KR20140088720A - Apparatus and method for inner light of refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

An apparatus and a method for inner illumination of a refrigerator according to the present invention allow a user to effectively divide foods which need to be stored at low temperature and foods which can be stored at relatively less low temperature and to store the foods in optimal places, because multiple light-emitting elements such as LEDs are spaced apart from one another and mounted inside a freezer compartment or a refrigerator compartment and emit light in different colors so that general users can visually recognize a temperature difference. Furthermore, the user can visually recognize changes in temperature when a door is opened, because colors of the light-emitting elements are varied according to the temperature measured when the door is opened, and a warning message of the door being opened for a long time is visually transferred to the user by automatically flickering the light-emitting elements when a predetermined period passes when the door is opened.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a refrigerator interior lighting device,

The present invention relates to a refrigerator interior lighting device and method for changing the color of an internal illumination such as an LED installed in a freezing room or a refrigerating room to any other color depending on the temperature.

Generally, doors are installed in the freezer compartment and the refrigerating compartment of a refrigerator. In a refrigerator widely used in recent years, for example, a side by side refrigerator, internal lights are installed in the freezing compartment and the refrigerating compartment, respectively have.

On the other hand, when the user opens the freezing chamber door, the internal light of the freezing chamber is automatically turned on, and then automatically turned off when the door of the freezing chamber is closed. When the refrigerator chamber door is opened, And is automatically turned off when the door of the refrigerator compartment is closed.

When the freezer compartment door or the refrigerator compartment door is kept open for a predetermined period of time or longer, a warning sound such as a ring tone is generated. Therefore, in order to prevent the freezing of the freezer compartment or the refrigerating compartment from escaping to the outside, do.

In addition, the freezer compartment and the refrigerating compartment are provided with a plurality of shelves to store various kinds of foods. For example, the cold air discharge port for supplying cold air to the cold storage room is generally provided at an upper portion in the cold storage room.

Accordingly, since the temperature above the upper shelf in the refrigerating chamber maintains a relatively lower temperature than the temperature above the lower shelf, the foodstuffs requiring storage at lower temperatures are stored on the upper shelf and stored at a relatively lower temperature It is preferable to store the food that can be stored on the lower shelf.

However, since ordinary users can not accurately recognize that the temperature on the upper shelf and the temperature on the lower shelf are different from each other as described above, it is required to provide an efficient solution for enabling general users to visually recognize the temperature .

In the present invention, for example, light emitting elements such as an LED (Light Emitting Diode) capable of changing colors are vertically spaced apart from each other in a freezing room or a refrigerating room, And to enable the user to visually recognize the temperature difference between the upper side and the lower side in the refrigerator.

A refrigerator interior lighting device according to the present invention comprises: at least one light emitting element installed inside a refrigerator and emitting color light; At least one temperature sensor installed inside the refrigerator and measuring the temperature; And a control unit for changing the color light of the light emitting element to any other color light according to the temperature measured by the temperature sensor,

In addition, the light emitting device is an LED that emits color light. In the refrigerator, a plurality of LEDs are vertically spaced from a rear wall or a side wall,

Further, the plurality of LEDs emit different color lights according to the temperature inside the refrigerator,

Further, the plurality of LEDs may be configured to change and fire any other color light according to the operation control of the control unit,

Further, the control unit changes the color light of the light emitting element to a blue color as the temperature measured by the temperature sensor becomes lower,

In the refrigerator, a plurality of temperature sensors may be distributed in a vertical direction, or one temperature sensor may be installed at a specific location.

The control unit may be configured to automatically turn off the light emitting device when the door of the refrigerator is closed when a predetermined time elapses after the door of the refrigerator is opened,

The nonvolatile memory may further include a nonvolatile memory, wherein the initial color values for each light emitting device and the changed color values for each temperature are stored in the nonvolatile memory,

The nonvolatile memory may further include a nonvolatile memory, wherein the color initial color values of the light emitting devices and the changed color values of the light emitting devices by temperature are stored in the nonvolatile memory,

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for illuminating an interior of a refrigerator, including: a first step of emitting a plurality of light emitting devices spaced apart in a vertical direction inside a refrigerator with different color lights when a door is opened; And changing the color light of the plurality of light emitting devices to any other color light according to a temperature measured in a door open state,

The method may further include turning off the plurality of light emitting devices when the predetermined period of time has elapsed in the door open state and then turning off the plurality of light emitting devices when the door is closed, ,

In addition, the light emitting device is an LED that emits color light. In the refrigerator, a plurality of LEDs are vertically spaced from a rear wall or a side wall,

The plurality of LEDs emit different initial color lights when the doors are opened and then change and fire any other color lights according to the temperatures measured in a door open state.

