KR20070038320A - Avatar refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a refrigerator for storing food and the like at low temperature, and more particularly, to an avatar refrigerator that detects whether the door is opened or closed from the main body and displays the number of times of opening and closing of the door and the operating time of the compressor together with the avatar.

The avatar refrigerator according to the present invention is formed so that a freezer compartment and a refrigerating compartment are divided therein, and a main body having a refrigeration cycle composed of a compressor, a condenser, an evaporator, and an expansion valve on one side for cooling the freezer compartment and the refrigerating compartment; A door installed to be opened and closed to the main body; A contact detection sensor installed between the main body and the door to detect whether the door is opened or closed; Control means installed to be connected to the touch sensor and counting and storing the number of opening and closing according to whether the door is detected by the touch sensor; And display means installed on the door to be connected to the control means and displaying the opening and closing times of the door counted by the control means together with the avatar.

Avatar refrigerator, main unit, door, touch sensor, control means, counter, timer, data processor, display means

Description

Avatar Fridge {AVATAR REFRIGERATOR}

1 is a front view showing an avatar refrigerator according to the present invention;

2 is a block diagram showing an avatar refrigerator according to the present invention;

3 is a flowchart illustrating an operation state of the avatar refrigerator according to the present invention.

<Explanation of symbols on main parts of the drawings>

2a: freezer door 2b: fridge door

6: ice supply device 10: contact detection sensor

20: control means 22: counter

24: timer 26: data processing unit

30: display means

The present invention relates to a refrigerator for storing food and the like at low temperature, and more particularly, to an avatar refrigerator that detects whether the door is opened or closed from the main body and displays the number of times of opening and closing of the door and the operation time of the compressor together with the avatar.

In general, a refrigerator is a device for storing food and the like freshly for a long time in a low temperature state by keeping the freezer and the refrigerating compartment at a low temperature by using cold air.

Such a refrigerator includes a compressor for compressing a refrigerant into a gas refrigerant having a high temperature and high pressure, a condenser for condensing the refrigerant passing through the compressor into a liquid refrigerant having a high temperature and high pressure, and a refrigerant that has passed through the condenser to reduce the refrigerant through a low temperature and low pressure liquid refrigerant. It consists of an expansion valve and a refrigerating cycle that uses an evaporator as a basic component to absorb the heat inside the freezing compartment or the refrigerating compartment and keep the temperature inside the freezing compartment or the refrigerating compartment at a low temperature while evaporating the refrigerant passing through the expansion valve to a low temperature and low pressure gas refrigerant. .

Of course, the refrigerator is installed in the main body formed so that the freezer compartment and the refrigerating compartment is partitioned therein, the door is opened and closed, the refrigeration cycle is built into the inner wall of the main body through the heat exchange action between the evaporator and the air in the refrigerator to a low temperature state Keep it.

In this case, the refrigerator drives the compressor to maintain a high internal temperature at the set temperature, but the load is increased as the internal temperature is relatively higher than the set temperature, and the compressor is rotated at a high speed as the load increases, thereby exchanging heat in the refrigeration cycle. Increase your capacity.

In particular, when the temperature of the room where the refrigerator is installed is relatively high in summer or when the temperature of the room is high due to heating, such as winter, warm air in the room is introduced into the inside of the refrigerator as the door is opened from the main body, thereby allowing the interior temperature to be high. As the load increases, the compressor is rotated at a high speed, thereby lowering the internal temperature. Thus, when the indoor temperature is high, there is a problem in that power consumption of the refrigerator due to opening and closing of the door is large.

In addition, recently, users are refrigerated in every house, and various foods and drinks are kept in the refrigerator to habitually open and close the refrigerator door. In this case, relatively high temperature indoor air flows into the interior of the refrigerator. As the temperature increases and the load increases, and also the compressor rotates at a high speed, the door is frequently opened and closed, causing frequent problems in power consumption of the refrigerator.

