KR20030015055A - Ice amount sensing apparatus of ice maker for refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: An ice amount sensing apparatus of an ice maker for a refrigerator is provided to increase the ice maker efficiency by controlling the ice making operation not to be carried out when the ice is fully is made. CONSTITUTION: An ice amount sensing apparatus of an ice maker for a refrigerator includes an ice detecting lever(16) rotating in a predetermined range for sensing an amount of ice, a magnet(65) rotating in association with the rotation of the ice detecting lever, and a hall sensor(62) for sensing the magnet when the rotation of the ice detecting lever is restrained by the ice amount, wherein the ice amount is sensed by the signal of the hall sensor.

Description

Ice amount sensing apparatus of ice maker for refrigerator

The present invention relates to a device for detecting ice in a refrigerator ice maker, and more particularly, to a device for detecting ice in a refrigerator for detecting whether ice is filled in an ice container provided inside a freezer compartment.

1A and 1B illustrate a configuration of an ice maker according to the prior art, and a configuration of a general ice maker will be described with reference to this.

The ice maker as shown in the figure is fixed to the wall surface of the freezer using the connection brackets 2a and 2b extending upward from the ice maker 12, for example, the holes formed in the connection brackets 2a and 2b. It is fixed to the wall surface of the freezer compartment using a fastening screw.

The ice maker 12, which contains water for ice making and makes ice of a predetermined shape, has a cross section shaped into a half moon shape and is formed of a material having excellent thermal conductivity, for example, aluminum. The water supply to the ice making container 12 is made through a feed tube connection part 4 formed at one side.

An ice lever 14 is installed at an upper portion of the ice making container 12. The ice lever 14 is configured to rotate to take out ice completely defrosted from the ice making container 12 to the outside of the ice making container by using the rotational force of the driving motor installed inside the casing 20. have.

And as can be seen in Figure 1b, a heater 15 for applying a small amount of heat so that the completed ice is separated from the ice making container 12 is installed in the lower portion of the ice making container 12. Therefore, when cold air is supplied for a predetermined time and the ice making is completed, the heater 15 generates heat to space the ice attached to the ice making container 12. The semi-moon-shaped ice spaced in this way is separated from the ice making container 12 by the rotation of the ice lever 14. And the ice is separated in this way, fall into the ice storage container (not shown) located below. In order to prevent the ice separated at this time from entering the inside of the ice making container 12 again, a stripper 6 is provided on the front upper surface of the ice making container 12.

And before the ice is separated from the ice making container 12, whether or not the ice is filled in the ice storage container at the bottom is detected by the ice detection lever (16). The detection lever 16 is moved up and down within a predetermined angle range by a motor in the casing 20, and detects whether the ice storage container in the lower portion is full of ice.

The stripper 6 extends to the rear side from the front plate 18 and has a plurality of branch shapes. In addition, the above-mentioned moving lever 14 is designed to rotate between each stripper 6. The front plate 18 formed on the front surface of the ice making container 12 has a shape that extends downwardly from a height at which the ice making container 12 is located. This front plate 18 is for preventing the ice collected in the ice storage container substantially below it from contacting the ice making container 12. That is, when the ice accumulated in the ice storage container positioned below the ice making container 12 comes into contact with the ice making container 12, the ice may stick or the heater 15 installed below the ice making container 12 during the ice making process. It is melted by heat, and the melted water is frozen again after the heater is turned off, and the whole ice sticks or gets tangled. In order to prevent this, the front plate 18 is formed in a flat plate shape which extends to have a predetermined length vertically downward from the ice making container 12.

Here, the ice maker itself is as described above that is installed in the freezer compartment of the refrigerator. And by the cold air supplied into the freezer compartment, the water inside the ice making container 12 is made of ice.

Therefore, when cold air is supplied in the direction of the arrow in the freezer compartment, such cold air lowers the ice making container 12 by contacting the ice making container 12 through the rear of the front plate 18, and the ice making is performed. Will be done.

And heat is generated in the heater 15 during the ice. In the normal operation state of the heater 15, the heater 15 generates heat for a predetermined time and the heat generation should be stopped after a predetermined time when the ice in the ice making container 12 is iced. However, if the heater 15 is not in a normal state, heat generation may be continued. If this heat generation continues, a fatal adverse effect on the freezer performance of the refrigerator may be caused.

