KR101994274B1 - Cooling control device and method of the refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a refrigerator, and more particularly, to an apparatus and method for controlling one room in a different cooling mode in a refrigerator having a multi-room, wherein the one-room multiple cooling control method of the multi- A method executable in a multi-room refrigerator having one or more dampers for selectively supplying cold air supplied by a content pan to a plurality of compartments in a room, the method comprising: A) receiving input; B) controlling the opening and closing of the damper so that cool air heat-exchanged in the evaporator is supplied to all of the plurality of zones when the cooling mode setting values of the plurality of zones are equal to each other; And controlling the opening and closing of the damper so that cool air is supplied to a zone where a lower temperature is to be maintained if the cooling mode setting values of the plurality of zones are different from each other.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention [0001] The present invention relates to a refrigerator,

The present invention relates to a refrigerator, and more particularly, to an apparatus and method for controlling one room in a refrigerator in different cooling modes.

The refrigerator was developed as a device to prevent food from being corrupted and deteriorated by keeping the food at a low temperature. Electric refrigerators, which were developed to simply store food at low temperature, are changing in various ways to meet the needs of the times and consumers. For example, a traditional two-room refrigerator, where the storage room is divided into a fridge and a freezer, begins to grow in size as the incomes increase, and as a large-capacity refrigerator with three or more multi- And is becoming more and more a multifunctional and versatile refrigerator with a special purpose storage room for the storage of certain foods or preference foods such as home bars.

In this multi-room type refrigerator, the cooling mode of each compartment can be set to one room according to consumers' choice such as refrigeration, freezing, freshness, and special cooling according to multi-function and versatility .

However, considering cooling control methods of conventional refrigerators that have been popularized or known so far, one room is inefficient because it is controlled in a set cooling mode regardless of the type of object stored in the room. For example, supposing that food such as side dishes is stored in one room, although the proper storage temperature of kimchi for fermented food and the proper storage temperature for general side dishes are different, they are kept refrigerated at a uniform temperature Therefore, fermented foods such as kimchi may not maintain the best taste.

Therefore, it is necessary to introduce different cooling control methods according to the types of objects stored and stored even in one room.

Accordingly, the present invention has been developed in view of the above-mentioned needs, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a method of controlling a room by storing a plurality of rooms in a plurality of spaces according to kinds of objects stored in one room, Which can maintain the state of each object to be cooled in an optimal state.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method for controlling one-room multiple cooling of a multi-room refrigerator which can utilize a part of a single room of a refrigerator having a multi-room as a Kimchi refrigerator.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a multi-room refrigerator or a one-room multiple cooling control device and method of a multi-room refrigerator or a refrigerator which can drive one room by setting a single cooling mode or a multi-cooling mode according to user's selection.

To achieve the above object, according to an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a multi-room refrigerator wherein at least one outdoor room is divided into a plurality of zones,

Internal sensors for detecting the temperature of each zone;

A high-content pan for supplying cool air heat-exchanged in the evaporator into the one room;

One or more dampers for selectively supplying cold air supplied by the fan to the separation zone;

A damper driving unit for controlling the opening and closing of the damper;

And a controller for selectively controlling the cooling air to the separation zones of the one room according to the cooling mode and the set temperature set by the user to control the separation zones to the same cooling mode or different cooling modes.

Further, the control unit controls the damper to open and control each of the separation rooms of the one room to the refrigeration mode that is the same cooling mode,

Wherein the controller controls one of the isolation zones of the one room to be in the refrigeration mode and controls the remaining zones to the Kimchi mode or the freezing mode by opening and closing the damper for a required period of time.

The multi-room cooling control method for a multi-room refrigerator according to another embodiment of the present invention includes a multi-room cooling control method for a multi-room refrigerator in which a multi-room refrigerator is provided with one or more dampers for selectively supplying cold air supplied by a high- As a viable method in a refrigerator,

A) receiving a cooling mode setting value of each of the plurality of zones through a user interface unit;

B) controlling the opening and closing of the damper so that cool air heat-exchanged in the evaporator is supplied to all of the plurality of zones when the cooling mode setting values of the plurality of zones are equal to each other;

And controlling the opening and closing of the damper so that cool air is supplied to a zone where a lower temperature is to be maintained if the cooling mode setting values of the plurality of zones are different from each other.

