KR19980083072A - How to control the automatic ice maker of the refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method for controlling an automatic ice maker of a refrigerator. When an appropriate amount of water is supplied to a water tank, the present invention performs a pumping operation for about 1 second at a set time of about 0.4 seconds. After the pumped water is dropped into the housing of the water tank again to remove bubbles, the pre-pumping operation to remove bubbles during the pre-pumping operation is performed three times at intervals of two seconds. The pumping operation delay process delays the pumping operation for 10 seconds, and the water supply pump is stopped for 10 seconds in this pumping operation delay process to stabilize the water in the water tank and perform the water supply pump operation for 9 seconds to supply water to the ice making container. The water supply operation, supplying the proper amount of water to the ice making container in this water supply operation, intensively discharging strong cold air, Defrosting completion process, which determines that the degree is below 12.5 degrees, and the icemaking operation process that separates the ice from the ice making container is determined that the temperature of the ice is kept below a predetermined value within the set ice-making time. Since the water supply pump has three preliminary operations for a predetermined time to prevent bubbles from occurring near the water supply pump, it is possible to maximize the ice making ability due to the accurate amount of water supply.

Description

How to control the automatic ice maker of the refrigerator

The present invention relates to a method for controlling an automatic ice maker of a refrigerator. In particular, a water supply pump installed in a water tank of a refrigerator compartment and supplying water to an automatic ice maker of a freezer compartment has three preliminary operations for a predetermined time, thereby causing air bubbles in the vicinity of the water supply pump. The present invention relates to a method of controlling an automatic ice maker of a refrigerator, which can improve the ice making capacity due to the accurate amount of water supply.

In general, the refrigerator main body is insulated on all sides except the front surface and partitioned into compartments for freezing and refrigerating chamber by the partition wall, each door is installed in the front of the freezing compartment and the refrigerating compartment with a hinge shaft. The rear side of the freezer compartment is provided with a cooler that absorbs the surrounding heat to obtain a cooling effect, the upper portion of the freezer compartment is provided with a refrigerating chamber circulation fan for supplying the refrigerating compartment through a multi-duct mounted on the rear side of the freezer compartment.

That is, the refrigerator having such a structure supplies the air cooled by the cooler to the freezer compartment and the refrigerating compartment, respectively, by driving the freezer compartment and the refrigerating compartment circulation fan, and the freezer compartment is usually discharged toward the front side from the rear side of the freezer compartment and the refrigerating compartment. And it is to freeze or keep fresh food stored in the refrigerator compartment.

In addition, an automatic ice maker is installed according to the refrigerator to perform an ice making operation by a constant operation. Looking at the ice making operation, an ice making operation for deicing water supplied to a predetermined frame by cold air, and the ice making operation at a constant temperature is performed. Ice-making operation to remove iced ice from a fixed frame, water supply operation to supply a certain amount of water to a fixed frame again by this ice-making operation, and water supply confirmation operation process to detect an appropriate amount of water filled in the frame by this water supply operation. This operation is performed continuously. That is, as shown in FIG. 2, the schematic configuration of the automatic ice maker includes a water tank 70 installed in a refrigerating chamber and storing an appropriate amount of water, and a housing treated at the bottom of the water tank 70 to provide a predetermined amount of water. A water supply pump 71 for pumping, an ice making container 75 for water supplied by the water supply pump 71 and flowing into the supply hose 72, and an ice making operation provided at one side of the ice making container 75. It consists of an ice motor 74 is operated with the completion of the operation of separating the ice ice from the ice making container (75).

Here, looking at the control method of the conventional automatic ice maker having such a configuration, as shown in FIG. 3, the initialization state S21 to which the driving power is applied to the refrigerator proceeds to the proper material supply determination step S22. Then, when it is determined that the appropriate amount of water is supplied to the water tank as a result of judging in the appropriate water supply determination step (S22), the process proceeds to the water supply pump operation step (S23). At this time, in the water supply pump operation step (S23), as the water supply pump is operated for a predetermined time, a predetermined amount of water is supplied to the ice making container and proceeds to the ice making operation step (S24). Therefore, in this ice making operation (S24) it is to supply a strong cold air to the automatic ice maker side by the operation of the F fan to proceed to the ice making time determination step (S25). At this time, if it is determined that the ice making time has passed 2 hours and 40 minutes as determined by the ice making time judging step (S25), the process proceeds to the ice temperature judging step (S26). Then, if it is determined in the ice temperature determination step (S26) that the temperature of the ice in the ice making frame is less than 12.5 degrees below zero, it proceeds to the ice-making operation step (S27). Therefore, in this ice-making operation (S27), the ice is removed from the ice-making vessel by rotating together with the operation of twisting the ice-making vessel, and the loop is repeatedly performed by returning to the proper water supply determination stage (S22).

