Refrigeration – Automatic control – Of external fluid or means
Reexamination Certificate
2002-12-06
2004-02-24
Norman, Marc (Department: 3744)
Refrigeration
Automatic control
Of external fluid or means
C062S186000, C062S408000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06694758
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a refrigerator, and particularly, to an apparatus and a method for controlling a concentrated cooling of a refrigerator cools down a load of high temperature by injecting cool air intensively to a region where the load of high temperature is generated in a cool chamber.
2. Description of the Background Art
FIG. 1
is a perspective view showing a part of a refrigerator according to the conventional art, and
FIG. 2
is a cross-sectional view showing a cool chamber of the conventional refrigerator.
The conventional refrigerator comprises: a main body
104
having a pair of doors opened/closed toward both directions and having a receiving space; a freezing chamber
106
disposed on left side of the main body
104
for storing frozen food; a cooling chamber
108
divided from the freezing chamber by a barrier wall and disposed on right side of the main body
104
, having a plurality of racks on which food is received; and a cool air supplier installed on upper side of the freezing chamber for supplying cool air which is cooled down as passing through a refrigerating cycle (not shown) to the freezing chamber
106
and to the cooling chamber.
The cool air supplier comprises: a blast fan
120
mounted on upper rear wall surface of the freezing chamber
106
for forcedly blasting the cool air which is cooled down as passing through the refrigerating cycle; a panel
128
disposed on a lower side of the blast fan, having a plurality of discharge holes
130
for discharging the cool air into the freezing chamber
106
; a cool air supplying path
132
formed on upper side of the barrier wall
110
so as to induce the cool air blasted from the blast fan
120
installed on the freezing chamber
106
into the cooling chamber
108
; a cool air discharge duct
134
mounted on upper part of the freezing chamber
108
and connected to the cool air supplying path
132
for discharging the cool air supplied through the cool air supplying path
132
into the cooling chamber
108
; and a cool air inlet
138
, through which the cool air finishing its cooling function as circulating in the cooling chamber
108
is induced into the refrigerating cycle, formed on lower side of the barrier wall
110
.
In addition, a temperature sensor
140
is adhered in the cooling chamber
108
for detecting the temperature of the cooling chamber, and a plurality of cool air discharge holes
136
for discharging the cool air into the cooling chamber
108
are formed on front and rear parts of the refrigerant discharge duct
134
.
In the conventional refrigerator constructed as above, when the refrigerating cycle is operated and the blast fan
120
is rotated, the cool air which is cooled down as passing through the refrigerating cycle is discharged to the discharge hole
130
of the panel
128
and to the cool air supplying path
132
respectively.
The cool air discharged through the discharge hole
130
circulates in the freezing chamber
106
to freeze the frozen food stored in the freezing chamber
106
.
In addition, the cool air supplied to the cool air supplying path
132
is induced into the cool air discharge duct
1334
, and discharged into the cooling chamber through the cool air discharge hole
136
formed on the cool air discharge duct
134
. The cool air discharged into the cooling chamber
108
circulates in the cooling chamber
108
to cool down the food stored in the cooling chamber
108
, and the cooling air which finishes its the cooling function is induced into the cool air inlet
138
formed on the lower side of the barrier wall
110
, and then, is cooled again as passing through the cooling cycle.
On the other hand, when the temperature detected by the temperature sensor is lower than a set value, the supplying of cooling air is blocked to prevent the cooling chamber from being super-cooled.
However, in the refrigerator according to the conventional art, the temperature sensor and the cool air discharge holes for discharging the cool air into the cooling chamber are disposed as fixed on certain regions, and therefore, the temperature detected by the temperature sensor is limited to a certain region in the cooling chamber, and the discharge of cool air is limited in the certain area. Therefore, if a load of high temperature is generated on a region out of the detecting range of the sensor by receiving food, it can not be identified promptly, and therefore, temperature variation is increased and the freshness of the food is lowered.
Especially, since the cool air discharge hole is disposed on the certain region of the cooling chamber, the food around the discharge hole is super-cooled due to the cool air, and the food stored around the door which is apart from the discharge hole can not be cooled enough.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus and a method for controlling a concentrated cooling of a refrigerator which are able to improve freshness of food by cooling down a load of high temperature rapidly and to maintain temperature in a cooling chamber in a short time, by discharging cool air intensively to a region where the load of high temperature is generated when the load of high temperature due to food receipt and opening/closing of door.
To achieve the object of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for controlling a concentrated cooling of the refrigerator comprising: a nozzle driving unit mounted on one side of a nozzle, which is installed on a side wall of a cooling chamber to be rotatable for injecting cool air into the cooling chamber, for rotating the nozzle as a certain step angle; an infrared sensor mounted on front side of the nozzle for scanning temperature in the cooling chamber as rotating with the nozzle; a timer for counting the time that the refrigerator is normally operated; a damper for selectively opening a cool air discharge duct discharging the cool air into the cooling chamber and a cool air guiding path for guiding the cool air into the nozzle side; and a control unit for controlling the damper and the nozzle driving unit according to electric signal outputted from the infrared sensor and the timer.
The nozzle of the apparatus for controlling concentrated cooling comprises: a cool air injecting hole for injecting the cool air supplied through the cool air guiding path intensively into a region a load is generated; and a sensor receiving recess in which the infrared sensor accepted.
The apparatus for controlling concentrated cooling of the refrigerator further comprises a load amount calculation unit calculating cooling air injecting angle and injecting time according to the temperature and size of the high temperature load based on values inputted from the infrared sensor.
The apparatus for controlling concentration of the refrigerator further comprises a nozzle switch for opening/closing the nozzle injecting hole on the nozzle according to a signal applied from the control unit.
The apparatus for controlling concentrated cooling of the refrigerator comprises: a nozzle driving unit mounted on one side of the nozzle, which is installed on a side wall of a cooling chamber to be rotatable for injecting cool air into the cooling chamber, for rotating the nozzle as a certain step angle; an infrared sensor mounted on front part of the nozzle for scanning temperature in the cooling chamber as rotated with the nozzle; a door sensor mounted on one side of the refrigerator for sensing opening/closing of door; a damper for opening selectively a cool air discharge duct for discharging the cool air into a cooling chamber and a cool air guiding path for guiding the cool air into the nozzle side; and a control unit for controlling the damper and the nozzle driving unit according to electric signals outputted from the infrared sensor and the door sensor.
The apparatus for controlling the concentrated cooling of the refrigerator comprises: a nozzle driving unit mounted on one side of the nozzle, which is installed on a side wall
An Kwang-Hyup
Cho Seong-Ho
Choi Jay-Ho
Lee In-Seop
Lee In-Won
LG Electronics Inc.
Norman Marc
LandOfFree
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