KR100615807B1 - Refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a refrigerator including a refrigeration cycle for compressing, condensing, expanding, and evaporating a refrigerant, and more particularly, to a refrigerator capable of effectively varying a refrigeration capacity even if a load is varied.

According to the present invention, a refrigerator includes a linear compressor configured to compress a refrigerant into a gas refrigerant having a high temperature and high pressure, and operate so that the compression capacity is changed while maintaining a resonance state even if the load is variable; A condenser condensing the refrigerant compressed by the linear compressor into a liquid refrigerant having a high temperature and high pressure; Decompression means for reducing the refrigerant condensed in the condenser with a low-temperature low-pressure liquid refrigerant and varying the degree of decompression by varying the flow path according to the load; An evaporator for evaporating the refrigerant expanded by the decompression means into a gas refrigerant of low temperature and low pressure; It includes a blower for blowing the cold air generated around the evaporator to the freezer compartment or the refrigerating compartment.

Refrigerator, Linear Compressor, Condenser, Expansion Valve, Evaporator, Flow Control Valve

Description

Refrigerator {REFRIGERATOR}             

1 is a configuration diagram showing a refrigeration cycle applied to a general refrigerator,

2 is a configuration diagram showing a refrigeration cycle applied to the refrigerator according to the present invention,

3 is a graph showing the operating characteristics of the linear compressor applied to the refrigerator of the present invention.

<Explanation of symbols on main parts of the drawings>

52: linear compressor 54: condenser

56 decompression means 56a refrigeration expansion valve

56b: refrigeration expansion valve 56c: flow path variable valve

58: evaporator 58a: freezer compartment side region

58b: refrigerator compartment side area 59: partition wall

62: freezer fan 64: refrigerator compartment fan

The present invention relates to a refrigerator including a refrigeration cycle for compressing, condensing, expanding, and evaporating a refrigerant, and more particularly, to a refrigerator capable of effectively varying a refrigeration capacity even if a load is varied.

In general, the refrigerator is one of the necessities of life that can keep food fresh for a certain period of time by reducing the freezing compartment or the refrigerating compartment while repeating a refrigeration cycle in which the refrigerant is compressed, condensed, expanded, and evaporated.

Such a refrigerator includes a compressor for compressing a refrigerant into a gas refrigerant having a high temperature and high pressure, a condenser for condensing the refrigerant passing through the compressor into a liquid refrigerant having a high temperature and high pressure, and a refrigerant that has passed through the condenser to reduce the refrigerant through a low temperature and low pressure liquid refrigerant. It consists of an expansion valve and a refrigerating cycle that uses an evaporator as a basic component to absorb the heat inside the freezing compartment or the refrigerating compartment and keep the temperature inside the freezing compartment or the refrigerating compartment at a low temperature while evaporating the refrigerant passing through the expansion valve to a low temperature and low pressure gas refrigerant. .

1 is a configuration diagram illustrating a refrigeration cycle applied to a general refrigerator.

In general, the refrigerator is formed so that the freezer compartment and the refrigerating compartment are partitioned by partition walls, and a refrigeration cycle composed of a compressor (2), a condenser (4), a capillary tube (6), and an evaporator (8) as shown in FIG. The cold air generated around the evaporator 8 is supplied to the freezing chamber (not shown) and the refrigerating chamber (not shown) by a blower, so that most of the cold air is supplied to the freezing chamber to maintain about -18 ° C. At the same time, only a portion of the cold air is supplied to the refrigerating compartment to maintain about 3 ℃.

Here, the compressor (2) is applied to the inverter compressor that can vary the refrigerant compression capacity by varying the voltage input according to the load, the compressor (2) is to control the flow rate of the refrigerant by varying the number of revolutions of the drive motor While compressed to a high temperature and high pressure gas refrigerant.

Next, the condenser 4 is a heat exchanger, and condenses the refrigerant with a high temperature and high pressure liquid refrigerant by exchanging the refrigerant with external air, and the capillary tube 4 forms a thinner refrigerant tube so that the refrigerant is a low temperature and low pressure liquid refrigerant. An electronic expansion valve may be used to reduce the pressure, but to control the flow rate of the refrigerant by adjusting the opening value instead of the capillary tube 4.

Next, the evaporator 8 is also a heat exchanger, which is installed on the inner wall of the freezer compartment to heat exchange the refrigerant with ambient air to evaporate the refrigerant into a low temperature low pressure gas refrigerant and generate cold air.

At this time, a cold air circulation passage (not shown) is formed to communicate with each other between the installation space of the evaporator (8) and the freezer compartment and the refrigerating chamber, and a blowing fan 12 and a motor (not shown) are formed on the cold air circulation passage. The device is installed.

