KR20100058240A - Refrigerator and method for controlling the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A refrigerator and a control method thereof are provided to reduce power consumption and enhance efficiency by turning off a fan after a given time from when a compressor is turned off. CONSTITUTION: A refrigerator comprises a compressor(112), a fan, a temperature sensor(320), and a controller(310). The compressor compresses refrigerant. The fan supplies the air cooled by the compressed refrigerant to the inside of the refrigerator. The temperature sensor senses the temperature of the inside of the refrigerator. The controller turns off the compressor if the sensed temperature is lower than a predetermined temperature, and the controller turns off the fan if a predetermined time passes from when the compressor is turned off. The controller turns on the compressor if the sensed temperature is higher than the predetermined temperature.

Description

Refrigerator and method for controlling the same}

The present invention relates to a control method of a refrigerator and a refrigerator, and more particularly, to a control method of a refrigerator and a refrigerator in which power consumption is reduced and efficiency can be improved.

Generally, a refrigerator is a device used for long-term storage of fresh food, and includes a freezer compartment for freezing food, a refrigerating chamber for refrigerating plants, and a freezing cycle for cooling the freezer and refrigerator compartment. The operation control is performed by the controller.

Unlike in the past, the refrigerator is not only a space for food, but also a family room where the family members are gathering and talking and solving the food. In addition, quantitative and qualitative functional changes are required for all family members to use easily.

On the other hand, as the functions of the refrigerator become more complicated and larger, various attempts have been made to reduce the power consumption of the refrigerator and to improve its efficiency.

An object of the present invention is to provide a refrigerator and a method of controlling the refrigerator in which power consumption is reduced and efficiency can be improved.

A refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention for achieving the above object, a compressor for compressing a refrigerant, a fan for providing cold air generated on the basis of the compressed refrigerant, and a temperature sensing unit for sensing the temperature in the refrigerator And a controller for controlling to turn off the operating compressor when the sensed temperature is less than the set temperature, and to turn off the operating fan when the set time elapses after the compressor is turned off. .

In addition, the control method of the refrigerator according to the embodiment of the present invention for achieving the above object, the step of turning off the compressor in operation when the internal temperature is less than the set temperature, and the set time after the compressor off In one case, the step of turning off a running fan.

According to the embodiment of the present invention, by turning off the fan after a predetermined time after turning off the compressor in operation, it is possible to use the refrigeration or freezing function in the interior using the cold air remaining after the compressor off, power consumption is reduced The efficiency of refrigeration or freezing will be improved.

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

1 is a perspective view illustrating a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to the drawings, the refrigerator 1 according to the present invention, although not shown, a case 110 having an inner space divided into a freezer compartment and a refrigerating compartment, a freezer compartment 120 that shields the freezer compartment, and a refrigerating compartment. A rough appearance is formed by the refrigerating chamber door 140.

Further, the front surface of the freezing chamber door 120 and the refrigerating chamber door 140 is further provided with a door handle 121 protruding forward, so that the user can easily grip and rotate the freezing chamber door 120 and the refrigerating chamber door 140. Make it work.

On the other hand, the front of the refrigerator compartment door 140 may be further provided with a home bar 180, which is a convenient means for allowing a user to take out a storage such as a beverage contained therein without opening the refrigerator compartment door 140.

In addition, the front side of the freezer door 120 may be provided with a dispenser 160 which is a convenient means for allowing the user to easily take out ice or drinking water without opening the freezer door 120, and such a dispenser 160. An upper side of the control panel 200 may be further provided to control the driving operation of the refrigerator 1 and to show a state of the refrigerator 1 being operated on the screen.

The control panel 200 may include an input unit 220 including a plurality of buttons, and a display unit 230 for displaying a control screen and an operation state.

The display unit 230 displays information such as a control screen, an operation state, and a temperature inside the refrigerator. For example, the display unit 230 may display a service type of the dispenser (eg, ice, water, flake ice), a set temperature of the freezer compartment, and a set temperature of the refrigerator compartment.

The display unit 230 may be implemented in various ways, such as a liquid crystal display (LCD), a light emitting diode (LED), an organic light emitting diode (OLED), and the like. In addition, the display unit 230 may be implemented as a touch screen capable of performing the function of the input unit 220.

