CN1004726B

CN1004726B - refrigerator controller

Info

Publication number: CN1004726B
Application number: CN86105354.0A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 板垣政也
Original assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corp
Current assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corp
Priority date: 1985-09-25
Filing date: 1986-08-30
Publication date: 1989-07-05
Also published as: CN1040676A; HK34290A; CN1010883B; GB2180962A; GB8622955D0; AU6307786A; AU586500B2; SG4990G; CN86105354A; GB2180962B

Abstract

A control device for a refrigerator capable of rapidly cooling a large amount of food stored in a refrigerating chamber by a simple operation and automatically maintaining the same at an optimum temperature. The apparatus includes a quick cooling switch and a control device for forcibly lowering a preset temperature in the refrigerator to perform a quick cooling operation of the refrigerator, such that the started quick cooling operation is stopped after the number or time course of opening and closing movements of the damper reaches a predetermined value.

Description

Refrigerator control device

The present invention relates to a control device for a refrigerator, which rapidly cools a refrigerating chamber of the refrigerator by opening and closing a damper.

A typical conventional refrigerator control apparatus includes a refrigerator cabinet having two freezing chambers, a refrigerating chamber and a fruit and vegetable chamber therein. The chambers are partitioned inside the refrigerator. The refrigerating chamber is positioned below the freezing chamber and above the fruits and vegetables. The compressor is arranged at the lower part of the box body, the cooler is arranged in the freezing chamber, the fan is arranged above the cooler and connected with the driving electric motor, and the air channel is led to the refrigerating chamber from the rear part of the cooler. A gas-type temperature-regulating damper including a main body and a baffle plate is provided near an air supply port of an air passage leading to a refrigerating compartment.

In use, when the compressor is in operation, the fan is also rotated so that cool air passing through the cooler is directly blown into the freezer compartment and the air passage. In this case, if the temperature of the refrigerating compartment is higher than a preset value, the temperature adjusting damper detects and opens the damper to allow a large amount of cool air to be blown into the refrigerating compartment to cool the inside of the refrigerating compartment, whereas if the temperature of the refrigerating compartment is lower than the preset value, the damper of the temperature adjusting damper is slightly closed to reduce the total amount of cool air blown into the refrigerating compartment, and in this control device, the temperature of the inside of the refrigerating compartment is maintained at the preset temperature.

The conventional refrigerator control apparatus as described above has various problems in that since the total amount of cold air blown into the refrigerating compartment is adjusted to control the temperature in the refrigerating compartment, the cooling rate is not increased even when a large amount of food is added to the refrigerating compartment, and thus the preset condition of the damper must be changed to increase the cooling rate, however, in order to increase the cooling rate, the damper must be placed in the "strong" range, but if the damper is left in the "strong" range, the food stored in the refrigerating compartment is frozen, and therefore, after the damper is placed in the "strong" range, it must be readjusted to the conventional condition.

An object of the present invention is to provide a control apparatus for a refrigerator capable of rapidly cooling food through a simple operation when a large amount of food is added to a refrigerating compartment.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a refrigerator controlling apparatus which can rapidly cool a large amount of food and automatically maintain an optimal temperature when it is cooled.

The control device for refrigerator according to the present invention controls the amount of supplied cold air to regulate the temperature in the refrigerator by means of the opening or closing of the damper, and includes a quick cooling switch, and a control device which is operated in response to the operation of the switch to forcibly lower the predetermined temperature in the refrigerator to perform the quick cooling operation of the refrigerator.

Since the quick cooling switch is provided, when a large amount of food is stored in the refrigerator, the temperature damper is automatically controlled by the operation of the switch so that the quick cooling operation of the refrigerator is achieved to cause the stored food to be quickly cooled.

Therefore, since the quick cooling operation is forcibly performed in response to the action of the quick cooling switch, even if a large amount of food is stored in the refrigerator, the quick cooling can be achieved by a simple operation, resulting in an improvement in the operability of the system.

Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing a specific example of a control device for a refrigerator according to the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view of a refrigerator using the control device of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic circuit diagram illustrating the circuit configuration of the control device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the microcomputer of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating the overall flow of operation of the control device of FIG. 1;

FIGS. 6,7 and 8 are flowcharts showing details of the temperature input routine, the input signal determination routine and the damper output routine of FIG. 5, respectively;

fig. 9 is a vertical sectional view of a typical conventional refrigerator control apparatus.

