KR100231191B1 - Method for defrosting in a refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a defrosting control method in a refrigerator to check the sleep mode use pattern of the user during defrosting to remove the frost attached to the evaporator to avoid the time of frequent sleep mode use, to reduce the noise of the refrigerator Storing the sleep mode execution time when the sleep mode is performed under limited driving; setting a redundant sleep mode time zone with a high frequency using the stored sleep mode execution time; and adding a predetermined time from the current time under the defrost inrush condition. Switching to the defrost mode if the time is not included in the redundant sleep mode time zone, and further, clearing and resetting the redundant sleep mode time zone at a predetermined time interval when the redundant sleep mode time zone is set, thereby using the sleep mode frequency during defrost control Check the high time zone to avoid this time By performing the control, the sleep mode and the defrost mode can be smoothly performed without the weak cooling phenomenon of the refrigerator.

Description

METHOD FOR DEFROSTING IN A REFRIGERATOR

The present invention relates to a method for controlling defrost in a refrigerator, and in particular, by checking a sleep mode use pattern of a user during defrosting, a defrost control in a refrigerator to remove frost attached to an evaporator by avoiding a time when sleep mode is frequently used. It is about a method.

In general, a refrigeration cycle of a refrigerator includes a compressor for compressing and outputting a low-temperature, low-pressure gaseous refrigerant, and a condenser and a condenser for cooling and condensing the high-temperature, high-pressure gaseous refrigerant from the compressor by external air. It is circulated through a capillary tube for depressurizing and outputting a refrigerant in a high pressure liquid state and an evaporator for absorbing and cooling heat by evaporating to a low temperature in a low pressure state. The fan-cooling refrigerator includes a fan for discharging cold air, and discharges cold air around the evaporator into the freezer compartment and the refrigerating compartment to cool the inside of the refrigerator, and performs temperature control as a driving / stop control of the fan and the compressor. .

On the other hand, among these fan-cooling refrigerators, which convectively cool the air around the evaporator by a fan, the refrigerator that controls the temperature centered on the temperature of the refrigerator compartment has one fan in the freezer compartment and detects it in the refrigerator compartment. In order to liquefy a fan and a gaseous refrigerant that discharge cold air based on the set temperature, a compressor for converting a low pressure low temperature refrigerant gas into a high pressure high temperature refrigerant gas is driven on / off to control the cold air around the evaporator in the freezer compartment and the refrigerator compartment. To keep the refrigerator at the proper temperature.

On the other hand, moisture in the air inside the refrigerator and water that evaporates from the food freezes, causing frost on the surface of the evaporator. If not, there is a lot of adhesion to the evaporator. The low heat transfer rate results in lower cooling efficiency and higher compressor operation rate, resulting in increased power consumption. Therefore, defrosting is necessary to keep the refrigerator's cooling function at its best at all times.

Therefore, when a defrost heater is conventionally used to perform defrosting of the evaporator, the compressor is operated for a predetermined time (for example, about 50 minutes) to install a defrost heater inside the evaporator to compensate for the temperature rise of the refrigerator during the defrosting. After the Pre-Cool mode continues to run, the defrost heater is energized until the evaporator temperature rises to about 10 ° C, for example, until the frost attached to the evaporator is removed. It was.

In addition, the noise caused by the operation of the refrigerator is mainly caused by the operation of the compressor, especially during the quiet night, the noise is relatively loud and disturbs the user's sleep, therefore, the compressor and cold air at night according to the user's choice There is a sleep mode function to limit the driving of the fan to discharge, and if the defrost mode is performed immediately before entering the sleep mode, there is a problem that can not perform the sleep mode because the cooling of the refrigerator may occur.

Therefore, the defrost control is performed by avoiding the time zone in which the sleep mode is frequently used during the defrost control, and thus, the sleep mode and the defrost mode can be smoothly performed without the weak cooling of the refrigerator.

An object of the present invention is to check the time zone when the sleep mode is used frequently during the defrost control in the refrigerator to avoid the time zone defrost control to perform the sleep mode and the defrost mode smoothly without the cold cooling of the refrigerator defrosting To provide a control method.

