JPH0781769B2 - refrigerator - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Object of the Invention] (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a refrigerator.

(Prior Art) Conventionally, there has been a refrigerator whose interior is divided into a freezing room, a refrigerating room, and a bottle room. The bottle room is a storage room exclusively for food such as bottled beer and canned juice.

In this refrigerator, a cooler to which a liquid refrigerant is supplied from a compressor is arranged inside the freezer compartment. The air cooled by the cooler is sent into the freezer compartment by the fan, and a part of the cool air is introduced into the refrigerating compartment through the duct. A damper that can be opened and closed is arranged at the outlet of the duct on the refrigerating compartment side. A duct is also provided between the refrigerating compartment and the bottle room, and a part of the cool air sent to the refrigerating compartment can be guided to the bottle room through this duct.

Conventionally, temperature sensors are provided in the freezer compartment and the refrigerator compartment, respectively, but the temperature sensors are not provided in the bottle room. Opening / closing of the damper is controlled based on the temperature T _R detected by the temperature sensor in the refrigerator compartment. That is, if the detected temperature T _R is equal to or higher than a predetermined upper limit temperature, the damper is cold is opened is supplied to the refrigerating chamber. The cold air lowers the temperatures of the refrigerating compartment and the bottle room communicating with the refrigerating compartment through the duct. Then, when the detected temperature T _R falls below a predetermined lower limit temperature, the damper is closed and the delivery of cold air is stopped. In this way, the temperature of each of the refrigerating room and the bottle room is adjusted to a predetermined temperature zone.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) The conventional refrigerator described above has the following problems because the temperature control of both the refrigerating room and the bottle room is performed only by the temperature sensor of the refrigerating room. .

That is, when high-temperature food is placed in the vicinity of the refrigerator temperature sensor, the temperature T _R detected by this sensor rises rapidly and the damper is opened. When the damper is opened, cold air is supplied to the refrigerating room and the bottle room, and the temperature of both rooms drops. However, the detected temperature T _R of the temperature sensor where there is a high temperature of the food to the nearby
Does not immediately turn down, so the actual temperature drop in both chambers progresses steadily. When the temperature of the bottle room falls below the freezing point, the contents of the bottle and the can freeze, and there is a risk that the bottle may break or the can may burst.

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above circumstances, in which at least two chambers in the refrigerator are communicated with each other by a duct, an opening is further formed in one of the two chambers, and cold air flowing in through this opening is In a refrigerator provided with a damper for adjusting the amount, it is an object to prevent overcooling of a room to which cold air indirectly flows through a duct.

[Configuration of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problems) In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the refrigerator according to the present invention is
At least two chambers in the cabinet are connected by a duct, an opening is further formed in one of the chambers, a damper for adjusting the amount of cool air flowing through the chamber is provided, and temperature sensors are provided in both chambers, respectively. The damper is opened only when the temperature in each room detected by each temperature sensor exceeds the set temperature in each room.

(Operation) When the detected temperature of one of the two chambers is lower than the set temperature of the chamber, the damper is closed. Therefore, the temperature does not become lower than the predetermined value in any of the chambers.

(Embodiment) FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention as viewed from the side.

The main body 2 of the refrigerator 1 has a horizontal top 3, a back 4 that hangs from the rear end of the top, a downward slope 5 that follows the lower end of the back, and a horizontal bottom 6 that extends forward from the front end of the slope. And a storage chamber 7 which is composed of left and right side portions and opens to the front side. A machine room 8 is formed behind the inclined portion 5, and a compressor 9 is arranged in the machine room 8. This refrigerator body 2 has a double structure of an inner box and an outer box,
A heat insulating material is filled between these inner and outer boxes.

The storage chamber 7 is divided into three chambers, that is, a freezing chamber 13, a refrigerating chamber 14 and a bottle room 15 in this order from the top by two-stage horizontal partition walls 11 and 12 filled with a heat insulating material. Freezing compartment doors filled with heat insulating material inside the front opening of each compartment 13, 14, 15
16, a refrigerator room door 17 and a bottle room door 18 are provided, and the storage room 10 is closed by closing these doors. The freezer compartment door 16 and the refrigeration compartment door 17 are pivotally supported by, for example, vertical axes at the right edges. A basket 19 for storing bottled beer, canned juice, and the like is fixed to the rear surface of the bottle room door 18, and the bottle room door 18 is pulled out together with the basket 19.

A cooler 20 to which the liquid refrigerant is supplied from the compressor 9 is arranged at the back of the freezing compartment 13. A fan 21 is arranged immediately above the cooler 20, and cold air can be sent into the freezer compartment 13 from an upper outlet 22 and a lower outlet 23 provided in front of the cooler 20. Partition wall 11 between the freezer compartment 13 and the refrigerator compartment 14
A freezer compartment suction port 24 is provided on the front side of the freezer compartment, and a freezer compartment suction duct 25 extending from here to the cooler 20 is horizontally formed.