According to the embodiment of the present invention as described above, one room is divided into a plurality of zones, and the separated zones are controlled by different cooling methods, for example, a refrigeration mode and a kimchi mode, It is possible to store the object to be stored in an optimal state and to obtain an effect of continuously maintaining the best taste.

Further, since the present invention can utilize a part of one room of the multi-room as a kimchi refrigerator, there is an advantage that a general refrigerator can also be utilized as a kimchi refrigerator,

In addition, since one room can be set to a single cooling mode or a multi-cooling mode according to a user's selection, the present invention can satisfy not only consumer needs, It is possible to improve the usability of the refrigerator by setting the cooling method of each room.

1 is an exemplary view of a multi-room refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a view showing an internal state of a room of the multi-room refrigerator shown in FIG. 1; FIG.
3 illustrates the position of the damper 350 and the high-content pan 340 located behind the inner wall surface of the one room 210 including the so-called dimple zone 230 in the multi-room refrigerator shown in FIG. For drawing.
FIG. 4 is an exemplary block diagram of a multi-room refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG.
FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a method for controlling one-room multiple cooling of a multi-room refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, an apparatus and method for controlling one-room multiple cooling of a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. For reference, an embodiment of the present invention will be described below assuming a four-room refrigerator using a home bar as a multi-room refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present invention may be applied to a refrigerator having only one room instead of a multi-room.

First, FIG. 1 illustrates an external view of a multi-room refrigerator 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 illustrates a room interior state of the multi-room refrigerator shown in FIG. 3 illustrates the position of the damper 350 and the high-content pan 340 located behind the inner wall surface of the one room 210 including the so-called dimple zone 230 in the multi-room refrigerator shown in FIG. Fig.

1 and 2, the one-room multiple cooling control device and method according to the embodiment of the present invention is applicable to a multi-room refrigerator having four rooms 110, 120, 130 and 140. In the multi-room refrigerator shown in FIG. 1, the upper left room 110 is referred to as room 1, the upper right room 120 is referred to as room 2, the lower left and right rooms 130 and 140, Will be named Room 3 and Room 4. Each of the rooms 110, 120, 130 and 140 can be set to a cooling mode according to a user's selection. The cooling mode refers to a refrigeration mode, a freezing mode, a kimchi mode, a fresh mode, and a special cooling mode, and may include all the cooling modes already known in addition to these modes. The important point in the embodiment of the present invention is that any one of the four illustrated rooms, in the embodiment of the present invention, the room 1 110 is divided into a plurality of zones, for example, an upper zone 210 corresponding to the upper portion of the refrigerating chamber, And a lower zone 230 corresponding to a lower portion of the refrigerating compartment, so that the one room can be controlled in different cooling modes (which can be defined as a multiple cooling mode) or controlled in the same cooling mode. Of course, each of the two or more rooms may be controlled in different cooling modes.

Reference numeral 122 in FIG. 1 denotes a home bar. The home bar door has a structure that can be opened and closed independently of the door of the room 2 (120) as well as in conjunction with the door of the room 2 (120). 2, the room 110 to which the present invention is applied is largely divided into an upper zone 220 and a lower zone 230, which is also referred to as a so-called dimming zone. The upper discharge port 240 and the lower discharge port are formed. The lower discharge port is omitted from the forming position by the container inserted into the lower zone 230.

In order to control the room 1 110 separated into the plurality of zones in different cooling modes, the separated upper zone 220 and the lower zone 230 are each provided with a cooling fan High-temperature sensors (S1, S2) for detecting the temperature of the zone are located. A high-content pan 340 for supplying cool air, which has been heat-exchanged in the evaporator, into the one room 110 is disposed behind the inner wall of the one room 110. The cool air supplied by the fan 340 is supplied to the upper zone 220, And a damper 350 for selective feeding to the lower zone 230 are located. According to this structure and arrangement, when the damper 350 is controlled to be opened, the heat-exchanged cool air can be introduced into the upper zone 220 and the lower zone 230. When the damper 350 is closed, And is supplied only to the lower zone 230 according to driving. If the one room 110 is divided into two or more zones as needed, the damper 350 may be installed in two or more zones.