Defrost control method in the refrigerator according to the present invention, in the defrost control method of the refrigerator to remove the frost attached to the refrigerator evaporator, the step of storing the sleep mode execution time when the sleep mode of limited operation to reduce the noise of the refrigerator Wow;

Setting a redundant sleep mode time zone with a high frequency using the stored sleep mode execution time;

Determining the elapse of a predetermined date after setting a duplicate sleep time zone in the redundant sleep mode time setting step;

In the determining step, clearing the overlapping sleep window after a predetermined date has elapsed, resetting the overlapping sleep window, and determining a defrost initiation condition if a predetermined date has not elapsed;

If the defrost initiation condition determination step in the defrost initiation condition determination step includes the step of determining whether the time to which the predetermined time from the current time is included in the overlapping sleep mode time zone and switching to the defrost mode if not included in the overlapping sleep time zone. It features.

In addition, when included in the overlapping sleep mode time zone in the step of determining the duplicate sleep time zone, the sleep mode execution time storing step may be returned.

1 is a schematic block diagram of a refrigerator employed in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a flowchart illustrating a defrost control process in a refrigerator according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

<Description of the code | symbol about the principal part of drawing>

10,20: first and second temperature detection unit 30: microcomputer

40: fan drive unit 50: fan

60: compressor driving unit 70: compressor

80: heater driving unit 90: heater

The above objects and various advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the preferred embodiments of the invention described below with reference to the accompanying drawings by those skilled in the art.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a schematic block diagram of a refrigerator employed according to the present invention, wherein the first and second temperature detectors 10 and 20, the microcomputer 30, the fan driver 40, the fan 50, and the compressor driver 60 are shown. ), A compressor 70, a heater driver 80, and a heater 90.

In this configuration, the first temperature detection unit 10 is installed at a predetermined position in the refrigerating compartment to detect the room temperature of the refrigerating compartment and apply the detection signal to the A / D (Analog to Digital) port of the microcomputer 30 which will be described later. .

The second temperature detector 20 is installed inside the evaporator to detect the temperature of the evaporator surface (inside) and apply it to the A / D port of the microcomputer 30.

In addition, the microcomputer 30 controls driving of the fan 50 and the compressor 70 to be described later in the sleep mode for a predetermined time (for example, about 30 minutes) to reduce driving noise of the refrigerator, and to perform a sleep mode execution time. Set a duplicate sleep time zone where the stored time is repeated more than a predetermined number of times (e.g., three times), and in the duplicate sleep time zone where a time obtained by adding a predetermined time (e.g., two hours) to the current time in the defrost mode is set. If not included, switch to defrost mode.

In addition, the microcomputer 30 updates the set overlapping sleep time zone by a predetermined day (for example, 7 days), and controls the driving of the compressor 70 for a predetermined time (for example, about 50 minutes) in the defrost mode. Precool mode while the fan 50 is normally controlled, and when a predetermined time elapses, the fan 50 and the compressor 70 are driven off and the evaporator detection temperature detected from the second temperature detector 20 Defrost control is performed by driving-on control of the heater 90 until the set reference temperature (eg, about 10 ° C.) or more is reached.

On the other hand, the fan driver 40 outputs a predetermined drive signal to the fan 50 based on the control from the microcomputer 30 using a drive element, a relay, or the like, and the fan 50 is connected to the fan driver 40 from the fan driver 40. Driven based on the drive signal, the cold air around the evaporator (not shown) is discharged to the freezing compartment and the refrigerating compartment.

In addition, the compressor driver 60 outputs a predetermined drive signal to the compressor 70 based on the control from the microcomputer 30 using a drive element, a relay, or the like, and the compressor 70 is operated in the refrigeration cycle described above. As a preparation step for re-liquefying the vaporized refrigerant to be reused, the refrigerant gas of low temperature and low pressure from the evaporator, not shown, is compressed and converted into a refrigerant gas of high temperature and high pressure, and outputted to a condenser, not shown.

The heater driver 80 outputs a predetermined driving signal to the heater 90 based on the control of the microcomputer 30 using a driving element and a relay, and the heater 90 removes frost attached to the evaporator. As a defrost heater for heating, it is mounted on an evaporator to generate heat based on a drive signal from the heater driver 80 to melt and remove frost attached to the evaporator.

Next, the defrost control process in the refrigerator according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention including the above-described component will be described in detail with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 2.

