KR100733077B1 - Refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

A refrigerator having a cold storage medium is provided to precisely control a temperature of an auxiliary storage compartment by controlling a cool air supply part according to a phase of the cold storage medium. A main body cabinet(1) forms a main storage compartment(10). An auxiliary cabinet(50) forms an auxiliary storage compartment(57) in the main storage compartment and has a cold storage medium containing part. A cold storage medium(60) is contained in the cold storage medium containing part and changes a phase into a liquid phase or a solid phase according to a temperature. A sensing part(70) is mounted at the auxiliary cabinet for sensing a phase change of the cold storage medium. A cool air supply part supplies cool air to the auxiliary cabinet. If the cold storage medium is in a liquid phase, a control unit drives the cool air supply part while stopping the driving of the cool air supply part if the cold storage medium is in a solid phase.

Description

Refrigerator {REFRIGERATOR}

1 is a side sectional view showing a schematic configuration of a refrigerator according to the present invention,

Fig. 2 is an enlarged view of the area A in Fig. 1,

3 is a block diagram of a refrigerator according to the present invention;

4 and 5 are side cross-sectional views showing another embodiment of Fig.

Description of the Related Art [0002]

1: main cabinet 10: main storage room

30: evaporator 31: blowing fan

40: cool air duct 41: cold air outlet

43: auxiliary cooling air outlet 50: auxiliary cabinet

51: outer wall 53: inner wall

55: axial cold storage part 57: auxiliary storage room

60: axial coolant 70: sensing part

71: light emitting portion 73: light receiving portion

80: cold air supply part 81: damper

83: auxiliary blower fan 85: auxiliary duct

90: cool air circulation part 91: circulating blower fan

93: Circulating duct 100:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention [0001] The present invention relates to a refrigerator, and more particularly, to a refrigerator having a cold storage material.

Generally, a refrigerator includes a main body having a storage chamber and a cooling device for supplying cool air to the storage chamber. In addition, an auxiliary storage room for storing vegetables, fruits, or the like may be separately formed in the storage room. Korean Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 1999-0019526 discloses a refrigerator having an auxiliary refrigerating chamber and an auxiliary refrigerating chamber.

The axial chill room is designed so that the temperature of the food is maintained at a constant temperature for a long period of time without being influenced by external factors, and the food is moisturized. The axial cold-water end is provided to communicate with the duct and has a space therein. The door includes a door formed on the front surface of the axial cold-chamber case. The axial cold-wall enclosure is spaced apart from the inner wall surface of the axial- And an axial coolant injected into the enclosure. The cooling air passing through the duct passes through the flow path formed between the cooling chamber case and the cooling medium enclosure and is cooled by contacting with the cooling medium and performing heat exchange.

As described above, the axial cooling member is frozen by the cooling action due to the heat exchange, so that the food housed in the axial cooling chamber is cooled by the conduction by direct contact with the axial cooling member enclosure and the natural circulation of the air inside the axial cooling chamber .

However, since such axial cooling chamber is cooled depending on cooling of the storage chamber, the temperature of the axial cooling chamber can not be precisely controlled.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a refrigerator which can precisely control the temperature of the auxiliary storage chamber.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a refrigerator having a main cabinet forming a main storage room, an auxiliary cabinet forming an auxiliary storage room inside the main storage room, and an auxiliary cabinet formed therein, An axial coolant phase-changing into a liquid phase and a solid phase according to temperature; A sensing unit mounted on the auxiliary cabinet and sensing a phase change of the axial coolant; A cool air supply unit for supplying cool air to the auxiliary cabinet; And a control unit for driving the cool air supply unit when it is determined that the cold coolant is in a liquid state as a result of the detection by the sensing unit and stopping the operation of the cool cooler when it is determined that the coolant is solid.

The sensing unit may be provided with an optical sensor.

The axial coolant may be provided as an aqueous solution of sodium.

Further comprising a cool air circulation unit for circulating the air inside the auxiliary storage room; Preferably, the control unit drives the cool air circulation unit when it is determined that the coolant is solid, and stops the operation of the cool air circulation unit when it is determined that the coolant is liquid.

Preferably, the controller interlocks the cool air circulation unit with the cool air supply unit.

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

1 to 3, a refrigerator according to the present invention includes a main cabinet 1 forming a main storage compartment 10, an auxiliary storage compartment 57 disposed inside the main storage compartment 10, A sensing unit 70 for sensing a phase change of the axial coolant 60; a cool air supply unit 80 for supplying cool air to the auxiliary cabinet 50; And a control unit (100) for controlling the driving of the cool air supply unit (80) based on the result detected by the coolant supply unit (70).