First, a typical example of a conventional refrigerator control apparatus is described with reference to fig. 9. The refrigerator shown comprises a refrigerator cabinet 1 in which a freezer compartment 2, a refrigerator compartment 3 and a compartment 4 are formed by the interior of the cabinet. A compressor 5 for compressing a cooling medium is provided at the lower part of a refrigerator body, a cooler 6 is provided in a freezing chamber 2, a fan 7 is provided above the cooler 6 and connected to a driving motor 8 thereof, an air passage or air supply duct 9 for supplying cool air into the refrigerating chamber 3 is opened from the rear part of the cooler 6 to the refrigerating chamber 3, and a temperature adjusting damper 10 for adjusting the temperature in the refrigerating chamber 3 is provided near an air supply opening of the air passage 9 opened to the refrigerating chamber 3. The damper 10 includes a housing 10a and a baffle 10b.

Now, a specific example of the control device for a refrigerator according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to fig. 1 to 8.

First, a refrigerator using the control device of the present invention will be described with reference to fig. 2. In fig. 2, the components denoted by reference numerals 1 to 9 are similar or identical to those of the conventional apparatus described above with reference to fig. 9. The refrigerator shown in fig. 2 comprises a refrigerator body 1, wherein 2 is a freezing chamber, 3 is a refrigerating chamber, and 4 is a fruit and vegetable chamber. The refrigerating chamber 3 is provided below the freezing chamber 2 and above the fruit and vegetable chamber 4. The compressor 5 is provided at the lower portion of the refrigerator cabinet 1, the cooler 6 is provided inside the freezing chamber 2, the fan 7 is provided above the cooler 6 and connected to a driving motor thereof, a fan duct or air passage 9 extends downward from the rear of the cooler 6, and an electrically driven damper 21 having a baffle 21a is provided at a position opposite to a supply air outlet of the air passage 9 leading to the refrigerating chamber 3 and is installed to be capable of opening and closing movements to allow or block the passage of cold air. A refrigerating compartment temperature detector 14 (for example, a thermistor) for detecting the temperature in the refrigerating compartment 3 is provided near the damper 21, and a control device 22 is accommodated in the rear upper end of the refrigerator cabinet 1 on a door 24 of the freezing compartment 2 to which an operation panel 23 is mounted. The operation panel 23 has a quick-cooling switch 12, a quick-cooling indicator lamp 18 constituted by a light-emitting diode or the like, and a variable resistor 25 for setting the temperature of the refrigerating compartment 3.

Referring now to fig. 1, fig. 1 is a block diagram showing the general construction of a complete refrigerator control apparatus. The control means comprises a fast cooling switch 12, an outside air temperature detector 13 and a refrigerator temperature detector 14. Based on the signal received from the external temperature detector 13, the preset temperature of the refrigerating compartment 3 is lowered by the preset temperature lowering means 15 under the control of the control means 16, which receives the output signal of the quick cooling switch, and the damper 21 is opened or closed by the damper relay driving circuit 17 responsive to the output of the preset temperature lowering means 15 and the refrigerating compartment temperature detector 14, the relay controlling the temperature of the refrigerating compartment 3 to a lower preset temperature. While the rapid cooling indicator light 18 is on. When the number of opening and closing movements of the damper reaches a preset value, the quick cooling stop device 19 starts to perform an operation, closes the damper 21 by the damper relay driving circuit 17, and turns off the indicator lamp 18.

