KR20180040032A - Method for controlling the cooling of the kimchi refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention discloses a method for controlling cooling of a kimchi refrigerator. The method for controlling cooling of the kimchi refrigerator of the present invention comprises the following steps: by a control part, receiving the outside air temperature from an outside air temperature sensor; and controlling the operation time of a refrigerator compartment and a freezer compartment during alternate operation by controlling a refrigerant control valve depending on the outdoor temperature that the control part receives from the outdoor temperature sensor.

Description

METHOD FOR CONTROLLING THE COOLING OF THE KIMCHI REFRIGERATOR [0002]

The present invention relates to a cooling control method for a kimchi refrigerator, and more particularly, to a cooling control method for a kimchi refrigerator that controls an operation time of a freezing chamber and a refrigerating chamber according to an outside temperature during an alternate operation.

In the case of a general refrigerator, the temperature inside the refrigerator changes drastically during the process of opening and closing the door frequently, and it is very difficult to maintain the proper maturity state of the kimchi. To solve this problem, a kimchi refrigerator has been developed which can keep the taste of ripe kimchi for a long time by moderately aging the kimchi according to seasonal changes and users' preferences and then keeping it at the proper temperature.

This Kimchi refrigerator generally utilizes the principle of latent heat of evaporation (heat of evaporation), which takes heat away from the surroundings while the refrigerant in the liquid state changes phase to the gaseous state. Basically, the principle of the refrigeration cycle consisting of the compression-condensation- .

Also, since the Kimchi refrigerator is provided with a cooling device and a heating device inside it, the kimchi stored in the inner storage room is matured according to the preference by raising the temperature of the storage room to a maturing temperature in a short time, By keeping the temperature of the storage room at an appropriate level, it is possible to preserve the taste and freshness of the kimchi for a long time.

The initial Kimchi refrigerator was composed of a storage room for the purpose of storing kimchi. However, in recent years, a storage room capable of functioning as a general refrigerator is also configured, and a refrigerator and a freezer are generally provided.

Accordingly, if two or more storage compartments have compressor operating conditions by using a step valve or the like, the inside temperature of the storage compartment is made to reach the target temperature by alternately operating at a constant time interval. At this time, the internal temperature of the inside of the Kimchi refrigerator depends on the amount of the load, that is, the amount of the load inside the refrigerator, the degree of opening / closing of the refrigerator door (open / close time, number of times of opening and closing, etc.)

On the other hand, in the summer when the outside temperature is high, the reaching time until the inside temperature in the storage room reaches the target temperature increases. Particularly, in the case of the freezing chamber, the rate of increase of the arrival time is larger than that of the refrigerating chamber, so that it takes a long time until the internal temperature of the freezing chamber reaches the target temperature.

That is, in the summer when the outside temperature is high, the difference between the arrival times of the target temperatures of the refrigerating and freezing chambers increases, resulting in an increase in the target temperature reaching time of the entire storage room.

As a background technique of the present invention, there is "Refrigerant control method of refrigerator ", Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2014-0144014 (published on Dec. 18, 2014).

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a refrigerator having a refrigerator and a refrigerator, wherein the operation time of the freezer compartment and the refrigerating compartment is adjusted according to the outdoor temperature during the alternate operation, And a cooling control method for the refrigerator.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a cooling control method for a Kimchi refrigerator, comprising: a control unit receiving an outside air temperature from an outside air temperature sensor; And controlling the operation time of the refrigerating chamber and the freezing chamber during the alternate operation by controlling the refrigerant adjusting valve according to the outdoor temperature inputted from the outdoor temperature sensor.

The controller may increase the operation time of the freezer when the outdoor temperature inputted from the outdoor temperature sensor is higher than a preset reference temperature.

The control unit receives the refrigerating compartment temperature from the refrigerating compartment temperature sensor, receives the freezing compartment temperature from the freezing compartment temperature sensor, and confirms whether the temperature has reached the target temperature, respectively. And controlling the refrigerant control valve to return the operation time of the freezing chamber to a predetermined operation time when the refrigerating compartment temperature and the freezing compartment temperature respectively reach the target temperature.

The controller may control the refrigerant control valve to supply the refrigerant only to one of the refrigerating compartment and the freezing compartment that does not reach the target temperature when one of the refrigerating compartment temperature and the freezing compartment temperature first reaches the target temperature .

The cooling control method of the Kimchi refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention minimizes an increase in the target temperature reaching time of the storage chamber by adjusting the operation time of the freezing chamber and the refrigerating chamber according to the temperature of the outside air during the alternate operation, There is an effect to be able to.

In addition, the cooling control method of the Kimchi refrigerator according to the embodiment of the present invention can operate the Kimchi refrigerator with optimum cooling power and power consumption according to the season by performing cooling control based on the outside temperature, And the product reliability can be improved.