The input unit 220 may include a plurality of operation buttons. For example, the input unit 220 may include a dispenser setting button (not shown) for setting a service type of the dispenser (ice ice, water, crushed ice, etc.) and a freezer temperature setting button (not shown) for setting a freezer temperature. And, it may include a refrigerator compartment temperature setting button (not shown) for setting the freezer compartment temperature. The input unit 220 may be implemented as a touch screen that can also perform the function of the display unit 230.

Meanwhile, the refrigerator according to the present invention is not limited to the double door type illustrated in the drawings, but the one door type, the sliding door type, and the curtain door type. Regardless of its type, it is sufficient to provide a compressor and a fan for a refrigerator refrigeration cycle or a refrigeration cycle.

FIG. 2 is a view schematically illustrating the configuration of the refrigerator of FIG. 1.

Referring to the drawings, the refrigerator 1 includes a compressor 112, a condenser 116 for condensing the refrigerant compressed by the compressor 112, and a refrigerant condensed by the condenser 116 to be evaporated. The refrigerator compartment evaporator 122 and the freezer compartment evaporator 124 disposed in the refrigerator compartment (not shown) and the refrigerant condensed in the condenser 116 are transferred to the refrigerator compartment evaporator 122 or the freezer compartment evaporator 124. A three-way valve 130 to supply, a refrigerating chamber expansion valve 132 for expanding the refrigerant supplied to the refrigerating chamber evaporator 122, and a freezing chamber expansion valve 134 for expanding the refrigerant supplied to the freezing chamber evaporator 124. do.

In addition, the refrigerator 1 may further include a gas-liquid separator (not shown) in which the refrigerant passing through the evaporators 122 and 124 is separated into a liquid and a gas.

In addition, the refrigerator 1 includes a refrigerator compartment fan 142 and a freezer compartment fan that suck cold air that has passed through the refrigerator compartment evaporator 122 and the freezer compartment evaporator 124 and blow it into a refrigerator compartment (not shown) and a freezer compartment (not shown), respectively. 144 may be further included.

In addition, the compressor driving unit 113 for driving the compressor 112, the refrigerator compartment fan 142 and the refrigerator compartment fan drive unit 143 and the freezer compartment fan drive unit 145 for driving the freezer compartment 144 may be further included.

3 is a block diagram schematically illustrating the inside of the refrigerator illustrated in FIG. 1.

Referring to the drawings, the refrigerator of FIG. 3 includes a compressor 112, a refrigerator compartment fan 142, a freezer compartment fan 144, a controller 310, and a temperature detector 320. In addition, the compressor driving unit 113, the refrigerating chamber fan driving unit 143, the freezer compartment fan driving unit 145, and the input unit 220 may be further included.

The compressor 112, the refrigerating compartment fan 142, and the freezing compartment fan 144 are described with reference to FIG. 2.

The input unit 220 includes a plurality of operation buttons, and transmits a signal for an input freezing compartment set temperature or a refrigerator compartment set temperature to the controller 310.

The temperature detector 320 detects a temperature in the refrigerator and transmits a signal for the detected temperature to the controller 310. Here, the temperature detector 320 detects the refrigerator compartment temperature and the freezer compartment temperature, respectively. In addition, the temperature of each chamber in the refrigerating chamber or each chamber in the freezing chamber may be sensed.

The controller 310 controls to turn off the compressor 112 in operation when the temperature detected by the temperature detector 320 is lower than the set temperature, and when the set time has elapsed after the compressor 112 is turned off. Control to turn off the operating fan (142 or 144).

That is, the signal for the set temperature (freezer compartment setting temperature or the refrigerating compartment setting temperature) from the input unit 220 and the signal for the sensing temperature (freezer compartment detection temperature or the refrigerating compartment detection temperature) from the temperature sensor 320 are controlled. When input to), the control unit 310 compares the set temperature and the detected temperature. When the sensed temperature is less than the set temperature, the controller 310 controls to turn off the compressor 112 that is in operation to supply cold air. Specifically, the compressor driving unit 113 is controlled to control the compressor 112 to be turned off.

