KR19990019524A - Refrigerator with rapid thawing function and its operation control method - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a refrigerator having a function of thawing a frozen food in a short time.

To this end, the present invention is a refrigerator having a refrigeration cycle consisting of a compressor (1), a condenser (2), an expansion valve (3), an evaporator (4), the refrigerant line (5) connected in front of the condenser (2) There is provided a refrigerator provided with an auxiliary condenser (6) for radiating the frozen food on a branch line (5a) branched from the condenser (2) connected to the refrigerant line (5) connected to the rear of the condenser (2).

Description

Refrigerator with rapid thawing function and its operation control method

The present invention relates to a refrigerator having a rapid thawing function and an operation control method thereof, and more particularly to a function of thawing frozen food in a short time.

Generally, the refrigerator takes heat inside the freezer compartment 12 and the refrigerating compartment 11 by using a refrigerant circulation circuit according to the action of the compressor 1, the condenser 2, the expansion valve 3, the evaporator 4, and the like. It is a kind of air conditioner to prevent the deterioration of the food and beverage stored therein by maintaining the temperature of each indoor unit at a low temperature.

As shown in FIG. 1, a refrigerant cycle of a refrigerator having such a function includes a compressor 1 which serves to compress a low-temperature / low-pressure gas refrigerant into a high-temperature / high-pressure gas refrigerant, and a high-temperature / high-pressure gas refrigerant. A condenser (2) in the machine room for condensing into a liquid refrigerant of high temperature and high pressure, an expansion valve (3) for expanding the liquid refrigerant of high temperature and high pressure into a liquid refrigerant of low temperature and low pressure, and the low temperature and It consists of the evaporator 4 which functions to evaporate the low pressure liquid refrigerant to low temperature and low pressure gas refrigerant, and keeps the temperature of the freezing chamber 12 and the refrigerating chamber 11 constant.

On the other hand, Figure 2 shows a state in which such a refrigerant cycle is provided in the refrigerator, when the cold air circulation process to the freezing chamber 12 and the refrigerating chamber 11 schematically described as follows.

First, as air passing around the evaporator 4 installed behind the freezing chamber 12 is cooled through heat exchange with the evaporator 4, a part of the cold air is cooled by the grill fan 14 according to the blowing action of the fan 18. It is supplied to the freezing chamber 12 through the discharge port 14a to cool the inside of the freezing chamber 12.

In addition, a portion of the cold air flows through the circulation duct 15 connected to the refrigerating chamber 11 and is supplied to the refrigerating chamber 11 through the damper 16 to cool the inside of the refrigerating chamber 11.

As such, the circulating air having the elevated temperature is supplied to the freezing chamber 12 and the refrigerating chamber 11 to cool and maintain the temperatures in the freezing chamber 12 and the refrigerating chamber 11 at a predetermined temperature. Accordingly, after being introduced into the evaporator 4 of the freezing chamber 12 again, it is cooled again through heat exchange with the evaporator 4 and recycled as described above.

On the other hand, the freezer compartment 12 stores foods that require refrigeration, such as meat or fish, but in order to cook the meat or fish taken out of the freezer compartment 12, it is necessary to cut it to a certain shape. .

That is, for example, when the meat such as beef or pork is stored in the freezer compartment 12, the temperature is -18 ℃, when stored in chunks, it is extremely difficult to cut in the frozen state, it is stored in the form of slice It is also difficult to cut meat without thawing because the meat freezes together and does not fall together.

For this reason, in order to cut the meat or fish taken out of the freezing chamber 12, it is placed in the refrigerating chamber 11 or placed in a predetermined place indoors and outdoors, and then it is cut after thawing until the temperature becomes about -1 ° C.

However, the conventional method of defrosting in the existing refrigerating chamber 11 or indoors / outdoors has a disadvantage that the defrosting time is too long.

Accordingly, in the case of not thawing with sufficient time, there is a problem that the user may experience inconvenience such as food cannot be thawed and cooking is not possible.

In addition, in the case of the fast frozen food, it is necessary to rapidly thaw, otherwise, there are many problems such as deterioration of the food tissue due to the recombination of ice crystals and deterioration of nutrients and quality of the food.

The present invention is to solve the above problems, having a function to thaw frozen food in a short time, so that the user can conveniently use when thawing for cooking of frozen food The purpose is to provide a refrigerator to prevent tissue destruction.

1 is a block diagram showing a conventional refrigerator refrigeration cycle

Figure 2 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view showing a conventional refrigerator configuration.

Figure 3 is a block diagram showing a refrigerator refrigeration cycle according to the present invention

Figure 4 is a front view showing the configuration of a refrigerator according to the present invention

5 is a diagram showing a relationship between an operation mode and a compressor operating frequency in the present invention.