1 is a block diagram showing a cooling control device of a Kimchi refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a flowchart illustrating a method of controlling cooling of a Kimchi refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, a cooling control method of the Kimchi refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In this process, the thicknesses of the lines and the sizes of the components shown in the drawings may be exaggerated for clarity and convenience of explanation.

In addition, the terms described below are defined in consideration of the functions of the present invention, which may vary depending on the intention or custom of the user, the operator. Therefore, definitions of these terms should be made based on the contents throughout this specification.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a cooling control device of a Kimchi refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 1, a cooling control device of a Kimchi refrigerator will be described below.

1, a cooling control device for a kimchi refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention includes an outdoor temperature sensor 10, a refrigerating room temperature sensor 20, a freezing room temperature sensor 30, a control unit 40, A refrigerant regulating valve 50 and a compressor 60. [

For reference, in this embodiment, a kimchi refrigerator including a plurality of storage compartments will be described as an example. In this embodiment, a plurality of storage rooms are divided into a freezing room and a refrigerating room. At this time, the freezer compartment and the refrigerating compartment may include a plurality of rooms, respectively, but they are divided into a freezing compartment and a refrigerating compartment. In addition, an evaporator is provided for each of the freezing compartment and the refrigerating compartment, respectively.

The refrigeration cycle of the Kimchi refrigerator according to the embodiment of the present invention utilizes the principle of latent heat of evaporation (heat of evaporation) in which the refrigerant in the liquid state is phase-changed to the gaseous state and takes heat from the surroundings. (Not shown), a refrigerant control valve 50, and an evaporator (not shown).

In this refrigerant cycle, the compressor 60 sucks the high-temperature and low-pressure refrigerant gas, compresses the high-temperature and high-pressure refrigerant gas, and then discharges the refrigerant gas to the condenser. The refrigerant gas is heat- Change. Then, the liquid refrigerant flowing out of the condenser is introduced into each of the evaporators through the control of the refrigerant regulating valve (50), and each evaporator phase-changes the liquid refrigerant into a gaseous state, Absorbs the surrounding heat and cools it.

In this case, each of the evaporators is provided in a one-to-one correspondence with the freezer compartment and the refrigerating compartment provided in the Kimchi refrigerator to cool the freezing compartment and the refrigerating compartment.

That is, one side of the compressor 60 is connected to each evaporator, the other side is connected to a condenser, and the refrigerant supplied from each evaporator is compressed to be a gas refrigerant of high temperature and high pressure and supplied to the condenser to circulate the refrigerant.

The outdoor temperature sensor 10 measures the ambient temperature of the kimchi refrigerator and transmits it to the control unit 40. The outside temperature sensor 10 may be installed outside the kimchi refrigerator or in a machine room, but is not limited thereto.

The refrigerating compartment temperature sensor 20 measures the temperature of the refrigerating compartment and transmits the measured temperature to the control unit 40. The refrigerating compartment temperature sensor 20 may be installed inside the refrigerating compartment to measure the indoor temperature or to measure the evaporator temperature in the evaporator of the refrigerating compartment, and may be referred to as the indoor temperature of the refrigerating compartment without limiting its position.

The freezer compartment temperature sensor 30 measures the temperature of the freezer compartment and transmits the measured temperature to the controller 40. Also, the freezer room temperature sensor 30 may be installed inside the freezer compartment to measure the indoor temperature or to measure the evaporator temperature, which is installed in the evaporator of the freezer compartment.

The outdoor temperature sensor 10, the refrigerating room temperature sensor 20, and the freezing room temperature sensor 30 may be both mechanical and electronic sensors.

The refrigerant control valve 50 is a valve that can control the refrigerant supplied to each storage chamber. In the present embodiment, a step valve will be described as an example.

The refrigerant control valve 50 is installed in the refrigerant pipe between the condenser and the evaporator of each storage room, and selectively supplies the refrigerant discharged from the condenser to each evaporator in response to the control signal of the controller 40.

The refrigerant regulating valve 50 opens or closes each storage room by step so that the refrigerant is supplied or blocked to the storage room. The refrigerant control valve 50 controls the temperature of one of the storage chambers by supplying the refrigerant supplied from the condenser to one of the plurality of evaporators.

The control unit 40 receives the outside temperature, the freezing room temperature, and the freezing room temperature from the outside air temperature sensor 10, the refrigerating room temperature sensor 20 and the freezing room temperature sensor 30 to control the refrigerant regulating valve 50, Can be controlled.