Conventional ice makers configured as described above rely on a mechanical configuration for moving the ice detection lever 16 up and down within a predetermined angle range in sensing the ice. As a result, the detection of the ice detection lever 16 becomes inaccurate, and thus the ice is less iced or iced too much, causing inconvenience to the user.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention relates to an ice sensor for a refrigerator ice maker that electrically detects whether ice is iced in an ice container provided inside a freezer compartment, and improves the accuracy of ice detection.

1a, 1b is a block diagram of a general ice maker,

2 is a casing internal configuration of the ice maker according to the present invention,

3 is a control block diagram of an ice maker according to the present invention;

4 is an operation flowchart for detecting the full ice of the ice lever in the present invention;

5A and 5B are operational state diagrams in accordance with the present invention.

Explanation of symbols on the main parts of the drawings

14: ebbing lever 16: ice detection lever

30: motor 36: cam

39: arm lever 45: extension part

48: PCB 51: rotating shaft

53,62: Hall sensor 55,56,65: Magnet

59: gear

In order to achieve the above object, the ice-covering device for a refrigerator ice maker includes: an ice-covering lever rotating in a predetermined range to detect an amount of iced ice; A magnet which rotates together with the rotation of the detection lever; When the rotation of the detection lever is constrained by the amount of ice in the ice, it comprises a Hall sensor installed to detect the magnet, characterized in that detecting the ice from the detection signal of the Hall sensor.

In addition, the present invention and the power providing unit for providing power to the ice detection lever at a predetermined cycle; A cam installed on the rotation shaft of the power providing unit and configured to determine a rotation amount of the detection lever; And an arm lever for transmitting the rotational amount of the cam to the detection lever, wherein the magnet is installed on an extension of the detection lever connected to the arm lever.

In the present invention, the period for transmitting power from the power supply unit to the ice detection lever is characterized in that the same as the ice-making operation period.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described in detail the ice sensor for the refrigerator ice maker according to the present invention.

Figure 2 illustrates in detail the internal configuration of the casing 20 for detecting the position of the ice lever in the ice maker of the present invention. In the present invention, the configuration of the ice maker will be described using FIG. 1 as it is.

As shown, the present invention uses the Hall sensor and the magnet to detect the position of the ice lever. That is, the magnet 56 is provided at one end of the gear 59 that is rotated by the rotational force of the motor 30. And the Hall sensor 1 (53) is installed at one end of the PCB (48) on which the gear (59) is mounted. In addition, an ice lever 14 is mounted on the same axis as the rotation shaft 51 of the gear 59.

That is, the moving lever 14 is also rotated by the amount of rotation of the gear 59. Therefore, when the magnet 1 56 mounted at one end of the gear 59 rotated in conjunction with the rotation of the motor 30 is in the detection position of the hall sensor 1 53, Output the initial position detection signal of the moving lever (14). Therefore, the mounting position of the Hall sensor 1 (53) and the magnet 1 (56), should be made on the portion where the initial position detection of the moving lever (14) can be made.

The cam 36 is mounted to the rotation shaft 51 of the gear 59. The cam 36 is also configured to receive the rotational force of the rotary shaft 51. The amount of rotation of the cam 36 is configured to be transmitted to the arm lever 39 side for the shangdong of the detection lever 16. This is achieved by configuring one side of the extension part 46 that cooperates with the sensing lever 16 to be rotated by the movement amount of the arm lever 39.

In addition, a magnet 2 (65) is provided at one side of the extension part (46). And a Hall sensor 2 (62) for detecting the position of the magnet 2 (65) is installed on a portion of the PCB 48, the Hall sensor 2 (62) is the detection lever 16 to detect whether the full moon. Can be installed in any position. Therefore, when the magnet 2 (65) arrives at the detection position of the Hall sensor 2 (62), the detection signal is output from the Hall sensor 2 (62), which is a signal to confirm whether or not full.

Next, Figure 3 is a control block diagram for detecting the ice in the present invention.

The hall sensor 1 53 is a sensor for sensing when the moving lever 14 is positioned at an initial position. When the Hall sensor 1 (53) detects the magnet 1 (56), it outputs an initial position detection signal.

The initial position means that the moving lever 14 is not included in the range of the space formed by the ice making container 12, and as shown in FIG. However, it is not necessary to limit the initial position of the moving lever 14 to the position shown in FIG. That is, as long as the position is not included in the space range formed by the ice making container 12, any position can be set as an initial position.