6 is a pressure-enthalpy diagram according to a change in compressor operating frequency in the present invention.

* Explanation of symbols for main parts of the drawings

1: Compressor 2: Condenser

2a: Fan 3: Expansion valve

4: evaporator 5: refrigerant line

6: auxiliary condenser 7: thawing room

8: Circulating fan 9: Three-way valve

10: Inverter 11: Refrigerator

12: freezer 13: machine room

14; Cold Air Outlet 15: Circulation Duct

16: damper

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a refrigerator having a refrigeration cycle consisting of a compressor, a condenser, an expansion valve, and an evaporator, the branch being branched from a refrigerant line connected to the front of the condenser and connected to a refrigerant line connected to the rear of the condenser. There is provided a refrigerator in which a secondary condenser is installed to dissipate frozen food on the line.

According to another aspect of the present invention for achieving the above object, the operation control method of the refrigerator to control the temperature of the thawing chamber, the freezing chamber and the refrigerating chamber, respectively, by the operation of the refrigeration cycle consisting of a compressor, a condenser, an expansion valve, an evaporator. In; In normal operation, the compressor operates at the frequency of normal operation to operate the main condenser fan to release heat.In the case of rapid thawing operation, the three-way valve changes the refrigerant flow path to the auxiliary condenser. It is a driving control method of a refrigerator having a rapid thawing function, characterized in that it drives a circulation fan of a thawing room and the compressor is continuously operated at a high operating frequency.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 3 to 6.

Figure 3 is a block diagram showing a refrigerator refrigeration cycle according to the present invention, Figure 5 is a diagram showing the relationship between the operation mode and the compressor operating frequency in the present invention, Figure 6 is a change in the compressor operating frequency in the present invention Pressure-enthalpy diagram.

The present invention provides a compressor (1) for compressing a low-temperature, low-pressure gas refrigerant into a high-temperature, high-pressure gas refrigerant, and a condenser (10) for condensing the high-temperature / high pressure gas refrigerant with a high-temperature / high pressure liquid refrigerant ( 2) an expansion valve 3 which expands the high temperature / high pressure liquid refrigerant into a low temperature / low pressure liquid refrigerant, and a function of evaporating the low temperature / low pressure liquid refrigerant into a low temperature / low pressure gas refrigerant. In the refrigerator having a refrigerating cycle consisting of the evaporator (4), the refrigerant line (5) branched from the refrigerant line (5) connected to the front of the condenser 2 (that is, the main condenser) is connected to the rear of the condenser (2) On the branch line (5a) is connected to the secondary condenser (6) having a heat dissipation action can be installed to thaw the frozen food.

At this time, a circulation fan 8 is installed at the rear of the auxiliary condenser 6 so as to efficiently circulate heat generated in the auxiliary condenser 6 through the thawing chamber 7, and the front of the condenser 2. At the branch point of the refrigerant line 5, a three-way valve 9 is provided to change the flow path of the refrigerant to the main condenser 2 or the auxiliary condenser 6 according to the circulation fan 8 and the cold air condition.

In addition, the refrigerant line 5 connected to the rear of the main condenser 2 and the branch line 5a connected to the rear of the sub condenser 6 have a check valve for preventing the backflow of the refrigerant to the main condenser and the sub condenser. 17) and 17a are provided and comprised, respectively.

In addition, the compressor 1 is connected to an inverter 10 for varying the operating frequency of the compressor 1 according to the operation mode.

On the other hand, Figure 4 is a front view showing the refrigerator of the present invention configured as described above, the thawing chamber (7) capable of thawing the food in the frozen state on the lower side of the refrigerating chamber (11) is provided.

At this time, the thawing chamber 7 of the refrigerator of the present invention is preferably installed by separating a portion of the kimchi chamber or vegetable chamber 19 located below the refrigerating chamber 11, the thawing chamber (7) is insulated as the refrigerating chamber ( Heat exchange with other parts of 11) is minimized.

The operation of the present invention configured as described above is as follows.

As described above, the refrigerator according to the present invention performs the freezing function of the food in the freezer compartment 12 and the refrigerating function of the food in the refrigerating compartment 11 as described above, except when thawing frozen food.

That is, when the thawing function is not used, the thawing key (thawing key), which is an operation key installed on the panel, is turned off, and thus the thawing key is installed behind the auxiliary condenser 6 of the thawing chamber 7. The circulation fan 8 is stopped and only the fan 2a installed in the condenser 2 (hereinafter referred to as the main condenser) of the machine room 13 is rotated.

On the other hand, if the user wants to thaw meat stored in a frozen state in the freezing chamber 12 or brought to a frozen state elsewhere, the user turns on the thawing key.