In addition, the controller 40 controls the opening time of the refrigerant regulating valve 50 during the alternate operation of the refrigerant regulating valve 50 in accordance with the capacity and cooling purpose of the refrigerating and freezing compartments. In other words, the control unit 40 can control the operation time of the refrigerating and freezing compartments during the alternate operation of the refrigerant regulating valve 50. To this end, the controller 40 controls the refrigerant regulating valve 50 to alternately operate at predetermined reference time intervals if the cooling conditions set in the refrigerating and freezing chambers are all satisfied.

For reference, the cooling condition is a preset condition for judging whether or not the temperature of the storage room needs to be controlled by operating the compressor (60). Therefore, when the cooling condition is satisfied, the inside temperature control is required for the storage room, and when the cooling condition is not satisfied, that is, when the cooling condition is released, the inside temperature control is not necessary for the storage room.

That is, when the cooling condition set in each of the refrigerator compartment and the freezer compartment is satisfied, the control unit 40 controls the refrigerant control valve 50 so that the indoor temperature of the refrigerating compartment and the freezing compartment reach the target temperature of the refrigerating compartment and the target temperature of the freezing compartment, respectively.

At this time, the arrival time of the target temperature, which is required to reach the target temperature, in the refrigerator compartment and the freezer compartment is influenced by the outside air temperature. For example, in the summer when the outdoor temperature is high, the target temperature reaching times of the refrigerating and freezing chambers are increased. Further, in the case of the freezing chamber, the influence of the high outside air temperature is larger, and the target temperature reaching time is further increased than in the refrigerating chamber. As a result, since the target temperature reaching time of the entire storage room increases, the difference between the target temperature reaching time of the freezing compartment and the target temperature reaching time of the freezing compartment must be minimized.

Accordingly, the control unit 40 can adjust the predetermined alternating time of the refrigerant control valve 50 to the freezing room in order to reduce the difference between the target temperature reaching time of the freezing chamber and the target temperature reaching time of the refrigerating chamber.

That is, the control unit 40 receives the outdoor temperature from the outdoor temperature sensor 10, and controls the refrigerant control valve 50 according to the outdoor temperature to adjust the predetermined operation time of the refrigerating and freezing compartments.

At this time, if the outdoor temperature inputted from the outdoor temperature sensor 10 is higher than the reference temperature, the control unit 40 controls the refrigerant control valve 50 to increase the operation time of the freezing room.

That is, the control unit 40 increases the opening time of the refrigerant control valve 50 at the time of opening the refrigerant regulating valve 50 in the alternating operation of the freezing chamber and the refrigerating chamber of the refrigerant regulating valve 50, Can be increased.

That is, the controller 40 may cool the freezer compartment first in the summer when the outside air temperature is high, and may preferentially cool the refrigerator compartment relative to the summer in winter.

The control unit 40 receives the refrigerator compartment temperature and the freezer compartment temperature from the refrigerator compartment temperature sensor 20 and the freezer compartment temperature sensor 30 and returns to the operation time of the refrigerating compartment and the freezer compartment when the target temperature is reached.

That is, the control unit 40 continuously drives the compressor 60 according to the alternating time ratio of the freezing chamber, which is increased until the internal temperature of the refrigerating chamber and the freezing chamber reaches the target temperature and stabilizes, When the temperature is reached and stabilized, the compressor 60 is returned to the existing alternate time ratio and the compressor 60 can be turned on / off.

On the other hand, the controller 40 receives the refrigerator compartment temperature and the freezer compartment temperature from the refrigerator compartment temperature sensor 20 and the freezer compartment temperature sensor 30, and confirms whether or not each of the refrigerator compartment temperature and the freezer compartment temperature has reached the target temperature. The refrigerant can be supplied to only one of the refrigerating compartment and the freezing compartment which does not reach the target temperature by controlling the refrigerant regulating valve 50. [

For example, when the refrigerating compartment temperature reaches the target temperature first, the control unit 40 may control the refrigerant regulating valve 50 to supply the refrigerant to only the remaining freezing compartments.

Therefore, the freezing chamber can reach the target temperature sooner, so that the inside temperature of the entire refrigerating chamber and the freezing chamber can be stabilized.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining a cooling control method of a Kimchi refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 2, a cooling control method of the Kimchi refrigerator will be described.

As shown in FIG. 2, in the cooling control method of the Kimchi refrigerator according to the embodiment of the present invention, the control unit 40 receives the outside air temperature from the outside air temperature sensor 10 (S10).

Here, the outside temperature sensor 10 measures the surrounding ambient temperature of the Kimchi refrigerator and transmits it to the control unit 40. In this embodiment, the alternating time of the refrigerator compartment and the freezing compartment is adjusted so that the reference temperature of the outside temperature Can be set in advance.

Next, the control unit 40 compares the outside temperature inputted from the outside temperature sensor 10 with the reference temperature (S20).

That is, the control unit 40 can determine whether the operation time is changed during the alternate operation of the freezer compartment and the refrigerating compartment by comparing the outdoor temperature and the reference temperature.