The main cabinet 1 includes an outer surface 15 forming an outer appearance and an inner surface 16 spaced apart from the outer surface 15 and a foam space in which the thermal insulating material is filled to form a main storage chamber 10. The main storage room (10) includes a freezing room and a refrigerating room. A door (20) for opening and closing the opening is mounted on a front opening of the main storage room (10). In the main storage room 10, a plurality of shelves 18 for partitioning the internal space of the main storage room 10 are arranged vertically. An evaporator 30 and a blowing fan 31 are disposed in a rear region of the main storage compartment 10 and cool air generated by the evaporator 30 is supplied to the front space of the evaporator 30, And a cool air duct (40) for guiding the cool air to the outside. A cool air discharge port 41 is formed in the cool air duct 40 to discharge the cool air blown by the blowing fan 31 into the main storage chamber 10. Meanwhile, the cool air duct 40 guides the cool air generated in the evaporator 30 to the auxiliary cabinet 50. A cool air duct (40) at the rear of the auxiliary cabinet (50) is formed with a cool air discharge opening (43) through which cool air is discharged toward the auxiliary cabinet (50). Meanwhile, an auxiliary cabinet 50 is disposed in the main storage room 10.

The auxiliary cabinet 50 is disposed in the main storage chamber 10 and the auxiliary storage chamber 57 is formed in the auxiliary cabinet 50. The auxiliary cabinet (50) is provided with a shaft coolant receiving portion (55). The auxiliary cabinet 50 includes an outer wall 51 forming an outer appearance and an inner wall 53 forming the axial coolant receiving portion 55 together with the outer wall 51. [ In this embodiment, the auxiliary cabinet 50 is provided in a rectangular box shape. The auxiliary cabinet 50 may be provided in a drawer form capable of being slidably pulled out from the main storage room 10. The front wall surface of the auxiliary cabinet 50 may be provided with a front opening and closing method for opening and closing the auxiliary storage room 57, The upper wall surface of the auxiliary cabinet 50 may be provided in a top opening / closing manner for opening and closing the auxiliary storage 57. The auxiliary cabinet 50 is made of a light-transmitting material. Accordingly, when the sensing unit 70 is provided as an optical sensor, the sensing unit 70 can sense a phase change of the axial coolant 60. [

The axial coolant receiving portion 55 stores the axial coolant 60. The axial coolant receiving portion 55 is formed as a space between the outer wall 51 and the inner wall 53. The axial cold storage part (55) is formed on at least one wall surface of the auxiliary cabinet (50). For example, the axial cold storage portion 55 may be formed on one wall surface of the auxiliary cabinet 50 or on all the wall surfaces. Here, it is preferable that the axial coolant 60 is accommodated in the axial cold receiving portion 55 in a state of being accommodated in a cold axial coolant pack (not shown) made of a flexible material. On the other hand, it is preferable that the axial coolant receiving portion 55 is provided so as to be able to replace the axial coolant 60. Accordingly, the axial coolant 60 having different concentrations can be exchanged in accordance with the set temperature of the auxiliary storage 57.

The axial coolant (60) is accommodated in the axial cold receiving portion (55). The axial coolant 60 may be prepared by water, sodium hydroxide solution, or various known materials. The axial coolant 60 changes phase to solid and liquid depending on the temperature. Table 1 below shows the freezing point and latent heat of the axial coolant 60 according to the concentration of sodium when the axial coolant 60 is provided with an aqueous solution of sodium. Therefore, the concentration of the axial coolant 60 can be selected in accordance with the set temperature of the auxiliary storage 57. [

<Table 1>

The sensing unit 70 is mounted in the auxiliary cabinet 50. The sensing unit 70 senses a phase change of the axial coolant 60. The sensing unit 70 may be provided with an optical sensor for sensing a phase change of the axial coolant 60. Here, the sensing unit 70 includes a light emitting unit 71 and a light receiving unit 73. More specifically, the light emitting portion 71 and the light receiving portion 73 are disposed so as to face the outer wall 51 and the inner wall 53 with the axial coolant 60 interposed therebetween. Here, when the axial coolant 60 is liquid, the light emitted from the light emitting portion 71 can be received by the light receiving portion 73. On the other hand, when the axial coolant 60 is solid, the light emitted from the light emitting portion 71 can not be received by the light receiving portion 73. The sensing unit 70 senses a phase change of the axial coolant 60 and sends the phase change to the controller 100.

The cool air supply unit (80) supplies cool air to the auxiliary cabinet (50). More specifically, the cold air supply unit 80 supplies cold air to the axial coolant 60. 1, the cool air supply unit 80 may be provided with a damper 81 for interrupting the flow of cool air generated by the evaporator 30 to the auxiliary cool air discharge port 43. [ That is, when the damper 81 is opened, the cool air generated by the evaporator 30 flows to the auxiliary cool air discharge port 43 to cool the auxiliary cabinet 50, and when the damper 81 is closed, The cooling air can not flow to the auxiliary cooling air discharge opening 43 and the cooling of the auxiliary cabinet 50 is stopped. The operation of the damper 81 is controlled by the control unit 100.