Therefore, recently, it is necessary to detect whether the door is opened or closed in the refrigerator, and display various door opening / closing information according to it so that the user is alerted to the waste of power.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and provides an avatar refrigerator that displays the door opening and closing information such as the number of opening and closing of the door and the like by detecting whether the door is opened or closed from the body formed with the freezer and the refrigerating compartment. The purpose is.

The avatar refrigerator according to the present invention for solving the above problems is formed so that a freezer compartment and a refrigerating compartment are divided therein, and a refrigeration cycle composed of a compressor, a condenser, an evaporator, and an expansion valve is installed at one side to cool the freezer compartment and the refrigerating compartment. A main body; A door installed to be opened and closed to the main body; A contact detection sensor installed between the main body and the door to detect whether the door is opened or closed; Control means installed to be connected to the touch sensor and counting and storing the number of opening and closing according to whether the door is detected by the touch sensor; And display means installed on the door to be connected to the control means and displaying the opening and closing times of the door counted by the control means together with the avatar.

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

1 is a front view illustrating an avatar refrigerator according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an avatar refrigerator according to the present invention.

In the avatar refrigerator according to the present invention, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a freezer compartment and a refrigerating compartment are formed at both sides of a refrigerator main body (not shown) having an open front, and a freezer compartment door 2a is provided at the front of the refrigerator main body, respectively. And a refrigerating compartment door 2b is installed to be opened and closed, and a control means 20 for controlling the operation of various components is installed in the refrigerator main body, and a display for displaying an operation state of the refrigerator on the front side of the freezer compartment door 2a. Means 30 are installed, the contact sensor 10 is installed between the refrigerator body, the freezer compartment door 2a and the refrigerating compartment door 2b to detect the opening and closing of each door (2a, 2b) to signal When generated, the user recognition means 12 installed in the refrigerator main body or each door (2a, 2b) recognizes each user who opened each door (2a, 2b), the control means 20 is the touch sensor 10 and use Receiving the signal from the recognition means (12) to display information by analyzing the opening and closing of each door (2a, 2b) via the display means 30.

Here, the refrigerator body has a cold air circulation passage (not shown) is installed on the inner wall so that the cold air circulation fan (not shown) for blowing the cold air is installed at the same time to circulate the cold air to the freezer compartment and the refrigerating compartment. In one side of the refrigerator main body, a refrigeration cycle (not shown) such as a compressor, a condenser, a capillary tube, or an electronic expansion valve connected to the evaporator and the refrigerant pipe is built-in, and the cold air circulation fan and the compressor are connected to the control means 20. Is controlled by

At this time, the refrigerant circulates along the compressor, the condenser, the capillary tube or the electronic expansion valve, and the evaporator as the compressor is operated, and as the cold air circulation fan is operated, the air cooled through the heat exchange action with the evaporator is a freezer compartment and a refrigerating compartment. To be supplied.

Next, the freezing compartment door 2a and the refrigerating compartment door 2b are respectively installed so that one upper and lower ends thereof are hinged to the front surface of the refrigerator main body to seal the freezing compartment and the refrigerating compartment, and supply ice or cold water to the front side of the freezing compartment door 2a. An ice supply device 6 is installed, and a home bar (not shown) is formed on the front side of the refrigerating compartment door 2b to easily take out a drink or the like located inside the refrigerating compartment door 2b.

Of course, the ice supply device 6 and the home bar are arranged side by side in a position where the user can easily reach the front of the freezer compartment door 2a and the refrigerating compartment door 2b, respectively.

Next, the touch sensor 10 is installed between the main body and the freezer compartment door 2a and at the same time between the main body and the refrigerating compartment door 2b to be connected to the control means 20, respectively. When the doors 2a and 2b are closed in the main body, an electrical signal is generated, whereas when the doors 2a and 2b are opened from the main body, the electrical signals may be cut off or vice versa.