For reference, in the embodiment of the present invention, the lower zone 230 of the first room 110 is controlled in a cooling mode different from that of the upper zone 220, so that the upper zone 220 adopts an indirect cooling method, The zone (230) is a mixture of an indirect cooling method and a direct cooling method for rapid cooling compared to the upper zone (220).

FIG. 4 illustrates a block diagram of a multi-room refrigerator 100 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 illustrates a multi-room refrigerator 100 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. 1 shows a control flow chart for explaining a method.

4, the high-temperature sensor 1 (S1: 305) and the high-temperature sensor 2 (S2: 310) are installed in a single room for controlling different cooling modes, more specifically, in a plurality of zones of the room 1 So that the temperature of each zone is detected and transmitted to the control unit 320.

The user interface (I / F) unit 315 is a kind of operation panel for setting the cooling mode and the cooling temperature of each room. The user interface (I / F) unit 315 communicates the cooling mode set value and the cooling temperature set value to the control unit 320 And displays the system operation state under the control of the control unit 320. [0050]

The control unit 320 has an internal memory and controls the operation of the multi-room refrigerator 100 on the basis of control program data stored in its internal memory. For example, the cold air heat exchanged in the evaporator is selectively supplied to the separation zone of the room 1 (110) according to the cooling mode and the set temperature set by the user, and the cold air is controlled according to the cooling mode set for each room And controls the compressor driving unit 325, the fan driving unit 335, and the damper driving unit 345 so that the temperature of each room is maintained at the set temperature.

More specifically, the control unit 320 controls the dampers 350 to open and control each of the separation zones of the first room 110 in the refrigeration mode, which is the same cooling mode, One of the zones may be controlled in the refrigeration mode and the remaining zones may be controlled to be in the Kimchi mode or the freezing mode by opening and closing the damper 350 for a required period of time.

Furthermore, when one zone of the one room is set in the kimchi mode, the control unit 320 turns off the compressor 330 when the detected temperature of the zone reaches the set temperature of the kimchi mode, And the damper 350 is controlled to be opened together with the operation of the high-content fan 340 in order to reduce the temperature deviation of the upper room. In this case, the high-content fan 350 is controlled to perform the minimum time operation 1 minute operation).

If the plurality of zones are set to the same cooling mode, the controller 320 turns off the compressor when the sensed temperature reaches the set temperature of the set cooling mode, and decreases the temperature deviation of the plurality of zones to the maximum during the off- The high-content fan 340 is controlled to operate for a predetermined period of time (for example, 9 minutes cycle, 4 minutes operation) at intervals of a certain period while controlling the damper 350 to be opened together with the high-content fan 340 operation.

In the initial state after the purchase of the refrigerator, or in a state where the refrigerator is placed in a resting state for a long time due to power saving, trouble, etc. (hereinafter, all of them are regarded as the initial state of the refrigerator), the temperature of each room is similar to room temperature, It is premised that the damper 350 is controlled to be opened so that the plurality of zones fall to a predetermined temperature irrespective of the cooling modes of the plurality of zones set by the user.

The detailed control operation of the controller 320 will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

Referring again to FIG. 4, the high-content fan 340 driven by the fan driving unit 335 controlled by the control unit 320 supplies cold air heat-exchanged in the evaporator to the room 1 110, The damper 350, which is opened and closed by the damper driving unit 345, also selectively supplies the cool air supplied by the fan 340 to the separation zone of the first room 110. Since the installation position of the damper 350 and the high-content pan 340 is described in FIG. 3, the following description is omitted.

Hereinafter, the one-room multiple cooling control method of the multi-room refrigerator 100 executed by the control unit 320 will be described in more detail with reference to FIG. For reference, only the cooling control method of the room 1 110 will be described.

First, when the refrigerator enters the initial driving state (power 'on') at the initial driving after the purchase of the refrigerator or in the state where the refrigerator is placed in a resting period for a long time due to power saving or trouble, It senses the temperature of the zone. Even if the cooling modes of the plurality of zones are set by the user in different cooling modes, since the temperature of the plurality of zones has not yet entered the stabilization period, the control unit 320 determines that a plurality of zones The compressor 330 is driven so as to fall to a predetermined temperature (for example, the set temperature of the refrigerating mode), and the damper 350 is controlled to be opened so that the cold air is supplied to all of the plurality of zones 220 and 230.

