JPH10332241A - Refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reach a set temperature quickly by controlling the thermal capacity of a heater to increase when the temperature of a switching chamber is set higher than the current temperature thereof and to decrease the thermal capacity of the heater for reverse case. SOLUTION: A damper for supplying chill from a cooling fan to a refrigerating chamber and a switching chamber 18 is provided on the back of the switching chamber 18. A chill blow-out port, i.e., an opening 58, is made in the back plate 56 of the switching chamber 18 and a switching chamber sensor 60 for detecting the temperature in the switching chamber 18 is disposed to the right. Furthermore, a bottom face heater 62 comprising an electric heating wire is provided on the rear of the bottom face 54 and a side face heater 66 is provided on the rear of the left side face 50 while being covered, respectively, with aluminum tapes 64, 68. Temperature is controlled by controlling the bottom face heater 62 and the side face heater 66 through a controller comprising a microcomputer depending on the ambient temperature of the refrigerator.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a refrigerator having a switching room capable of switching a set temperature in a temperature range from a freezing temperature to a refrigeration temperature.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional refrigerator has only a room such as a refrigerator room, a freezer room, and a vegetable room that keeps the internal temperature at a specific temperature. Some have a switching room which can switch the temperature in the refrigerator from the refrigeration temperature to the freezing temperature.

In order to control the internal temperature of the switching chamber to a set temperature, a damper dedicated to the switching chamber is provided, and by closing the damper, cold air is cut off to control the temperature.

[0004]

However, the above-mentioned switching room has the following problems.

[0005] First, when the set temperature of the switching chamber is switched, there is a problem that it takes time to reach the set temperature. For example, when the set temperature was switched from the freezing temperature to the refrigeration temperature, it took 5 hours or more to reach the refrigeration temperature.

Second, when the temperature around the refrigerator is low (hereinafter referred to as ambient temperature), if the set temperature is switched from the freezing temperature to the refrigeration temperature, the temperature does not reach the set refrigeration temperature. There was a problem that sometimes.

In view of the above problems, the present invention provides a refrigerator which can quickly reach a set temperature in a switching room.

[0008]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a refrigerator having a switching room capable of switching a set temperature in a temperature range from a freezing temperature to a refrigeration temperature. When the set temperature of the switching room is set higher than the current internal temperature, the heat capacity of the heating device is controlled to be increased, and the set temperature is set lower than the current internal temperature. In such a case, first control means for controlling the heat capacity of the heating device to be small was provided.

A refrigerator according to a second aspect of the present invention is the refrigerator according to the first aspect, wherein a heating device is separately provided on a wall surface different from the wall surface of the switching chamber, and the plurality of heating devices have different maximum heat capacities. .

A refrigerator according to a third aspect is the refrigerator according to the first aspect, wherein heat is transmitted from the heating device provided on a wall surface other than the back surface of the switching room to the back surface via a heat transfer member.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the refrigerator according to the first aspect, a temperature sensor for detecting an ambient temperature of the refrigerator is provided, and the heat capacity of the heating device decreases as the ambient temperature detected by the temperature sensor increases. And a second control means for controlling the control.

In the refrigerator according to the first aspect, the first control means controls the heat capacity of the heating device to be increased when the set temperature of the switching room is set to be higher than the current temperature in the refrigerator. The internal temperature is easily raised to the desired high set temperature. Conversely, when the set temperature is set lower than the current inside temperature, the heat capacity of the heating device is controlled to be small, so that the inside temperature is easily lowered.

According to the refrigerator of the second aspect, since the maximum heat capacities of the heating devices provided on the respective wall surfaces are different,
Activate the heating device according to the required amount of heating.

According to the refrigerator of the third aspect, the rear surface can be heated without providing a heating device on the rear surface.

In the refrigerator according to the fourth aspect of the present invention, since the second control means for controlling so as to increase the heat capacity of the heating device as the ambient temperature is lower is provided, when the ambient temperature is lower, the set temperature can be reduced. Even if you set the temperature from freezing to refrigeration,
The refrigerator temperature can be reliably reached.

[0016]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

First, the overall structure of the refrigerator 10 will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 3 shows a refrigerator 1 of the present embodiment.
0 is a front view, FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line AA in FIG. 3, and FIG. 1
4, an ice making room 16 and a switching room 18 are provided below, a freezing room 20 is provided below, and a vegetable room 22 is provided at the lowest stage.

The refrigerator compartment 14 has a hinged door 14a.
The ice making room 16, the switching room 18, the freezing room 20, and the vegetable room are respectively provided with drawer-type doors 16a, 18a, 20.
a, 22a are provided.