The hall sensor 2 62 is a sensor for detecting when the detection lever 16 is positioned at the full ice position. When the Hall sensor 2 (62) detects the magnet 2 (65), it outputs a detection signal.

The initial position detection signal output from the hall sensor 1 53 is input to the controller 70. The controller 70 determines the position of the moving lever 14 based on the signal output from the hall sensor 1 53. The detection signal output from the hall sensor 2 62 is also input to the controller 70. The controller 70 determines whether or not the ice is full based on the signal output from the hall sensor 2 62.

The two Hall sensors 1, 2 (53, 62) are mounted on one control board (PCB) 54 to be supplied with power at the same time and configured to be controlled. If possible, the control unit 70 is also preferably installed on the same control board.

In addition, the controller 70 controls to supply power to the hall sensors 1 and 2 so that the signal detection by the hall sensors 1 and 2 can be performed. The control is performed simultaneously through the hall sensor power supply unit 72.

In addition, the control configuration of the present invention, the solenoid (not shown) when supplying water to the ice making container 12 through the motor drive unit 74 and the water supply tube connecting portion 4 for driving the motor 30. It includes a water supply drive unit 76 for driving. Reference numeral 78 is a time counting section for selectively counting time as needed.

The following describes the operation of detecting the full ice in the ice maker of the present invention having the above configuration.

4 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of detecting ice in the ice maker according to the present invention.

When power is supplied to the ice maker, the control unit 70 outputs a driving signal to the hall sensor power supply unit 72 so that the power is supplied to the hall sensors 1, 2 (53, 62) installed on the control board 54. (Step 100). Power is supplied to the Hall sensors 1 and 2 by the control of the 100th step, and the magnets 1 and 2 are in a standby state.

Next, the controller 70 first checks whether a detection signal is output from the hall sensor 2 62 (operation 110).

In the ice maker of the present invention, the ice detection is detected by the shanghai-dong of the ice detection lever 16. The shankdong of the detection lever 16 has a rotational amount of the cam 36 rotated by the rotational force of the gear 59 when the gear 59 received the power of the motor 30 is rotated. It is made while being delivered to the sensing lever 16 side.

Thus, when the ice bowl (not shown) to be mounted on the lower side of the ice maker is not filled with ice, the detection lever 16 moved upward by the amount of rotation of the cam 36 is located in FIG. 5B. The sensor 2 62 outputs a detection signal of the magnet 2 65. However, at the position where the amount of rotation of the cam 36 ends (when the arm lever 39 leaves the cam 36), the ice detection lever 16 is returned to the lower side as shown in FIG. That is, when the ice is not full, the Hall sensor 2 (62) detects the magnet 2 (65), and the output detection signal ends within a predetermined time.

The moving motion of the ice detection lever 16 after this ice detection is periodically performed when the power of the motor 30 is generated for the ice moving operation.

However, when the ice is in the ice state, the ice detection lever 16 moved to the upper portion stays in the position shown in FIG. 5B even after the rotation of the gear according to the icing operation is completed. At this time, the signal detected by the magnet 2 (65) by the Hall sensor 2 (62) continues to be output for a predetermined time or more. Therefore, the controller 70 detects the full ice state by the continuous detection signal of the hall sensor 2 62.

As described above, step 110 is to control not to perform ice making any more when ice is detected from the detection signal of the Hall sensor 2 (62). In other words, since the ice bowl containing the ice is filled with ice, even if the ice is iced, iced ice may fall out of the ice bowl (step 120).

However, when it is determined in step 110 that the state is not full, the controller 70 determines whether the hall sensor 1 53 detects the initial position of the ice lever 14 (step 130). That is, it is determined whether the hall sensor 1 53 outputs a signal according to the initial position detection of the moving lever 14.

The position of the moving lever 14 is interlocked with the rotation of the motor 30. That is, when the gear 59 received the rotational force of the motor 30 rotates, the moving lever 14 mounted with the rotation axis 51 of the gear 59 as the same axis rotates.

