JPH0420774A - Refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To foresee a thaw end time during thawing and to suitably thaw food by ringing a thaw buzzer before a predetermined time from the end of integrating a predetemined time of a thaw timer. CONSTITUTION:If it becomes a time before predetermined time (e.g. 5min) from predetermined time (e.g. 30min), a thaw timer 26 stores to set ON and to reset OFF in a thaw buzzer 25 in a RAN 18. The timer 26 is turned ON to integrate time. It outputs the states of a thaw heater 13 and the buzzer 25, but since the heater 13 is set to ON here, a transistor 21 is turned ON to conduct a relay coil 22 thereby to close a relay contact 23. Thus, the operations of the heater 13 and an auxiliary motor-driven blower 12 are continued to proceed thawing. The buzzer 25 turns a transistor 24 ON due to the ON state before predetermined time (e.g. 5min) of predetermined time (e.g. 30min) to ring the buzzer 25.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a refrigerator, particularly one in which a specific thawing chamber for thawing frozen foods is provided in the refrigerator compartment.

(Prior art) There have been many requests for a function for defrosting frozen foods in household refrigerators, and devices to satisfy this function have been devised in the past, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-23838.
It was common to have a configuration as shown in Publication No. 0. The configuration will be explained below with reference to FIGS. 3 to 5. Although FIG. 3 shows a cross-sectional view of the refrigerator of the present invention, the mechanical configuration itself is the same as that of a conventional refrigerator, so the explanation will be based on it.

In FIG. 3, reference numeral 1 denotes a refrigerator main body, and forced ventilation circulates air cooled by a main cooler 4 housed in a cooling chamber 3 constructed in a partition wall 2 to a freezing chamber 6 and a refrigerating chamber 7 using a main electric blower 5. It is a type of refrigerator. A temperature detector 8 detects the temperature of the freezer compartment 6 of the refrigerator, and sends an operation signal to operate the compressor 9 of the refrigerator. A damper thermostat 10 is provided at the entrance of the refrigerator compartment 7 to adjust the amount of cold air inflow.

Reference numeral 11 denotes a thawing chamber provided in the refrigerator compartment 7, and the refrigerator compartment 7 is supplied from the suction port 14 by an auxiliary electric blower 12 provided at the back and a thawing heater 13 disposed at the upper and lower parts of the thawing chamber 11.
The frozen food can be thawed by drawing cold air into the thawing chamber 11 and causing it to flow out from the discharge port 15 while heating it with the thawing heater 13.

Next, the defrosting control circuit will be explained.

In FIG. 4, 16 is a control circuit, which includes a microcomputer (CPU) 17, RAM 18. It is formed of a ROM 19 and the like, and the ROM 19 stores a program that determines the next operation based on the confirmation order of operations and the state at that time. Reference numeral 20 denotes a defrosting switch for instructing the start of defrosting, and the output of the defrosting switch 20 is input to the control circuit 16. The output of the control circuit 16 is connected to the base of a transistor 21, and the collector of the transistor 21 is connected to a suction relay coil 22 that opens and closes a relay contact 23. The auxiliary electric blower 12 and the defrosting heater 13 are connected in series with the relay contact 23 and then connected to a power source. Further, the other output of the control circuit 16 is connected to the base of the transistor 24 and
A defrosting buzzer 25 is connected to the collector. Further, 26 is a defrosting timer, which integrates the operation of the auxiliary electric blower 12 and the defrosting heater 13 for a predetermined period of time (for example, 30 minutes) based on the input from the defrosting switch 20.

In this configuration, the operation will be explained.

Normally, when the temperature detector 8 is closed, the compressor 9,
The main electric blower 5 operates to cool the freezer compartment 6 and the refrigerator compartment 7, respectively. Then, when the temperature of the freezer compartment 6 reaches a predetermined value,
The temperature detector 8 is opened, and the operation of the compressor 9 and main electric blower 5 is stopped. During this time, the damper thermostat 10 controls the cold air in the refrigerator compartment to maintain a predetermined temperature.

Next, the defrosting control will be explained with reference to FIG. As step 1, all data in the RAM 18 is cleared and initialized. Next, in step 2, the state of the defrosting switch 20 is stored in the RAM 18. Then, in step 3, the defrost switch 20 is turned on from the RAM 18.
Determine whether the result is N or not.