At the back of the ice making room 16 and the freezing room 20, there is provided a cooling space 24 composed of a cooler cover and an inner box of the cabinet 12. Inside this is a cooler 2
6, a cooling fan 28 is provided above, and a defrost heater 30 is provided below the cooler 26.

As shown in FIG. 5, a damper device 32 for sending cool air from the cooling fan 28 to the refrigerating compartment 14 and the switching compartment 18 is provided on the back of the switching compartment 18. A suction port 34 for cool air from the cooling fan 28 is provided on a left side surface of the damper device 32, a duct 36 for sending cool air to the refrigerating room 14 is provided on an upper surface, and a cool air An air outlet 38 for sending air is provided.
Further, inside the damper device 32, a switch room damper 40 for sending cool air to the refrigerator compartment 14 and the switch room 18, respectively.
And a refrigerating room damper 42.

Further, as shown in FIG. 4, a machine room 44 is provided on the back of the vegetable room 22, and a compressor 46 is provided therein.

Next, based on FIGS. 1 and 2, the switching chamber 18 will be described.
Will be described.

As shown in FIG. 2, the switching room 18 includes a cabinet 55 having a ceiling surface 48, a left side surface 50, a right side surface 52, and a bottom surface 54 at a position of the damper device 32.
2 is inserted into the inner box 13,
A back plate 56 is mounted between the damper 5 and the damper device 32. And this back plate 56 is the back of the switching room 18. A frame 57 is attached to the front of the box 55. The damper device 32 includes a cover 32a and a main body 32b.

The rear plate 56 has an opening 58 serving as a cool air outlet, and this position corresponds to the position of the outlet 38 of the damper device 32. On the right side of the opening 58, a switching room temperature sensor 60 for detecting the inside temperature of the switching room 18 is provided.

The box 55 is provided with a heat insulating material such as styrene foam around the box 55. A bottom heater 62 made of a heating wire is provided on the back surface of the bottom surface 54.
The bottom heater 62 is covered with an aluminum tape 64.
Further, a side heater 66 made of a heating wire is also provided on the back surface of the left side surface 50, and the side heater 66 is covered with an aluminum tape 68. And this aluminum tape 68
1 is extended to the position of the back plate 56, as shown in FIG. 1, so that the heat of the side heater 66 is transmitted to the back plate 56 made of synthetic resin via the aluminum tape 68.
Thereby, it is possible to heat from the back surface without providing a special heater on the back plate 56. Therefore, the switching chamber 18 is heated from three sides, that is, the bottom surface, the left side surface, and the back surface, so that the temperature in the refrigerator can be stably maintained.

The bottom heater 62 is provided with a side heater 66.
The maximum heat capacity is used so that the amount of heating can be increased. This is because the bottom heater 62 aims at increasing the temperature of the switching chamber 18.

Next, the structure of the electric system of the refrigerator will be described with reference to FIG.

As shown in FIG. 3, the control device 70 composed of a microcomputer is provided on the upper substrate on the back side of the refrigerator compartment 14. This includes a motor driving device 7 for controlling a motor 72 for rotating the cooling fan 28.
4, a damper motor 76 for operating the refrigerating room damper 42 and the switching room damper 40, a switching room temperature sensor 60, a side heater 66 of the switching room 18, a switching room 18
, A defrost heater 30, and a compressor 46 are connected. Further, an ambient temperature sensor 80 for detecting the ambient temperature of the refrigerator 10 is connected, and further, an operation panel 82 for operating the set temperature of each room is connected.

In the operation panel 82, the temperature of the switching room 18 can be continuously set among the refrigerator room temperature, the vegetable room temperature, the chilled temperature, and the partial temperature, and the freezing temperature (weak, normal, strong). Can be set continuously between In addition, refrigerator room temperature, vegetable room temperature, chilled temperature, partial temperature,
The standard temperature of the freezing temperature (weak, normal, strong) is as shown in FIG.

In the refrigerator 10 having the above-described structure, a case where the inside temperature of the switching chamber 18 is controlled using the bottom heater 62 and the side heater 66 will be described.

There are two types of control methods as described below, and will be described in order below. (1) First Temperature Control The first temperature control controls the bottom heater 62 and the side heater 66 in accordance with the ambient temperature where the refrigerator 10 is placed. This will be described with reference to FIG. FIG.
Shows the relationship between the intensity of the heater and the ambient temperature. The vertical axis indicates the intensity of the heater, and the horizontal axis indicates the ambient temperature.

When the ambient temperature is low, the internal temperature of the switching chamber 18 also decreases. Therefore, when the ambient temperature is T1 (for example, 15
° C) or lower, the strength of the heater is set to “strong”;
At an ambient temperature equal to or higher than T1, the intensity of the heater is set to "weak" or OFF.