Accordingly, the three-way valve 9 installed at the branch point of the refrigerant line in front of the main condenser 2 sends the refrigerant to the auxiliary condenser 6 side, so that the circulation fan 8 behind the auxiliary condenser 6 operates. do.

That is, instead of stopping the fan 2a behind the main condenser 2, the circulation fan 8 provided behind the auxiliary condenser 6 is operated.

At this time, the check valves 17 and 17a are respectively provided on the line connected to the rear side of the main condenser 2 of the refrigerant line 5 and on the line of the rear side of the auxiliary condenser 6 of the branch line 5a. , Backflow of the refrigerant is prevented.

After the thawing key is turned on as described above, the door of the refrigerating chamber 11 is opened to put frozen food into the thawing chamber 7, and at this time, the thawing chamber 7 is insulated so that the refrigerating chamber 11 Heat exchange with other parts of) is minimized.

Therefore, the circulation fan 8 of the thawing chamber 7 forcibly circulates the heat of the auxiliary condenser 6 into the thawing chamber 7 to shorten the time required for thawing frozen food.

That is, as the circulation fan 8 rotates, the air inside the thawing chamber 7 is blown toward the circulation fan 8 to activate the thawing action. In the operation of the circulation fan 8, the inverter 10 The operation frequency of the compressor 1 is increased by the action of the condensation temperature can be quickly increased.

On the other hand, in the above thawing chamber 7 is preferably installed to separate the part of the kimchi chamber or vegetable chamber 19 located below the refrigerating chamber 11, the position of the thawing chamber 7 is the kimchi chamber or vegetable chamber of the refrigerating chamber 11 Of course, it is not limited to (19).

As described above, according to the present invention, as the user turns on the thawing key separately installed in the operation panel on the front of the refrigerator main body, the fan 2a of the main condenser 2 installed in the existing machine room 13 is provided. Instead of stopping, the circulation fan 8 installed at the rear of the auxiliary condenser 6 of the thawing chamber 7 is operated to increase the amount of heat dissipation in the auxiliary condenser 6, whereby the frozen food inserted into the thawing chamber 7 Can be effectively thawed in a faster time.

In the present invention, the thawing function of the frozen food is added to the refrigerator, so that the user can conveniently use the thawing frozen food for cooking.

That is, when thawing frozen foods such as meat or fish taken out of the freezing chamber 12, the frozen food can be thawed in a short time by using the heat of the auxiliary condenser 6 in a separate thawing chamber 7. Therefore, it is possible to provide convenience to the user, such as reducing the time for cooking preparation.

In addition, when the thawing function is applied to cans or bottles or beverages other than the food in the frozen state, it can be used to warm the beverages in the cans or bottles, thereby providing another convenience to the user.

In addition, it is possible to improve the quality of food by preventing the destruction of cellular tissues by inhibiting the recombination of ice crystals that can occur during slow thaw by rapidly thawing the frozen food.

In addition, in the case of rapid thawing, by realizing rapid thaw cyclically without using an additional heat source, no additional power consumption is required.

Claims (5)

A refrigerator having a refrigeration cycle comprising a compressor, a condenser, an expansion valve, and an evaporator, And a secondary condenser for dissipating the frozen food on the branch line connected to the refrigerant line connected to the rear of the condenser by branching from the refrigerant line connected to the front of the condenser. The method of claim 1, At the rear of the auxiliary condenser, a circulation fan that blows air to circulate the inside of the thaw chamber more effectively is installed, and on the refrigerant line in front of the condenser, a flow path is provided to the main condenser or the auxiliary condenser according to the circulation fan and the cold air condition. Refrigerator having a rapid thawing function, characterized in that the three-way valve is installed to change the. The method of claim 1, And a check valve for preventing backflow of the refrigerant on the refrigerant line connected to the rear of the main condenser and the branch line connected to the rear of the auxiliary condenser, respectively. The method of claim 1, The compressor has a quick thawing function, characterized in that connected to the inverter for changing the operating frequency of the compressor in accordance with the operation mode. A method of controlling a refrigerator in which a temperature of a thawing chamber, a freezing chamber, and a refrigerating chamber is controlled by operation of a refrigeration cycle comprising a compressor, a condenser, an expansion valve, and an evaporator; In normal operation, the compressor operates at the frequency of normal operation to operate the main condenser fan to release heat. In the case of rapid thawing operation, the three-way valve changes the flow path of the refrigerant to the auxiliary condenser and simultaneously drives the circulation fan of the thawing chamber. When the circulation fan is driven, the operation frequency of the compressor is continuously operated at a high operation frequency. Operation control method of a refrigerator having a quick thawing function, characterized in that.