KR101426566B1 - System and Method for controlling a home bar heater of refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a home-bar heater control system and a control method of a refrigerator.

According to the home-bar heater control system and the control method of the refrigerator according to the embodiment of the present invention, the voltage supplied to the home-bar heater can be variably controlled, thereby reducing the power consumption for driving the home- .

Home bar, semiconductor switch, home bar heater

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD [0001] The present invention relates to a home-bar heater control system and a control method for a refrigerator,

The present invention relates to a home-bar heater control system and a control method of a refrigerator.

A refrigerator is a household appliance for storing food in refrigeration or freezing.

In recent years, various types and types of refrigerators have been introduced. For example, a side-by-side type in which a refrigerating compartment and a freezing compartment are respectively disposed on left and right sides, a bottom freezer type in which a refrigerating compartment is provided on the upper side of a freezing compartment, And the top mount method provided.

In recent years, many refrigerators have been applied to a home bar structure that allows food or beverage to be taken out without opening the refrigerator door.

In more detail, the home bar structure is a structure in which a home bar door is rotatably provided on a front surface of a door of a refrigerator compartment or a freezer compartment, and a home bar case is provided on a rear surface of the refrigerator compartment or a freezer compartment door.

The above-described home bar structure is very useful for the user to open or close the home bar door as necessary to draw or store the food, especially drinking water, stored in the home bar case.

However, in the process of opening and closing the home-bar door, the outside air flows into the inside of the refrigerator. Particularly in the vicinity of the edge of the home bar door, the outside air and the cold air come into contact with each other, and moisture contained in the outside air condenses near the edge of the home bar door. In order to solve such a problem, a separate heater is installed in the vicinity of the edge of the home bar door to prevent the condensed water from sticking.

On the other hand, in the conventional home bar door structure, an on / off switch is provided to detect the room temperature of the refrigerator and to turn on / off the heater according to the ambient temperature in order to control the operation of the heater.

However, according to the conventional home-bar door heater control as described above, when the ambient temperature becomes equal to or higher than a predetermined temperature, the heater is always kept in the on-state, and thus power consumption is increased. In addition, since the voltage applied to the heater can not be adjusted, and only the heater can be turned on / off, the voltage 220V drawn into the house is supplied as a heater, thereby causing unnecessary power consumption.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a home-bar door heater control system and a control method that can reduce power consumption by allowing a variable voltage to be supplied to a home-bar heater .

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a home-bar heater control system for a refrigerator, comprising: a heater provided at an edge of a home-bar door; A temperature sensor for sensing an ambient temperature of the home bar door; And a control unit for controlling the operation of the heater driving unit according to a sensed value transmitted from the temperature sensor, wherein the controller controls the temperature of the temperature sensor, If the current measured temperature is higher than the set temperature, the measured temperature is compared with the previous measured temperature. If the measured temperature is higher, the input voltage is increased. If the measured temperature is lower, the input voltage is decreased.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for controlling a home bar door of a refrigerator, comprising: sensing an ambient temperature of the home bar by an ambient temperature sensor; Determining a difference between the sensed ambient temperature value T and the set temperature value T1; When the sensed ambient temperature value T is equal to or higher than the set temperature value T1 and the currently sensed ambient temperature value T is higher than the previously sensed ambient temperature T0, When the ambient temperature value T is lower than the previously sensed ambient temperature T0, the input voltage is decreased to continuously adjust the voltage supplied to the home-bar heater.

According to the home-bar heater control system and the control method of the refrigerator according to the embodiment of the present invention, the voltage supplied to the home-bar heater can be variably controlled, thereby reducing the power consumption for driving the home- .

Further, there is an effect that the voltage application amount supplied to the home bar heater can be controlled stepwise or continuously according to the ambient temperature.

Hereinafter, an apparatus and method for controlling a home-bar heater of a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

1 is an external perspective view of a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a side sectional view of the refrigerator.

1 and 2, a refrigerator 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a main body 11 having a refrigerator compartment 17 and a freezer compartment (not shown) therein, and a freezing compartment door A refrigerator compartment door 12 for opening and closing the refrigerating compartment 17, a machine room 20 formed on the rear surface of the main body 11, and a compressor 19 accommodated in the machine room 20 . An evaporator (21) is mounted on the rear surface of the main body (11) so that cool air is supplied to the freezing chamber (17) or the freezing chamber.

In detail, a shelf 18 and a storage box 22 for storing foods are provided in the refrigerating chamber 17, and a shelf or other storage box having the same function is provided in the freezing chamber. A plurality of door baskets 131 may be mounted on the rear surface of the refrigerating chamber door 13.

