KR100756712B1 - Refrigerator and determination method on breaking of supercooling status in a refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

A method for judging cancellation of an overcooling state of a refrigerator is provided to judge cancellation or maintenance of the overcooling state of overcooled objects by sensing inside temperature of an overcooling room, and to detect cancellation of the overcooling state of the overcooled objects by using inside temperature variation of the overcooling room. A method for judging cancellation of an overcooling state of a refrigerator including an overcooling room and a temperature sensor comprises the steps of maintaining objects in the overcooling state in temperature lower than a freezing point inside the overcooling room, and judging cancellation or maintenance of the overcooling state by using temperature of the inside of the overcooling room sensed by the temperature sensor.

Description

{REFRIGERATOR AND DETERMINATION METHOD ON BREAKING OF SUPERCOOLING STATUS IN A REFRIGERATOR}

1 is a view conceptually explaining subcooling,

2 is a view showing an example of an experimental result according to the present invention,

3 is a view showing another example of the experimental results according to the present invention,

4 is a view showing an example of a refrigerator according to the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a method of operating the refrigerator illustrated in FIG. 4.

The present invention relates to a method for determining the uncooling of the refrigerator and the refrigerator, and more particularly, to a method for determining the uncooling of the refrigerator and the refrigerator capable of determining whether the supercooled object is released under supercooling by sensing a temperature inside the subcooling chamber. will be.

Here, subcooling means that a liquid such as water does not transition even below a phase transition temperature to a solid and maintains a high temperature phase, that is, a liquid state. In the natural state, for example, the supercooling water drop (supercooling water drop) is an example, even in a conventional refrigerator, the water or the drink is not freezing by chance to the supercooled state. This supercooling occurs not only in the liquid itself, such as water, but also in the moisture contained in meat, fish, and vegetables. Meanwhile, as the principle of subcooling is applied to a refrigerator, there are a freezing method disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. S59-151834 and a freezing method disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-086967 and a refrigerator. A technique of applying a magnetic field to maintain a food in a supercooled state below a phase transition temperature is disclosed. In addition, the electrostatic field treatment method disclosed in WO / 98/41115 discloses various types of electrode structures that can be used for supercooling and thawing food.

By using the concept of supercooling, it is possible to store vegetables, meat, fish, and the like in a frozen state at a temperature below the freezing point, so that vegetables, meat, fish, etc. can be stored fresher and for a longer time.

On the other hand, when the supercooled state of the supercooled water is released, it is converted into slush ice. For example, when an external impact is applied to subcooled water at -10 ° C, ice tuberculosis is formed, thereby rapidly causing a phase change from the liquid phase to the solid phase, and the supercooled water is slushy at 0 ° C. If cold air continues to be applied, it is converted to hard ice. In the case of meat, when the supercooled state is released, the moisture in the meat is converted into a solid phase, and when cold air is continuously supplied, the transition from the surface of the meat to the solid solid phase proceeds, and eventually the whole meat is changed hard. .

Therefore, when the supercooling is broken by an external shock or the like while storing the meat in a supercooled state, the refrigerator or the user needs to cope with the release of the supercooling before the meat is completely frozen. In particular, unlike water, in the case of a solid or an object containing water, such as meat, even if the supercooled water contained by the release of subcooling is converted to a solid phase, the object itself is not yet completely hardened. As it gradually hardens from the surface by heat exchange with cold air, it is necessary to take action on this solid before this progress is made completely. Such an action may be, for example, applying heat to the object by a heater by the refrigerator itself, or a user extracts the object from the refrigerator and thaws it.

An object of the present invention is to provide a refrigerator and a method for determining the overcooling of the refrigerator that can determine whether to release the supercooled object by sensing the temperature inside the subcooling chamber.

In addition, an object of the present invention is to provide a method for determining the supercooling release of the refrigerator and the freezer when the supercooling of the water-containing solid or object such as meat is released from the change in the temperature inside the subcooling chamber. do.

In addition, an object of the present invention is to provide a refrigerator and a method for determining the overcooling of the refrigerator that can take measures when the supercooling of a solid or object containing moisture such as meat is released.