Accordingly, since the signal generated by the touch detection sensor 10 is different depending on whether the doors 2a and 2b are opened or closed, the control means 20 determines the signal generated by the contact detection sensor 10. The opening and closing related information of the doors 2a and 2b is received.

Next, the user recognizing means 12 may recognize a user who opens each door 2a, 2b, but recognizes a face shape as an image so as to identify each user and is unique for each individual. A fingerprint recognition device for identifying each user by recognizing a fingerprint and an iris recognition device for identifying each user by recognizing an iris shape unique to each individual may be applied.

At this time, the user recognition means 12, such as the camera, fingerprint recognition device and iris recognition device is installed in the refrigerator main body or each door (2a, 2b), is connected to the touch sensor 10 and each door (2a) And 2b) to recognize the user who has opened, and transmits the user recognition information obtained from the user recognition means 12 connected to the control means 20 to the control means 20, wherein the control means In step 20, each user may be determined internally and an avatar corresponding thereto may be set.

Of course, the user recognition means 20 may be configured to include a separate input means so that the user can directly set his avatar.

Next, the control means 20 receives the opening and closing information of each door (2a, 2b) according to the signal transmitted from the touch sensor 10 and the user recognition means 12, each door (2a, 2b) In addition to the number of opening and closing times and the opening and closing times and opening times of each door 2a and 2b, the opening and closing information such as the user who opened each door 2a and 2b is input and analyzed.

Of course, the control means 20 receives and stores the operation related information of each component such as the compressor, in addition to the opening and closing information of each door (2a, 2b).

Specifically, the control means 20 is a counter 22 for counting the number of opening and closing of each door (2a, 2b) through a signal transmitted from the touch sensor 10, and from the touch sensor 10 Opening and closing of the timer 24 for measuring the opening and closing time or opening time of each door (2a, 2b) through the transmitted signal, and each door (2a, 2b) calculated by the counter 22 and the timer 24, respectively And a data processor 26 for displaying the number of times, opening and closing times and opening times of the doors 2a and 2b through the display means 30.

In this case, the counter 22 receives a signal generated from the touch sensor 10 when each door 2a or 2b is opened or when each door 2a or 2b is closed, thereby receiving each door 2a. The number of times of opening and closing of the door 2a and 2b is counted as '1', while the timer 24 counts each door 2a, such as an open time and a closed time, respectively, at the time when the doors 2a and 2b are opened and closed. The opening / closing time of 2b) may be measured, or the opening time may be calculated from the opening point of each door 2a, 2b to the closing point of each door 2a, 2b.

In addition, the data processor 26 displays the number of opening and closing times of the doors 2a and 2b, the opening and closing times of the doors 2a and 2b, and the opening time of the doors 2a and 2b. Displayed together with the avatar on the display 30, for example, the opening and closing times, opening and closing time or opening time of each door (2a, 2b) over a period of time, such as for a day or a month is displayed through the display means 30 do.

In addition, the data processing unit 26 receives user recognition information such as a face shape, a fingerprint, an iris shape, etc. obtained from the user recognition means 12, and accordingly inputs the user to each of the doors 2a and 2b. It accumulates and stores the number of opening and closing times, opening and closing times or opening times for each user in the corresponding avatar, and further calculates and stores the estimated operation time and corresponding power consumption of the compressor while the doors 2a and 2b are opened. In addition, the number of opening and closing times, opening and closing times or opening times of the doors 2a and 2b for each user may be displayed through the display means.

Next, the display means 30 is installed so as to be positioned above the ice supply device 6 in the freezer compartment door 2a, and a liquid crystal display device including a speaker is generally applied.

In this case, the display means 30 is connected to the data processing unit 26 and the number of opening and closing times, opening and closing times and opening times of the doors 2a and 2b for each time zone, date, and user, and operating time of the compressor and The power consumption is displayed and displayed together with the avatar, but the number of opening and closing times, opening and closing times, opening and closing times of the doors 2a and 2b, and the operating time and power consumption of the compressor are displayed at the same time. To do that.