Of course, as the blower fan 12 is operated, most of the cold air is supplied to the freezer compartment, and the cold air circulating through the freezer compartment is connected to the refrigerator compartment through a communication hole formed in a partition (not shown) partitioning the freezer compartment and the refrigerator compartment. The cold air circulated through the refrigerating compartment is supplied to the evaporator side of the inner wall of the freezing compartment.

The operation of the components of the refrigerator as described above is controlled by a microcomputer (not shown). The microcomputer has a set freezing temperature Tf in which the temperatures Tf and Tr of the freezer compartment and the refrigerator compartment are set by a user or are automatically set. ₀ ) and control the various components to reach the set refrigeration temperature (Tr ₀ ), the temperature of the freezer compartment and the refrigerating chamber (Tf, Tr), the set freezing temperature (Tf ₀ ) and the set refrigeration temperature (Tr ₀ ) Consider the error as the load.

Accordingly, as the compressor 2 is operated, refrigerant is compressed, condensed, expanded, and evaporated while passing through the compressor 2, the condenser 4, the capillary tube 6, and the evaporator 8, and the evaporator 8 The surrounding cold air is supplied to the freezing compartment and the refrigerating compartment as the blower fan 12 is operated.

At this time, when the load calculated by the error between the freezer compartment temperature Tf and the refrigerator compartment temperature Tr and the set freezing temperature Tf ₀ and the set refrigeration temperature Tr ₀ is variable, the compressor 2 is rotated high. While operating in water to change the compression flow rate of the refrigerant, the greater the load can be adjusted to increase the operating speed of the compressor to increase the freezing capacity.

However, the refrigerator as described above has the operating speed of the compressor 2 so that the efficiency of the compressor can be optimized in consideration of the capacities of the condenser 4, the capillary tube 6, the electromagnetic expansion valve, and the evaporator 8 under low load. Since the constant is set so that the load is variable and the operating speed of the compressor 2 is changed at a high load state, the efficiency of the compressor 2 is drastically reduced, which causes a large power loss.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems of the prior art, an object of the present invention is to provide a refrigerator capable of optimally maintaining the compressor efficiency while varying the refrigeration capacity even if the load is variable.

According to an aspect of the present invention, a refrigerator includes a linear compressor configured to compress a refrigerant into a gas refrigerant having a high temperature and high pressure, and to operate a compression capacity while maintaining a resonance state even if the load is variable; A condenser condensing the refrigerant compressed by the linear compressor into a liquid refrigerant having a high temperature and high pressure; Decompression means for reducing the refrigerant condensed in the condenser with a low-temperature low-pressure liquid refrigerant and varying the degree of decompression by varying the flow path according to the load; An evaporator for evaporating the refrigerant expanded by the decompression means into a gas refrigerant of low temperature and low pressure; It is composed of a blower for blowing the cold air generated around the evaporator to the freezer compartment or the refrigerating compartment.

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

2 is a configuration diagram showing a refrigeration cycle applied to the refrigerator according to the present invention, Figure 3 is a graph showing the operating characteristics of the linear compressor applied to the refrigerator of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 2, the refrigerator according to the present invention also passes through the linear compressor 52 and the linear compressor 52 which compresses the refrigerant while performing the resonance operation while the operating frequency f _c varies according to the load. A condenser 54 for condensing the refrigerant, a decompression means 56 for reducing the pressure of the refrigerant passing through the condenser 54, and adjusting the degree of decompression while passing through different flow paths according to the load; Including an evaporator 58 for evaporating the refrigerant passing through the evaporator at the same time and the cold air generated around the evaporator 58 and a blower for blowing the cool air generated in the vicinity of the evaporator 58 to the freezer (not shown) and the refrigerating chamber (not shown) It is composed.

Here, the linear compressor 52 is compressed into a gas refrigerant of high temperature and high pressure while reciprocating linearly moving in a state where one end of a piston (not shown) is inserted into a cylinder (not shown) in which a compression space is formed. The piston is connected to a linear motor (not shown) to reciprocate linearly.

At this time, the piston has a plurality of mechanical springs (K _m ) having a constant mechanical spring constant (K _m ) and the gas spring having a gas spring constant (K _g ) that varies depending on the load by the refrigerant gas contained in the compression space It is installed to elastically support in the movement direction (not shown).

Of course, since the natural spring f _n of the piston (or linear compressor) is calculated by the mechanical spring constant K _m and the gas spring constant K _g and the mass of the piston, the gas spring constant K _g is As the load varies, the natural frequency f _n of the piston is also changed. As the load increases, the gas spring constant K _g increases, and the natural frequency f _n of the piston also increases.