In this initial drive mode, the control unit 320 receives the cooling mode setting values of each of the plurality of zones through the user interface unit 315 (step S10). Since the cooling mode of each room may be set to the default value at the time of initial power input after the purchase of the refrigerator, in this case, the cooling mode setting value will be inputted from the user. If the power input after power saving In the case of automatic restoration, it can be designed to automatically keep the set value immediately before power saving according to the manufacturer's design program, so that the set value immediately before power saving is regarded as the input value at power recovery.

If the cooling mode setting values for the plurality of one room in the initial driving mode are input as described above, the controller 320 checks whether the cooling modes of the plurality of zones are identical (step S12). As a result of the check, if the cooling mode setting value of each of the plurality of zones is equal to, for example, "refrigeration mode (3 DEG C) ", the controller 320 determines that the cool air heat- The damper 350 is controlled to be opened (step S14).

During the supply of the cool air to the plurality of zones 220 and 230, the controller 320 checks the internal temperature (step S16), and turns off the compressor 330 when the set temperature of the set cooling mode is reached (step S18). The control unit 320 controls the damper 350 to be opened together with the high-content fan 340 during the off-time of the compressor 330 to maximize the temperature deviation of the first zone 110 , The high-content fan 340 is controlled to operate for a predetermined period of time (9-minute cycle, 4-minute operation) every predetermined period.

When the interior temperature of the plurality of zones reaches the cooling start temperature again (S22) while controlling the high-content fan 340 and the damper 350, the compressor 330 is turned on as in the case of the ordinary refrigerator ) After checking the step S26, the process returns to the step S12.

If the cooling mode setting value of each of the plurality of zones 220 and 230 is different from "cold" in the upper part and "kimchi" in the lower part as a result of the check in step S12, the controller 320 determines whether the refrigeration system has entered the stabilization section . The stabilization period means a state in which the internal temperature of the room has fallen below a predetermined temperature according to the set cooling mode after the initial operation mode is operated. If the refrigeration system can not enter the stabilization period in the initial driving mode, the controller 320 may set the temperature of the plurality of zones to a predetermined temperature (for example, the set temperature of the refrigeration mode) regardless of the cooling mode set for the plurality of zones, The compressor 330 is driven and the damper 350 is controlled to be opened. If the upper zone 220 reaches a temperature suitable for the refrigeration mode during the maintenance state, the controller 320 proceeds to step S28.

Since the cooling mode of the plurality of zones 220 and 230 is different in step S28, the zone where the lower temperature should be maintained, for example, the upper zone is the "cold (3 DEG C)" mode, -1 < 0 > C) "mode, the opening / closing of the damper 350 is controlled so as to supply cold air to the lower zone. That is, the control unit 320 controls the damper 350 to be closed so that the cold air flows into only the lower zone 230, not the upper zone 220, and then proceeds to step S16.

The control unit 320 checks the internal temperature of the lower zone 230 in step S16 and turns off the compressor 330 when the lower zone 230 reaches the set temperature of the set cooling mode step). The control unit 320 opens the damper 350 together only during the operation of the high-content fan 340 to reduce the temperature deviation of the upper zone 220 while maximizing the temperature difference of the plurality of zones 220 and 230 during the off- (Step S20), and controls the high-content fan 340 to operate for a minimum period of time (9 minute cycle, 1 minute operation) every predetermined period.

When the internal temperature of the lower zone 230 reaches the cooling start temperature again (S22) while controlling the high-content fan 340 and the damper 350, the compressor 330 is turned on (S24) After the step is checked, the process returns to step S12 and the above-described steps are repeated.

As described above, according to the present invention, one room is divided into a plurality of zones and the separated zones are controlled by different cooling methods, for example, a refrigeration mode and a kimchi mode, It is possible to store the object to be stored in an optimal state or to maintain the best taste continuously.

Furthermore, since the present invention can utilize a part of one room of the multi-room as a kimchi refrigerator, there is an advantage that a general refrigerator can also be used as a kimchi refrigerator.