In step S20, when the outside air temperature is equal to or higher than the reference temperature, the control unit 40 increases the operation time of the freezing room (S30).

That is, the controller 40 controls the refrigerant control valve 50 to increase the operation time of the freezer when the outdoor temperature input from the outdoor temperature sensor 10 is equal to or higher than the reference temperature.

In other words, the control unit 40 increases the opening time of the refrigerant regulating valve 50 at the time of opening of the refrigerant regulating valve 50 during the alternating operation of the freezing chamber and the refrigerating chamber of the refrigerant regulating valve 50, The operation ratio of the freezer can be increased.

When the outdoor temperature is higher than the reference temperature, the target temperature reaching times of the refrigerating compartment and the freezing compartment are both increased. However, since the freezing compartment has a larger influence of the higher outside air temperature and the target temperature reaching time is further increased than that of the refrigerating compartment, To minimize the difference between the target temperature arrival time and the target temperature reaching time of the freezer compartment.

On the other hand, when the outside air temperature is lower than the reference temperature, the difference between the target temperature arrival time of the refrigerating compartment and the target temperature reaching time of the freezing compartment is not relatively large and the rate of increase of the target temperature reaching time of the freezing compartment and the freezing compartment And the operation time is not adjusted.

After step S30, the control unit 40 checks whether the freezer compartment temperature and the refrigerating compartment temperature have reached the respective target temperatures (S40).

That is, the control unit 40 receives the refrigerating compartment temperature from the refrigerating compartment temperature sensor 20 and receives the freezing compartment temperature from the freezing compartment temperature sensor 30. [

Then, the control unit 40 confirms whether the refrigerating compartment temperature has reached the target temperature of the refrigerating compartment, and confirms whether the freezing compartment temperature has reached the target temperature of the freezing compartment.

If it is determined in step S40 that the refrigerating compartment temperature and the freezing compartment temperature have reached the respective target temperatures, the control unit 40 returns the operation time to the previously set refrigerating and freezing compartments (S50).

That is, the control unit 40 continuously drives the compressor 60 in accordance with the operating time ratio of the freezing chamber increased until the internal temperature of the refrigerating chamber and the freezing chamber reaches the target temperature and stabilizes, When the temperature is reached and stabilized, it returns to the conventional operating time ratio and the compressor 60 can be turned on / off.

On the other hand, if at least one of the refrigerating compartment temperature and the freezing compartment temperature does not reach the target temperature in step S40, the control unit 40 can continuously confirm whether the target temperatures of the refrigerating compartment and the freezing compartment have been reached.

As described above, the cooling control method of the Kimchi refrigerator according to the embodiment of the present invention minimizes the increase of the target temperature reaching time of the storage chamber by controlling the operation time of the freezing chamber and the refrigerating chamber according to the temperature of the outside air during the alternate operation, So that the temperature can be stabilized quickly.

In addition, the cooling control method of the Kimchi refrigerator according to the embodiment of the present invention can operate the Kimchi refrigerator with optimum cooling power and power consumption according to the season by performing cooling control based on the outside temperature, And the product reliability can be improved.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. I will understand.

Although the Kimchi refrigerator has been described as an example in the present embodiment, the cooling control method of this embodiment is also applied to a general refrigerator other than the Kimchi refrigerator so that the alternate time of each storage room can be adjusted according to the outside temperature can do.

Accordingly, the true scope of the present invention should be determined by the following claims.

10: Outside temperature sensor 20: Refrigerator room temperature sensor
30: Freezer room temperature sensor 40:
50: Refrigerant control valve 60: Compressor

Claims (4)

The control unit receiving the outside air temperature from the outside air temperature sensor; And
And controlling the operation time of the refrigerator compartment and the freezer compartment during the alternate operation by controlling the refrigerant control valve according to the outdoor temperature inputted from the outdoor temperature sensor.
The method according to claim 1,
In the step of adjusting the operation time,
Wherein the control unit increases the operation time of the freezer compartment when the outdoor temperature inputted from the outdoor temperature sensor is equal to or higher than a preset reference temperature.
The method according to claim 1,
Receiving the freezing compartment temperature from the freezing compartment temperature sensor, receiving the freezing compartment temperature from the freezing compartment temperature sensor, and checking whether the freezing compartment temperature has reached the target temperature, respectively; And
And controlling the refrigerant control valve to return the operation time of the freezing chamber to a predetermined operation time when the temperature of the refrigerating compartment and the temperature of the freezing compartment reach the target temperature respectively .
The method of claim 3,
Wherein,
Wherein the controller controls the refrigerant regulating valve to supply the refrigerant to only one of the refrigerating compartment and the freezing compartment that does not reach the target temperature when one of the refrigerating compartment temperature and the freezing compartment temperature first reaches the target temperature .

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