KR101255875B1 - Deicing control method for refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a refrigerator control method, and more particularly, to a refrigerator ice-making control method for controlling driving of an ice maker according to a user's input.

The method for controlling ice making of a refrigerator according to the present invention includes the steps of inputting a drive control command of an ice maker from an input unit and driving the ice maker in accordance with the input drive control command, So that the user can directly control the driving.

Description

[0001] DEICING CONTROL METHOD FOR REFRIGERATOR [0002]

1 is a configuration diagram of a general ice maker.

2 is a flow chart of the ice making control method according to the prior art of FIG.

3 is a configuration diagram of an embodiment of an icemaker for performing the icemaking control method according to the present invention.

4 is a configuration diagram of another embodiment of the ice making device for performing the ice making control method according to the present invention.

5 is a front view of a refrigerator for performing the ice-making control method according to the present invention.

6 is a flowchart of an ice-making control method according to the present invention.

Description of the Related Art

31: Temporal counting means 32: Water supply valve

33: heater 34: motor

35a: detection sensor 35b: temperature sensor

36: input unit 37: display unit

38:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a refrigerator control method, and more particularly, to a refrigerator ice-making control method for controlling driving of an ice maker according to a user's input.

1 is a configuration diagram of a general ice maker.

As shown in FIG. 1, the ice maker is fixed to the wall surface of the freezing chamber by using connection brackets 2a and 2b extended upward from the ice tray 12, for example, the connection brackets 2a and 2b, And is fixed to the wall surface of the freezing chamber with the fastening screw. In the ice making apparatus, the ice making container 12 for containing ice for ice making into a certain shape of ice is formed of a material having excellent thermal conductivity, for example, aluminum. The supply of water to the ice-making container 12 is performed through the water supply tube connecting portion 4 formed at one side.

An ice-making lever (14) is provided at an upper portion of the ice-making container (12). The ice lever 14 is configured to rotate in order to take out the ice completely defrosted in the ice-making container 12 to the outside of the ice-making container, using the rotational force of the drive motor provided in the casing 20. [

In addition, a heater (not shown) for applying a small amount of heat to the ice tray 12 is provided at a lower portion of the ice tray 12 so as to separate the finished ice from the ice tray 12. Accordingly, when the ice is supplied for a predetermined period of time and the ice-making is completed, the heater generates heat to separate ice from the ice-making container 12. The thus separated ice is separated from the ice making container 12 by the rotation of the ice lever 14. Then, the thus separated ice falls into an ice storage container (not shown) located below. At this time, a stripper 6 is provided on the upper side of the front side of the ice-making container 12 to prevent separated ice from entering the inside of the ice-making container 12 again.

Before the ice is separated from the ice-making container (12), whether or not the ice storage container in the lower portion is filled with ice is detected by the sensing lever (16). The sensing lever 16 moves upward and downward within a predetermined angle range by a motor (not shown) inside the casing 20, and senses whether the ice storage container in the lower portion is full of ice through the sensor. The control unit (not shown) operates the ice maker according to the determined value. Therefore, when the ice detecting lever 16 moves up and down and senses that the ice storage container in the lower portion is full of ice, the ice lever 14 does not operate. However, when the ice detecting lever 16 moves up and down and senses that the ice storage container is not filled with ice, the ice lever 14 rotates the ice lever 14 so that the ice lever 14 rotates to separate the ice from the ice tray. Push to let ice in the bottom ice storage container.

The stripper 6 extends from the front plate 18 to the rear side and has a plurality of branches. Between each of the strippers 6, the above-described freezing lever 14 is designed to rotate. The front plate 18 formed on the front surface of the ice-making container 12 has a shape extending constantly downward from a height at which the ice-making container 12 is located. The front plate 18 is for substantially preventing the ice collected in the ice storage container below it from coming into contact with the ice tray 12. That is, when the ice accumulated in the ice storage container located below the ice-making container 12 comes into contact with the ice-making container 12, the ice becomes sticky, or the heat generated by the heater installed in the lower portion of the ice- The melted water is frozen again after the heater is turned off, and the whole ice is caught or entangled. In order to prevent this, the front plate 18 is formed in a flat plate shape extending and vertically downwardly formed in the ice tray 12 so as to have a constant length.

