KR20070081675A - Refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

A refrigerator is provided to prevent initial operation failure, and allow stable initial operation to be possible by controlling the refrigerator so as to reduce initial operation load of a compressor according to external temperature and inside situation. A refrigerator comprises a plurality of refrigeration rooms, evaporators, cooling fans(20a,22a,24a,26a), a valve(16), an external temperature sensor(40), internal temperature sensors(42,44,46,48) and a controller(50). The evaporator is arranged for supplying cool air to the refrigeration rooms. The cooling fan for circulating cool air in the refrigeration rooms is arranged in a respective evaporator. The valve is arranged for controlling a refrigerant flow path of refrigerant flowing into the evaporator. The external temperature sensor detects external temperature. The internal temperature sensor detects temperature of the respective evaporator. The controller compares temperatures detected in the external temperature sensor and the internal temperature sensor with a respective standard value, and controls drive of the valve and the cooling fan according to the result when initially operating the refrigerator.

Description

Refrigerator {Refrigerator}

1 is a schematic refrigerant cycle diagram of a refrigerator according to the present invention.

2 is a schematic control block diagram of a refrigerator according to the present invention;

Figure 3a is a time chart of the first startup operation of the refrigerator according to the present invention.

Figure 3b is a time chart of the second startup operation of the refrigerator according to the present invention.

* Description of symbols on the main parts of the drawings *

10 compressor 12 condenser

16: 3way valve 18: R-capi

20, 22, 24, 26: first evaporator, second evaporator, third evaporator, fourth evaporator

20a, 22a, 24a, 26a: first cooling fan, second cooling fan, third cooling fan, fourth cooling fan

28: F-capi 35: key input unit

50: control unit

The present invention relates to a refrigerator, and more particularly, a valve for controlling a refrigerant flow path and an operation of a cooling fan provided in each storage compartment are applied to a compressor according to characteristics of the inside and outside of the refrigerator during startup operation of the refrigerator. It relates to a refrigerator for eliminating overload conditions.

In general, a refrigerator uses a refrigerant cycle consisting of a compressor, a condenser, a capillary, and an evaporator to keep a certain storage temperature lower than an external temperature, thereby preventing corruption and maintaining freshness of food stored in the storage space. Says home appliances.

Refrigerators are generally composed of a freezer compartment that maintains a temperature of less than 0 degrees and a refrigerating chamber that maintains temperatures of about 3 to 5 degrees. A cooling fan to be formed is provided.

In a refrigerator, a refrigerant passage formed to pass only an evaporator provided in a freezer compartment and a refrigerant passage formed to pass both an evaporator of a freezer compartment and a refrigerating compartment are provided in parallel, and a valve for controlling this is usually provided between the condenser and the evaporator.

Therefore, in the case of the refrigerant passage through which the refrigerant passes through both the freezer compartment and the refrigerating compartment, the load on the compressor is usually increased.

When the conventional refrigerator is started, the evaporator and the cooling fan of each chamber provided in the refrigerator are driven to a full load state regardless of the ambient temperature and the internal load.

In other words, the refrigerant flows through the refrigerant path formed to pass through the evaporator of both the freezer compartment and the refrigerating compartment. When the ambient temperature is high and the temperature of the evaporator is high, the compressor is overloaded and the operation of the refrigerator is stopped by the compressor's protection control device. The power consumption is increased by starting the compressor with a large starting torque.

The present invention is to solve the above-described problems, an object of the present invention is to control the operation of the valve and the cooling fan to control the flow path of the refrigerant in consideration of the ambient temperature and the temperature of the evaporator at the start of the refrigerator of the compressor The present invention provides a refrigerator that eliminates an overload condition and reduces power consumption at startup.

The refrigerator of the present invention for achieving the above object is a plurality of storage compartments, an evaporator provided for supplying cold air to the storage compartment, a cooling fan disposed in each evaporator for the cold air circulation of the storage compartment, the refrigerant flowing into the evaporator A valve provided to control the refrigerant flow path of the refrigerant path, an external temperature sensor for detecting an external temperature, an internal temperature sensor for detecting a temperature of each evaporator, and a temperature detected by the external temperature sensor and the internal temperature sensor, respectively. And a control unit for comparing the reference value and controlling whether the valve and the cooling fan are driven during the startup operation of the refrigerator according to the result.