Accordingly, the linear compressor 52 estimates the natural frequency f _n of the piston according to a frequency estimation algorithm in order to operate in a resonance state, and the linear compressor 52 matches the natural frequency f _n of the piston. Adjust the operating frequency (f _c ) of the motor

Of course, the controller (not shown) for controlling the operation of the entire refrigerator not only estimates the natural frequency f _n of the piston according to the load, but also controls to synchronize the operating frequency f _c of the linear motor.

At this time, the linear motor is operated such that the operating frequency (f _c ) increases to match the natural frequency (f _n ) of the piston as the load increases, as shown in FIG. When high cooling power is required, the operation frequency is faster f _c , and the operation frequency f _c is adjusted by dividing the low, medium, and high loads step by step even at the low cooling power and the high cooling power, respectively.

Next, the condenser 54 is a heat exchanger, and condenses the liquid refrigerant at high temperature and high pressure by exchanging the refrigerant with external air.

Next, the decompression means 56 is provided between the condenser 54 and the evaporator 58, the refrigeration expansion valve 56a and the refrigeration expansion valve 56b in which the line and rear refrigerant pipes are laminated are installed side by side. A flow path variable valve 56c is installed between the condenser 54, the refrigeration expansion valve 56a, and the refrigeration expansion valve 56b so that the refrigerant passing through the condenser 54 is refrigerated expansion valve 56a or refrigerated. The expansion valve 56b is adjusted to selectively supply refrigerant.

At this time, the refrigeration expansion valve 56a is configured to have a higher pressure reduction degree than the refrigeration expansion valve 56b. When a high cooling force is required under a high load, the refrigerant passes through the refrigeration expansion valve 56a. When a low cooling force is required at a low load state, the refrigerant passes through the refrigerating expansion valve 56b.

Of course, the refrigeration expansion valve (56a) and the refrigeration expansion valve (56b) may be applied to any of the electronic expansion valve to control the degree of decompression by adjusting the capillary tube or the opening degree of the refrigerant pipe is thinly formed, but having a different capacity In order to achieve this, capillaries having different lengths may be applied, or electromagnetic expansion valves having different opening amounts may be applied by varying the range of the opening values.

In addition, the flow path variable valve 56c is installed in the refrigerant pipe laminated at the front end of the refrigeration expansion valve 56a and the refrigerating expansion valve 56b to apply a three-way valve that can selectively change the flow path of the refrigerant. Preferably, a pair of solenoid valves may be applied to the front end sides of the refrigeration expansion valve 56a and the refrigeration expansion valve 56b.

Next, the evaporator 58 is located on the inner wall of the freezer compartment and configured to be divided into a freezer compartment side region 58a and a refrigerating compartment side region 58b by separate partition walls, or freezing by a partition wall partitioning the freezer compartment and the refrigerating compartment. It may be configured to be divided into the measurement region 58a and the refrigerator compartment side region 58b, and the freezer compartment side region 58a is formed larger than the refrigerator compartment side region 58b to generate cooler cold air.

At this time, in order to ensure that the cold air generated in the freezer compartment side area 58a is supplied to the freezer compartment, and the cold air generated in the freezer compartment side area 58b is supplied to the refrigerating compartment, the freezer compartment side area 58a and the refrigerating compartment side area 58b are respectively provided. In order to communicate with the freezer compartment and the refrigerating compartment to form a separate cold air circulation path, a freezer compartment fan 62 and a motor (not shown) and a refrigerator compartment fan 64 and a motor (not shown) are installed on a separate cold air circulation passage. Cool air is blown to the freezer compartment and the refrigerating compartment separately.

Of course, the freezing compartment fan 62 and the refrigerating compartment fan 64 are controlled according to the load to adjust the air volume blown into the freezing compartment and the refrigerating compartment, respectively.

Looking at the operation of the refrigerator configured as described above are as follows.

First, the load of the freezer compartment and the refrigerating compartment is sensed, and it is determined whether a low cooling force or a high cooling force is required in response to the load, and the natural frequency f _n is calculated according to the determination result, and then the linear compressor 52 Is adjusted to synchronize the driving frequency (f _c ) of the linear motor to the natural frequency (f _n ) of the piston, thereby compressing the piston into a high-temperature, high-pressure gas refrigerant while reciprocating linear movement inside the cylinder.

