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.
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 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 timer for counting the time that the refrigerator is normally operated; 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.
A method for controlling concentrated cooling of the refrigerator according to the present invention comprises: a first step of performing normal cooling operation; a second step of counting normal operating time from the point that the normal operation is started; a third step for deciding whether or not the normal operating time reaches to a set time; a fourth step for blocking discharge of cooling air and detecting a load of high temperature by scanning the temperature in a cooling chamber, when it is decided that the set time is reached in the third step; a fifth step for rotating a nozzle so that an injecting hole of the nozzle faces the region where the load is generated and for injecting the cool air for a predetermined time, when it is decided that the load of high temperature is generated in the fourth step; a sixth step for scanning the temperature in the cooling chamber when the cooling air injection is completed from the nozzle in the fifth step; and a seventh step for performing normal operation when it is decided that a load of high temperature is not detected by scanning the cooling chamber in the sixth step.
In the fifth step of the method for controlling concentrated cooling, the infrared sensor attached on front side of the nozzle detects the temperature value of respective regions in the cooling chamber and applies the values to the control unit by respective steps.
The fifth step of the controlling method comprises: a step of making temperature distribution of the cooling chamber based on the temperature values detected by the infrared sensor; a step of finding a position of a load of high temperature which is newly inserted based on the temperature distribution made in above step; and a step of setting an injecting angle of the nozzle toward the position of the load and controlling the injecting direction of the nozzle.
In the step of making temperature distribution, the temperature distribution is made by compensating temperature values obtained by respective steps appropriately, considering a scanning plane scanned by the infrared sensor, a viewing angle of the infrared sensor, distance from a substance and temperature variation according to sensing angle of the sensor.
In the step of finding the position of high temperature load, when the load of high temperature is found in a certain region of the cooling chamber, the control unit opens the cool air injecting hole disposed on the region where the load is generated, and closes the cool air injecting holes on other regions by operating the nozzle switch.
In the step of setting the injecting direction of the nozzle in the controlling method, the injecting direction is set considering the distance between the high temperature load and the nozzle and a trace of the cool air according to injecting speed.
The method for controlling the concentrated cooling comprises: a first step performing a normal cooling operation; a second step deciding whether or not a set time is reached by counting the normal operating time from the starting point of operation; a third step grasping opening/closing of door of the refrigerator, and performing main cool air discharging for a predetermined time when it is decided that the door is opened/closed; a fourth step rotating a nozzle so that a nozzle injecting hole on the nozzle faces the region where a load of high temperature is generated and injecting cool air for a predetermined time when it is decided that the load of high temperature is detected in the second step; a fifth step scanning temperature in the cooling chamber when the cool air injecting is completed from the nozzle in the fourth step; and a sixth step performing a normal operation when it is decided that a load of high temperature is not detected after scanning the inner temperature of the cooling chamber in the fifth step.
In the step of finding position of the high temperature load, when the load of high temperature is found on a region of the cooling chamber, the control unit opens the cool air injecting hole disposed on the region where the load is generated, and closes the cool air injecting holes of other nozzles by operating the nozzle switch.
The method for controlling the concentrated cooling comprises: a first step performing a normal cooling operation; a second step deciding whether or not a set time is reached by counting the normal operating time from the starting point of operation; a third step blocking main discharge of cool air when it is decided that the normal operating time reaches to the set time; a fourth step grasping opening/closing of door of the refrigerator; a fifth step performing main discharging of the cool air for a predetermined time and blocking the main discharging, when it is decided that the door is opened/closed; a sixth step detecting a load of high temperature by scanning temperature in the cooling chamber, when the main discharging of the cool air is blocked in the third and fifth steps; a seventh step rotating a nozzle so that a nozzle injecting hole on the nozzle faces the region where a load of high temperature is generated and injecting cool air for a predetermined time when it is decided that the load of high temperature is detected in the sixth step; an eighth step scanning temperature in the cooling chamber when the cool air injecting is completed from the nozzle in the seventh step; and a ninth step performing a normal operation when it is decided that a load of high temperature is not detected after scanning the inner temperature of the cooling chamber in the eighth step.
The foregoing and other objects, features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the present invention when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.