The control unit may control whether the valve and the cooling fan are driven during the start operation for a predetermined time after the refrigerator is started.

The controller may control the valve so that the refrigerant passes through the shortest refrigerant passage when the temperature detected by the external temperature sensor and the internal temperature sensor is greater than each reference value, and corresponds to an evaporator through which the refrigerant passes. Characterized in that the first start operation control to drive the cooling fan.

The control unit may perform the first start operation control for a predetermined time period T1.

The refrigerant passage may include a first refrigerant passage passing through some evaporators including an evaporator of a freezer compartment and a second refrigerant passage passing through all evaporators, wherein the controller is configured to determine the external temperature as the reference value (P1). Greater than) and the internal temperature is less than the reference value (P2) is characterized in that to control the valve to the second refrigerant flow path and the cooling fan to perform a second start operation control to control at least one off.

The control unit may perform the second start operation control for a predetermined time period T2.

In addition, the evaporator of the refrigerator is characterized in that four provided.

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

1 is a schematic refrigerant cycle diagram of a refrigerator according to the present invention. The refrigerator according to the present invention includes a compressor 10, a condenser 12, a hot pipe 14, a 3-way valve 16, capillaries 18, 28, 30 and first to fourth evaporators 20 and 22. 24), 26), and the first to fourth cooling fans 20a, 22a, 24a, and 26a.

When the operation of the present invention by the above configuration will be described below, the refrigerant of the high temperature and high pressure compressed by the compressor 10 is condensed into a liquid refrigerant state through heat exchange with the outside in the condenser. The condensed refrigerant moves to the 3-way valve 16 through the hot pipe 14 to prevent dew from forming on the outside of the refrigerator. The refrigerator of FIG. 1 is provided with four storage compartments and evaporators 20, 22, 24 and 26 corresponding to each storage compartment, and cooling fans 20a, 22a, 24a and 26a for each evaporator. The evaporator is called as the first evaporator to the fourth evaporator in the order of reference numerals, and the first evaporator 24 and the second evaporator cycle the refrigerant cycle passing through the third evaporator 20 and the fourth evaporator 22 to the first refrigerant flow path. The refrigerant cycle configured to pass through the first refrigerant passage through the evaporator 26 is referred to as a second refrigerant passage. The first refrigerant passage is a refrigerant passage including an evaporator disposed in a freezing chamber. As a result, the liquid refrigerant expands while passing through the capillary F-capi (28). After the heat exchange with the air is connected to the pipe to be delivered to the suction side of the compressor 10 in a low-pressure gas phase refrigerant state. The second refrigerant flow path is expanded in the R-capi 18, which is a capillary tube, and heat-exchanges with the air in each storage chamber in the first evaporator 20 and the second evaporator 22, and the second expanded refrigerant is expanded again in the C-capi 30. 1 Pipe is connected to the refrigerant flow path.

The storage compartment in which the first evaporator 20 and the second evaporator 22 are provided in the second refrigerant flow passage is usually a refrigerating compartment, and usually has a small cooling load due to a high set temperature. Therefore, only a part of the liquid refrigerant is expanded in the R-capi (18) to lower the temperature of the refrigerating chamber and expand again in the C-capi (30) to lower the temperature of the freezing chamber.

If the refrigerator is not purchased for the first time or the refrigerator is not used for a long time due to moving, the temperature of each evaporator is the same as the temperature outside the refrigerator. In this state, when the temperature is high to the ambient temperature, the load on the compressor is very large when the refrigerator starts up, and thus, the protective operation control is performed to prevent the compressor from being burned out, and the operation of the refrigerator is stopped. Or, starting from a large load condition has a problem that the starting torque of the compressor is increased and the power consumption at startup is larger than necessary. Therefore, the start operation control of the refrigerator according to the present invention for solving this problem will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 and 3A and 3B.

When the operation command of the refrigerator is input through the key input unit 35, the controller 50 controls the external temperature from the external temperature sensor 40 and the first to fourth room temperature sensors 42, 44, 46, and 48. And receives the temperature of each storage compartment. Here, the temperature sensor of the first chamber or the fourth chamber is a temperature sensor for detecting the temperature of the evaporator provided in each storage chamber, but a temperature sensor for detecting the temperature inside each storage chamber may be used. If the refrigerator is not used for a long time, the temperature inside each storage compartment and the temperature of each evaporator are the same. The controller 50 compares the detected external temperature P1 with the reference value S1 and compares the temperatures of the first to fourth rooms with another reference value S2.