To this end, the present invention provides a method for determining the supercooling release of the refrigerator including a subcooling chamber in which an object is placed, and a temperature sensor measuring a temperature of the inside of the subcooling chamber. A first step of maintaining the supercooling state at a temperature, and a second step of determining the subcooling release of the object, including a second step of determining the subcooling release using the temperature inside the subcooling chamber measured by the temperature sensor. It provides a method for determining the supercooling release of the refrigerator characterized in that.

In another aspect, the present invention provides a method for determining the supercooling release of the refrigerator characterized in that the second step is to detect the rise of the temperature inside the subcooling chamber due to the latent heat generated when the subcooling of the object is released.

In another aspect, the present invention provides a method for determining the supercooling release of the refrigerator, characterized in that the second step is determined to release the supercooling when the temperature inside the subcooling chamber continuously rises for a predetermined time or more. The present invention does not determine a temporal temperature increase factor such as a temperature increase in a refrigerator or a subcooling chamber due to the opening of a door. Determining whether the supercooling is turned off by detecting the continuous temperature rise of. On the other hand, the temporary opening of the door does not really increase the temperature inside the refrigerator or the subcooling chamber.

In another aspect, the present invention provides a method for determining the supercooling release of the refrigerator, characterized in that the second step is determined to release the subcooling when the temperature inside the subcooling chamber is stabilized.

In another aspect, the present invention provides a method for determining the supercooling release of the refrigerator, characterized in that the second step is to determine the release of the subcooling in consideration of the rise of the temperature of the subcooling chamber according to the operation of the refrigerator. Through this configuration, the case where the temperature of the subcooling chamber rises according to the operation of the refrigerator can not be mistaken as the release of the subcooling.

In another aspect, the present invention provides a method for determining the supercooling of the refrigerator characterized in that the object is a solid. Typical examples of solids include meat and fish, which are water-containing solids, which are hardened from the surface by heat exchange with cold when the supercooling is released. Since it is in the unbroken state, when the user knows to release the supercooling in this state, it means a much better object than when the user knows that the state is completely hard. The present invention will have its effectiveness in this respect.

In another aspect, the present invention includes a heater for applying a heat to the subcooling chamber, and the third step of applying a heat to the subcooling chamber with the heater to melt the object subcooled when the subcooling is released. Provide a way to. Through this configuration, it is possible to reduce the water contained in the object to be subcooled back to a liquid state, and to make the subcooled state by applying cold air and an electric field.

In another aspect, the present invention provides a method for determining the supercooling release of the refrigerator comprising a fourth step of maintaining the melted object in the supercooled state again.

In another aspect, the present invention provides a method for determining the supercooling release of the refrigerator comprising a third step of informing the user of the subcooling release when the subcooling is released.

The present invention also relates to a subcooling chamber in which an object is placed, an energy generator and a cold air supply for supplying energy and cold air, respectively, so that the object is subcooled, a temperature sensor measuring a temperature inside the subcooling chamber, and a temperature sensor, and interlocking with the subcooling chamber. It provides a refrigerator characterized in that it comprises a control unit for determining whether to release the supercooled object by checking whether the temperature rises continuously. Energy can be provided to an object or supercooled object in the form of an electric or magnetic field, but any form of energy (e.g. ultrasonic, magnetron) can be used to keep the liquid or liquid contained in the object below the phase transition temperature. Use), and it is to be understood that the invention includes this form of energy.

In another aspect, the present invention provides a refrigerator comprising a display unit for notifying the user of the supercooling release in conjunction with the control unit.

In another aspect, the present invention provides a refrigerator comprising a heater for heating the subcooling chamber in conjunction with the control unit.

In another aspect, the present invention provides a refrigerator comprising a regulator for controlling the cold air supplied to the subcooling chamber in conjunction with the control unit.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram conceptually explaining subcooling, in which water 51, which is an object of subcooling, is placed between the electrodes 50 for the purpose of subcooling. Next, in the state where the cold air 52 is supplied, the electric field is applied to the water 51 using the AC power source 53. As a result, the water 51 does not freeze below its phase transition temperature (for example, 0 ° C. in the case of water under 1 atm) and maintains a supercooled state. It is known that the freezing of water composed of oxygen and hydrogen is disturbed because the hydrogen bond of water is interrupted by supplying energy such as an electric field. At this time, the intensity or energy amount of the electric field supplied to the liquid supercooled through the electrode 50 by the AC power source 53 may be adjusted by the regulator 54. The strength of the electric field can be adjusted by adjusting the current or voltage supplied. For example, two electrodes 100 mm in length and width are installed at a distance of 200 mm, and a container of 1 L of water is placed at a distance of two electrodes, and then the temperature is about -7 ° C. Subcooled water can be produced by applying an electric field at 40 kHz, 2 kV in the refrigerator.