Of course, in the data processing unit 26, the number of opening and closing times of the doors 2a and 2b, the opening time of each door 2a and 2b, and the operation time of the compressor pass the setting number and setting time and the setting operation time, respectively. In this case, a warning signal may be separately transmitted to display a warning text, a warning sound, and a warning light together with the avatar through the display means 30.

3 is a flowchart illustrating an operation state of the avatar refrigerator according to the present invention. Referring to FIG. 3, the operation of the present invention configured as described above will be described below.

First, in the first step, when a user opens each door 2a, 2b from the refrigerator main body, an open state of each door 2a, 2b is sensed, and a user who opens each door is recognized and at the same time each door 2a, The open time and open time of 2b) are measured (see S1, S2, S3, S4).

At this time, it is determined whether the doors 2a and 2b are opened or closed by the contact sensor 10 from the refrigerator main body, and are installed between the refrigerator main body and the freezer compartment door 2a and the refrigerator main body and the refrigerating compartment door ( Separately installed between 2b) to generate a signal when each door 2a, 2b is opened from the refrigerator main body.

Subsequently, the control means 20 determines whether the doors 2a and 2b are opened or closed based on a signal transmitted from each contact detection sensor 10, and each door 2a is opened by each contact detection sensor 10. If 2b) is opened, the user recognition means 12 recognizes the recognition information about the user who opened the doors 2a and 2b, and according to the recognition information such as face shape, fingerprint, iris shape, etc. It is possible to automatically set an individual avatar, or to select a user separately to set an individual avatar, and later to store and store the opening and closing information of each door 2a and 2b for each individual.

In addition, when at least one of each door (2a, 2b) is opened by each contact detection sensor 10, each time at the time when each door (2a, 2b) is opened from each contact detection sensor 10 in the timer 24 The opening times of the doors 2a and 2b are measured and the opening times of the doors 2a and 2b are measured.

Of course, the timer 24 may measure the open time at the time of opening the doors 2a and 2b and the close time at the close time of the doors 2a and 2b, and the doors 2a and 2b. It is also possible to calculate the opening time of each door 2a, 2b from the opening time of the door to the closing time of the doors 2a, 2b.

Next, when the user closes each door (2a, 2b) to the refrigerator body, the closed state of each door (2a, 2b) is detected, the closing time of each door (2a, 2b) is measured at the same time The number of opening and closing of the doors 2a and 2b is counted (see S5, S6 and S7).

Similarly, each contact detection sensor 10 determines whether each door 2a, 2b is closed on the refrigerator main body separately, and when at least one of the doors 2a, 2b is closed, the timer 24 detects each contact. When the doors 2a and 2b are closed from the sensor 10, the closing times of the doors 2a and 2b are measured, and at the same time, the doors 22a and 2b are closed at the counter 22. The cumulative number of opening and closing doors 2a and 2b once opened and accumulated is counted as '1', but the number of opening and closing is counted by dividing by each door 2a and 2b.

Of course, the counter 22 may also count the number of times of opening and closing the doors 2a and 2b when the doors 2a and 2b are closed, but each door 2a when the doors 2a and 2b are opened. 2b) can also be counted,

Next, the third step accumulates and stores the opening / closing time and the opening time such as the number of opening and closing times, the open time and the closed time of each door 2a and 2b counted in the first and second steps, and stores each door 2a and 2b. Calculates and saves the operation time of the compressor and its power consumption while the door is open.The opening and closing times and opening times of the doors 2a and 2b according to the opening and closing times of the doors 2a and 2b for a predetermined period of time, and the operation of the compressor. Displays the time and power consumption with the avatar (see S8, S9 and S10).

At this time, the data processor 26 accumulates the number of opening and closing times of the doors 2a and 2b and the opening and closing times and opening times of the doors 2a and 2b respectively transmitted from the counter 22 and the timer 24. Store and display the number of opening and closing times, the open time, the closed time, and the open time of each door 2a and 2b over a period of time on the display means 30 together with the individual avatars, or the number of opening and closing times of each door for each time period. You can optionally display the time with your personal avatar.