On the other hand, the magnet 1 (56) is attached to one end of the gear (59). Therefore, when the amount of rotation of the gear 59 becomes to some extent, the magnet 1 56 is detected by the hall sensor 1 53. At this time, the Hall sensor 1 (53) outputs an initial position detection signal. Accordingly, in the case where the initial position detection signal is not output from the hall sensor 1 53 in step 130, the moving lever 14 is located in a range other than the initial position. If the ice lever 14 is located within the space range of the ice making container 12, it may be iced with water. Therefore, the control unit 70 determines whether the moving position detection signal of the moving lever 14 is detected by the hall sensor 1 53 in step 130.

When the initial position detection signal is not detected from the hall sensor 1 53 in step 130, the control unit 70 outputs a motor driving signal to the motor driving unit 74. When the motor 30 is driven by this signal, the moving lever 14 rotates while the gear 59 rotates together. After the motor is driven, the time counting unit 78 is initialized and the motor driving time is counted (step 150).

If the initial position detection signal according to the detection of the magnet 1 (56) from the Hall sensor 1 (53) within the predetermined time within the motor drive time counted in the step 150 (step 160), the control unit 70 The current position is determined as the initial position of the moving lever 14. The operating state in which the initial position is detected is shown in FIG. 5A.

The predetermined time set in step 160 is set to a time in which a slight compensation value is further added to the time required for the moving lever 14 to make one revolution. Typically, one rotation time of the moving lever 14 is set to about 3 minutes. Therefore, the predetermined time is preferably set to about 4 minutes.

Therefore, in the normal state, since the moving lever 14 performs one full rotation within the predetermined time set in the step 160, sufficient detection can be made even in the case where it is located farthest from the initial position. And there is a need to constantly set the drive speed of the motor. This is also necessary for the control by the 160th step in the present invention.

However, if the detection signal of the magnet 1 56 is not output from the hall sensor 1 53 within the predetermined time, it is determined that the gear 59 driven by the motor 30 is not normally rotating. For example, when the ice lever 14 is frozen with water, the rotation of the gear 59 is constrained, and thus it cannot be rotated normally.

Therefore, when the initial position of the ice lever 14 is detected within a predetermined time in step 160, the ice making process of step 140 is performed. However, if the initial position of the moving lever 14 is not detected within a predetermined time in step 160, the moving process according to step 170 is performed.

The ice-making process according to the 170th step is a step of forcibly performing ice by heat of a heater (not shown). For example, the moving lever 14 is frozen with water.

When the ice making process is performed in the 140th step, since the ice lever 14 is out of the space range formed in the ice making container 12, as shown in FIG. Concerns are avoided. Therefore, the controller 70 controls the water supply driving unit 76 to supply water to the ice making container 12, and then controls the processes required for ice making.

As described above, the present invention has a basic technical idea that the ice detection is circuitically sensed according to the movement amount of the detection lever according to the driving amount of the motor. And within the scope of the technical idea of the present invention, of course, various modifications are possible to those skilled in the art.

As described above, the ice-covering device of the icemaker for a refrigerator according to the present invention has a magnet installed at an extension part which interworks with an ice-covering lever for detecting ice-covering, and when the ice-covering lever detects ice-covering, Install the Hall sensor at the position where the inspection lever can be restrained. Therefore, if the magnet continues to detect the magnet for more than a predetermined time, the hall sensor detects it as full ice. The sensed ice signal is applied to the control unit to perform accurate control, and in particular, by controlling the ice making operation not to be performed when the ice is made, it is possible to increase the use effect of the ice maker of the present invention.

Claims (3)

An ice detection lever rotating in a predetermined range to detect an amount of ice ice; A magnet which rotates together with the rotation of the detection lever; It is configured to include a Hall sensor installed to detect the magnet when the rotation of the detection lever is constrained by the amount of ice in the ice, The ice cream detection device of the icemaker for a refrigerator, characterized in that for detecting the ice cream from the detection signal of the Hall sensor. The method of claim 1, A power providing unit for providing power to the inspection lever at a predetermined cycle; A cam installed on the rotation shaft of the power providing unit and configured to determine a rotation amount of the detection lever; It is configured to further include an arm lever for transmitting the rotation amount of the cam to the detection lever, The magnet is a refrigerator detection device of the icemaker for a refrigerator, characterized in that installed in the extension of the detection lever connected to the arm lever. The method of claim 2, The period of transferring power from the power supply unit to the ice detection lever, the ice detection device of the refrigerator ice maker, characterized in that the same setting as the ice-making operation cycle.