KR100631561B1 - How to control the ice level operation of the ice maker of the refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method of controlling ice operation of an ice maker of a refrigerator, the method comprising: a first process of sensing a level of ice stored in an ice bank; A second process of stopping the operation of the ice maker and returning to the first process when the level of ice detected in the first process is full ice; A third step of determining whether to operate the ice maker by determining whether the ice is ejected from the ice bank when the level of the ice detected in the first step is not in an iced state; It characterized by including. As a result, the operation of the ice maker is controlled based on whether or not the ice is actually taken out with respect to the detection signal for the ice of the ice detection unit, and thus, the ice maker can be stably operated.

Refrigerator, Ice Machine, Full Ice

Description

CONTROL METHOD FOR DRIVING ICEMAKER OF REFRIGERATOR}

1 is a perspective view showing a state in which a door of a refrigerator that can be applied to the ice-free operation control method of the ice maker of the refrigerator according to the present invention is closed;

Figure 2 is a perspective view showing a state in which the freezer door of Figure 1 is open,

3 is a block diagram showing elements for implementing a method for controlling ice operation of an ice maker in a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 4 is a flow chart showing a method of controlling the operation of the ice maker of the refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention,

5 is a flowchart illustrating a method of controlling ice operation of an ice maker of a refrigerator according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a method of controlling ice level operation of an ice maker of a refrigerator according to another embodiment of the present invention.

* Description of the symbols for the main parts of the drawings *

11: freezer door 20: ice maker

21: the ice sheet 22: ice bank

23: dispenser 24: ice extraction switch

25: ice bank desorption detection unit 30: control unit

The present invention relates to an operation control method of an ice maker of a refrigerator, and more particularly, to a malfunction of an ice maker when a signal indicating that the ice bank has been released without a substantial ejection of ice is signaled. The present invention relates to a control method of ice making operation of an ice maker.

In general, a refrigerator is provided with a cooling chamber to keep food and the like at a low temperature. The refrigerator may be used by dividing a low temperature range into a freezing chamber for keeping the cooling chamber at a low temperature below zero and a refrigerating chamber for keeping the image at a low temperature. In addition, as the demand for ice in recent years has increased, there has been an increase in an example in which an automatic ice maker that can make and provide only ice separately is installed in the refrigerator.

An example of such a refrigerator will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. As shown in these figures, the refrigerator 1 is provided on both sides of the refrigerator main body 10 in which the freezing compartment 13 and the refrigerating compartment are partitioned by partition walls 14 in the vertical direction, and the refrigerator main body 10 is provided at both sides. The doors 11 and 12 are rotatably opened and closed to open the freezing compartment 13 and the refrigerating compartment independently.

The freezing chamber 13 is provided with a shelf 15 horizontally formed so that the freezing space can be divided into multiple layers, and an ice maker 20 for automatically freezing water by receiving water at an upper portion of an inner wall of the freezing chamber door 11, An ice bank 22 for storing the ice discharged from the ice maker 20 is provided below the ice maker 20.

The ice maker 20 is provided with an ice sensor 21 to detect the level of ice stored in the ice bank 22 to determine whether to operate the ice maker 20.

The outer side of the freezer compartment 11 is provided with a dispenser 23 communicated with the ice bank 22 so that the user can take out the ice from the outside, and a dispenser 23 is provided near the center of the dispenser 23. 24).

As a result, when the function of the refrigerator 1 is set to perform the ice making mode, when the information detected by the ice detection unit 21 is not in the ice state, the ice maker 20 is supplied with water to make ice and then ice banks. The process of discharging to 22 is repeated, and the ice detection unit 21 periodically detects whether or not ice is being reached to stop the ice making operation of the ice maker 20 when the ice level reaches a preset ice level.

If the ice bank 22 is iced and the user takes out ice and the ice state is released after the ice maker 20 is stopped, the ice maker 20 receives the signal of the ice detection unit 21 and the ice maker 20 is again. Start the ice making operation.

However, even after there is no ice information obtained by the ice detection unit 21, even when there is no actual ice ejection, the shock when the freezer door 11 is closed or the stack of ice that is irregularly accumulated in the ice bank 21 is changed. If there is, there is a problem that the ice maker 20 malfunctions because the information obtained from the ice sensor 21 is not the ice, that is, it is reported that the ice is released.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to control the ice-making operation of the ice maker of the refrigerator to prevent the ice maker from malfunctioning by adding a determination process on the ice-free information obtained from the ice detection unit. To provide a method.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention, the first process for detecting the level of ice stored in the ice bank; A second process of stopping the operation of the ice maker and returning to the first process when the level of ice detected in the first process is full ice; A third step of determining whether to operate the ice maker by determining whether the ice is ejected from the ice bank when the level of the ice detected in the first step is not in an iced state; It provides a method of controlling the ice ice operation of the ice maker of the refrigerator comprising a.

In this case, it is preferable that the third step includes a step of operating the ice maker in the ice making mode when the ice extraction switch of the dispenser installed outside the refrigerator is operated.

In addition, the third step may include determining whether the ice bank inside the refrigerator has been separated, and if so, stopping the operation of the ice maker.

In addition, the present invention, in the third step, if the ice take-out switch has never been operated, it is determined whether the ice bank inside the refrigerator has been removed, and if it is positive, the operation of the ice maker is stopped. Also disclosed is a method of controlling ice-melt operation of an ice maker of a refrigerator including a process of making a refrigerator.

Hereinafter, a method of controlling ice-driving operation of the ice maker of the refrigerator according to the present invention will be described in detail according to the embodiment shown in the accompanying drawings, and detailed descriptions of related known functions or components will be omitted.