2 is a view showing an example of the experimental results according to the present invention, which shows the temperature change of water with time when the water is supercooled in a refrigerator of about -7 ℃ degree, at about 15 hours, An electric shock was applied to the supercooled water, showing that the supercooled water, which was maintained at approximately -5 ° C, rapidly converted to a solid state of approximately 0 ° C. In view of this phenomenon, the present inventors can determine whether the supercooling is released by using the latent heat generated from the phase transformation, and the idea that the release of the supercooling will be significantly meaningful in solid materials such as meat or fish. And tested if this is indeed possible.

3 is a view showing another example of the experimental results according to the present invention, three objects were put in a refrigerator, and these were supercooled. The temperature of the ambient temperature (1) and the three objects (2,3,4) went down in a similar curve until the supercooling state, and after about 6 hours, the supercooling of the object (2) was released, and then the object was (3) was subcooled. At this time, the ambient temperature (1) rose from the time point t _{1 to the} time point t ₂ , stabilized from the time point t ₃ and maintained a state of about △ T (about 1 ℃). In the process, the object (4) also showed a slight temperature rise, but the supercooling was maintained. Subsequently, the objects 2 and 3 are changed to a hard state, and as they become completely hard, the temperatures of the ambient temperature 1 and the objects 2, 3 and 4 fall and stabilize from about t ₄ . At the time t ₅ , the supercooling of the object 4 was released, and the temperature change was similar to that of the subcooling of the object 3 and 4.

From these results, it can be seen that there is a continuous temperature increase in the refrigerating chamber or the subcooling chamber due to the latent heat generated at the time of subcooling of the object. It is not possible to specify uniformly how long the duration of the temperature rise is to be determined as the release of subcooling, but in FIG. 3, at least 10 minutes or more (this value is provided to help the understanding of the invention, and the critical meaning ( It is understood that there is a sustained period of temperature rise), which is actually a much longer time than that shown in FIG. 3. The higher the content, and the larger the object that is subcooled, will become larger. Even if the duration cannot be specified, it can be seen that the ambient temperature 1 has increased by ΔT by the release of the supercooling in the state where the supplied cold air is the same. Therefore, in the present invention, when the temperature in the subcooling chamber is continuously raised by latent heat without any particular reason or stabilizes after rising by ΔT, the technical idea is to determine that the subcooling is released.

Meanwhile, I took a time (about one hour) leading up to such stabilization from the point in time t ₁ in the experimental results of FIG. 3 t ₃ to time, from the time point t _3, the object (2, 3) of the super-cooling is released In this case, it can be seen that there is still a lot of time until it is kept completely 0 ° C and completely hardened. This means that the present invention is effective in the actual refrigerator even when the supercooling of meat or the like is released, even if it is determined that the supercooling is released at a time between t ₁ -t ₂ or a time near t ₃ .

The experiment was performed by placing several 100ml water in a refrigerator having a temperature of about -7 ° C, and then applying an electric field of 30kH and 2.7kV.

4 is a view showing an example of a refrigerator according to the present invention, wherein the refrigerator 40 includes a refrigeration cycle 42 including an evaporator 41 and cold air generated from the evaporator 41 to a storage chamber 43 such as a freezer compartment. The fan 44 to supply and the subcooling chamber 45 located in the lower part of the storage chamber 43 are provided. The refrigeration cycle 42 and the fan 44 supply cold air to the storage chamber 43, and serve as a cold air supply supplying cold air to the subcooling chamber 45.

The subcooling chamber 45 is an energy generator, an electrode 46 for supplying energy in the form of an electric field, a regulator 47 such as a valve or a damper for controlling the inflow of cold air from the storage chamber 43 into the subcooling chamber 45, a subcooling And a temperature sensor 48 for measuring the temperature of the chamber 45 and a heater 49 for heating the subcooling chamber 45 when the subcooling is released.