In the refrigerator, a plurality of temperature sensors may be distributed in a vertical direction, or one temperature sensor may be installed in a specific area.

In the refrigerator interior lighting apparatus and method according to the present invention, a plurality of light emitting devices such as LEDs are vertically spaced apart from each other in a freezing room or a refrigerating room, and a plurality of light emitting devices By emitting light in different colors, the user can efficiently store and store foods that require storage at low temperatures and foods that can be stored at relatively lower temperatures, in an appropriate location.

In addition, according to the present invention, by changing the color of the light emitting elements to any other color according to the temperature measured when the door is opened, the user can visually change the temperature change due to the door opening .

Also, according to the present invention, when a predetermined time passes after a door is opened, the light emitting devices are automatically blinked to visually transmit a warning message to the user when the door is opened for a long time .

1 is a perspective view of a side-by-size refrigerator to which the present invention is applied,
FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a side cross-sectional type refrigerator to which the present invention is applied,
FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a refrigerator interior lighting apparatus according to the present invention,
FIG. 4 shows an embodiment of the LED color control information according to the present invention,
5 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the refrigerator interior lighting method according to the present invention,
6 is a block diagram of another embodiment of a refrigerator interior lighting apparatus according to the present invention,
7 shows another embodiment of the LED color control information according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of a refrigerator interior lighting apparatus and method according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

First, the refrigerator interior lighting apparatus and method according to the present invention can be applied to various types of refrigerators such as, for example, a side by side type refrigerator and the like. In particular, ≪ / RTI >

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a side-by-side type refrigerator to which the present invention is applied, and FIG. 2 is a side sectional view of a side-by-side type refrigerator to which the present invention is applied.

1, the main body 11 of the side-by-side type refrigerator is provided with a freezing chamber 21 and a refrigerating chamber 31 with partition walls 12 in the vertical direction therebetween.

The freezing compartment door 23 and the freezing compartment door 33 are provided for opening and closing the freezing compartment 21 and the refrigerating compartment 31. Further, A machine room 13 is formed in the machine room 13, and a compressor 15 and the like are installed in the machine room 13.

As shown in FIG. 1, a discharge grill 26 is provided on the rear wall of the freezing chamber 21, and a cool air discharge opening 29 for discharging cool air forward.

A plurality of shelves 27 are provided in the freezing compartment 21 for storing food and food products therein. The refrigerating compartment 31 also divides the internal space of the refrigerator compartment 31, A plurality of shelves 37 for storing the shelves 37 are provided.

The refrigerating chamber 31 is provided with a vegetable storage compartment for storing vegetables and fruits in a lower region of the refrigerating compartment 31. A cool air of the freezing compartment 21 is supplied to the refrigerating compartment 31 at a rear upper region of the partition wall 12 A cool air supply port is formed.

For example, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, an upper duct (not shown) in which cool air discharge openings 42a and 42b are formed so as to discharge the cool air supplied from the freezing chamber 21 to the upper front and the lower side of the refrigerating chamber 31, (41) is provided so as to communicate with the cold air supply port.

The upper duct 41 is provided with a damper 40 for opening and closing the cool air supply port and the cool air inlet port which are communicated with each other. A cold air inlet 16 is formed so that the refrigerant can be sucked and returned by a circulating flow path formed in a rear wall of the freezer compartment 21. [

As described above, a part of the air introduced into the upper duct 41 via the cool air supply port is discharged to the upper front region of the refrigerating chamber 31 through the cool air discharge port 42a formed on the front side, And is discharged downward through the cold air discharge port 42b formed in the discharge port 42a.

1, at the rear wall of the refrigerating chamber 31, at least one light emitting element such as a light emitting diode (LED) or the like is provided inside the refrigerating chamber 31. For example, as shown in FIG. 1, LEDs 50 to 54 may be vertically spaced apart from each other with a predetermined distance therebetween.

2, a plurality of LEDs (LEDs) 50 'to 53' may be spaced apart from each other by a predetermined distance on the side wall of the refrigerating chamber 31, as shown in FIG. 2 For example, the LEDs may be selectively installed on at least one of the left side wall and the right side wall.

