KR100593632B1 - Method of controlling defrost cycle of refrigerator and its device - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method and a defrosting apparatus for controlling a defrosting cycle of a refrigerator. According to the present invention, whether the outside temperature of the refrigerator is above a certain temperature, whether or not the number of times of opening and closing the door after the completion of the previous defrosting process is a certain number (for example, five times), and the continuous operation of the compressor of the refrigerator It is determined whether the time is greater than or equal to the first predetermined time (for example 4 hours) or the continuous drive time of the blowing fan is greater than or equal to the second predetermined time (for example 7 hours). If any one of the three conditions is less than or equal to the reference condition, the first defrost cycle is set. If all three conditions are greater than or equal to the reference condition, the second defrost cycle is shorter than the first defrost cycle. It is set to. Therefore, when the amount of defrost that is implanted in the evaporator in the refrigerator is large, the defrost is performed with a shorter defrost cycle, thereby enabling efficient operation of the refrigerator.

Refrigerator, defrost

Description

Control method of defrost period of refrigerator and its device {Controll method of defrost period for refrigerator and defrost device therefor}

1 is a front view showing the configuration of a typical refrigerator with the door open.

2 is a side cross-sectional view of the refrigerator shown in FIG.

Figure 3 is a flow chart showing a defrost cycle control method according to the present invention.

Figure 4 is a block diagram showing a defrosting apparatus according to the present invention.

The present invention relates to a method for controlling a defrosting cycle of a refrigerator and a device thereof, and more particularly, by varying a defrosting cycle according to operating conditions of a refrigerator, to remove the amount of defrosting on the evaporator of the refrigerator at an optimal time. The present invention relates to a method for controlling a defrosting cycle of a refrigerator configured to maintain an optimal operation efficiency and a device thereof.

The refrigerator generates cold air and supplies it to the freezer compartment and the refrigerating compartment by using a phase change of the refrigerant to maintain the inside of the refrigerator at a predetermined low temperature state. First, a structure of a conventional refrigerator will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. The illustrated refrigerator exemplarily shows a parallel refrigerator.

As illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, the inside of the refrigerator is divided into a freezer compartment 2 on the left side and a refrigerating compartment 3 on the right side based on the vertical barrier 10. And behind the freezing chamber 2, the heat exchange chamber 14 in which the evaporator 4 is provided is provided. In the evaporator 4 of the heat exchange chamber 14, a refrigerant having a low temperature and low pressure flows, thereby absorbing heat from the surrounding air and vaporizing it. Therefore, the air around the evaporator 4 is generated as cold air, and the cold air thus produced is supplied to the freezing chamber 2 and the refrigerating chamber 12 by the blower fan 16.

The cold air supplied to the refrigerating chamber 12 is heated to circulate therein, and then enters the thermal bridge 14 in which the evaporator 4 is installed again through the return passage 18. At this time, the return passage 18 is provided at the lower end of the barrier 10, so that the air returned to the heat exchange chamber 14 flows upward from the lower side of the evaporator 4, whereby the heat exchange proceeds again to generate cold air. . The cold air supplied to the freezing chamber 2 is also returned to the heat exchange chamber 14 in which the evaporator 4 is installed through a return passage (not shown), thereby repeating the process of generating cold air.

The food to be stored is put in the freezer compartment 2 and the refrigerating compartment 12 inside the refrigerator, and these foods contain a certain amount of moisture. Therefore, the air circulating in the refrigerator includes moisture evaporated from the food to be stored and moisture introduced from the outside as the refrigerator door is opened and closed. In this way, the moisture contained in the refrigerator circulates through the heat exchange chamber 14 and the freezing chamber 2 or the refrigerating chamber 12 like the air inside the refrigerator as described above. However, when the air containing the moisture comes into contact with the evaporator in a relatively very low temperature state, it is frosted on the surface of the evaporator 4.

Thus, the frost formed on the surface of the evaporator 4 grows gradually as the internal air circulates. In this way, the frost formed on the surface of the evaporator 4 is mainly formed at the lower end of the evaporator 4 since the return passage 18 returning to the evaporator 4 is mainly formed at the lower end of the heat exchange chamber 14. Molded. The state in which the frost grows in the lower part of the evaporator 4 is shown by reference numeral A in FIG. 1.

When the frost is grown on the surface of the evaporator 4 as described above, the heat exchange efficiency with the evaporator 4 is lowered, and the flow of air passing through the evaporator 4 becomes worse.

Therefore, in the refrigerator, the defrosting process for removing the frost grown on the surface of the evaporator 4 is performed periodically. The defrosting process is performed by applying power to the defrost heaters 6a and 6b attached to the evaporator 4 while the compressor is stopped in the refrigerator.

When power is applied to the defrost heaters 6a and 6b, since heat is conducted to the evaporator 4, defrost formed on the surface of the evaporator 4 is melted and removed, so that the evaporator 4 returns to its original state and is smooth. It is possible to perform heat exchange.

The conventional defrost cycle is performed by simply integrating the operation time of the refrigerator. For example, if the operating time of the refrigerator continues for 7 hours, the defrosting process of the refrigerator is performed.