Of course, the linear motor 52 is controlled so that the driving frequency (f _c ) of the linear motor is synchronized to the natural frequency (f _n ) of the piston so that the resonance operation is performed even if the load is variable, regardless of the load. Optimum efficiency can be achieved.

Next, the refrigerant compressed by the linear compressor 52 is condensed into a liquid refrigerant of high temperature and high pressure through heat exchange with external air while passing through the condenser 54.

Next, the refrigerant condensed in the condenser 54 is expanded into a liquid refrigerant of low temperature and low pressure while passing through the decompression means 56. When a high cooling force is required, the flow path switching valve 56c is the refrigeration expansion valve 56a. While the refrigerant is passed through the refrigeration expansion valve (56a), the pressure is relatively reduced while the flow path switching valve (56c) is the refrigeration expansion valve (56b) when low cooling force is required. As the refrigerant flows through the refrigeration expansion valve 56b, the pressure is reduced to open the furnace flow path.

Next, the refrigerant passing through the decompression means 56 is evaporated into a gas refrigerant of low temperature and low pressure while passing through the evaporator 58, and at the same time, cold air is generated around the evaporator 58.

At this time, since the evaporator 58 is divided into a freezer compartment side region 58a and a refrigerator compartment side region 58b, the cold air generated in the freezer compartment side region 58a and the refrigerating compartment side region 58b, respectively, is stored in the freezer compartment fan 62. And as the refrigerating chamber fan 64 is operated to the freezer compartment and the refrigerating compartment side, respectively, along a separate cold air circulation passage, the cold air separately circulated in the freezer compartment and the refrigerating compartment is recovered to the evaporator 58 side again.

While repeating the above process, the cold air is supplied to the freezer compartment and the refrigerating compartment until the load is released.

In the above, the present invention has been described in detail based on the embodiments of the present invention and the accompanying drawings. However, the scope of the present invention is not limited by the above embodiments and drawings, and the scope of the present invention will be limited only by the contents described in the claims below.

The refrigerator according to the present invention constituted as described above includes a linear compressor for adjusting the operating frequency even when the load is variable, and a decompression means for adjusting the degree of decompression by varying the flow path according to the load. Because of the application, the refrigeration capacity is variable according to the load, so that the load can be quickly eliminated and the efficiency of the compressor can be optimally maintained even if the load is variable, thereby reducing the power loss.

Claims (8)

delete A linear compressor configured to compress the refrigerant and operate to vary the compression capacity while maintaining a resonance state even if the load is variable; A condenser for condensing the refrigerant compressed by the linear compressor; Pressure reducing means for reducing the refrigerant by condensing the refrigerant condensed in the condenser and varying the degree of decompression by varying the flow path according to the load; An evaporator for evaporating the refrigerant expanded by the decompression means; A blower for blowing cold air generated around the evaporator to a freezing compartment or a refrigerating compartment; In the refrigerator containing, The linear compressor includes a cylinder having a compression space formed therein; A piston for compressing the refrigerant while reciprocating linearly moving with one end inserted into the cylinder; At least one spring installed to elastically support the piston in a movement direction and varying a spring constant according to a load; And a linear motor installed to be connected to the piston and reciprocating linear movement of the piston in an axial direction and synchronizing its operating frequency to a natural frequency of the piston depending on the spring constant. The method of claim 2, The decompression means is installed between the condenser and the evaporator between the refrigeration expansion valve and the refrigeration expansion valve having different capacities installed side by side so that the refrigerant pipes of the front and rear sides are laminated, and between the condenser and the refrigeration expansion valve and the refrigeration expansion valve. And a flow path variable valve configured to selectively supply the refrigerant passing through the condenser to the refrigeration expansion valve or the refrigeration expansion valve. The method of claim 3, wherein The refrigerator expansion valve is characterized in that the refrigerator is configured to have a larger capacity than the refrigeration expansion valve. The method of claim 4, wherein The refrigerator expansion valve and the refrigerating expansion valve is a refrigerator characterized in that the flow paths are capillaries of different lengths. The method of claim 4, wherein The refrigerator expansion valve and the refrigeration expansion valve is a refrigerator, characterized in that the electronic expansion valve having a different amount of opening. The method according to any one of claims 3 to 6, And the flow path variable valve is a three-way valve installed in a refrigerant pipe branched from the condenser to the refrigeration expansion valve and the refrigeration expansion valve to vary the flow path of the refrigerant. The method according to any one of claims 3 to 6, The flow path variable valve is a refrigerator, characterized in that the first and second solenoid valve (Solenoid valve) is installed in each of the refrigerant expansion valve and the refrigeration expansion valve front end of the refrigerant pipe to open and close the flow path of the refrigerant.

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