Here, the icemaker itself is provided inside the freezer compartment of the refrigerator as described above. The ice in the ice making container 12 is made into ice by the cool air supplied into the freezing chamber. Therefore, when the cold air is supplied in the direction of the arrow in the freezing chamber, the cold air comes into contact with the ice tray 12 through the rear of the front plate 18 to lower the temperature of the ice tray 12, .

In this process, heat is generated in the heater. In a normal operation state of the heater, heat is generated for a predetermined period of time, and the heat generation is stopped when a predetermined time after the ice in the ice-making container 12 is released.

2 is a flow chart of the ice making control method according to the prior art of FIG. More specifically, in step S21, the controller determines whether or not the ice storage container is filled with ice. If the ice storage container is not full, the process proceeds to step S22, and waits if the ice storage container is full.

In step S22, the controller performs water supply to the ice tray 12.

In step S23, the ice making apparatus performs ice making by the cool air supplied into the freezing chamber.

In step S24, the controller determines whether or not the ice-making vessel 12 has been ice-cooled through a separate sensor (for example, a temperature sensor). When the ice-making is completed, the process proceeds to step S25, and if not, the step S23 is continuously performed.

In step S25, the controller operates the ice-making lever 14 so as to separate ice from the ice-making container 12, and pushes the ice to perform ice-making operation so that the ice is stored in the ice storage container at the bottom.

In the above-described embodiment, step S21 may be located between steps S24 and S25.

The conventional ice-making control method of the refrigerator repeatedly performs the ice-making process all day regardless of the user's request for ice-making. During the ice-making operation, noise is particularly generated in the course of water supply and freezing. When the noise is low, the degree of influence on the user is small. However, in the nighttime, the noise affects the user relatively. There is a problem that the user is put on sleep due to such noise.

In addition, the conventional ice-making control method does not provide a method by which the user can stop or resume ice-making as needed, because the control unit performs one-way control according to a predetermined ice-making method.

In order to solve such a problem, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method for controlling ice making of a refrigerator in which a user can select a driving of an ice maker.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a method for controlling ice making of a refrigerator which enables a user to set whether or not the ice maker is driven and the driving time.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for controlling ice making of a refrigerator in which an ice maker is driven and stopped according to a need of a user.

A method for controlling icemaking of a refrigerator according to the present invention includes the steps of an input unit receiving a driving control command from a user and an icemaker driving according to the input driving control command, In the case where the driving time corresponds to the driving time, the icemaker is driven, and when the current time corresponds to the OFF driving time, the icemaker is stopped.

At this time, it is preferable that the drive control command is an ON or OFF command of the ice making device.

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The input step may include a step in which the input unit of the display device of the refrigerator receives the drive control command from the user, the display device transmits the drive control command to the ice making device, and the ice- And receiving the command.

The control method may further include displaying the presence or absence of the drive control command or whether the ice-making device is driven through a display device of the refrigerator.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of controlling icemaking of a refrigerator, including: determining whether a predetermined driving time of the icemaker is present; comparing the current time with a driving time when the icemaker has a driving time; And controlling the driving of the ice maker in accordance with the result of the comparing step.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to an embodiment of the present invention and a refrigerator as an example based on the accompanying drawings. However, the scope of the present invention is not limited by the following embodiments and drawings, and the scope of the present invention will be limited only by the content of the following claims.

3 is a configuration diagram of an embodiment of an icemaker for performing the icemaking control method according to the present invention. The icemaker has some of the mechanical structure of Fig. 1, but has new components not shown in Fig.