Referring now to fig. 3, fig. 3 is a schematic circuit diagram of the control device circuit of fig. 1, the control device 22 including a microcomputer 26, the microcomputer 26 including a Central Processing Unit (CPU) 26A, memory 26B, input circuit 26C and output circuit 26D, as shown in the block diagram of fig. 4. Connected to the input circuit 26C are a quick-cooling switch 12, a variable resistor 25 for setting the temperature of the refrigerating compartment, a refrigerating compartment temperature detector 14, an outside air temperature detector 13, and resistors 27 to 29. Meanwhile, connected to the output circuit 26D are a damper relay driving circuit 17, a compressor relay driving circuit 30, and an indicator lamp 18 through a current limiting resistor 31. The resistors 27 to 29 are voltage dividing resistors of the variable resistor 25, the refrigerating chamber temperature detector 14, and the external temperature detector 13, respectively, and serve to send the preset temperature of the refrigerating chamber, the refrigerating chamber temperature, and the external air temperature, respectively, into the microcomputer 26. In the present invention, the outside air temperature detector 13 is omitted, so that the resistor 29 may be omitted, and the end of the resistor 27 remote from the variable resistor 25 may be connected to the end of the resistor 28 remote from the refrigerating compartment temperature detector 14, and the compressor relay 32 is connected to the compressor relay driving circuit 30. When the compressor relay 32 is energized, its contacts 32a are closed, allowing the ac power source 33 to supply power to the compressor 5 and the blower 8. Meanwhile, the damper relay 34 is connected to the damper relay driving circuit 17, and when the damper relay 34 is energized, the contact 34a is closed to supply the ac power source 33 to the damper 21.

The working steps of the above-described embodiment will now be described with reference to flowcharts. Fig. 5 to 8 illustrate a program stored in the memory 26B of the microcomputer 26. Referring first to fig. 5, fig. 5 shows the complete control flow steps of the control device, which program includes step 100, which is active after the power supply 33 is turned on, in which step 100 the microcomputer 26 is initialized. The following steps 200 to 600 form a main loop, which is usually passed during the operation of the control device. In step 200, a digital input signal, such as the input signal received from the rapid cooling switch 12, is obtained, and in step 300, an analog input signal, such as the input signal from the outside air temperature detector 13 of the refrigerator compartment temperature detector 14 and the variable resistor 28, is fed to the microcomputer 26. Then, in step 400, the input signal is determined based on such input data, and in step 500, the output signal of the damper 21 is adjusted, after which, in step 600, a series of timing processes are completed, and after the summation process, the routine returns to step 200.

Reference is now made to fig. 6. Details of the step 300 of the flowchart of fig. 5 for receiving a temperature input signal are given. In step 300 of receiving the temperature input signal, first, the voltage applied to the refrigerating compartment temperature detector 14 is read in, and then the voltage value data converted into the temperature is fed into the refrigerating compartment temperature register Ta in step 301. Also, in step 302, the voltage applied to the variable resistor 18 is converted to a preset temperature, and in step 303, the outside air temperature is also fed into an air temperature register Tg, and where the influence of the outside air temperature is negligible, step 303 may be omitted.

The process when the quick cooling switch 12 is pressed will now be described with reference to fig. 7. Fig. 7 shows details of the decision step 400 in fig. 5. In the input signal judging step 400, step 401 judges whether the quick cooling switch 12 has been pressed, and when it is found that the switch 12 has been pressed, it judges in step 402 that the flag F1 is prevented from being read twice, and in the case where F1 is 0 (first reading), the flag P1 is set to "1" in step 403. Since the flag F1 is thereafter judged to be "1", the process after step 403 is passed over, i.e., the second reading is prevented. Then, at step 404, the quick cooling flag F2 is judged, and when the flag F2 is "1", it is judged that the quick cooling switch 12 is pressed again in the quick cooling operation, and therefore, at step 405, the quick cooling flag F2 is set to "0" to stop the quick cooling and the indicator lamp 18 (indicated by LED in the figure, the same applies hereinafter) is turned off at step 406. Conversely, when the flag F2 is judged to be "0", the quick cooling flag F2 is set to "1" in step 407 to start quick cooling and the indicator lamp 18 is lighted in step 408.

Next, referring to fig. 8, the electric damper output signal step 500 of fig. 5 will be described in detail. In the electric damper output step 500, step 501 judges whether the refrigerator is in the quick cooling state, and when it is found that the refrigerator is in the quick cooling state (f2= "1"), step 503 judges whether the outside air temperature is lower than 10 ℃, when the outside air temperature is lower than 10 ℃, a value lower than the preset temperature Ts by 1.5 ℃ is established in step, but conversely, when the outside air temperature is higher than 10 ℃, a value lower than the preset temperature Ts by 3.0 is established in step 505. In the present invention, the influence of the outside air temperature is negligible, so

steps

503 and 504 or 505 can be omitted, after which step 506 judges whether the electric damper 21 is currently in the open position or in the closed position, and in the case where the electric damper 21 is in the open position, in step 507, the temperature Ta in the refrigerating compartment 3 is subtracted from the current temperature Ts, and then it is judged whether the difference is greater than 1 degree.