In the above comparison, if P1 is larger than S1 and the temperatures of the first to fourth chambers are all higher than S2, the three-way valve 16 is adjusted by the first refrigerant flow path as shown in FIG. 3A, and the third cooling fan 24a and the fourth cooling are performed. A first start operation control for controlling only the fan 26a to be driven is performed. As a result, the starting load of the compressor 10 is reduced to prevent the protection control of the compressor 10 from being performed, thereby preventing the operation of the refrigerator from being stopped.

Alternatively, in the above comparison, when P1 is larger than S1 but the temperatures of the first to fourth chambers are all smaller than S2, as shown in FIG. 3B, the three-way valve 16 is adjusted with the second refrigerant path, and the first cooling fan 20a and A second start operation control is performed to control only the third cooling fan 24a to drive. This shows the starting operation when the temperature of the evaporator is not so high because the period in which the operation of the refrigerator is stopped is short. This effectively reduces the load of the compressor 10, and has the effect of raising the temperature of each storage room to a set temperature in a relatively short time.

The first start operation control and the second start operation control are performed for each preset time period (T1 and T2), and once a certain time has elapsed after starting, the load applied to the compressor 10 is applied to the compressor 10. This is because the protection control of) is not large enough to be performed, and to operate the refrigerator in a state preset by the user.

The start operation control can be controlled by subdividing the driving of each cooling fan, the control of the refrigerant flow path, and the start operation control time according to the surrounding conditions and the state of the refrigerator.

For example, in conditions more severe than the conditions of the first start operation, the refrigerant flow path is adjusted to the first refrigerant flow path, and the cooling fan is driven only by the third cooling fan 24a (third start operation control) or the time of T1 and T2. You might be able to make it bigger. Such a setting may of course calculate an appropriate value through various experiments according to the capacity and starting load condition of the compressor 10.

In addition, in recent years, in order to satisfy the various needs of consumers, three or more storage compartments and an evaporator are generally provided for each storage compartment, so that the starting load applied to the compressor becomes larger and larger. It's getting bigger.

As described in detail above, the present invention has the effect of enabling a stable starting operation by controlling the refrigerator to reduce the starting load of the compressor according to the external temperature and the situation inside the refrigerator.

In addition, by performing various start operation control according to the situation of the outside and the inside of the refrigerator, it is possible to reduce the power consumption at the start and perform efficient start operation.

Claims (7)

A plurality of storage compartments, an evaporator provided to supply cold air to the storage compartment, a cooling fan disposed in each evaporator for cold air circulation of the storage compartment, a valve provided to control a refrigerant flow path of the refrigerant flowing through the evaporator, and an external device An external temperature sensor for detecting the temperature of the sensor, an internal temperature sensor for detecting the temperature of each evaporator, And a controller for comparing the temperature detected by the external temperature sensor and the internal temperature sensor with respective reference values and controlling whether the valve and the cooling fan are driven during the startup operation of the refrigerator according to the result. The method of claim 1, The control unit is characterized in that during the startup operation the control of the operation of the valve and the cooling fan for a predetermined time after the refrigerator is started. The method of claim 1, The control unit controls the valve so that the refrigerant passes through the shortest refrigerant flow path when the temperature detected by the external temperature sensor and the internal temperature sensor is greater than each reference value and corresponds to an evaporator through which the refrigerant passes. And a first start operation control for driving the refrigerator. The method of claim 3, wherein The control unit is a refrigerator, characterized in that to perform the first start operation control for a predetermined time period (T1). The method of claim 1, The refrigerant passage includes a first refrigerant passage passing through some evaporators including an evaporator of a freezer compartment and a second refrigerant passage passing through all evaporators. The control unit is configured to control the valve to a second refrigerant flow path and control the at least one cooling fan to be turned off when the external temperature is greater than the reference value S1 and the internal temperature is smaller than the reference value S2. A refrigerator characterized by performing start operation control. The method of claim 5, The control unit is a refrigerator, characterized in that to perform the second start operation control for a predetermined time (T2) in advance. The method according to claim 1 to 6, Refrigerator characterized in that the four evaporator of the refrigerator is provided.

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