3, the ice maker 30 includes a temporary counting means 31 for calculating a current date and time, a water supply valve 32 for controlling the water supply / water supply amount supplied to the ice making container, A sensor 34 for sensing whether or not the ice storage container is filled with ice, a sensor 33 for detecting the presence of ice in the ice storage container, A temperature sensor 35b for judging whether or not the water is completely de-iced, an input unit 36 for receiving a command related to the driving of the ice maker from the user (hereinafter referred to as "drive control command"), A display unit (37) for displaying information on the driving state to the user, a control unit (37) for automatically performing a series of ice-making processes, and performing a deicing process according to the driving control command (38).

In detail, the temporary counting means 31 calculates the information on the current date and time (for example, the current month month day and time, etc.) by the control unit 38 and applies the calculated information to the control unit 38. [

The water supply valve 32, the heater 33, the motor 34, the detection sensor 35a and the temperature sensor 35b are the same components as the corresponding components in Fig. 1, (Or the ice-making process).

The input unit 36 is for inputting a drive control command from a user. The input unit 36 may be a normal button key, an electrostatic type key or a touch pad, and may be input means attached to the front surface of the display unit 37. This driving control command relates to the driving of the ice-making device. For example, in the case of an ON command of the ice-making device, the ice-making device always performs the ice-making process until another command is inputted according to the ON command. Or in the case of an OFF command of the ice making device, the ice making device immediately stops the current ice making process and maintains the stopping state of the ice making process until another command is inputted. Alternatively, it may be an ON drive time (for example, 08:00 to 20:00) and / or an OFF drive time (for example, 21:00 to 07:00 on the next day) of the ice maker as an input to the drive time of the ice maker . When the user inputs only the ON driving time (for example, 08:00 to 20:00), the remaining time (i.e., 20:00 to 08:00 on the next day) may be automatically calculated as the OFF driving time And the ON drive time may be automatically calculated in the case of the input of the OFF drive time.

Further, the display unit 37 displays information on the driving state of the refrigerator and / or the ice maker. That is, the display unit 37 displays whether the ice maker is currently being driven (or operating), a state in which an ON command is input or an OFF command is input, a driving time of the ice maker (ON drive time and / Whether or not the information is set in the display area. The display unit 37 displays a user interface (for example, a confirmation window of an ON command, a confirmation window of an OFF command, an input of a drive time, and the like) at the time of input through the input unit 36 A time input window for inputting a drive control command, a menu window for inputting a drive control command, etc.). The display unit 37 can additionally display the state of the refrigerator (for example, the set temperature of the freezer compartment, the set temperature of the refrigerating compartment, the service form of the dispenser, the current date and time, and the like).

In addition, the controller 38 can perform not only the ice-making process but also the freezing and refrigeration control, but a description thereof will be omitted herein. If there is no drive control command from the user, the control unit 38 always performs a series of ice-making processes as in the prior art. On the other hand, when the control unit 38 receives the drive control command through the input unit 36, the drive control command is stored in an internal storage unit (not shown), and whether or not the ice- Respectively. That is, if the controller 38 obtains the ON command, the controller 41 may continuously perform the ice-making process, and if the OFF command is obtained, continue the ice-making process. When the command for the driving time is acquired, the control unit 38 receives the current time from the temporary counting means 31 and determines whether or not the current time is included in the driving time. If the time is the ON driving time The ice-making process is performed, and otherwise the ice-making process is stopped.

In addition, the control unit 38 displays information on the driving state of the refrigerator and / or the ice-making device through the display unit 37. [

3, the input unit 36 and the display unit 37 are connected to a single control unit 38. In this case,

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of another embodiment of the ice making device for performing the ice making control method according to the present invention, and FIG. 5 is a front view of the refrigerator for performing the ice making control method according to the present invention. 3 shows a state in which the input unit 36 and the display unit 37 are connected to one control unit 38 while FIG. 4 shows a state where the refrigerator has a separate display device 40 to perform the freezing and cooling control and the ice- The ice maker 30a performs the communication with the display device 40, and the display device 40 communicates with the ice maker 30a.