However, such a conventional defrost cycle is somewhat unfavorable in terms of efficiency since it is determined uniformly regardless of the conditions inside and outside of the refrigerator. In other words, under the high temperature and high humidity use environment, the amount of defrost formed on the evaporator is large, and thus a shorter defrost cycle is required. However, since the relative humidity is low in the low temperature state, if the defrosting is frequently performed, the temperature inside the refrigerator is increased, and unnecessary power consumption is increased. As described above, the defrosting process, although the period is preferably adjusted according to the use environment of the refrigerator, the conventional defrosting process is uniformly fixed, there is an undesirable disadvantage.

The present invention is to solve the problems of the conventional defrosting cycle as described above, and an object thereof is to provide the most efficient defrosting method and apparatus.

Such a defrosting method of the present invention can be achieved by varying the defrosting period appropriately according to the use environment of the outside and inside of the refrigerator, the present invention focuses on this point.

Defrost cycle control method according to the present invention for achieving the above object, the process of determining whether the outside temperature of the refrigerator is a predetermined temperature or more, the process of determining whether the number of opening and closing the door after the completion of the previous defrosting process is more than a certain number of times, Determining whether the continuous drive time of the compressor of the refrigerator is greater than or equal to the first predetermined time or the continuous drive time of the blower fan is greater than or equal to the second predetermined time. The process may include setting the second defrost cycle shorter than the first defrost cycle set when the process is equal to or less than the reference condition.

Therefore, according to such a control method, by changing the defrosting cycle according to the operating conditions of the refrigerator, defrosting can be performed with a shorter defrosting cycle in an environment in which there is a lot of defrost on the evaporator of the refrigerator.

Defrosting apparatus according to the present invention, the temperature sensor for sensing the external temperature of the refrigerator, the first defrost cycle and the second defrost cycle different in cycle is input, counting the number of door opening and closing between defrost cycles, And a control unit for integrating the driving time and the driving time of the blowing fan, wherein the control unit determines all of the detected value of the temperature sensor, the number of opening and closing of the door, and the continuous driving time of the compressor and the blowing fan. If the number of opening and closing times and the continuous driving time is satisfied, the technical subject is to control the defrosting by a second defrosting cycle having a shorter period than the first defrosting cycle.

Next, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the embodiments shown in the drawings.

First, the defrost cycle according to the present invention is set to have two cycles. That is, the first defrost cycle and the second defrost cycle shorter than the conventional defrost cycle may be set. Specifically, the first defrost cycle is a basic cycle of about 7 hours as in the prior art, and the second defrost cycle is a short cycle of about 4 hours than the conventional defrost cycle.

The two defrosting cycles according to the present invention vary depending on the use environment of the refrigerator. The first defrosting cycle, which is a relatively long defrosting cycle, can be applied when used in a general use environment, and a relatively short second defrosting cycle is It is a defrost cycle that can be used when the door of the refrigerator is frequently opened and closed under high temperature and high humidity. In the two defrosting cycles according to the present invention, the operation time is determined by integrating the driving time of the refrigerator.

In addition, as described above, the use environment of the refrigerator for controlling the defrosting cycle in two ways may be determined in consideration of factors related to the ambient temperature and humidity at which the refrigerator is used. Hereinafter, the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 3 showing a flowchart of the present invention with respect to the defrosting cycle determination according to the present invention, focusing on the elements of the use environment of the refrigerator.

First, when the operation of the refrigerator starts, it is determined whether the ambient temperature RT of the refrigerator is equal to or greater than a predetermined temperature (for example, 25 ° C.) in operation 110. The determination of whether or not the ambient temperature is, for example, 25 ° C. or higher is a process considering that the relative humidity is high at a high temperature and the amount of defrost formed on the evaporator due to the inflow of outside air when the door is opened or closed. . The sensing of the ambient temperature of the refrigerator is performed by a temperature sensor attached to an outer surface of the refrigerator.

In operation 110, when the ambient temperature is 25 ° C. or less, the operation proceeds to step 124 so that the defrost cycle may be controlled based on the first defrost cycle. Here, the first defrost cycle is as described above based on the same seven hours as the general defrost cycle.

In operation 110, when the ambient temperature is determined to be 25 ° C. or more, in operation 112, it is determined whether the number of opening and closing of the door is greater than or equal to a predetermined number (for example, five or more times). The opening / closing frequency of the door is detected because hot and humid outside air is introduced by opening and closing the door, and the inflow of the outside air has a great influence on the amount of implantation of the evaporator.

The number of opening and closing of the door is calculated after the completion of the previous defrosting process. Therefore, in step 112, if it is determined that the door is opened or closed five times or less while the refrigerator is being driven between the defrosting processes, the process proceeds to step 124 and the defrosting is controlled by the first defrosting cycle. This is considered, even if the outside temperature is 25 ℃ or more because the possibility that the hot and humid air penetrates into the refrigerator if the number of times of opening and closing the door is less than five times, this is considered.