Behind the cooler 20, there is a fan 21 to the back 4 of the refrigerator body.
A cold air supply duct 30 reaching the refrigerating compartment 14 is formed along the inner box. The refrigerating chamber outlet 31 of the duct 30 can be opened and closed by a motor-driven damper 32. The motor for opening and closing the damper 32 rotates in a single direction, but the damper 32 can be repeatedly opened and closed by the operation of the gear and the cam. A refrigerating compartment duct 33 extending vertically is formed in front of the damper 32, and cold air is supplied into the refrigerating compartment 14 through a plurality of horizontal slits 34 arranged in parallel. A refrigerating compartment suction port 35 is provided in front of the partition wall 11 between the freezing compartment 13 and the refrigerating compartment 14 on the refrigerating compartment side, and a refrigerating compartment suction duct 36 from here to the cooler 20 is horizontally formed. . A defrost heater 37 is provided directly below the cooler 20 at the outlet of the refrigerating chamber suction duct 36. The partition wall 12 between the refrigerating room 14 and the bottle room 15 has a bottle room duct connecting both rooms.
40 are provided. Further, temperature sensors 50 and 51, which are, for example, thermistors, are attached to the side wall of the refrigerating compartment duct 33 and the surface of the partition wall 12 on the bottle room side.

When the low-temperature low-pressure liquid refrigerant supplied from the compressor 9 to the cooler 20 evaporates in this cooler, heat is taken from the outside.
When the fan 21 is driven, the air taken in through the duct 25 from the freezing compartment suction port 24 exchanges heat with the cooler 20 to be cooled, and then is sent to the freezing compartment 13 through the upper and lower outlets 22 and 23, and this freezing is performed. After exchanging heat with the food or the like stored in the chamber 13, it is again taken in from the freezing chamber suction port 24.

On the other hand, when the damper 32 is open, part of the air cooled by the cooler 20 flows into the refrigerating compartment duct 33 through the refrigerating compartment outlet 31 of the cool air supply duct 30. The cold air flowing into the refrigerating compartment duct 33 is evenly delivered into the refrigerating compartment 14 through the plurality of horizontal slits 34. The cold air sent into the refrigerating compartment 14 exchanges heat with the food or the like contained in the refrigerating compartment 14 and then reaches the cooler 20 through the duct 36 from the refrigerating compartment suction port 35 and is cooled again. However, a part of the cool air sent into the refrigerating room 14 is supplied into the bottle room 15 through the bottle room duct 40, and after exchanging heat with the bottled beer etc. stored in the bottle room 15, it is not shown. It reaches the cooler 20 through the duct.

The temperatures of the refrigerating room 14 and the bottle room 15 are respectively detected by temperature sensors 50 and 51 provided in these rooms,
The damper 32 is opened and closed based on the operation of the temperature control device 45 shown in FIG. It should be noted that the bottle room temperature sensor 51 is preferably provided at a position where the temperature is the lowest in the bottle room 15. The temperature of the freezing compartment 13 is separately controlled by a temperature sensor (not shown) provided in the freezing compartment.

As shown in FIG. 2, one end of the refrigerating compartment temperature sensor 50 is connected to the DC power source V _cc , and the other end is grounded via the resistor 55. The voltage V _{R at} the connection point between the temperature sensor 50 and the resistor 55
Is input to a microcomputer (hereinafter, referred to as a microcomputer) 60 having an A / D converter built therein. Similarly, one end of the bottle temperature sensor 51 is connected to the DC power supply V _cc and the other end is grounded via the resistor 56. The voltage V _{B at} the connection point between the temperature sensor 51 and the resistor 56 is the microcomputer 60. Entered in.

The damper drive signal S output from the microcomputer 60 is a resistor
It is input to the base of the NPN transistor 62 via 61.
The emitter of this transistor is grounded, and the collector is connected to the DC power supply _Vcc through the coil 63 of the relay.
A diode 64 is connected to both ends of this coil with its cathode directed to the DC power supply _Vcc . The contacts of the relay having the coil 63 are connected so as to drive a motor (not shown) for opening and closing the damper 32. Reference numeral 65 indicates a motor switch contact indicating the open / closed state of the damper 32. This contact 65 is a damper
Turns on when 32 is open and turns off when it is closed. This motor switch contact 65 has one end grounded and the other end a resistor 66.
Connected to the DC power supply V _cc via. Contact 65 and resistor 66
The voltage at the connection point with
Entered in 60.

The operation of the microcomputer 60 is shown in the flowchart of FIG.

As shown in step 1 of the drawing, the microcomputer 60 obtains a bottle room detected temperature T _B is first input voltage V _B. Since the resistance value of the bottle room temperature sensor 51 has a negative temperature characteristic, the voltage V _B becomes higher as the temperature inside the bottle room 15 becomes higher. The microcomputer 60, after A / D converting this voltage V _B ,
Convert this to temperature and get T _B. The microcomputer 60 stores in advance the lower limit set temperature T _BC and the hysteresis width α for the bottle room 15. In step 2, the detected temperature T _B of the bottle room 15 and the lower limit temperature T _BC are compared. T _B is T
If lower than _BC , in step 3 the damper forced close flag
After setting F _BC to 1, proceed to step 6. Detection temperature T
_{If B} is above T _BC , then in step 4 T _B and the upper limit temperature T
Compare with _BC + α. When T _B is lower than T _BC + α, the flag F _BC is left as it is and the routine proceeds to step 6. T _B is T _BC +
When it becomes α or more, the flag F _{BC is set} to 0 in step 5.
After clearing to, proceed to step 6. It should be noted that the lower limit set temperature T _BC of the bottle room 15 is a temperature slightly higher than the temperature at which bottled beer or the like freezes, so that there is some margin. The hysteresis width α is preferably 2 ° C.

The microcomputer 60 inputs the voltage V _{R in} step 6 to obtain the refrigerating room detection temperature T _R. Since the resistance value of the refrigerating compartment temperature sensor 50 also has a negative temperature characteristic, the voltage V _R becomes higher as the temperature inside the refrigerating compartment 14 becomes higher. Micro 60 obtains T _R by converting the voltage V _R after converting A / D, to a temperature. The microcomputer 60 stores in advance the lower limit set temperature T _RC and the hysteresis width β for the refrigerator compartment 14. Refrigerator 14 in step 7
The detected temperature T _R and the lower limit temperature T _RC are compared. If T _R is lower than T _RC , set the damper close flag F _RC to 1 in step 8.
After setting to, proceed to step 11. Detected temperature T _R is T _RC
If it is above, in step 9 T _R and upper limit temperature T _RC + β
Compare with. Flag F if T _R is lower than T _RC + β
_{Leave RC as} is and proceed to step 11. When T _R becomes equal to or greater than T _RC + β, the flag F _RC is cleared to 0 in step 10 and then the process proceeds to step 11. Note that the hysteresis width β
Is preferably 3 ° C.

In step 11, the damper forced closing flag F _BC is checked. If the flag F _BC is set to 1, the process proceeds to step 12 regardless of the value of the damper close flag F _RC . In step 12, the logic level of the damper open / close signal D is checked to know the open / closed state of the damper 32 through the open / closed state of the motor switch contact 65. When the damper 32 is open, that is, when the motor switch contact 65 is on and therefore the damper opening / closing signal D is at the L level, the routine proceeds to step 13 to forcibly close the damper 32. In order to close the damper 32, the microcomputer 60 may output the damper drive signal S of H level. That is, when the H level damper drive signal S is output, the transistor 62 is turned on and the coil 63 is energized,
The motor is driven and the damper 32 is closed. When the damper 32 is closed in this manner, the motor switch contact 65 is turned off and the damper opening / closing signal D becomes H level. At this time, the process proceeds from step 12 to step 14 to return the damper drive signal S to the L level and stop the motor drive. Therefore, the damper 32 remains closed.

As a result of checking the damper forced closing flag F _BC in step 11, if it is found that this flag is cleared to 0, then in step 15, the damper closing flag F _RC is checked. When the flag F _RC is set to 1, the process from step 12 onward is executed and the damper 32 is closed as in the case where F _BC is 1. Both flags F _BC ′ F _RC are both 0 in step 15.
If found to be clear to
Proceed to 16. In step 16, the logic level of the damper open / close signal D is checked to know the open / close state of the damper 32. When the damper 32 is closed, that is, when the motor switch contact 65 is off and therefore the damper open / close signal D is at the H level, the routine proceeds to step 17, where the damper 32 is opened. damper
To open 32, just like closing it,
It suffices that 60 outputs the damper drive signal S of H level. That is, when the damper drive signal S of H level is output, the transistor 62 is turned on, the coil 63 is energized, the motor is further driven, and the damper 32 is opened. Damper in this way
When 32 is opened, the motor switch contact 65 is turned on and the damper open / close signal D becomes L level. In this case, the step
From 16 to step 17, the damper drive signal S is returned to L level and the motor drive is stopped. Therefore, the damper 32 remains open.

FIG. 4 is a timing chart showing the operation of the temperature control device 45 described above. The damper 32 is opened only when both flags F _BC ′ F _RC are cleared to 0 by the operation of the microcomputer 60. .

When the detected temperature T _B of the bottle room 15 does not become lower than the lower limit set temperature T _BC , the damper is set only by the detected temperature T _R of the refrigerating room 14 as if only the refrigerating room temperature sensor 50 is provided as in the conventional case. 32 open / close controls are performed. That is, when the cold room detection temperature T _R decreases due to opening of the damper 32 and falls below the lower limit temperature T _RC at time t ₁ , the damper close flag F _RC is set to 1 and the damper 32 is closed. When the damper 32 is closed, the cold air supply to the refrigerator compartment 14 is stopped.
T _R rises. However, this detected temperature T _R is the upper limit temperature T
Because until a _RC + beta remains damper closed flag F _RC is set to 1, T _R continues to rise. When the detected temperature T _R reaches the upper limit temperature T _RC + β at time t ₂ ,
The flag F _RC is cleared to 0 and the damper 32 is opened again. When the damper 32 is opened, the supply of cold air to the refrigerating chamber 14 is restarted and the detected temperature T _R is lowered. Then, at time t ₃ , the lower limit temperature T
_{Below RC} , flag F _RC is set to 1 and damper 32
Closes.

Damper 32 is the gradual refrigerating compartment temperature rises closed, although the detected temperature T _R is increased along with this, when T _R is suddenly hot food is placed in the vicinity of the refrigerating compartment temperature sensor 50 during this time To rise. Then, at time t ₄ , T _R is the upper limit temperature T _RC + β
Although the reach damper 32 is opened again, there is no possibility that the T _R turns immediately lowered. On the other hand, during the cooling of the bottle room 15 is advanced through the bottle room duct 40, the detected temperature T _B of the chamber is reduced rapidly. And
When T _B falls below the lower limit temperature T _BC at time t ₅ , the damper forced closing flag F _BC is set to 1, and the refrigerating compartment detection temperature T _R becomes the lower limit temperature T _B.
The damper 32 is closed despite exceeding _RC .

Therefore, the inside of the bottle room 15 does not become too cold and ice such as bottled beer does not occur. When the damper 32 is closed,
The temperature of the bottle room 15 rises and the detected temperature T _{B of} this room reaches the upper limit temperature T _BC + α at time t ₆ . The even time t ₆ of the refrigerating compartment 14 when the detected temperature T _R is the lower limit temperature T _RC above, T _B is cleared to F _BC is 0 by reaching T _BC + alpha,
The damper 32 opens. As a result, the refrigerator room 14 and the bottle room 15
Both chambers are cooled, and the refrigerating chamber detection temperature T _R is the lower limit temperature.
At the time T ₇ below T _RC , the damper 32 is closed even if the bottle room detection temperature T _B is _{equal to} or higher than the lower limit temperature T _BC . Then, at time t _8, when the detected temperature T _R of the refrigerator compartment reaches the upper limit temperature T _RC + β, both flags F _BC ′ F _RC become 0 and the damper 32
Is opened.

In the refrigerator 1 described above, the opening and closing control of the damper 32 is performed by providing the hysteresis widths α and β for the bottle room and the refrigerating room, respectively, so that the chattering of the damper 32 can be prevented. Further, the temperature change in the bottle room 15 can be reduced as compared with the conventional case.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, in the refrigerator according to the present invention, at least two chambers in the refrigerator are communicated with each other by a duct, one of both chambers is further formed with an opening, and cold air flowing in through this opening. In addition to providing a damper for adjusting the amount of temperature, each room is equipped with a temperature sensor, and the damper is opened only when the temperature detected by each temperature sensor in each room exceeds the set temperature of each room. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the room to which cold air indirectly flows through the duct from being too cold.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention seen from the side, FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram of a temperature control device for a refrigerator shown in the previous figure,
FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing the operation of the microcomputer of the previous figure, and FIG. 4 is a timing chart showing the operation of the temperature control device of FIG. Explanation of symbols 1 ... Refrigerator, 2 ... Refrigerator body, 13 ... Freezer, 14 ...
… Refrigerator, 15 …… Bottle room, 20 …… Cooler, 21 ……
Fan, 30 …… Cold air supply duct, 31 …… Chiller outlet,
32 …… Damper, 33 …… Refrigerator duct, 40 …… Bottleroom duct, 45 …… Temperature control device, 50 …… Refrigerator temperature sensor, 51 …… Bottleroom temperature sensor, 60 …… Microcomputer.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A duct communicating at least two chambers in the chamber, further forming an opening in one of the chambers, and providing a damper for adjusting the amount of cold air flowing in through the opening, and controlling the temperature in each chamber. A refrigerator having a sensor, wherein the damper is opened only when the temperature detected by each temperature sensor in each room is equal to or higher than the set temperature of each room.