The ice maker 30a according to the present invention does not have the input unit 36 and the display unit 37 as compared with the ice maker 30 shown in Fig. 3, and instead, the display device 40 includes the input unit 41, A display unit 42 and a control unit 43 are provided. That is, the control unit 38a of the icemaker 30a receives the drive control command from the control unit 43. [ The control unit 43 acquires the drive control command from the user through the input unit 41 and transmits the obtained drive control command to the control unit 38a.

 The control unit 38a of the ice maker 30a transmits information on the driving state of the refrigerator and / or the ice maker to the control unit 43 and displays the control unit 43 through the display unit 42 Do. In addition, the control unit 43 stores the user interface necessary for inputting the drive control command in an internal storage unit (not shown), and displays the user interface through the display unit 42 when necessary. The other control processes are performed in the ice-making apparatus 30a and the ice-making apparatus 30 in the same manner.

5, the refrigerator having the ice maker according to the present invention is formed such that the freezer compartment and the refrigerating compartment are partitioned on both sides inside the refrigerator body 60, and the freezing compartment door 64a is formed on the front surface of the refrigerator body 60, A display device 40 and a dispenser 66 for displaying information are mounted on the front surface of the freezing chamber door 64a and the refrigerating chamber door 64b is hinged to the refrigerator main body 60 The display device 40 and the ice maker 30a communicate with each other via the hinge cover 70 that hinges the hinge cover 70. [

Here, the refrigerator body 60 is formed such that the freezer compartment and the refrigerating compartment are partitioned on both sides by partition walls (not shown), and a refrigeration cycle including an evaporator (not shown) and a fan for circulating cool air And a cool air supply hole (not shown) is formed so that cool air around the evaporator can be supplied to the freezer compartment and the refrigerating compartment and circulated.

The hinge cover 70 is installed to open and close the freezing compartment door 64a and the refrigerating compartment door 64b on the front surface of the refrigerator main body 60. In particular, A hinge protrusion (not shown) is formed so as to protrude from the freezing chamber door 64a and a hinge protrusion is formed on the upper surface of the refrigerator body 60, And is hinged to the shaft.

At this time, the hinge cover 20 is provided so that external power for supplying power to the components of the refrigerator is connected by electric wires (not shown), and a communication line of the ice maker 30a and the display device 40 is installed .

3 and 4, a description has been omitted of a power supply unit (not shown) for supplying power to the inside of the refrigerator by receiving an external power supply. However, such a power supply unit is not limited to those skilled in the art It is only the extent to which it is recognized.

6 is a flowchart of an ice-making control method according to the present invention. Although the ice-making control method of FIG. 6 is described with reference to the ice-making apparatus of FIG. 3, it is performed in the same manner in the embodiment of FIG. 4 except that communication between the control section 43 and the control section 38a is added , It is obvious that these can be easily recognized by those skilled in the art to which the present invention belongs.

More specifically, in step S61, the user determines whether there is an input of a drive control command for the ice-making device 30 through the input of the input unit 36. [ Here, the drive control command includes an ON command, an OFF command, and an input of a drive time. If there is a drive control command, the process proceeds to step S62, and if not, the process proceeds to step S63.

In step S62, the control unit 38 displays the user interface through the display unit 37 so that the user can easily input the drive control command so that the user can set the ON command, the OFF command, the ON drive time and / Enter the setting. The control unit 38 stores the drive control command in the storage unit.

The steps S61 and S62 described above may be performed in a separate process from the steps S63 to S70 described below because the user inputs the drive control command for the ice maker 30 . That is, if there is no drive control command in step S61, it may be terminated without performing another step to perform a drive control command or automatic drive for the current icemaker 30.

In step S63, the control unit 38 determines whether there is a stored drive control command. If there is a drive control command, the process proceeds to step S65. Otherwise, if the control is automatic, the process proceeds to step S64 to perform the ice-making process by the icemaker 30.

In step S64, the controller 38 controls the water supply valve 32, the heater 33, the motor 34, the detection sensor 35a, and the temperature sensor 35b to perform the ice-making process.