First, the microcomputer 30 performs the sleep mode by driving off the fan 50 and the compressor 70 for a predetermined time (for example, about 30 minutes) when the sleep mode is performed, and stores the sleep mode execution time (step 200).

Then, in order to set the time zone during which the sleep mode is frequently performed using the stored sleep mode execution time, a duplicate sleep time zone in which the sleep mode execution time overlaps a predetermined number (for example, three times) or more is set (step 202). .

Next, after setting the overlapping sleep time zone, it is determined whether a predetermined day, for example, 7 days has elapsed (step 204), and when the predetermined day has elapsed, the overlapping sleep time zone is cleared (step 206), and step 200 described above. Proceed to reset the duplicate sleep zones.

On the other hand, if a predetermined day has not elapsed in step 204 and the defrost initiation condition is reached (step 208), it is determined whether the time plus the predetermined time from the current time is included in the set overlapping time zone (step 210).

At this time, if the time plus the predetermined time from the current time is included in the set overlapping time zone is returned without switching to the defrost mode.

On the other hand, if the time plus the predetermined time from the current time is not included in the set overlapping time zone, the microcomputer 30 controls to switch to the defrost mode (step 212).

That is, the compressor 70 is continuously driven on and controlled, and the fan 50 is switched to the precool mode in which normal control is performed corresponding to the temperature in the refrigerating chamber.

In detail, the compressor 70 is continuously driven on irrespective of the temperature of the refrigerating chamber, and the appropriate refrigerating chamber temperature detected based on the first temperature detection unit 10 has a predetermined lower limit temperature (for example, 2 ° C.). Or less), the fan 50 is driven off, and when the detected refrigerator compartment temperature is higher than a predetermined upper limit temperature (for example, about 2.35 ° C), the fan 50 is driven on to drive the fan 50 normally. To control.

In the precool mode, the refrigerator is cooled as much as possible before entering the defrost mode, that is, before driving the heater 90 for defrosting, in order to prevent the weak cooling of the refrigerator to the maximum as the temperature of the evaporator increases due to the heater during defrosting. will be

When the precool mode is completed by performing such a precool mode for a predetermined time (for example, 50 minutes), the driving of the compressor 70 is stopped and the heater 90 for defrosting is driven on.

Then, the heater 90 is energized based on the drive signal of the heater driver 80 to start the heat generation. Therefore, the temperature of the evaporator rises and the frost attached to the evaporator starts to melt away.

Next, after the heater 90 is driven, the microcomputer 30 recognizes the evaporator surface (internal) temperature based on the second temperature detector 20, and the detected evaporator surface temperature is the first reference temperature (for example, preset). 10 ° C.), and if the detected evaporator surface temperature is lower than the first reference temperature, the heater 90 is continuously driven to perform defrosting. Recognizing that the frost attached to the evaporator has been removed, the driving of the heater 90 for defrosting is stopped and finished.

Meanwhile, in the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the overlapping sleep time zone is automatically set to a time zone in which the sleep mode performance frequency is high, but it can be seen that the modification is easy to be set by the user.

In addition, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to smoothly perform the sleep mode and the defrost mode without weak cooling of the refrigerator by checking the time zone during which the sleep mode is frequently used during the defrost control and performing the defrost control to avoid this time zone. There is.

Claims (2)

A defrosting control method of a refrigerator for removing frost attached to a refrigerator evaporator, the method comprising: storing a sleep mode execution time when a limited driving sleep mode is performed to reduce noise of a refrigerator; Setting a redundant sleep mode time zone with a high frequency using the stored sleep mode execution time; Determining the elapse of a predetermined date after setting a duplicate sleep time zone in the redundant sleep mode time setting step; In the determining step, clearing the overlapping sleep window after a predetermined date has elapsed, resetting the overlapping sleep window, and determining a defrost initiation condition if a predetermined date has not elapsed; And determining whether the time obtained by adding a predetermined time from the current time is included in the overlapping sleep mode time zone if the defrost initiation condition determination step is included in the defrost initiation condition, and switching to the defrost mode when not included in the overlapping sleep time zone. Defrost control method of the refrigerator. The method of claim 1, wherein when the redundant sleep time zone determination step is included in the redundant sleep mode time zone, the sleep mode performance time storage step of returning to the sleep mode is performed.

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