On the other hand, if it is determined that the appropriate amount of water is not supplied in a predetermined frame as determined in the titration supply determination step (S22), the loop of the present ice making operation is terminated. In addition, when it is determined in the ice temperature determination step S26 that the temperature of the ice does not drop below 12.5 degrees, the ice making operation is terminated. When it is determined in the ice making time determination step S25 that the ice making operation time has not passed 2 hours and 40 minutes, the process returns to the ice making operation S24 and repeats the loop.

However, in the water supply operation in the conventional automatic ice maker, the water pump is operated for a predetermined time to supply an appropriate amount of water to the ice making container, where bubbles are formed in the housing of the water tank in which the water pump is installed. Therefore, even if the feed water pump is pumped for a certain time due to the bubbles generated in the housing, the amount of water supplied to the ice making vessel through the supply hose is reduced, resulting in a decrease in the performance of the automatic ice maker.

Accordingly, the present invention has been made in order to solve such a problem, the normal operation of the water supply pump after removing the air bubbles in the vicinity of the water supply pump having a preliminary three times the water supply pump for supplying water to the automatic ice maker of the freezer compartment for a set time. The purpose of the present invention is to provide an automatic ice maker control method of a refrigerator to maximize the ice making ability of the automatic ice maker.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention performs a pumping operation for about 1 second at a set time of about 0.4 seconds by supplying an appropriate amount of water to the water tank, and pulling the water back to the supply lake to some extent and pulling it again after 1 second. The pre-pumping operation to remove bubbles by dropping the water back into the housing of the water tank, and the pre-pumping operation to remove bubbles during this pre-pumping operation are performed three times at intervals of 2 seconds and then pumped for 10 seconds. Water supply operation to supply water to the ice making container by stabilizing the water in the water tank by stopping the operation of the water supply pump for 10 seconds during the pumping operation delay process to delay the operation, and performing the water supply pump operation for 9 seconds. In this water supply operation, water is appropriately supplied to the ice making container and concentrated cold air is discharged, and the temperature of the ice within the set ice making time is minus 12.5 degrees. And a deicing operation process for separating the ice from the ice making container, as determined by the ice making operation determination process and the ice making operation judging process. do.

1 is a schematic diagram showing the operation of an automatic ice maker installed in a refrigerator in general.

2 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of a conventional automatic ice maker.

Figure 3 is a block diagram illustrating the operation of the automatic ice maker according to the present invention.

4 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the automatic ice maker according to the present invention.

<Explanation of symbols for main parts of drawing>

1: Micom 2: Egg sensor

3: F sensor 4: Eye sensor

5: water supply detection unit 6: Al fan

7: F Fan 8: Ebbing Motor

9: water feed pump 10: compressor

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

Here, the configuration according to the present invention, as shown in Figure 3, the sensor unit for outputting signals output from the various sensors installed in the refrigerator, and the microcomputer to perform the overall control of the refrigerator by receiving the signals sensed from the sensor unit, respectively (1) and various driving units operated by receiving driving power corresponding to the control signal of the microcomputer 1.

Here, the sensor unit is installed in the interior of the freezer compartment F (F: Efra) sensor (3) for detecting the temperature, R (R: sensor is installed in the upper right of the refrigerating chamber to sense the temperature inside the sensor) (2), and a water supply detecting unit (5) for detecting whether water in the water tank is appropriate, and an I (I: below) sensor (4) for detecting the temperature of the ice to be installed in the ice maker of the ice maker. Lose.

In addition, the motor driving unit is a compressor that operates as a refrigeration cycle according to the control signal of the microcomputer (1), and the F fan which is operated to maintain the freezing chamber at an appropriate temperature by absorbing the internal temperature of the cooler according to the operation of the compressor (10). (7), an alpan 6 in which the refrigerating chamber is operated to maintain an appropriate temperature, a water supply pump 9 operating to supply water to the ice making container, and an operation for removing ice ice from the ice making container. It consists of an ice motor (8).

On the other hand, look at the operation of the refrigerator having such a configuration as follows.

First, as the power of the refrigerator is applied, the refrigeration cycle of the compressor 9 is operated, and thus the cooler not shown absorbs heat in the refrigerator. In other words, the F fan 7 and the al fan 6 are operated under a constant driving power in such a state that the air cooled by the cooler is supplied to each freezer compartment and the refrigerating compartment to maintain a constant temperature and to store food in the refrigerator. In addition, the ice making vessel installed on one side of the freezer compartment receives a certain amount of water from the water tank installed in the refrigerating chamber by the operation of the water supply pump, and performs the ice making operation. Also, the ice making in the ice making vessel is automatically stored in the ice container. It is to perform the operation and water supply operation repeatedly.