In addition, the refrigerator 40 includes a door 50 that opens and closes the storage compartment 43. The door 50 includes a display unit 51, and the display unit 51 includes a display unit 52 and an alarm generating unit 53. ).

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a method of operating the refrigerator illustrated in FIG. 4, in which a refrigeration cycle 42, a fan 44, an electrode 46, and a regulator 47 are operated under the control of the control unit 60. In operation, the storage compartment 43 is cooled and the object (not shown) placed in the subcooling chamber 45 is supercooled.

When the temperature of the subcooling chamber 45 is continuously sensed by the temperature sensor 48 and the temperature of the subcooling chamber 45 is stabilized after a constant temperature increase or a certain temperature rise for a predetermined time or more, the control unit 60 Determining this as the release of the supercooling, and informs it to the outside through the display unit 51, shut off the controller 47, or shut off the regulator 47 and the heater 49 to operate the object supercooled release hard Prevent freezing or release it from freezing. Since the display unit 51 includes the display unit 52 and the alarm generating unit 53, the display unit 51 may selectively notify the user of the release of the supercooling by using the display unit 52 and the alarm generating unit 53.

On the other hand, the temperature rise of the subcooling chamber 45 may be made by adjusting the refrigeration cycle 42 or adjusting the controller 47, and the control unit 60 may determine the subcooling in consideration of these factors. Can be configured.

According to the method for determining the subcooling of the refrigerator and the refrigerator according to the present invention, it is possible to determine whether the subcooling of the subcooled object is detected by sensing the temperature inside the subcooling chamber.

In addition, according to the method for determining the supercooling release of the refrigerator and the refrigerator according to the present invention, when the supercooling of the solid or water-containing object such as meat is released, it can be known from the change in the temperature inside the subcooling chamber.

In addition, according to the method for determining the supercooling release of the refrigerator and the refrigerator according to the present invention, it is possible to take measures when the supercooling of a solid or water-containing object such as meat is released.

Claims (13)

A subcooling chamber in which the object is placed; In the method for determining the overcooling release of the refrigerator comprising a; temperature sensor for measuring the temperature inside the subcooling chamber, A first step of maintaining the object in the subcooling chamber at a temperature below the freezing point; And, A second step of determining the subcooling release of the object; A second step of determining the subcooling release using the temperature inside the subcooling chamber sensed by the temperature sensor; Determining the supercooling release of the refrigerator comprising a Way. The method of claim 1, The second step is a method for determining the supercooling release of the refrigerator, characterized in that by detecting the increase in the temperature inside the subcooling chamber due to the latent heat generated when the subcooling of the object is released. The method of claim 1, The second step is to determine the supercooling release of the refrigerator, characterized in that when the temperature inside the subcooling chamber continuously rises for a predetermined time or more to release the subcooling. The method of claim 1, The second step is to determine the subcooling release of the refrigerator when the temperature inside the subcooling chamber is stabilized by stabilization. The method of claim 1, The second step is a method for determining the supercooling release of the refrigerator, characterized in that to determine the release of the subcooling in consideration of the rise in the temperature inside the subcooling chamber according to the operation of the refrigerator. The method of claim 1, Method for determining the supercooling release of the refrigerator, characterized in that the object is a solid material. The method of claim 1, The refrigerator includes a heater that heats the subcooling chamber, And a third step of applying heat to the subcooling chamber with a heater to melt the object which has been subcooled when the subcooling is released. The method of claim 7, wherein And a fourth step of maintaining the melted object in the supercooled state again. The method of claim 1, And a third step of notifying the user of the supercooling release when the supercooling is released. A subcooling chamber in which the object is placed; An energy generator and a cold air supply for supplying energy and cold air respectively to supercool the object; A temperature sensor for measuring a temperature inside the subcooling chamber; And, And a control unit interlocked with the temperature sensor and determining whether the subcooled object is subcooled by checking whether the temperature rises continuously in the subcooling chamber. The method of claim 10, And a display unit for notifying the user of the supercooling release in association with the control unit. The method of claim 10, And a heater for heating the subcooling chamber in association with the control unit. The method of claim 10, And a regulator for controlling cold air supplied to the supercooling chamber in association with the control unit.

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