Next, when it is determined in step 112 that the number of opening / closing of the door is equal to or greater than a certain number of times, in step 114, it is determined whether the continuous operation time of the compressor for driving the refrigerator is longer than a predetermined time (for example, 4 hours). . If it is determined that the continuous operation time is longer than a predetermined time, the process proceeds to step 120, and the defrosting process is performed to have a second defrost cycle. If the continuous operation time is, for example, 4 hours or more, since the state in which the internal temperature of the refrigerator is higher than or equal to the set temperature is continuously maintained, it means that the internal temperature is actually high and the generation and circulation of cold air is continued. This means that the defrosting process is performed with a defrosting cycle shorter than the first defrosting cycle, as in step 120, because it means that the amount of defrost that has been implanted in the evaporator is actually high for a continuous time. The second defrost cycle may be set to, for example, 4 hours, assuming that the first defrost cycle is 7 hours.

If it is determined in step 114 that the continuous operation time does not exceed 4 hours, the flow proceeds to step 116 to determine whether the continuous operation time of the blower fan is longer than a predetermined time (for example, 7 hours). Determining whether the blower fan has been operated continuously for seven hours or more takes into account the case where the supply of cold air continues even when the compressor is stopped. Substantially, since the cold air is not satisfied with the temperature condition inside the refrigerator, the inside of the refrigerator is in a state where cold air is supplied for a long time. Therefore, in step 116, it can be seen that the determination is for harsh operating conditions inside the refrigerator.

In operation 116, when the continuous operation time of the blower fan 116 is longer than a predetermined time, such as 7 hours, the process proceeds to operation 120, and it is controlled to perform the defrost process with the second defrost cycle. If it is determined in step 116 that the continuous operation time of the blower fan is less than 7 hours, the process proceeds to step 124 where it is controlled to perform the defrost process with the first defrost cycle.

The defrost cycle control method according to the present invention is summarized as follows: 1) the ambient temperature of the refrigerator is at a certain temperature (for example, 25 ℃) or more, 2) the number of opening and closing of the door is a certain number of times (for example, five times) And 3) if all three conditions satisfy the compressor's continuous operation time for more than a certain time (for example 4 hours) or the blower fan's continuous operation time for a certain time (for example 7 hours). At the same time as the high temperature state, a lot of moisture can be introduced into the inside of the refrigerator, so that the defrost process is performed with a second defrost cycle. Since the second defrost cycle is shorter than the first defrost cycle, as described above, when the above-described conditions are satisfied, the second defrost cycle is intended to improve the efficiency of the refrigerator by having the short defrost cycle.

4 is a block diagram showing a configuration for performing the defrosting process as described above. The two defrosting cycles described above are previously input to the control unit CPU. In other words, it is previously inputted to the controller CPU that the first defrost cycle has, for example, a period of 7 hours, and the second defrost cycle has a period of 4 hours.

The control unit CPU receives a temperature detection value from a temperature sensor S that detects an ambient temperature of the refrigerator. By the temperature detection value, the determination in step 110 described above is performed.

In addition, the control unit (CPU) is counting the number of times of opening and closing the door, the process of step 112 is performed according to this count value. The counting of the number of opening and closing of the door may be performed by counting the number of on / off times of the door switch that is turned on / off according to opening and closing of the door of the refrigerator.

In addition, the control unit CPU continuously accumulates the driving time of the compressor C and the blower fan F, thereby performing steps 114 and 116 described above.

As described above, the present invention determines the defrosting cycle in consideration of the external environment of the refrigerator, and within the basic technical spirit of the present invention, other modifications are possible for those skilled in the art. to be.

According to the present invention as described above, it can be seen that the defrosting process of the refrigerator is divided to have two cycles, and the defrosting process is performed by selecting an appropriate one according to the operating conditions of the refrigerator. Applying the defrosting method according to the present invention, it is possible to maintain the heat exchange efficiency of the evaporator in the refrigerator in the most desirable state. Therefore, while maintaining the best refrigeration and freezing efficiency, it is expected that the power consumption can be kept at a minimum.

Claims (2)

Determining whether the outside temperature of the refrigerator is above a predetermined temperature, The process of determining whether the number of opening and closing the door after the completion of the previous defrosting process is over a certain number of times, Determining whether the continuous drive time of the compressor of the refrigerator is greater than or equal to the first predetermined time or the continuous drive time of the blower fan is greater than or equal to the second predetermined time; When all three processes are equal to or greater than the reference condition, the defrost of the refrigerator configured to have a second defrosting period shorter than the first defrosting period set when any one of the three processes is lower than or equal to the reference condition. Cycle control method. A temperature sensor for detecting an external temperature of the refrigerator, A first defrosting cycle and a second defrosting cycle having different cycles are input, and the control unit counts the number of door opening and closing times between the defrosting cycles, and integrates the driving time of the compressor and the driving time of the blower fan, The controller determines all of the detected value of the temperature sensor, the number of opening / closing of the door, the continuous driving time of the compressor and the blower fan, and simultaneously satisfies the detected value, the opening / closing frequency and the continuous driving time of the first defrosting cycle. A defrosting apparatus for a refrigerator, characterized in that the control is performed to defrost by a short defrost cycle.

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