In addition, the refrigerator compartment door 13 is provided with a home bar structure, so that the user can store or draw out the beverage or drinking water without opening the refrigerator compartment door 13. The home bar structure includes a home bar door 151 rotatably provided in the refrigerator compartment door 13, a home bar case 152 provided on a rear surface of the refrigerator compartment door 13, And a home bar cover 153 capable of selectively opening and closing the home bar case 152 in an opened state. In addition, a hole for receiving the home bar door 151 is formed in the refrigerator door 13, and a home bar heater 16 is mounted on the edge of the hole. The home-bar heater 16 prevents the generation of condensed water by heating the area between the home-bar door 151 and the hole in a state where the home-bar door 151 is closed.

An ice maker (not shown) may be provided in the freezer compartment, and a dispenser 14 is provided on a front surface of the freezer compartment door 12 to draw ice produced in the ice maker.

The home bar heater 16 operates according to the room temperature of the space in which the refrigerator 10 is installed or according to whether the home bar door 151 is opened or not and is controlled by the home bar heater 16 Thereby allowing the applied voltage to be variably controlled.

A control device and a control method for controlling the operation of the home-bar heater 16 will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

3 is a block diagram illustrating a home bar heater control system of a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 3, the home-bar heater control system of the refrigerator according to the present invention includes a power supply unit 120 to which an AC source is supplied, a zero voltage A controller 100 for receiving a detection signal from the zero voltage detector 110 and an ambient temperature sensor for sensing the temperature of the space in which the refrigerator 10 is installed A heater driving unit 150 for controlling driving of the home bar heater 16 and a memory 140 connected to the control unit 100 and storing data on an applied voltage value according to an ambient temperature, .

In detail, the controller receives the zero voltage detection signal transmitted from the zero voltage detector 110, and controls the heater driver 150 to input a voltage after a predetermined time elapses from zero voltage. The controller 100 receives the input voltage value corresponding to the temperature value transmitted from the ambient temperature sensor 130 from the memory 140 and then outputs a voltage corresponding to the transmitted input voltage value to the heater driver 130. [ (150).

In the present invention, the heater driving unit 150 is capable of inputting a variable voltage to the home heater 16, and also has an on / off function. And a semiconductor switch element which can be operated is applied. The heater driver 150 corresponding to the semiconductor switch device includes a triac or a thyristor. That is, when the semiconductor switch element is used, the voltage application amount can be easily changed according to the ambient temperature. The voltage applied to the home-bar heater 16 can be varied by varying the voltage application time through the zero-voltage detector 110.

In addition, the voltage value inputted to the home-bar heater 15 can be variably controlled step by step according to the ambient temperature or continuously variable according to the ambient temperature.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a case where the voltage input to the home-bar heater control system according to the embodiment of the present invention is changed stepwise.

Referring to FIG. 4, a commercial voltage (220 V) of an AC type is applied through the power supply unit 120.

In detail, when a conventional relay is used, a commercial voltage of 220 V is continuously input when the relay is on, and when the relay is off, the voltage is stopped.

However, according to the heater driving unit of the semiconductor switch type according to the present invention, the duty time of the heater driving unit can be appropriately adjusted according to the ambient temperature so that the applied voltage can be varied.

More specifically, when the voltage application time point is earlier than the zero voltage point detected by the zero voltage detection unit, the on time (duty I) of the heater driving unit becomes longer and the duty time of the heater driving unit becomes slower when the voltage application time is delayed. .

As described above, since the driving of the home bar heater 16 can be controlled according to the ambient temperature through the adjustment of the on-time length of the heater driving unit, it is possible to prevent the moisture on the edge of the home bar door 15 from being caught. In addition, there is an advantage that power consumption for driving the home bar heater 16 is reduced.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing a control method of stepwise varying input voltage in a method of controlling a home-bar heater of a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 5, first, the ambient temperature T is sensed from the ambient temperature sensor 130 (S10). Then, it is determined whether or not the sensed ambient temperature T is within the set temperature range (T1? T? T2) (S11).

If it is determined that the sensed ambient temperature T is within the set temperature range, that is, if it is determined that the difference between the ambient temperature and the in-room temperature is not large, the on-time of the heater driving unit 150 is shortened DUTY II) (S12).

If it is determined that the sensed ambient temperature T is higher than the set temperature T2, that is, if it is determined that the difference between the ambient temperature and the in-room temperature is large, the on time of the heater driving unit 150 is increased I) (S14). In other words, the time point at which the heater driving unit 150 is turned on from the zero voltage point is shortened. Then, as the ON time of the heater driving unit 150 becomes longer, the voltage input to the home heater 16 increases.