4, the cool air supply unit 80 is installed to communicate with the evaporator 30 to guide the cool air generated by the evaporator 30 to the auxiliary cabinet 50, and the auxiliary cool air discharge port 43 And an auxiliary blowing fan 83 installed inside the auxiliary duct 85 for blowing cool air to the auxiliary cooling air discharge opening 43. Here, when the auxiliary blowing fan 83 is driven, the cool air generated by the evaporator 30 flows to the auxiliary cooling air outlet 43 to cool the auxiliary cabinet 50, and stops driving the auxiliary blowing fan 83 The cooling air generated by the evaporator 30 can not flow to the auxiliary cooling air discharge opening 43 and the cooling of the auxiliary cabinet 50 is stopped. The operation of the auxiliary blowing fan is controlled by the control unit (100).

The control unit 100 controls the driving of the cold supply unit 80 on the basis of the image of the cold storage material 60 sensed by the sensing unit 70. The control unit 100 drives the cold air supply unit 80 to supply cold air to the axial coolant 60 when it is determined that the resultant axial coolant 60 sensed by the sensing unit 70 is liquid. The control unit 100 stops driving the cold supply unit 80 when it is determined that the resultant axial coolant 60 is solid.

Meanwhile, the refrigerator according to the present invention may further include a cool air circulation unit 90 for circulating cool air inside the auxiliary storage chamber 57. The cool air circulation unit 90 cools the inside of the auxiliary storage chamber 57 using the latent heat of the coolant 60 as shown in FIG. The cool air circulation unit 90 is provided as a circulation blowing fan 91 for circulating the air inside the auxiliary storage chamber 57. A circulating duct 93 is formed in the auxiliary storage room 57 to receive the circulating blowing fan 91 and to guide the cool air blown by the circulating blowing fan 91 to circulate in the auxiliary storage 57 have. The cool air circulation unit (90) is controlled by the control unit (100).

Here, the control unit 100 controls the driving of the cool air circulation unit 90 according to the image of the axial coolant 60 sensed by the sensing unit 70. The controller 100 drives the cooler circulation unit 90 when the phase of the axial coolant 60 sensed by the sensing unit 70 is solid and the coolant circulation unit 90 drives the coolant circulating unit 90 when the phase of the axial coolant 60 sensed by the sensing unit 70 is a liquid phase. The circulation unit 90 is stopped. As a result, the control unit 100 can control the driving of the cool air circulation unit 90 in conjunction with the driving of the cool air supply unit 80. More specifically, if the phase of the axial coolant 60 sensed by the sensing unit 70 is a liquid phase, the cooler supplying unit 80 is driven and the driving of the cooler circulating unit 90 is stopped. When the phase of the axial coolant 60 is solid, the driving of the cool air supply unit 80 is stopped and the cool air circulation unit 90 is driven.

As described above, the present invention provides a refrigerator having a sensing unit 70 mounted on the auxiliary cabinet 50 for sensing a phase change of the axial coolant 60, a cool air supply unit 80 for supplying cool air to the auxiliary cabinet 50, The control unit stops the operation of the cool air supply unit 80 when it is determined that the resultant coolant member 60 sensed by the coolant unit 70 is in the liquid phase and drives the coolant supply unit 80, 100), the temperature of the auxiliary storage chamber 57 can be precisely controlled.

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a refrigerator which can precisely control the temperature of the auxiliary storage chamber.

Claims (5)

1. A refrigerator comprising: a main cabinet forming a main storage compartment; and an auxiliary cabinet forming an auxiliary storage compartment inside the main storage compartment, An axial coolant accommodated in the axial cold receiving portion and phase-changing into a liquid phase and a solid phase according to temperature; A sensing unit mounted on the auxiliary cabinet and sensing a phase change of the axial coolant; A cool air supply unit for supplying cool air to the auxiliary cabinet; And a control unit for driving the cool air supply unit if it is determined that the cold coolant is in a liquid phase as a result of the detection by the sensing unit and stopping the operation of the cool coolant supply unit if it is determined that the coolant is solid. The method according to claim 1, Wherein the sensing unit is provided with an optical sensor. The method according to claim 1, Wherein the cold storage material is an aqueous sodium solution. 4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, Further comprising a cool air circulation unit for circulating the air inside the auxiliary storage room; Wherein the control unit drives the cool air circulation unit when it is determined that the axial coolant is solid as a result of the detection by the sensing unit, and stops the operation of the cool air circulation unit when it is determined that the coolant is liquid. 5. The method of claim 4, Wherein the controller interlocks the cool air circulation unit with the cool air supply unit.

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