The LEDs can be used as internal illumination for illuminating the space above the shelves 37 installed inside the refrigerating chamber, and furthermore, can be changed to any other color depending on the temperature measured in the opened state of the door.

For example, as shown in FIG. 1, a first LED 50 installed in a vertical direction inside a refrigerating chamber emits blue light as an initial color value, and a second LED 51 emits blue light as an initial color And the third LED 52 emits green light as the initial color value and the fourth LED 53 emits yellow light as the initial color value You can fire.

That is, since the discharge ports 42a and 42b for supplying the cold air to the inside of the refrigerating chamber are formed in the upper portion, the temperature of the upper portion is relatively lower than the temperature of the lower portion so that the user can visually recognize it The first LED may be designed to emit different color light, the second LED a purple, the third LED green, and the fourth LED yellow.

On the other hand, the first to fourth LEDs 50 to 53 are automatically turned on when the door is opened, automatically turned off when the door is closed, and further, when the door is opened, When a predetermined time elapses in a state where the door is opened, the door automatically flickers and visually transmits a warning message to the user, which will be described in detail as follows.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a refrigerator lighting apparatus according to the present invention. For example, as described above with reference to FIG. 1, first through fourth LEDs 50 - 53 may be vertically spaced apart.

In addition, the first to fourth temperature sensors 60 to 63 may be distributed and installed adjacent to the positions where the respective LEDs are installed. For example, the LED and the temperature sensor may be formed as one module And can be used as lighting on each shelf.

The control unit 70 for controlling the operation of the first to fourth LEDs 50 to 53 is electrically connected to the door sensor 80, the timer 81 and the memory 82, The LED automatically turns on and automatically turns off when the door is closed.

In addition, the color of the LED is changed to any other color according to the temperature change. When the predetermined period of time elapses after the door is opened, the memory 82 is automatically turned on. For example, , EEPROM (EEPROM), or flash memory may be used.

In the memory 82, preset initial color initial values and temperature-dependent changed color values for each light emitting device may be stored as LED color control information.

For example, as shown in FIG. 4, the initial color value of the light emitting device is blue, the second LED is purple, the third LED is green, and the fourth LED is yellow Can be set.

As the variable color value according to the temperature, blue is less than 1 degree, blue is minus 1 degree or more, purple is less than 1 degree, image is more than 1 degree, green is less than 3 degree, Can be set.

For example, when the door opening is detected by the door sensor 80 (S10), the control unit 70 determines whether the door is open or not, , The first to fourth LEDs 50 to 53 are turned on (S11), and the first to fourth temperature sensors 60 to 63 are turned on (S12).

In this case, the first LED 50 is blue, the second LED 51 is purple, and the third LED 50 is white. The LEDs 52 emit green light and the fourth LEDs 53 emit yellow with different initial color values.

Therefore, the user visually recognizes that the temperature on the upper shelf adjacent to the first LED 50 is lower than the temperature of the lower shelf position adjacent to the fourth LED 53, Foodstuffs that are needed are stored in the upper shelf and foodstuffs that can be stored at a relatively lower temperature are stored in the lower shelf.

The controller 70 controls the temperature of each of the first to fourth LEDs 50 to 53 in accordance with the temperatures measured by the first to fourth temperature sensors 60 to 63 while the door is open. The light emission color is changed to any other color (S13).

For example, when the temperature measured by the first temperature sensor 60 disposed adjacent to the first LED 50 is less than 1 degree and less than 1 degree, the first LED 50 is operated to control the blue light To purple light.

The control unit 70 checks whether the door is closed by the door sensor 80 in step S14. For example, when the door 81 is open, (For example, 10 seconds) (S15), the first to fourth LEDs 50 to 53 are automatically turned on (S16), and a warning message is visually displayed to the user .

On the other hand, when the door is closed as a result of the checking, the controller 70 turns off the first to fourth LEDs 50 to 53 (S17) 63 are turned off (S18), thereby preventing unnecessary power consumption.

Accordingly, the user can visually and easily recognize the temperature difference between the upper shelf and the lower shelf by the color of each of the LEDs which emit different colors in the refrigerating chamber when the door is opened. Therefore, Foods that need to be stored on the upper shelf and foods that need to be stored at relatively lower temperatures can be stored on the lower shelf.