Typically, by turning off the fan 142 or 144 at the same time as the compressor 112 is off, the cold air in the refrigerator is no longer utilized, but in the embodiment of the present invention, the compressor 112 off time and the fan 142 or 144 are not used. A time difference of the off time may be used to turn off the fan 142 or 144 after a predetermined time so as to use the cool air remaining in the refrigerator despite the compressor 112 being turned off.

Therefore, the controller 310 determines whether a predetermined time has elapsed after the compressor 112 is turned off, and controls the fan 142 or 144 to be turned off after a predetermined time elapses. Accordingly, unnecessary power consumption can be reduced, and the efficiency of refrigeration or freezing is increased.

The controller 310 may set a longer set time as the set temperature is lower. The lower the set temperature, the more cold air remains in the evaporator 122 or 124, and therefore, the longer the set time, the more it can be blown into the fridge or freezer.

Meanwhile, the controller 310 controls the compressor 112 to be turned on when the sensed temperature from the temperature detector 320 is less than the set temperature. Even in this case, as soon as the compressor 112 is turned on, since no cool air is generated in the evaporator 122 or 124, it is preferable to turn on the fan 142 or 144 after a predetermined time after the compressor 112 is turned on. . As a result, unnecessary power consumption can be reduced.

The controller 310 directly controls the compressor driver 113 and the fan driver 143 or 145, as shown in the figure, to control the on / off operation of the compressor 112 and the fan 142 or 144. By controlling, finally, the compressor 112 and the fan 142 or 144 can be controlled.

The fan according to the embodiment of the present invention may be a refrigerator compartment fan 142 or a freezer compartment fan 142. Accordingly, the fan driver may be a refrigerator compartment fan driver 143 or a freezer compartment fan driver 145.

The compressor drive unit 113, the refrigerator compartment fan drive unit 143, and the freezer compartment fan drive unit 145 each use a compressor electric motor (not shown), a refrigerator compartment fan motor (not shown), and a freezer compartment fan motor (not shown). Each of the electric motors (not shown) are operated at a target rotational speed under the control of the controller 310. When such an electric motor is a three-phase electric motor, it may be controlled by a switching operation in an inverter (not shown), or may be controlled at a constant speed by using an AC power source as it is. Here, each motor (not shown) may be any one of an induction motor, a BLDC (Blush less DC) motor, a synchronous reluctance motor (synRM) motor, and the like.

On the other hand, as described above, the control unit 310 may control the operation of the entire refrigerator 1 in addition to the operation control of the compressor 112 and the fan 1. That is, the control unit 310 is the input unit 220. It is possible to control the overall operation of the refrigerant cycle according to the set temperature from, for example, the three-way valve 130, the refrigerating compartment, in addition to the compressor drive 113, the refrigerator compartment fan drive 143 and the freezer compartment fan drive 145. The expansion valve 132 and the freezer compartment expansion valve 134 may be further controlled. In addition, the operation of the condenser 116 may be controlled, and the control unit 310 may control the operation of the display unit 230. have.

In FIGS. 2 and 3, evaporators 122 and 124 are used in the refrigerating compartment and the freezing compartment, respectively, and thus, respective fans 142 and 144 and the driving units 143 and 145 are used. Not shown), a common fan (not shown) and the driving unit (not shown) may be used. In this case, a damper (not shown) may be installed between the refrigerating compartment and the freezing compartment, and the fan (not shown) may forcibly blow cold air generated by one evaporator to be supplied to the freezing compartment and the refrigerating compartment.

4 is a flowchart illustrating a control method of a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to the drawings, first, the temperature sensor 320 detects a temperature inside the refrigerator (S410). The sensed temperature is input to the controller 310. The sensed temperature may be a refrigerating compartment sensing temperature or a freezing compartment sensing temperature, or may be a sensing temperature of each chamber in the refrigerating compartment or the freezing compartment.

Next, the controller 310 determines whether the sensed temperature is greater than or equal to the set temperature (S420). The set temperature may be a temperature set by the input unit 220, and may be a refrigerating chamber set temperature or a freezing chamber set temperature, and may also be a set temperature of each chamber in the refrigerating chamber or the freezing chamber.

If the set temperature is less than the sensed temperature, the controller 310 controls to turn off the compressor 112 (S430). When the set temperature reaches the sensing temperature and no longer needs to perform the refrigerant cycle operation, the controller 310 controls to turn off the compressor 112. For example, as shown in FIG. 3, a control signal may be applied to the compressor driver 113 to finally control the operation of the compressor 112.