If the difference is greater than 1 degree, the process goes to step 509 to determine if the refrigerator is in the fast cooling state, and when the refrigerator is found to be in the fast cooling state, step 501 increments the counter C1 by 1. Then, step 511 determines whether the value of the counter C1 is equal to 3, and when the value of the counter C1 is 3, step 512 sets F2 to "0" to stop the quick cooling, and turns off the indicator lamp 18 in step 513. In contrast, when it is determined in step 506 that the damper 21 is in the closed position, the preset temperature Ts is subtracted from the refrigerating compartment temperature Ta in step 514 and it is determined whether the difference is greater than 1 degree, and when the difference is greater than 1 degree, an output signal for opening the damper 21 is issued in step 515.

In the apparatus, the quick cooling operation of the refrigerator is forcibly performed in response to the operation of the quick cooling switch 12, and the quick cooling operation is automatically canceled after the refrigerator compartment is sufficiently cooled. In this case, since the operation of the quick cooling switch 12 is provided on the front surface of the openable and closable door 24, it can be easily started, and further since the operation of the quick cooling switch is indicated by an indication lamp, it is advantageous for the user.

Further, in the case where the quick cooling switch 12 is pressed to put the refrigerator in the quick cooling state, the preset temperature is reset to a lower value when the outside air temperature is lower than 10 ℃, and the decrease is small (1.5 degrees in the embodiment) and is decreased by a larger magnitude (3 degrees in the embodiment) when the outside air temperature is higher than 10 ℃. Thus, the damper 21 is controlled with a fixed difference (1 degree in the embodiment). When the damper 21 is closed three times, the quick cooling is automatically released. Therefore, even when the outside air temperature is low, excessive cooling can be avoided when rapid cooling is performed.

Note that, although stopping the quick cooling is determined by counting the number of times the damper 21 is opened and closed as in the above embodiment, a similar effect may be achieved if a timer for measuring the quick cooling time is used instead, so that the quick cooling is ended when the time measured by the timer reaches a preset time.

In addition, if a system using a timer is used together with a system using the number of opening and closing movements of the up-speed damper 21, the same effect can be obtained.

Claims

1. A refrigerator control apparatus for controlling an amount of supplied cool air to adjust a temperature in the refrigerator by opening or closing a damper, comprising:

The damper is provided with a baffle and a damper relay;

A driving circuit of the damper relay;

A temperature detecting device of the refrigerator;

A temperature preset device;

An outside air temperature detecting device;

Fast refrigerating switch

A control device which can work along with the action of the quick refrigeration switch and is used for forcibly reducing the preset temperature in the refrigerator to finish the quick refrigeration operation of the refrigerator;

The control device for the rapid cooling operation is characterized by comprising:

a preset temperature reducing means for reducing a preset temperature in response to an output of the outside air temperature detecting means;

Means for detecting whether the number of opening and closing movements of said damper reaches a predetermined number;

A stopping device for stopping the quick cooling operation of the refrigerator according to the detection signal from the detecting device, which closes the damper through the driving circuit of the damper relay, and

The opening and closing of the damper is controlled by the driving circuit of the damper relay according to the output of the preset temperature reducing device and the refrigerator temperature detecting device.

2. The refrigerator control apparatus of claim 1, further comprising means for displaying a rapid cooling operation of the refrigerator during an operation under the control of the rapid cooling operation control means.

3. The refrigerator control apparatus of claim 1, wherein the refrigerator temperature detecting means is means for detecting an inside temperature of a refrigerating compartment of the refrigerator provided near the damper.

4. The refrigerator control apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the quick-cooling switch is provided on an operation panel mounted on a front surface of a freezing chamber door of the refrigerator.

5. The refrigerator control apparatus of claim 4, further comprising means for displaying a rapid cooling operation of the refrigerator during an operation under the control of the rapid cooling operation control means, the display means being provided on the operation panel.