That is, when looking at the operation of the automatic ice maker in more detail, the microcomputer 1 recognizes a state in which the appropriate amount of water is supplied to the water tank with a signal input from the water supply detecting unit 5, and the water supply housed in the water tank. The driving power is applied to the pump 9 for 0.4 to 1 second. In other words, by the pre-pumping operation of the water feed pump 9, a certain amount of water is drawn up to the supply hose, and then drops to the housing feed pump 9 again with a certain drop from the shutoff of the driving power. Here, the pre-pumping operation of the water feed pump 9 is performed three times at intervals of two seconds, so that bubbles generated in the housing of the water tank are removed by the water falling from the supply hose. At this time, after the set time is delayed, the water feed pump 9 receives the driving power for 9 seconds according to the control signal of the microcomputer 1 to perform the pumping operation. Then, by the pumping operation of the feed water pump 9, an appropriate amount of water is supplied to the feed container through the supply hose. In addition, as the compressor 10 and the F fan 7 are driven according to the predetermined control signal of the microcomputer 1, an ice making operation and an ice making operation for discharging strong cold air to an ice maker are performed.

Meanwhile, the control method of the ice making operation of the refrigerator according to the present invention will be described as follows.

First, the initialization state (S1) to which the drive power of the refrigerator is applied proceeds to the appropriate supply determination step (S2). Then, if it is determined that the appropriate amount of water is supplied to the water tank as a result of judging in the appropriate supply supply determination step (S2) is to proceed to the pre-pumping operation step (S3). Therefore, in this preliminary pumping operation (S3), the pumping operation is performed for about 1 second at the set time of about 0.4 seconds, and the water drawn up to the supply lake is increased to some extent, and after 1 second, the water which is pulled up again into the housing in the water tank. It will fall and proceed to the preliminary pumping frequency determination step (S4). Then, if it is determined in the preliminary pumping recovery determination step (S4) that the preliminary pumping operation is not performed for 3 times, the process proceeds to the delay step (S5) for 2 seconds to delay the preliminary pumping operation for 2 seconds and the preliminary pumping operation. Returning to step S3 to perform the continuous pre-pumping operation and repeat the loop. At this time, if the number of preliminary pumping operations is determined three times as a result of the preliminary pumping determination step (S3) as the continuous preliminary pumping operation, the pumping operation is performed in a 10 second delay step (S6). Therefore, in this pumping operation 10 second delay step (S6), after the preliminary pumping operation is completed, the water in the bubble-free housing is delayed for 10 seconds so as to have stability, and the water pumping operation step (S7) is performed. Therefore, in this water supply pumping operation step (S7), the water pump is pumped for about 9 seconds for the set time, so that the water drawn up by this pumping operation is supplied to the ice making container through the supply hose and proceeds to the ice making operation (S8). will be. At this time, in the ice making operation (S8), concentrated cold air is intensively discharged toward the ice making container supplied with a predetermined amount of water, and the process proceeds to the ice making time determination step (S9). Then, when it is determined in the ice making time determination step S9 that the ice making operation time has elapsed for 2 hours and 40 minutes, the ice temperature judging step S10 is performed. Therefore, if it is determined in the ice temperature determination step (S10) that the temperature of the iced ice is less than 12.5 degrees below zero, the process proceeds to the ice-making operation (S11), and in this ice-operation operation (S11), the ice is separated from the ice-making container. After performing the desired operation, the loop returns to the titration supply determination step (S2) and repeats the present loop.

On the other hand, if it is determined in the ice making time determination step S9 that the ice making time has not elapsed for 2 hours and 40 minutes, the process returns to the ice making operation S8 and repeats the loop.

In the refrigerator equipped with an automatic ice maker, the water supply pump performs a pumping operation for a predetermined time in order to supply water in a constant water tank to the injection container, and the water supply pump takes three preliminary pumping operations before the pumping operation. By breaking the bubbles generated around the first, the amount of water eventually supplied to the ice making container can be kept constant, so that there is an effect of making ice uniform.

Claims (1)

A proper amount of water is supplied to the water tank to perform a pumping operation for about 1 second at a set time of about 0.4 seconds, and the water is drawn up to the supply lake some time, and after 1 second, the drawn water falls back into the housing of the water tank again. A pumping operation delaying process of delaying the pumping operation for 10 seconds after performing a preliminary pumping operation of removing bubbles to remove bubbles, and performing a preliminary pumping operation of removing bubbles in the preliminary pumping operation at intervals of 2 seconds; During the delay of the pumping operation, the water supply pump is stopped for 10 seconds to stabilize the water in the water tank, and the water supply operation is performed for 9 seconds to supply water to the ice making container. Determination of the completion of the ice making operation to supply the appropriate amount of water, intensively discharge the strong cold air, and determine that the ice temperature is below 12.5 degrees below the set ice making time, And a deicing operation process of separating the ice from the ice making container, as determined by the determination of the completion of the ice making operation.