In step S65, the control unit 38 determines whether the previously stored drive control command is a setting for the drive time. If the drive time is set, the process proceeds to step S66; if not, it is the ON command or the OFF command, and thus the process proceeds to step S69.

In step S66, the control unit 38 receives the current date and time from the temporary counting means 31, and determines whether the current time is included in the ON drive time of the drive time. If the current time is included in the ON drive time, the process proceeds to step S67. Otherwise, if the current drive time is included in the OFF drive time, the process proceeds to step S68.

In step S67, the controller 38 drives the above-described ice maker 30 to perform the ice-making process.

In step S68, the control unit 38 stops driving the ice-making device 30 so that the ice-making process is not performed. Alternatively, the control unit 38 may stop driving only the steps in which noise is relatively generated, such as icing, water supply, or the like, by the bank system 30.

After steps S67 and S68, the control section 38 proceeds to step S65 and performs control. Alternatively, after steps S67 and S68, the control unit 38 may proceed to step S61 to determine whether there is an additional user setting

In step S69, the control unit 38 determines whether the previously stored drive control command is an ON command. If it is an ON command, the process proceeds to step S64; otherwise, it is an OFF command, and thus the process proceeds to step S70.

In step S70, the control unit 38 stops the driving of the ice-making device 30 in accordance with the OFF command so that the ice-making process is not performed. Alternatively, the control unit 38 may stop driving only the steps in which noise is relatively generated, such as icing, water supply, or the like, by the bank system 30.

After step S64 and step S70, step S61 may be performed again to cause the controller 38 to continuously perform the ice-making control method according to the present invention.

In the ice-making control method according to the present invention, in the step of setting and storing the drive control command in step S62, the control unit 38 displays the set drive control command through the display unit 37 as a character, an icon or an avatar Step may be performed. This display step allows the user to easily recognize the drive control command for the current ice maker 30.

In the ice-making control method according to the present invention, the driving state of the ice-making device 30 is displayed through a character, an icon, or an avatar through the display unit 37 in steps S64, S67, S68, It can also be displayed. Through this display, the user can easily confirm whether or not the icemaker 30 is currently driven.

The present invention having such a configuration has an effect that a user can select the driving of the ice maker, and the user can directly control the driving.

In addition, the present invention enables the user to set whether or not the icemaker is driven and the driving time so that the user can operate the icemaker at a desired time, and when the ice consumption is small, It has power saving effect.

In addition, the present invention has an effect of enabling driving and stopping of the ice maker according to the needs of the user, so that direct control corresponding to the needs of the user can be performed.

Claims (9)

The method comprising: inputting a drive control command of an ice maker from an input unit; And driving the ice maker in accordance with the input drive control command, Wherein the drive control command includes a driving time of the icemaker, Wherein when the current time corresponds to the ON drive time, the icing apparatus is driven, and when the current time corresponds to the OFF drive time, the icing apparatus is stopped. The method according to claim 1, Wherein the driving control command is an ON or OFF command of the ice making device. delete delete The method according to claim 1, Wherein the inputting of the driving control command includes receiving the driving control command from the user through the input unit of the display device of the refrigerator, transmitting the driving control command to the ice making device by the display device, And a controller for controlling the operation of the ice maker. The method according to claim 1, Wherein the control method comprises the step of displaying the presence or absence of the drive control command or whether the icemaker is driven through a display device of the refrigerator. Determining whether there is a predetermined driving time of the ice making device; Comparing the current time with the driving time when the ice-making device has a predetermined driving time in the determining step; And controlling the driving of the ice maker in accordance with a result of the comparing step. 8. The method of claim 7, Wherein if the current time corresponds to the ON driving time in the comparing step, the controlling step drives the ice making device, and if the current time corresponds to the OFF driving time in the comparing step, And stopping the ice-making operation of the refrigerator. 8. The method of claim 7, Wherein the control method comprises the step of displaying whether the ice maker is driven through a display device of the refrigerator.

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