Next, the controller 310 determines whether the set time has elapsed after the compressor 112 is turned off (S440), and when the set time elapses, the controller 310 controls to turn off the fan 142 or 144 (S450). If the abnormality has not elapsed, the control is continued to turn on the fan 142 or 144 (S455). For example, as shown in FIG. 3, a control signal may be applied to the fan driver 143 or 145 to finally control the operation of the fan 142 or 144. By using the cool air remaining in the evaporator 122 or 124 for a predetermined time despite the compressor 112 is turned off, the efficiency of the refrigerant cycle is increased.

The controller 310 may set the set time longer as the set temperature is lower. The lower the set temperature, the more cold air remains in the evaporator 122 or 124, and therefore, the longer the set time, the more it can be blown into the fridge or freezer.

On the other hand, when the sensed temperature is above the set temperature, the controller 310 controls to turn on the compressor 112 (S460), and controls to turn on the fan 142 or 144 (S470).

For example, as shown in the drawing, when the step 460 (S460) and the step 470 (S470) are performed after the step 420 (S420), the compressor 112 and the fan 142 or 144 are continuously turned on to cool the refrigerant. The cycle operation can continue.

In addition, when the step 460 (S460) and the step 470 (S470) is performed after the 450 step (S450), it can be controlled to turn on the compressor 112 is turned off again. It can also be controlled to turn on the fan 142 or 144. In this case, the fan 142 or 144 may be turned on after a predetermined time elapses after the compressor 112 is turned on. As soon as the compressor 112 is turned on, since no cool air is generated in the evaporator 122 or 124, the fan 142 or 144 may be turned on after a predetermined time after the compressor 112 is turned on. As a result, unnecessary power consumption can be reduced.

 While the above has been shown and described with respect to preferred embodiments of the present invention, the present invention is not limited to the specific embodiments described above, it is usually in the technical field to which the invention belongs without departing from the spirit of the invention claimed in the claims. Various modifications can be made by those skilled in the art, and these modifications should not be individually understood from the technical spirit or the prospect of the present invention.

1 is a perspective view illustrating a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a view schematically illustrating the configuration of the refrigerator of FIG. 1.

3 is a block diagram schematically illustrating the inside of the refrigerator illustrated in FIG. 1.

4 is a flowchart illustrating a control method of a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention.

<Explanation of symbols on main parts of the drawings>

1 ....... Refrigerator 112 ....... Compressor

113 ....... Compressor drive 142 ....... Fridge compartment fan

143 ....... Fridge Fan Drive 144 ....... Freezer Fan

145 ....... Freezer Fan Drive 200 ..... Control Panel

220 ..... Input 230 ..... Display

310 ..... Control part 320 ..... Temperature sensing part

Claims (9)

A compressor for compressing the refrigerant; A fan for providing cold air generated in the refrigerator based on the compressed refrigerant; A temperature sensor for sensing a temperature in the refrigerator; And A controller configured to control to turn off the compressor in operation when the sensed temperature is lower than a set temperature, and to turn off the operating fan when a set time elapses after the compressor is turned off; Refrigerator comprising a. The method of claim 1, The control unit, And when the sensed temperature is greater than or equal to the set temperature, controlling the compressor to be turned on. The method of claim 2, The control unit, And controlling the fan to be turned on after the compressor is turned on. The method of claim 1, A compressor driver for driving the compressor; And Further comprising: a fan drive unit for driving a fan, The control unit is a refrigerator, characterized in that for controlling the compressor drive unit and the fan drive unit. The method of claim 1, The control unit, And setting the set time longer as the set temperature is lower. When the temperature inside the refrigerator is lower than a preset temperature, turning off the compressor in operation; And Turning off the operating fan when a set time has elapsed after the compressor is turned off. The method of claim 6, Sensing a temperature inside the refrigerator; And And if the sensed temperature is greater than or equal to the set temperature, turning on a compressor. The method of claim 7, wherein And turning on the fan after the compressor is turned on. The method of claim 6, The control method of the refrigerator, characterized in that the setting time is set longer as the set temperature is lower.

Images