On the other hand, when it is determined that the detected ambient temperature T is lower than the set temperature T1, that is, when it is determined that the ambient temperature is low enough to prevent the condensation of moisture at the edge of the home bar door 15, The driving unit 150 is turned off (S15). Then, power is not applied to the home-bar heater 16, so power consumption is reduced.

On the other hand, the above process is continuously repeated until the power of the refrigerator is turned off 16 (S16). That is, when the refrigerator 10 is in operation, it periodically senses the ambient temperature so that the voltage supplied to the home bar heater 16 is variably controlled.

 FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a control method of continuously varying an input voltage in a method of controlling a home-bar heater of a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 6, in a state where the home bar heater 16 is turned on by the basic input voltage V, the ambient temperature T is sensed from the ambient temperature sensor 130 (S21).

When the ambient temperature T is determined to be lower than the set temperature T1, the homing heater 16 is turned off (S23). That is, the voltage is not applied to the heater driving unit 150.

Conversely, when it is determined that the ambient temperature T is higher than the set temperature T1, it is determined whether or not the temperature has increased more than the previous ambient temperature T0 (S25). If it is determined that the current ambient temperature is higher than the previous ambient temperature, the heater input voltage is increased (S26). That is, a voltage as much as the input voltage V plus the voltage increment? V is inputted.

Meanwhile, the controller 100 determines whether the increased input voltage has reached the maximum input voltage 220V (S27). If the increased input voltage is greater than or equal to the maximum input voltage, the maximum input voltage is maintained (S28). On the contrary, if the increased input voltage is lower than the maximum input voltage, the process of repeating the process of sensing the ambient temperature (S21) is repeated to increase or decrease the input voltage.

If the current ambient temperature T does not exceed the previous ambient temperature T0, it is determined whether the current ambient temperature T has decreased or not (S29). If it is determined that the current ambient temperature T has decreased, (S30). That is, a voltage obtained by subtracting the voltage reduction? From the existing input voltage V is inputted. When the reduced input voltage is 0, the control unit 30 stops the input of the voltage to the heater driving unit 150 so that the home heater 16 is turned off (31) (S33).

If the current ambient temperature T is maintained to be equal to the previous ambient temperature T0, the heater input voltage is maintained unchanged (S31).

Meanwhile, the above operation is repeated until the power of the refrigerator is turned off (S24).

By controlling the amount of the voltage supplied to the home-bar heater 16 according to the ambient temperature, moisture can be prevented from condensing at the edge of the home-bar door 15, and power consumption can be reduced The effect can be obtained.

1 is an external perspective view of a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention;

2 is a side cross-sectional view of the refrigerator.

3 is a block diagram showing a home-bar heater control system of a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a diagram illustrating a case where the voltage input to the home-bar heater control system according to the embodiment of the present invention is changed stepwise.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a control method of stepwise varying an input voltage in a method of controlling a home-bar heater of a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a control method of continuously varying an input voltage in a method of controlling a home-bar heater of a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Claims (12)

A heater provided at a rim of the home bar door; A temperature sensor for sensing an ambient temperature of the home bar door; A heater driving unit for varying a voltage input to the heater according to the sensed ambient temperature; And a control unit for controlling the operation of the heater driving unit according to a sensed value transmitted from the temperature sensor, Wherein the control unit compares the measured temperature with the previous measured temperature when the current measured temperature of the temperature sensor is higher than the set temperature and increases the input voltage when the measured temperature is higher and decreases the input voltage when the measured temperature is lower, Homebrew heater control system of refrigerator. The method according to claim 1, Wherein the heater driving unit is a semiconductor switching device that allows the input voltage to be variably controlled. The method according to claim 1, Wherein the heater driving unit includes a triac or a thyristor. delete Detecting an ambient temperature of the home bar door by an ambient temperature sensor; Determining a difference between the sensed ambient temperature value T and the set temperature value T1; When the sensed ambient temperature value T is equal to or higher than the set temperature value T1, If the currently sensed ambient temperature value T is higher than the previously sensed ambient temperature T0, the input voltage is increased, And continuously adjusting the voltage supplied to the home bar heater by decreasing the input voltage when the current ambient temperature value T is lower than the previously sensed ambient temperature T0. delete delete delete delete delete delete 6. The method of claim 5, Wherein the input voltage to the heater driving unit is continuously and variably controlled according to an ambient temperature value of the home bar door.

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