Classifications

• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F25—REFRIGERATION OR COOLING; COMBINED HEATING AND REFRIGERATION SYSTEMS; HEAT PUMP SYSTEMS; MANUFACTURE OR STORAGE OF ICE; LIQUEFACTION SOLIDIFICATION OF GASES
  • F25D—REFRIGERATORS; COLD ROOMS; ICE-BOXES; COOLING OR FREEZING APPARATUS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • F25D29/00—Arrangement or mounting of control or safety devices
• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F25—REFRIGERATION OR COOLING; COMBINED HEATING AND REFRIGERATION SYSTEMS; HEAT PUMP SYSTEMS; MANUFACTURE OR STORAGE OF ICE; LIQUEFACTION SOLIDIFICATION OF GASES
  • F25B—REFRIGERATION MACHINES, PLANTS OR SYSTEMS; COMBINED HEATING AND REFRIGERATION SYSTEMS; HEAT PUMP SYSTEMS
  • F25B2600/00—Control issues
  • F25B2600/11—Fan speed control
  • F25B2600/112—Fan speed control of evaporator fans
• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F25—REFRIGERATION OR COOLING; COMBINED HEATING AND REFRIGERATION SYSTEMS; HEAT PUMP SYSTEMS; MANUFACTURE OR STORAGE OF ICE; LIQUEFACTION SOLIDIFICATION OF GASES
  • F25D—REFRIGERATORS; COLD ROOMS; ICE-BOXES; COOLING OR FREEZING APPARATUS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • F25D2600/00—Control issues
  • F25D2600/02—Timing
• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F25—REFRIGERATION OR COOLING; COMBINED HEATING AND REFRIGERATION SYSTEMS; HEAT PUMP SYSTEMS; MANUFACTURE OR STORAGE OF ICE; LIQUEFACTION SOLIDIFICATION OF GASES
  • F25D—REFRIGERATORS; COLD ROOMS; ICE-BOXES; COOLING OR FREEZING APPARATUS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • F25D2700/00—Means for sensing or measuring; Sensors therefor
  • F25D2700/12—Sensors measuring the inside temperature

Definitions

• the present invention relates to a refrigerator and / or freezer, which has at least one control or regulation unit or is in communication or connectable, wherein by means of the control unit at least one component of the device is controlled or regulated, wherein the Control or regulating unit or a communication unit connected thereto or connectable at least one receiving device by means of which at least one signal is receivable by an external transmitting unit, which affects at least one property of the energy required for operation of the device or is correlated with this property.
• this property may be the current electricity price. If the electricity price is low, the refrigeration unit or the compressor can be operated in a mode in which the power consumption of the compressor is greater than in a period in which a higher Electricity price is present. If the electricity price is high, the compressor is operated in the most energy-efficient mode possible.
• the present invention has the object of developing a refrigerator and / or freezer of the type mentioned in such a way that this meets stricter requirements for energy conservation.
• a refrigerator and / or freezer with the features of claim 1.
• the control or regulating unit is designed such that it interrupts the operation of said component in response to the signal received by the receiving device for the purpose of load reduction of the refrigerator and / or freezer temporarily.
• it is thus provided to temporarily suppress the operation of at least one component of the refrigerator and / or freezer, depending on the signal received, for example, from an energy supplier or from another location, so that the power consumption of the appliance is reduced for a period of time. This initiation of the load reduction can take place shortly after or with receipt of a corresponding signal.
• Said signal which is correlated with at least one property of the energy required to operate the device, such as. B. with the electricity price or the power consumption in a particular area, for example, can be designed so that it can take only one or more specific values, such as the values "0" and "1".
• the value "0" mean that no load reduction of the device is required, for example because the power consumption is in a region covered by a power company within a certain tolerance range or below a certain limit. If this is not the case, ie if the energy consumption of the device has to be reduced, the signal can assume the value "1". In this case, a load reduction of the device is performed, ie the operation of at least one device component is inhibited for a period of time.
• the signal may thus be, for example, a square wave signal.
• the information or signal (s) are received wirelessly or by wire from a receiving unit.
• the control or regulation unit influences on the basis of this information or signals the device operation or the device control.
• data for load regulation can be sent via the data connection between the transmitter and the receiving device, or specific, possibly normalized load modes can be initiated.
• the component in question may be, for example, at least one fan, at least one compressor and / or at least one defrost heater of an evaporator of the refrigerant circuit of the device. So it is possible, for example, for the purpose of temporary load reduction of the device to postpone the operation of an electric defrost heater or temporarily suspend.
• control unit and / or the communication unit is formed by an external component or that the control unit and / or the communication unit forms a component of a component of the refrigerator and / or freezer, in particular the device electronics ,
• the control unit can thus be located on an external module, ie on a component that does not form part of the refrigerator and / or freezer.
• this external unit will be permanent or at least temporarily communicates wirelessly or by wire with the refrigerator and / or freezer via one or more data connections.
• the invention also includes the case that the control unit forms part of the refrigerator and / or freezer.
• said control or regulation unit on the device electronics, ie in the component that is responsible for the actual control and / or regulation of the refrigerator and / or freezer.
• means are provided by which the state in which the operation of the at least one component is prevented can be ended on the user side.
• the user may wish to use one or more commands, such as by pressing a button or the like and / or by its behavior, such as the door opening or a change in the temperature setting of the device, the normalized load mode can stop. If it is determined, for example, that the user opens the appliance door, the operation of the at least one component, such as the compressor, is stopped, since there may be an increased need for cooling.
• the function of inhibiting the operation of the component can be activated and / or deactivated by the user.
• the user can activate and / or deactivate the reaction of the device to requirements from the power network, for example the request to perform a load reduction, by means of a command via an operating device of the device. If a deactivation is selected, the operation of said component is not inhibited even if a corresponding signal is received by the receiving device.
• the deactivation of the functionality may be useful, for example, if there is an increased need for cooling, for example because a larger amount of refrigerated or frozen goods has been stored and the user wants to prevent the device from being operated with a load reduction.
• the control unit may be configured such that the operation of the at least one component is prohibited by setting at least one inhibit bit or inhibit flag.
• one or more locking bits or blocking flags on the device electronics e.g. be set for the defrost heater and / or for the refrigeration unit. As a result, they are no longer activated for the period in which they are set, which may be useful, for example, for a request for a short-term load reduction, for example for a duration of 30 minutes or less. If there is no longer a request for a load reduction, the control or regulation unit can reset the blocking bit or blocking flags.
• one or more disable bits or disable flags can be set on the device electronics. This has the consequence that, for the period in which they are set, e.g. an electric defrost heater can not be put into operation. If there is no longer a request for a load reduction, the control or regulation unit can reset the blocking bit or blocking flags.
• control or regulation unit is designed such that it terminates the state in which the operation of the component is inhibited when the reception unit receives a signal or else no signal, from which reference is made can no longer load reduction is required, wherein the control or regulating unit may be configured such that the said termination of the state by resetting the or the Sperrbits or blocking flag takes place.
• the device has means by which, in the state of inhibiting the operation of the at least one component, the position of a temperature controller for regulating the temperature in the cooled interior is set to the warmest temperature setpoint or adjusted by an offset value and / or by the fan follower duration is extended or shortened by a certain amount.
• the refrigerator and / or freezer automatically uses the switching values of the warmest controller position.
• the refrigerator and / or freezer applies one or more special offsets to the current switching values.
• These offsets can be stored at a suitable location, such as in the parameter set of the control unit.
• means may be provided which are designed in such a way that by means of these means the state in which the operation of the at least one component is prevented is terminated after a certain period of time has elapsed.
• the duration of the measure of inhibiting the operation of the at least one component can be limited in time, for example, by parameters in the data set of the control or regulation unit or, for example, the device electronics or another unit. After expiration of these fixed times, the control or regulation unit or the device electronics or another unit automatically terminates the device mode in which the operation of at least one component is blocked. This can be done, for example, by resetting the blocking bit (s) or blocking flags and / or the one or more offsets mentioned above.
• means are provided which are designed in such a way that they prevent the operation of the at least one component from being inhibited again for a certain period of time from the point in time when the operation of the at least one component is stopped.
• the renewed initiation of a load reduction after completion of a load reduction already carried out can thus be prevented for a certain time, which can be stored, for example, in the parameter set of the device electronics or the control or regulation unit. In this case, the device does not respond to a corresponding request signal.
• the present invention further relates to a system comprising at least one refrigerator and / or freezer according to one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the system comprises at least one transmitting unit, by means of which said signal can be transmitted to the receiving device.
• the system thus comprises the refrigerator and / or freezer according to the invention and at least one transmitter, which transmits one or more signals to the refrigerator and / or freezer, on the basis of which, if necessary, the load reduction is initiated.
• the embodiment relates to a refrigerator and / or freezer, which is designed with at least one refrigerant circuit.
• This refrigerant circuit comprises at least one compressor for conveying the refrigerant and at least one electric defrost heater, by means of which the evaporator of the refrigerant circuit can be deflated.
• SmartGrid logic a control or regulation unit is provided, which is referred to below as "SmartGrid logic”.
• This SmartGrid logic can be located, for example, on an external module, which can communicate with the device electronics via a data connection, or on the device electronics itself, which is responsible for the control or regulation of the device.
• the SmartGrid logic-containing external module or the device electronics with the SmartGrid logic receive information via a data connection (wired or wireless) that influences the device control.
• a data connection wireless or wireless
• data for load regulation can be sent via this data connection or specific, possibly normalized load modes can be started. These modes can initiate normalized load changes, for example.
• the request of a short-term load reduction is sent by an external transmitting unit, such as from a power company.
• This requirement may mean, for example, that a load reduction is made by reducing the average power consumption by 50% for a period of 10 minutes.
• the SmartGrid logic on the external module or on the device electronics can set one or more blocking flags for the defrost heater and / or the refrigeration unit (cooling request). As a result, these are deactivated and can no longer be put into operation for the time of the short-term load reduction. The energy consumption decreases accordingly. If there is no longer a request for a short-term load reduction, it is conceivable that the external communication module or the device electronics resets these blocking bits or blocking flags.
• the request for a medium-term load reduction from a unit such as a central unit of a power company is delivered.
• a load reduction by avoiding defrost and reducing the average power consumption by a fixed value, for example 9.6 W, or by a value based on the average power consumption of the device, for example, 13%, for a period of 4 h be made.
• these values are only exemplary values that do not limit the invention.
• the SmartGrid logic sets one or more disable bits on the external module or on the device electronics. Blocking flags for defrost heating. As a result, this can not be put into operation. If there is no longer a request for a short-term load reduction, then the external communication module or the device electronics resets these blocking bits or blocking flags, with the result that the defrost heating can be used again if necessary.
• the user can terminate the possibly normalized load modes by means of commands via the operating devices of the device or also by its behavior, for example by the number or timing of the door openings or changes in the temperature setting. It is also conceivable that the user can activate and deactivate the device's response to requirements from the power network by means of commands via the operating device of the device. In this case, the user can decide whether or not to respond to a corresponding request of, for example, a short-term or medium-term load reduction.
• the device automatically uses the switching values of the warmest regulator position, so that in this way a further reduction in power consumption is achieved.
• the device can apply special offsets to the current switching values. These offsets can be stored in the parameter set of the external module or the device electronics.
• the duration of these measures can also be limited in time by parameters in the data set of the external module or the device electronics. After expiration of these fixed times, the communication module or the device electronics automatically terminate the device mode, for example by resetting the inhibit bits and / or offsets. It is also possible that the duration of the load reduction is already part of the transmitted signal, that of the receiving device is received, which in turn is either a part of the refrigerator and / or freezer or in connection with this.
• a new initiation of a load reduction or a load mode for a certain time which is stored for example in the parameter set of the device electronics or the external module and can be individual for the respective load mode locked is.
• the fan follow-up duration can be extended or shortened by a certain amount. This amount can also be stored in the parameter set of the device electronics or the external module.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
• Combustion & Propulsion (AREA)
• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Thermal Sciences (AREA)
• General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Devices That Are Associated With Refrigeration Equipment (AREA)

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• 2011
  • 2011-12-02 DE DE102011120254A patent/DE102011120254A1/de not_active Ceased
• 2012
  • 2012-11-05 EP EP12007514.8A patent/EP2589907A3/fr not_active Withdrawn
  • 2012-11-06 US US13/669,815 patent/US20130327072A1/en not_active Abandoned

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