Figure 3 is a block diagram showing the elements for implementing a method of controlling the ice ice operation of the refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention, Figure 4 is a ice cube operation control method of the ice maker of the refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a method of controlling the ice making operation of the ice maker of the refrigerator according to another embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 5 is a control of the ice making operation of the ice maker of the refrigerator according to another embodiment of the present invention. This is a flowchart showing how.

First, the configuration of the refrigerator to which the ice-making operation control method of the ice maker of the refrigerator according to the present invention is applicable is the same as that of FIGS. 1 and 2, and the foregoing description also applies to this configuration.

As shown in FIG. 3, the refrigerator 1 includes a controller 30 to implement a method for controlling ice-driving operation of the ice maker of the refrigerator according to the present invention, and the controller 30 includes the ice maker 20 described above. , The ice detection unit 21 and the ice extraction switch 24 are connected. In this case, the control unit 30 may be further connected to the ice bank detachable detection unit 25 for detecting whether the ice bank 22 is separated from the freezer door 11 in order to realize a control method to be described later.

As illustrated in FIG. 4, the method for controlling ice operation of the ice maker of the refrigerator according to the present embodiment is a first to third process.

First, in the first process, the ice level is detected by the ice sensor 21 to detect the level of ice stored in the ice bank 22 (S11).

In the second process, it is determined whether the ice level detected by the ice detection unit 21 in the first process is full ice (S12). Stop (S15) and return to the first process.

In the third process, if the water level of the ice detected by the ice sensing unit 21 is not ice, or after being returned to the first process in a state where it is already detected as ice, the ice storage is released. If there is a signal from (21), the controller 30 determines whether the ice extraction switch 24 of the dispenser 23 has been operated during the time between the full ice signal and the full ice release signal (S13). If affirmative, the ice maker 20 is driven in the ice making mode (S14), and the process returns to step S11.

That is, since the level of the ice includes the additional determination process of whether the actual extraction, the stability is more secured than the operation control of the ice maker 20 by the only ice detection unit 21.

As shown in FIG. 5, in the method of controlling the operation of the refrigerator according to the present embodiment, a determination process is performed to determine whether the actual extraction of the ice is performed by separating the ice bank 22 itself rather than the dispenser 23. It is characterized by the points involved.

That is, the first process and the second process may be applied in the same manner as the process shown in FIG. 4 described above, and in the third process, when the result of determining the signal value of the ice detection unit 21 (S22) is not ice. (This includes when the ice is released after returning to the first process from the state where the ice is already detected.), And the controller 30 controls the ice bank 22 during the time between the ice and the ice release signal. It is determined whether the ice is taken out separately (S23), and if the determination result is affirmative, the ice maker 20 is operated in the ice making mode (S24), and if the determination result is negative, the ice maker ( Operation 20) is stopped (S25) and the process returns to step S21.

In this case, the ice bank 22 and the freezing chamber door 11 may be provided with an ice bank detachment detecting unit 25, for example, a magnetic sensor that can detect the detachment of the ice bank 22.

Accordingly, even in the method of extracting the ice by separating the ice bank 22, the process of determining whether the level of the ice is actually taken out is included. Therefore, the operation of the ice maker 20 by only the ice detection unit 21 is controlled. Stability is secured.

As shown in FIG. 5, in the present embodiment, the above-described determination process based on the operation signal of the ice extraction switch 24 and the determination process based on the separation signal of the ice bank 22 are included. There is this.

That is, the first process and the second process may be applied in the same manner as the process illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5 described above, and in the third process, the result of determining the signal of the ice sensing unit 21 (S32) is the result of ice. Or (this includes when the ice is released after returning to the first process from the state where it has already been detected as ice), the control unit 30 controls the ice bank during the time between the ice signal and the ice break signal. 22) to determine whether the ice is taken out (S33), and if yes, the ice maker 20 is operated (S36). If negative, it is determined whether the ice bank 22 has been separated as a next step (S34).

In this case, if the determination result of step S34 is affirmative, the ice maker 20 is driven (S36), and the process returns to step S31, and if negative, the operation of the ice maker 20 is stopped (S35) and the process returns to step S31.

As described above, according to the ice cream operation control method of the ice maker of the refrigerator of the present invention, a determination process of whether the ice extraction switch 24 of the dispenser 23 is operated with respect to the detection signal of the ice cream of the ice cream detection unit 21. Or since it includes a determination process of whether the ice bank 22 is separated, it controls the operation of the ice maker 20 based on whether the ice is actually taken out, the effect that the ice maker 20 can be operated stably. There is.

As described above with reference to the drawings illustrating a method of controlling the ice ice operation of the ice maker of the refrigerator according to the present invention, the present invention is not limited by the embodiments and drawings disclosed herein, the technical spirit of the present invention Various modifications can be made by those skilled in the art within the scope.

Claims (4)

A first step of sensing the level of ice stored in the ice bank; A second process of stopping the operation of the ice maker and returning to the first process when the level of ice detected in the first process is full ice; A third step of determining whether or not the ice maker is operated by determining whether the ice level detected in the first step is that the ice level has been taken out of the ice bank if the ice level is not full ice; Ice ice control method of the ice maker of the refrigerator comprising a. The method of claim 1, wherein in the third process, And operating the ice maker in an ice making mode when the ice extracting switch of the dispenser installed on the outside of the refrigerator is operated. The method of claim 1, wherein in the third process, And determining whether the ice bank inside the refrigerator has been separated, and if the determination result is positive, stopping the operation of the ice maker. The method of claim 2, wherein in the third process, If the ice extraction switch has never been operated, it is determined whether the ice bank inside the refrigerator has been separated, and if the determination is positive, stopping the operation of the ice maker. Method of controlling ice operation of the ice maker of the refrigerator.

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