For example, "August 19: 5 freezer doors open, 12 freezer doors open" or "August 19: Freezer door 10 minutes open, fridge door 28 minutes open", "11 to 12 am: Freezer Door opening / closing (1 minute open), refrigerating compartment door opening / closing twice (5 minutes) ”, but the number of opening / closing of each door (2a, 2b), opening time The time and opening time can also be displayed.

In addition, as the doors 2a and 2b are opened, the compressor is operated at the same time that the doors 2a and 2b are opened to prevent the high temperature of the outside air from entering the interior and increasing the temperature of each door. Refrigeration or freezing is to be performed, but since the data processing unit 26 basically controls the operation of the compressor, the power consumption according to the operation time of the compressor is estimated while receiving operation related information such as the operation time of the compressor. It is also possible to calculate and accumulate and store the operating time of the compressor and the power consumption thus stored on the display means 30 together with the avatar by date / user.

In addition, the data processor 26 may perform the compressor only when the number of opening / closing times of the doors 2a and 2b is greater than the setting time or when the opening time of each door 2a and 2b is larger than the setting time. When the operation time of the greater than the set operation time, the display means through the warning means, such as warning letters, warning sounds, warning lights through the display means 30 to enable the user to arouse alarm, such as wasted power.

In the above, the present invention has been described in detail by taking a side-by-side type refrigerator in which a freezer compartment and a refrigerating compartment are arranged side by side based on the embodiments of the present invention and the accompanying drawings. However, the scope of the present invention is not limited by the above embodiments and drawings, and the scope of the present invention will be limited only by the contents described in the claims below.

When the avatar refrigerator according to the present invention is configured as described above, opening and closing the freezer compartment door and the refrigerating compartment door from the refrigerator main body, each door by time zone / date / user in the control means by a signal generated from a contact sensor installed therebetween. Calculate the number of opening and closing times of each door, opening and closing time of each door, opening time, and also the operating time of the compressor and its power consumption, and then displaying them through the display means installed on the front of one of the doors. Therefore, there is an advantage that can minimize the waste of power due to unnecessary opening and closing of each door.

Claims (5)

A main body having a freezing compartment and a refrigerating compartment formed therein and having a refrigerating cycle composed of a compressor, a condenser, an evaporator, and an expansion valve on one side to cool the freezing compartment and the refrigerating compartment; A door installed to be opened and closed to the main body; A contact detection sensor installed between the main body and the door to detect whether the door is opened or closed; Control means installed to be connected to the touch sensor and counting and storing the number of opening and closing according to whether the door is detected by the touch sensor; And a display unit installed on the door to be connected to the control unit and displaying the opening and closing times of the door counted by the control unit together with the avatar. The method of claim 1, The control means includes a counter for counting the opening and closing of the door according to the signal generated by the touch sensor, a timer for measuring the opening and closing time of the time of opening or closing the door according to the signal generated from the touch sensor; And a data processor configured to accumulate and store the number of opening and closing times of the door on the display unit at each time period. The method of claim 2, The control means for displaying the opening and closing times of each of the freezer compartment door and the refrigerating compartment door, the opening and closing times of each freezer compartment door and the refrigerating compartment door, and the operating time of the compressor on the display means for each date. The method of claim 3, wherein The control means calculates the power consumption according to the operation time of the compressor and displays on the display means together with the avatar refrigerator. The method of claim 3, wherein A user recognition means installed to be connected to the touch sensor and configured to recognize a user who opens the door; The control means sets an avatar for each user identified by the user recognition means, accumulates and stores the number of opening and closing of the door for each user in an avatar corresponding to each user, and displays the opening and closing frequency of each user's avatar and door. Avatar fridge, characterized in that displayed at the top.

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