In addition, since one room can be set to a single cooling mode or a multi-cooling mode according to a user's selection, the present invention can satisfy not only consumer needs, The cooling system of each room is set to improve the usability of the refrigerator.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments, but, on the contrary, is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the invention. For example, each room in the multi-room may be divided into a plurality of zones and controlled in different cooling modes, or a room may be divided into three or more zones and controlled in different cooling modes. Although the embodiment of the present invention has been described with reference to a four-room multi-room refrigerator, the present invention is also applicable to a refrigerator having two or one rooms. In addition, if the cooling mode of the one room is set in the same cooling mode, the high temperature sensor used for the temperature control may use the upper sensor, the lower sensor, or both the high sensor values. Accordingly, the true scope of the present invention should be determined only by the appended claims.

Claims (12)

A high-content fan for supplying cool air heat-exchanged in the evaporator into the one room, and a high-content fan for supplying hot air to the room, wherein the one room is divided into a plurality of zones, And a damper driving unit for controlling the opening and closing of the damper, wherein the damper driving unit comprises:
And a controller for selectively controlling the cool air to the separation zones of the one room according to the cooling mode and the set temperature set by the user to control the separation zones to the same cooling mode or different cooling modes,
When one zone of the one room is set to the kimchi mode, the compressor is turned off when the detected temperature of the zone reaches the preset temperature of the kimchi mode, and the temperature difference of the upper room is maximized Wherein the control unit controls the damper to be opened together with the high-content fan operation, and controls the high-content fan to operate for a minimum period of time at regular intervals. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the control unit controls the damper to open and control each of the separation rooms of the one room into a refrigeration mode that is the same cooling mode. The refrigerator of claim 1, wherein the control unit controls one of the separation zones of the one room to the refrigeration mode and controls the remaining zones to the Kimchi mode or the freezing mode by opening and closing the damper for a required period of time Cooling control device. delete The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the control unit turns off the compressor when the plurality of zones are set to the same cooling mode and reaches the set temperature of the set cooling mode, Wherein the control unit controls the damper to be opened together with the fan operation, wherein the high-content fan is operated for a predetermined period of time or longer at predetermined intervals. 6. The refrigerator of claim 1, wherein the control unit controls the damper to be opened so that the plurality of zones fall to a predetermined temperature regardless of the cooling mode of the plurality of zones each time the refrigerator is initially driven Wherein the refrigerator is a refrigerator. delete 1. A one-room multiple cooling control method for a refrigerator in which one or more dampers for selectively supplying cold air supplied by a high-content fan to a plurality of divided zones in a one-
A) receiving a cooling mode setting value of each of the plurality of zones through a user interface unit;
B) controlling the opening and closing of the damper so that cool air heat-exchanged in the evaporator is supplied to all of the plurality of zones when the cooling mode setting values of the plurality of zones are equal to each other;
And c) controlling the opening and closing of the damper so that cool air is supplied to a zone in which a lower temperature is to be maintained if the cooling mode setting values of the plurality of zones are different from each other,
(C-1) controlling the opening and closing of the damper so that cool air is supplied to the zone where the lower temperature should be maintained among the plurality of zones, and turning off the compressor when the temperature of the zone reaches the set temperature;
Wherein the control unit controls the damper to be opened together with the high-content fan only during the high-content fan operation in order to maximize the temperature difference of the plurality of zones during the compressor off-time, 2) step of controlling the multi-room cooling control of the refrigerator. The method of claim 8, wherein step b)
B-1) turning off the compressor when the set temperature of the set cooling mode is reached when the plurality of zones are set to the same cooling mode;
B-2) controlling the high-content fan to be operated for a predetermined period of time or more at regular intervals, while controlling the damper to be opened together only during high-content fan operation in order to maximally reduce a plurality of zone temperature deviations in the compressor room during a compressor off- Further comprising the steps of: (a) controlling the temperature of the one-way multi-cooling system; The method according to claim 8 or 9, further comprising the step of controlling the damper so that the plurality of zones fall to a preset temperature regardless of the cooling mode of the plurality of zones each time the refrigerator is initially driven Multiple cooling control method. The method according to claim 8 or 9, wherein the cooling modes of the plurality of zones are set to one of a refrigeration mode, a kimchi mode, a freezing mode, and a fresh mode. delete

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