Supply Mechanism

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A compressor of a refrigerating cycle, an ice making container and an ice making temperature detecting means attached to the ice making container, an ice removing mechanism for rotating and ice removing the ice making container, and a water supply mechanism for supplying water to the ice making container. It consists of an ice making timer that counts the ice making time until the ice is removed after water supply, and an ice making speed timer that counts the time from the water supply until the ice making temperature detected by the ice making temperature detecting means reaches a constant temperature. Therefore, when the time counted by the ice making speed timer is less than a certain time, the operation time of the ice making timer is set to be shorter than the normal time, and after the operation of the ice making timer is finished, whether the ice making state is detected or not Refrigerator equipped with control means to judge.