At this time, if it is OFF, the RAM
Reset ON to the state of 18 defrosting heater 13 and turn OFF
Remember to set . Also, in step 5, RAM
18, reset the defrosting buzzer to the state of 25 and turn it off.
Remember to set . Then, in step 6, the defrosting timer 26 is cleared. Next, in step 7, the states of the defrosting heater 13 and defrosting buzzer 25 are output, but since they are set to OFF here, the transistor 21 is turned off, the conduction to the relay coil 22 is cut off, and the relay contact 23 is closed. It is open, and the defrosting heater 13 and auxiliary electric blower 12 are stopped. Similarly, transistor 2
4 is OFF, the defrosting buzzer 25 also does not sound.

Here, when the defrosting switch 20 is turned ON, it is determined to be ON in step 3, and in step 8, the state of the defrosting heater 13 in the RAM 18 is set to ON and stored to be reset to OFF. Next, in step 9, it is determined whether the defrosting timer 26 has expired for a predetermined period of time (for example, 30 minutes), and if it is in progress, in step 10, the defrosting buzzer 25 is reset to ON and OFF in the RAM 18. Remember. Then, in step 11, the decompression timer 26 is integrated with ONL. Next, in step 7, the status of the defrosting heater 13 and the defrosting buzzer 25 is outputted, and the relay coil 2 is turned ON.
2 becomes conductive and closes the relay contact 23, and the defrosting heater 1
3. The auxiliary electric blower 12 is operated and defrosting progresses.

Further, since the defrosting buzzer 25 is in the OFF state, the transistor 24 is OFF, and the defrosting buzzer 25 does not sound. As the defrosting progresses in this way, if the defrosting timer 26 determines that the predetermined time (for example, 30 minutes) has ended in step 9, the process proceeds to step 1.
2, the state of the defrosting heater 13 in the RAM 18 is memorized to be set to ON and OFF, and step 1
3, it is stored in the RAM 18 to set the state of the defrosting buzzer 25 to ON and to reset it to OFF. Then, in step 14, the decompression timer 26 is cleared. Next, in step 7, the states of the defrosting heater 13 and defrosting buzzer 25 are output, but since the defrosting heater 13 is set to OFF here, the transistor 21 is turned off and the conduction of the relay coil 22 is cut off. The relay contact 23 is opened, the defrosting heater 13 and the auxiliary electric blower 12 are stopped, and defrosting is completed. Also, since the defrosting buzzer 25 is in the ON state, the transistor 24 is ONL, and the defrosting buzzer sounds (for example, three times).
Notify the user of the completion of defrosting.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) However, with this kind of defrosting control, the user must always listen to the buzzer indicating the end of defrosting and keep waiting, and it is not possible to determine how many minutes it will take for defrosting to finish. , it is very difficult to use, and adding a display function such as time will increase the price.

The present invention solves the above problems and aims to provide appropriate defrosting control.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention is configured to sound a defrosting buzzer a certain period of time before the completion of the predetermined time integration of the defrosting timer.

(Function) With the above-described configuration, the thawing end time of the present invention is determined in advance during thawing, so that the user can appropriately thaw food.

(Embodiment) An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3. It should be noted that the same components as those of the prior art are denoted by the same reference numerals, detailed explanation thereof will be omitted, and only different operations will be described.

The operation of this configuration will be explained with reference to FIG. As step 1, all data in the RAM 18 is cleared and initialized. Next, in step 2, the state of the defrosting switch 20 is stored in the RAM 18. Then, in step 3, it is determined from the RAM 18 whether the defrosting switch 20 is turned on. At this time, if it is OFF, in step 4, the state of the defrosting heater 13 in the RAM 1g is reset to ON and stored to be set to OFF. Further, in step 5, the defrosting buzzer 25 is stored in the RAM 1g to be reset to ON and set to OFF. Then, in step 6, the defrosting timer 26 is cleared. Next, in step 7, the defrosting heater 13, the defrosting buzzer 2
5 is output, but in this case, since it is set to OFF, the transistor 21 is turned off, the conduction to the relay coil 22 is cut off, and the relay contact 23 is opened, and the defrosting heater 13. The auxiliary electric blower 12 is stopped. Similarly, since the transistor 24 is OFF, the defrosting buzzer 25 also does not sound. Here, defrost switch 2
If 0 is ON, it is determined to be ON in step 3 and step 8
, the state of the defrosting heater 13 in the RAM 18 is set to ON, and stored to be reset to OFF. Next, in step 9, the defrosting timer 26 is set for a predetermined time (for example, 30 minutes).
It is determined whether the defrosting timer 26 is a certain period of time (for example, 5 minutes) before a predetermined time (for example, 30 minutes) if the integration is in progress. The state of the defrosting buzzer 25 is memorized to be reset to ON and set to OFF. Then, in step 12, the defrosting timer 26 is turned on and integrated. next,
In step 7, the status of the defrosting heater 13 and the defrosting buzzer 25 is output, but since the defrosting heater 13 is set to ON here, the transistor 21 is turned on, the relay coil 22 is made conductive, and the relay contact 23 is closed. Then, the defrosting heater 13 and the auxiliary electric blower 12 are operated to proceed with defrosting. Further, since the defrosting buzzer 25 is in the OFF state, the transistor 24 is OFF, and the defrosting buzzer 25 does not sound. As the defrosting progresses in this way, when the defrosting timer 26 reaches a certain time (for example, 5 minutes) before the predetermined time (for example, 30 minutes) in step 10, the defrosting buzzer 25 is set to ON in the RAM 18 in step 13. Remember to reset OFF. Then, in step 12, the defrosting timer 26
Turn on and integrate. Next, in step 7, the defrosting heater 1
3. The status of the defrosting buzzer 25 is output.

Here, since the defrosting heater 13 is set to ON, the transistor 21 is turned on, the relay coil 22 becomes conductive, and the relay contact 23 is closed, and the operation of the defrosting heater 13 and the auxiliary electric blower 12 continues to defrost. Proceed. In addition, since the defrosting buzzer 25 is in an ON state for a certain period of time (for example, 5 minutes) before a predetermined time (for example, 30 minutes), the transistor 24 turns ON, and the defrosting buzzer 25 sounds (for example, once).
Since the user is informed that thawing will end when the remaining time is 1, for example, 5 minutes, preparations such as cooking after thawing can be planned in advance. After that, if the defrosting timer 26 determines that the predetermined time (for example, 30 minutes) has ended in step 9, step 14
, reset the state of the defrosting heater 13 in the RAM 18 to ON.

OFF is set, and in step 15 the RAM is
18, the state of the defrosting buzzer 25 is set to ON, and it is stored to be reset to OFF. Then, in step 16, the decompression timer 26 is cleared. Next, in step 7, the status of the defrosting heater 13 and defrosting buzzer 25 is output, but since the defrosting heater 13 is set to OFF here,
Transistor 21 is turned off, conduction of relay coil 22 is cut off, relay contact 23 is opened, and thawing heater 13 is turned off.
, the auxiliary electric blower 12 stops and thawing is completed. Also,
The defrosting buzzer 25 indicates the end of a predetermined time (for example, 30 minutes).
Due to the condition, the transistor 24 turns ON, and the defrosting buzzer 25 sounds (for example, three times) to notify the user of the appropriate completion of defrosting.

(Effects of the Invention) As is clear from the above description, the present invention includes a freezer compartment, a refrigerator compartment, a cooler, and a main electric blower for forcing cold air cooled by the cooler into both rooms; A thawing chamber having a suction port and a discharge port is provided in the refrigeration chamber, an auxiliary electric blower for forcibly introducing cold air into the thawing chamber, a thawing heater disposed at the upper and lower portions of the thawing chamber, and a thawing heater for starting thawing. A defrosting switch that issues a command, a defrosting timer that integrates and operates the auxiliary electric blower and the defrosting heater for a predetermined time immediately after the defrosting switch is turned on, and a defrosting buzzer that sounds at the same time as the predetermined time of the defrosting timer ends, Since the device is equipped with means for sounding the defrosting buzzer a certain period of time before the end of the predetermined time accumulation of the timer, the remaining time until the end of defrosting is known during defrosting, so the user can prepare for cooking etc. after the end of defrosting. Not only can it be planned in advance, making it easier to use, but it can also be constructed using very inexpensive circuits, so it has great effects.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a flowchart of the control operation of a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a control circuit diagram of Fig. 1, Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the same refrigerator, and Fig. 4 is a control showing a conventional example. The circuit diagram, FIG. 5, is a flowchart of the control operation shown in FIG. 4. 11... Thawing chamber, 12... Auxiliary electric blower, 13
...Defrost heater, 20...Defrost switch, 25...
- Thawing buzzer, 26... Thawing timer.

Claims (1)

[Claims] a freezer compartment, a refrigerator compartment, a cooler, and a main electric blower that forces cold air cooled by the cooler into both rooms;
A thawing chamber having a suction port and a discharge port is provided in the refrigerator compartment,
An auxiliary electric blower for forcibly introducing cold air from the refrigerator into the thawing chamber; a thawing heater disposed at the upper and lower parts of the thawing chamber; a thawing switch for instructing the start of thawing; A defrost timer that integrates and operates an electric blower and the defrost heater for a predetermined time, and a defrost buzzer that sounds at the same time as the predetermined time of the defrost timer ends, the defrost buzzer that sounds a certain time before the end of the predetermined time integration of the defrost timer. A refrigerator characterized by being provided with a means for making a sound.