(2) Second Temperature Control In the second temperature control, the bottom heater 62 and the side heater 66 are controlled based on the case where the set temperature is switched. This will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 9 shows the strength of the bottom heater 62 and the side heater 66 when the set temperature is switched from the freezing temperature to the refrigeration temperature or from the refrigeration temperature to the freezing temperature.

When the temperature is switched from the freezing temperature to the refrigeration temperature, the heater is operated by setting the intensity of the heater higher (H) than the normal intensity. Conversely, when the temperature is switched from the refrigeration temperature to the freezing temperature, the operation is performed with the intensity lower than the normal intensity (L) or the operation is turned off.

(3) Effects of the Two Temperature Controls The effects of the two temperature controls will be described with reference to FIGS. 10 and 11.

FIG. 10 shows the relationship between the inside temperature of the switching chamber 18 and the ambient temperature. The solid line indicates the case where the main control is performed, and the dotted line indicates the conventional case where the main control is not performed. It is.

FIG. 11 shows the relationship between the inside temperature of the switching chamber 18 and the time temperature, and shows the case where the setting is switched from the freezing temperature to the refrigeration temperature at the time of 0 hour. Shows a case where the main control is performed, and a dotted line shows a conventional case where the main control is not performed.

As shown in FIG. 10, in the conventional case, when the ambient temperature is low (15 ° C.), the set temperature is changed to the refrigeration temperature (3 ° C.).
℃), the internal temperature only reaches 0 ℃,
The desired set temperature cannot be reached. On the other hand, in the case of this control, even if the ambient temperature is 15 ° C., it is possible to reach the set temperature of 3 ° C. In the conventional case, when the ambient temperature changes from 15 ° C. to 30 ° C., the internal temperature tends to increase in accordance with the ambient temperature, but in the case of this control, the internal temperature is 3 ° C.
Is constant. This is because the inside of the switching chamber 18 is heated in accordance with the ambient temperature by the first temperature control, and is not affected by the ambient temperature.

Next, as shown in FIG. 11, in the case of this control, the refrigeration temperature of 3 ° C. is reached in about 3 hours, whereas in the conventional case, it takes about 5 hours. That is,
When this control is performed, the target refrigeration temperature can be quickly reached. This is because when the set temperature of the switching chamber 18 is set higher than the current inside temperature by the second temperature control, the heat capacity of the heaters 62 and 66 is increased,
This is because the inside of the refrigerator is forcibly heated. In the opposite case, the heat capacity of the heaters 62 and 66 is reduced or turned off.

[0040]

As described above, according to the refrigerator of the present invention, when the set temperature of the switching room is set higher than the current inside temperature, the heat capacity of the heating device is increased. By reducing the heat capacity, the target set temperature can be quickly reached.

Further, in the refrigerator according to another aspect of the present invention, the second control means for controlling the heat capacity of the heating device to increase as the ambient temperature becomes lower is provided. Even if the temperature is set from the refrigeration temperature to the freezing temperature, it is possible to reliably reach the refrigeration temperature.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of a switching room.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of a switching chamber.

FIG. 3 is a front view of the refrigerator.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line AA in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view of a middle section of the refrigerator showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a refrigerator.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the contents of six stages of the set temperature of the switching room.

FIG. 8 is a graph showing a relationship between heater strength and ambient temperature.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between the set temperature and the strength of each heater.

FIG. 10 is a graph showing the relationship between the ambient temperature and the internal temperature.

FIG. 11 is a graph showing the relationship between the internal temperature and time.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Refrigerator 18 Switching room 32 Damper apparatus 62 Bottom heater 64 Aluminum tape 66 Side heater 68 Aluminum tape 80 Ambient temperature sensor

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A refrigerator having a switching room capable of switching a set temperature in a temperature range from a freezing temperature to a refrigeration temperature, a heating device is provided on a wall surface of the switching room, When the temperature is set higher than the temperature, control is performed so as to increase the heat capacity of the heating device, and when the set temperature is set lower than the current internal temperature, control is performed so that the heat capacity of the heating device is reduced. A refrigerator provided with a first control means for performing the following. 2. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein a heating device is separately provided on a wall surface different from the wall surface of the switching room, and the plurality of heating devices have different maximum heat capacities. 3. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein heat is transferred from the heating device provided on a wall surface other than the back surface of the switching room to the back surface via a heat transfer member. 4. A temperature sensor for detecting an ambient temperature of the refrigerator is provided, and a second control means for controlling the heat capacity of the heating device to be smaller as the ambient temperature detected by the temperature sensor is higher is provided. The refrigerator according to claim 1, characterized in that: