KR20060001276A - Kimchi refrigerator and temperature control method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a kimchi refrigerator comprising a main cabinet having a storage compartment with an opening, a door installed in the main cabinet to open and close the opening, and a cooling driving unit for cooling the storage chamber. A door opening / closing detection unit provided at any one of the door opening and closing positions to detect whether the door is opened or closed; An outside air temperature sensing unit provided in one of the main cabinet and the door to sense outside air temperature; A storage unit for storing each driving time information of the cooling driving unit according to each predetermined outside air temperature range and opening time range; The cooling driving unit is controlled to maintain the storage chamber at a predetermined target temperature, and when the door is opened based on the detection result of the door opening / closing detection unit, a predetermined first opening time for maintaining the door opening state is counted. And the cooling driver to lower the storage chamber to a cooling temperature lower than the target temperature during a first driving time corresponding to the first outside temperature and the first opening time detected by the outside temperature sensing unit based on the driving time information. It characterized in that it comprises a control unit for controlling the operation of.

As a result, the storage room temperature is automatically controlled according to whether the door is opened or closed, thereby providing convenience to the user and providing a kimchi refrigerator capable of maintaining the freshness of the food.

Description

Kimchi refrigerator and Kimchi refrigerator temperature control method {KIMCHI REFRIGERATOR AND TEMPERATURE CONTROL METHOD THEREOF}

1 is a cross-sectional view of the kimchi refrigerator according to the present invention,

2 is a control block diagram of a kimchi refrigerator according to the present invention,

3 is a table showing the driving time of the cooling drive corresponding to the opening time and the outside temperature of the door in the kimchi refrigerator according to the present invention,

4 is a control flowchart of the kimchi refrigerator according to the present invention.

* Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawings

1: kimchi refrigerator 10: main cabinet

20: door 25: door opening and closing detection unit

30: cooling drive unit 40: outside temperature detection unit

50: control unit 55: storage unit

56: table

The present invention relates to a kimchi refrigerator, and more particularly, to a kimchi refrigerator and a temperature control method of the storage room temperature is automatically controlled according to whether the door is opened or closed.

Kimchi refrigerator is a storage device for ripening and storing fermented foods such as kimchi. The conventional kimchi refrigerator, as described in Korean Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2002-0041686, has an outer casing to form an exterior, and an interior to form a cooling chamber and a machine chamber that are separated from each other at a space filled with foam material in the outer casing. It has a casing and a door which seals the door opening of a cooling chamber, and has a cooling system for cooling the internal temperature of a cooling chamber. On the other hand, one region of the outer casing is provided with an operation mode selection button for selecting an operation mode such as a storage mode and a maturing mode, and a rapid cooling button for rapidly cooling the cooling chamber.

By this configuration, the user presses the rapid cooling button to operate the internal temperature of the cooling chamber at a rapid cooling control temperature lower than the normal control temperature of the storage mode, so that the internal temperature of the cooling chamber is rapidly stored even if the internal temperature of the cooling chamber increases due to the addition of an arbitrary food. By returning to the normal control temperature of the mode, it is possible to prevent the deterioration of food already stored.

However, in such a conventional refrigerator, there is a troublesome problem in that the user must manually select the quick cooling button.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a kimchi refrigerator that can maintain the freshness of foods by automatically controlling the storage temperature according to whether the door is opened or closed.

According to the present invention, in the kimchi refrigerator comprising a main body cabinet having a storage compartment with an opening, a door installed in the main body cabinet to open and close the opening, and a cooling drive unit for cooling the storage chamber, A door opening / closing detecting unit provided in any one of a cabinet and the door to detect whether the door is opened or closed; An outside air temperature sensing unit provided in one of the main cabinet and the door to sense outside air temperature; A storage unit for storing each driving time information of the cooling driving unit according to each predetermined outside air temperature range and opening time range; The cooling driving unit is controlled to maintain the storage chamber at a predetermined target temperature, and when the door is opened based on the detection result of the door opening / closing detection unit, a predetermined first opening time for maintaining the door opening state is counted. And the cooling driver to lower the storage chamber to a cooling temperature lower than the target temperature during a first driving time corresponding to the first outside temperature and the first opening time detected by the outside temperature sensing unit based on the driving time information. It is achieved by a control unit that controls the operation of.

Here, when the door is re-opened during the first driving time of the cooling driving unit, the control unit counts a predetermined second opening time in which the re-opening state of the door is maintained, and the outside temperature is based on the driving time information. Preferably, the operation of the cooling driving unit is controlled to lower the storage chamber to a cooling temperature lower than the target temperature during the second driving time corresponding to the second outdoor temperature and the second opening time re-detected by the detector.

On the other hand, according to another field of the present invention, the Kimchi refrigerator including a main body cabinet having a storage compartment with an opening, a door installed in the main body cabinet to open and close the opening, and a cooling driving unit for cooling the storage chamber. A temperature control method comprising the steps of: storing respective driving time information of the cooling driving unit according to each predetermined outside air temperature range and opening time range; Detecting whether the door is opened or closed; Detecting a first outside air temperature when the door is opened; Counting a first opening time at which the door is kept open when the door is closed; Deriving a first driving time of the cooling driving unit corresponding to the first outside temperature and the first opening time based on the driving time information; And controlling the operation of the cooling driver to lower the storage chamber to a cooling temperature lower than the target temperature during the derived first driving time.

Determining whether the door is reopened during the first driving time; Detecting a second outside temperature when the door is reopened; Counting a second opening time in which the reopening of the door is maintained when the door is closed; Deriving a second driving time of the cooling driving unit corresponding to the second outside temperature and the second opening time based on the driving time information; Preferably, the operation of the cooling driver is controlled to lower the storage chamber to a cooling temperature lower than the target temperature during the derived second driving time.

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

As shown in Figure 1 and 2, the kimchi refrigerator 1 according to the present invention, the main cabinet 10 having a storage chamber 13 is formed with an opening (not shown), and the door 20 for rotating opening and closing the opening 20 ), A cooling drive unit 30 for cooling the storage compartment 13, a door opening / closing detection unit 25 provided on the door 20 to detect whether the door 20 is opened or closed, and an outside air temperature T. The outside air temperature detecting unit 40 and the storage unit 55 stores the driving time information of the cooling driving unit 30 according to each predetermined outside air temperature range and the opening time range.

The main cabinet 10 includes an inner casing 12 having an outer casing 11 forming an outer appearance and a storage chamber 13 having openings formed at intervals of filling the foam in the outer casing 11. On the other hand, the lower region of the main cabinet 10 is mutually isolated from the inner casing 12 to compress the low-temperature low-pressure refrigerant into a high-temperature high-pressure refrigerant, and a condenser (not shown) to condense the refrigerant from the compressor There is provided a machine room 14 equipped with. In addition, the main body cabinet 10 is provided adjacent to the outside to detect the outside temperature T, and the outside temperature sensing unit 40 and the storage compartment 13 are provided to be adjacent to the storage compartment 13 to sense the internal temperature of the storage compartment 13. 45 is mounted.

The outer surface of the inner casing 12 is surrounded by an evaporator 32 that generates cold air by evaporating the refrigerant depressurized by a capillary tube (not shown).

At this time, the cooling drive unit 30 includes a compressor 31 and a condenser provided in the lower part of the main cabinet 10, and an evaporator 32 provided in the inner casing 12.

The door opening / closing detection unit 25 transmits a signal to the controller 50 to be described later, which is a detection result of the door 20 opening and closing the opening.

The storage unit 55 is a control unit which will be described later during the driving time h corresponding to the open air temperature T detected by the air temperature detecting unit 40 and the opening time t detected by the door opening / closing detecting unit 25. The table 56 stores the driving time h information of the cooling driving unit 30 according to each predetermined outside air temperature range and opening time range so that the 50 can drive the cooling driving unit 30.

On the other hand, the kimchi refrigerator 1 according to the present invention includes a control unit 50 for controlling the cooling drive unit 30 to maintain the storage chamber 13 at a predetermined target temperature. At this time, the target temperature is a temperature at which the storage chamber 13 is controlled in the storage mode, and is a temperature for storing kimchi at -1 ° C.

The controller 50 controls the cooling drive unit 30 to a target temperature in the storage mode, and when the door 20 is opened based on the detection result of the door open / close detection unit 25, the open state of the door 20. Is counted by the first open time and the first outside air temperature detected by the outside temperature sensor 40 and the door open / close detection unit 25 based on the driving time h information of the table 56. The operation of the cooling driving unit 30 is controlled to lower the storage chamber 13 to a cooling temperature lower than the target temperature during the first driving time corresponding to the first opening time. Thus, even if the door 20 is opened to accommodate food or the cold air is leaked to increase the internal temperature of the storage compartment 13, the storage compartment 13 is cooled according to the cooling temperature, so that the internal temperature of the storage compartment 13 is stored in the storage mode. Can be quickly returned to the target temperature. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the deterioration of the food previously stored by the increase in the internal temperature of the storage compartment (13).

For example, as shown in FIG. 3, when the first opening time counted by the controller 50 is t ₁ (62) and the outside temperature T detected by the external temperature sensor is T ₁ (61). The corresponding driving time h of the cooling driving unit 30 is h ₁₁ (60). Thus, the controller 50 controls the cooling drive unit 30 to operate for h ₁₁ (60) so that the storage chamber 13 is lowered to a cooling temperature lower than the target temperature by a predetermined temperature.

Here, at least one of the compressor 31, the condenser, and the evaporator 32 of the cooling driver 30 may be turned on / off by the controller 50 so that the temperature of the storage compartment 13 may be adjusted to a target temperature or a cooling temperature. have. At this time, the cooling temperature is about -1.5 ° C, which is approximately 0.5 ° C lower than the target temperature of -1 ° C in the storage mode, and thus it is preferable to prevent freezing due to a sudden temperature difference. In this case, the cooling temperature and the target temperature are not limited to this value, but may be variously changed by various conditions such as food type and climate of the storage compartment.

In addition, when the door 20 is reopened during the first driving time, the controller 50 counts a second opening time for maintaining the reopening state of the door 20, and the driving time h of the table 56. Cooling drive unit 30 to lower the storage chamber 13 to a cooling temperature lower than the target temperature during the second driving time corresponding to the second outside temperature and the second opening time re-detected by the outside temperature sensing unit 40 based on the information. Control the operation of the).

For example, as shown in FIG. 3, the second opening time counted by the controller 50 is t ₂ (72) and the outside temperature T sensed by the outside temperature sensor 40 is T ₂ (71). In this case, the driving time h of the corresponding cooling driving unit 30 is h ₂₂ (70). Thus, the controller 50 controls the cooling drive unit 30 to operate for h ₂₂ (70) so that the storage chamber 13 is lowered to a cooling temperature lower than the target temperature by a predetermined temperature. At this time, the control unit 50 loses the data on the existing h ₁₁ (60) driving time, and controls to operate the cooling driving unit 30 for the h ₂₂ (70) driving time.

Here, in the table 56, as shown in FIG. 3, each drive time h with respect to each opening time t and the outside air temperature T is provided in matrix form. At this time, the opening times t1, t2, t3 and the outside temperatures T1, T2, T3 are preferably expressed in the range of time and temperature, respectively.

Here, the control flow of the kimchi refrigerator 1 according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

First, the kimchi refrigerator 1 stores a table 56 showing the drive time h of the cooling driver 30 corresponding to the outside temperature T and the opening time t in the storage unit 55 (S100). ). The door opening / closing detecting unit 25 determines whether the door 20 is opened (S110), and when the door 20 is opened, the outside air temperature detecting unit 40 detects the outside air temperature T (S120). When the door 20 is closed, the controller 50 controls the cooling driver 30 to maintain the storage chamber 13 at the target temperature in the normal mode (S210). At this time, when the door 20 is opened as a result of the detection of the door open / close detection unit 25, the controller 50 starts counting the opening time t in which the open state of the door 20 is maintained (S130). . Meanwhile, while the control unit 50 counts the opening time t, the door open / close detection unit 25 determines whether the door 20 is closed (S140), and when the door 20 is closed, the control unit 50 ) Ends the counting of the opening time t (S150). By this process, the open air temperature T and the opening time t of the door 20 are derived, and the storage unit 55 stores the open air temperature T and the open time t based on the information of the table 56. The driving time h of the corresponding cooling driving unit 30 is derived, and a signal is sent to the controller 50 (S160). Accordingly, the controller 50 controls the operation of the cooling driver 30 to lower the storage chamber 13 to a cooling temperature lower than the target temperature during the driving time h (S170). On the other hand, the control unit 50, while the cooling drive unit 30 is operated during the driving time (h), the door opening and closing detection unit 25 determines whether the door 20 is reopened (S180), when it is reopened, The process returns to step S120 to repeat the above steps S120 to S170. When the door 20 is not reopened as a result of the detection of the door opening / closing detection unit 25, the control unit 50 determines whether the cooling driving unit 30 has elapsed the driving time h or more (S190). If (h) or more has passed, the cooling drive unit 30 is controlled to be driven in the normal mode (S200). Here, the normal mode means that at least one of the compressor 31, the condenser and the evaporator 32 of the cooling driving unit 30 is driven to maintain the target temperature, which is the storage mode of the storage chamber 13. In the normal mode, when the temperature of the storage compartment 13 measured by the storage compartment temperature sensor 45 is greater than or equal to the set temperature range, the cooling driving unit 30 is operated so that the storage compartment 13 is maintained at the target temperature.