Further, in the door open state, the user can visually recognize the change of the internal temperature through the color change of the LEDs. Further, by visually recognizing the warning message by the flashing LEDs, the user can quickly close the door do.

6, only one temperature sensor can be used in a specific position. For example, one temperature sensor is disposed at a specific position adjacent to the first LED, Can be installed.

In this case, the LED color control information stored in the memory 82 may store color initial color values of each light emitting device and changed color values of each light emitting device by temperature.

For example, as shown in Fig. As the initial color value for each light emitting device, the first LED may be set to blue, the second LED to be purple, the third LED to be green, and the fourth LED to be yellow.

The first to fourth LEDs emit blue, purple, green, and yellow light, respectively, at a temperature of less than 1 degree. The first to fourth LEDs emit light in purple, purple, green, and yellow, respectively, and when the image is more than 1 degree out of phase, the first to fourth LEDs emit light in purple, green, , And when the image is 3 degrees or more, the first embedded fourth LED can be set to emit purple, green, yellow, and yellow, respectively.

Accordingly, in the controller 70, when the door is opened, the first LED is turned blue, the second LED is turned violet, the third LED is turned green, and the fourth LED is turned yellow. It is possible to change the emission colors of the first to fourth LEDs to arbitrary different colors, respectively.

The foregoing description of the preferred embodiments of the present invention has been presented for the purpose of illustration, and as described above, the present invention can be applied as it is to the internal illumination of the freezer compartment as well as the internal illumination of the freezer compartment.

In addition, those skilled in the art will be able to modify, change, substitute, or add other various embodiments within the technical scope and the technical scope of the present invention as set forth in the appended claims.

11: main body 12: partition wall
13: Machine room 15: Compressor
16: cold air inlet 21: freezer compartment
23: Freezer door 26: Discharge grill
29: Outlet 31: Refrigerator
33: refrigerator door 37: shelf
40: damper 41: duct
42a, 42b: Outlets 50 to 53: LED
60 to 63: temperature sensor 70:
71: door sensor 72: timer
73: Memory

Claims (14)

At least one light emitting element provided inside the refrigerator and emitting color light;
At least one temperature sensor installed inside the refrigerator and measuring the temperature; And
And a controller for changing the color light of the light emitting element to any other color light according to the temperature measured by the temperature sensor. The method according to claim 1,
The light emitting element is an LED (light emitting diode) for emitting color light,
Wherein a plurality of LEDs are vertically spaced from a rear wall or a side wall of the refrigerator. 3. The method of claim 2,
Wherein the plurality of LEDs emit different color lights according to a temperature inside the refrigerator. 3. The method of claim 2,
Wherein the plurality of LEDs change and emit any other color light according to an operation control of the control unit. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the control unit changes the color light of the light emitting element to a blue color as the temperature measured by the temperature sensor is lower. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein a plurality of temperature sensors are vertically dispersed in the refrigerator, or one temperature sensor is installed in a specific area. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the controller turns off the light emitting element when the door of the refrigerator is opened and automatically turns off when the door of the refrigerator is closed. The method according to claim 1,
Further comprising a non-volatile memory,
Wherein the nonvolatile memory stores initial color values for each light emitting device and changed color values for each temperature. The method according to claim 1,
Further comprising a non-volatile memory,
Wherein the nonvolatile memory stores color initial color values for each light emitting device and changed color values of each light emitting device for each temperature. A first step of emitting a plurality of light emitting devices spaced apart in a vertical direction inside the refrigerator with different color lights when the door is opened; And
And changing the color light of the plurality of light emitting devices to any other color light according to a temperature measured in a door open state. 11. The method of claim 10,
Further comprising the step of turning off the plurality of light emitting devices when the predetermined period of time elapses after the door is opened in the door open state and then turning off the plurality of light emitting devices when the door is closed. Lighting method. 11. The method of claim 10,
The light emitting element is an LED (light emitting diode) for emitting color light,
Wherein a plurality of LEDs are vertically spaced from a rear wall or a side wall of the refrigerator. 13. The method of claim 12,
Wherein the plurality of LEDs emit different initial color lights when the doors are opened and then change and fire any other color lights according to temperatures measured in the door open state. 11. The method of claim 10,
Wherein a plurality of temperature sensors are vertically dispersed in the refrigerator, or one temperature sensor is installed in a specific area.

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