In this configuration, when the door 20 is opened, the cooling driving unit 30 is operated to maintain a cooling temperature lower than the target temperature of the storage chamber 13, and when the door 20 is closed, the storage chamber 13 is closed. The temperature of the storage chamber 13 can be automatically controlled by operating the cooling drive unit 30 so as to maintain the target temperature in the normal mode.

In the above-described embodiment, although the target temperature and the cooling temperature lower than the target temperature of the storage mode corresponding to the normal mode are provided to be set in advance, a setting button may be provided to allow the user to arbitrarily select the target temperature and the cooling temperature.

Meanwhile, in the above-described embodiment, the door opening / closing detection unit is provided in the door, but any position may be used as long as it can detect whether the door is opened or closed.

As described above, according to the present invention, the storage room temperature is automatically controlled according to whether the door is opened or closed to facilitate the user's convenience and provide a kimchi refrigerator that can maintain the freshness of the food.

Claims (4)

In the kimchi refrigerator comprising a main body cabinet having a storage compartment with an opening, a door installed in the main body cabinet to open and close the opening, and a cooling drive unit for cooling the storage chamber, A door opening / closing detecting unit provided in one of the main cabinet and the door to detect whether the door is opened or closed; An outside air temperature sensing unit provided in one of the main cabinet and the door to sense outside air temperature; A storage unit for storing each driving time information of the cooling driving unit according to each predetermined outside air temperature range and opening time range; The cooling driving unit is controlled to maintain the storage chamber at a predetermined target temperature, and when the door is opened based on the detection result of the door opening / closing detection unit, a predetermined first opening time for maintaining the door opening state is counted. And the cooling driver to lower the storage chamber to a cooling temperature lower than the target temperature during a first driving time corresponding to the first outside temperature and the first opening time detected by the outside temperature sensing unit based on the driving time information. Kimchi refrigerator comprising a control unit for controlling the operation of the. The method of claim 1, When the door is reopened during the first driving time of the cooling driving unit, the control unit counts a predetermined second opening time in which the reopening state of the door is maintained, and the outside temperature sensing unit is based on the driving time information. Kimchi refrigerator, characterized in that for controlling the operation of the cooling drive unit to lower the storage chamber to a cooling temperature lower than the target temperature during the second outside temperature and the second driving time corresponding to the second opening time re-detected by the . In the temperature control method of the Kimchi refrigerator comprising a main body cabinet having a storage compartment formed with an opening, a door installed in the main body cabinet to open and close the opening, and a cooling drive unit for cooling the storage chamber, Storing each driving time information of the cooling driving unit according to each predetermined outside air temperature range and opening time range; Detecting whether the door is opened or closed; Detecting a first outside air temperature when the door is opened; Counting a first opening time at which the door is kept open when the door is closed; Deriving a first driving time of the cooling driving unit corresponding to the first outside temperature and the first opening time based on the driving time information;  And controlling the operation of the cooling driving unit to lower the storage compartment to a cooling temperature lower than a target temperature during the derived first driving time. The method of claim 3, Determining whether the door is reopened during the first driving time; Detecting a second outside temperature when the door is reopened; Counting a second opening time in which the reopening of the door is maintained when the door is closed; Deriving a second driving time of the cooling driving unit corresponding to the second outside temperature and the second opening time based on the driving time information; And controlling the operation of the cooling driving unit to lower the storage compartment to a cooling temperature lower than the target temperature during the derived second driving time.

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