JP5870237B2 - refrigerator - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention has a damper that has a damper for shutting off cold air in the freezer compartment and the refrigerator compartment, respectively, and uses a single evaporator to individually cool the refrigerator compartment and the refrigerator compartment, thereby improving the efficiency of the refrigerating cycle. It is about.

  From the viewpoint of energy saving, there are refrigerators for household use that have improved the efficiency of the refrigeration cycle by cooling each of the freezer compartment and the refrigerator compartment by using one evaporator. This enhances the efficiency of the refrigeration cycle by cooling the refrigerator compartment having a relatively high air temperature at an evaporation temperature higher than that of the freezer compartment.

  Furthermore, it has been proposed to defrost the evaporator by using the amount of heat of food in the refrigerator compartment while the compressor is stopped, using dampers that block cold air provided in the freezer compartment and the refrigerator compartment respectively ( For example, see Patent Document 1). This is intended to save energy by reducing the capacity of the refrigeration cycle necessary for cooling the refrigerator compartment while reducing the electric power of the heating heater when removing frost attached to the evaporator.

  Hereinafter, a conventional refrigerator will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view of a conventional refrigerator, FIG. 6 is a configuration diagram of a refrigeration cycle of a conventional refrigerator, FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of temperature behavior of a conventional refrigerator temperature sensor and a refrigerator, and FIG. 8 is a diagram of a conventional refrigerator. It is the figure which showed the control flow at the time of defrosting.

  5 and 6, the refrigerator 11 includes a housing 12, a door 13, a leg 14 that supports the housing 12, a lower machine room 15 provided in a lower portion of the housing 12, and a refrigeration disposed in an upper portion of the housing 12. It has the freezer compartment 18 arrange | positioned at the chamber 17 and the lower part of the housing | casing 12. FIG. In addition, as components constituting the refrigeration cycle, a compressor 56 housed in the lower machine chamber 15, an evaporator 20 housed on the back side of the freezer room 18, and a main condenser 21 housed in the lower machine room 15 are provided. Have. Further, it has a partition wall 22 that partitions the lower machine chamber 15, a fan 23 that is attached to the partition wall 22 to air-cool the main condenser 21, an evaporating dish 57 installed on the top of the compressor 56, and a bottom plate 25 of the lower machine chamber 15. Yes.

  Also, a plurality of air intakes 26 provided in the bottom plate 25, an exhaust port 27 provided on the back side of the lower machine room 15, and a communication air passage 28 connecting the exhaust port 27 of the lower machine room 15 and the upper part of the housing 11 are provided. Have. Here, the lower machine chamber 15 is divided into two chambers by the partition wall 22, and the main condenser 21 is housed on the windward side of the fan 23, and the compressor 56 and the evaporating dish 57 are housed on the leeward side.

  Further, as components constituting the refrigeration cycle, a dew-proof pipe 37 and a dew-proof pipe 37 which are located on the downstream side of the main condenser 21 and are thermally coupled to the outer surface of the housing 12 around the opening of the freezer compartment 18. It is located downstream, and has a dryer 38 that dries the circulating refrigerant, a throttle 38 that combines the dryer 38 and the evaporator 20 and depressurizes the circulating refrigerant.

  Further, an evaporator fan 50 that supplies cold air generated in the evaporator 20 to the refrigerator compartment 17 and the freezer compartment 18, a freezer damper 51 that blocks the cold air supplied to the refrigerator compartment 18, and cold air supplied to the refrigerator compartment 17 It has a refrigerator compartment damper 52 that shuts off, a duct 53 that supplies cold air to the refrigerator compartment 17, an FCC temperature sensor 54 that detects the temperature of the freezer compartment 18, and a PCC temperature sensor 55 that detects the temperature of the refrigerator compartment 17.

  The operation of the conventional refrigerator configured as described above will be described below.

  When the temperature detected by the PCC temperature sensor 55 rises to a predetermined ON temperature, the freezer damper 51 is closed while the compressor 56 is stopped, the refrigerator damper 52 is opened, and the evaporator fan 50 is driven. Thereby, the refrigerator compartment 17 is cooled using the evaporator 20 and the low-temperature sensible heat of the frost adhering to the evaporator 20 and the latent heat of fusion of the frost (hereinafter, this operation is referred to as “off-cycle cooling”).

  After a predetermined time from the start of off-cycle cooling, the freezer damper 51 is closed, the refrigerator compartment damper 52 is opened, and the compressor 56, the fan 23, and the evaporator fan 50 are driven. By driving the fan 23, the main condenser 21 side of the lower machine chamber 15 partitioned by the partition wall 22 becomes negative pressure, and external air is sucked from the plurality of intake ports 26, and the compressor 56 and the evaporating dish 57 side become positive pressure. The air in the machine room 15 is discharged to the outside through a plurality of discharge ports 27.

  On the other hand, the refrigerant discharged from the compressor 56 is condensed while leaving a part of the gas while exchanging heat with the outside air in the main condenser 21 and then supplied to the dewproof pipe 37. The refrigerant that has passed through the dew-proof pipe 37 radiates heat through the housing 12 and condenses while warming the opening of the freezer compartment 18. The liquid refrigerant that has passed through the dew-proof pipe 37 is dehydrated by the dryer 38, depressurized by the throttle 39, and is evaporated by the evaporator 20, while exchanging heat with the air in the refrigerator compartment 17 and cooling the refrigerator compartment 17. Then, it is returned to the compressor 56 as a gaseous refrigerant (hereinafter, this operation is referred to as “PC cooling”). At this time, since the temperature of the air in the refrigerator compartment 17 is higher than that of the freezer compartment 18 and the temperature of the evaporator 20 is increased by off-cycle cooling, it quickly reaches a high evaporation temperature during PC cooling. be able to.

  Next, when the temperature detected by the PCC temperature sensor 55 falls to a predetermined OFF temperature or when the temperature detected by the FCC temperature sensor 54 rises to a predetermined ON temperature, the freezer damper 51 is opened and refrigerated. The chamber damper 52 is closed, and the compressor 56, the fan 23, and the evaporator fan 50 are driven. Thereafter, by operating the refrigeration cycle in the same manner as PC cooling, the freezer compartment 18 is cooled by exchanging heat between the inside air of the freezer compartment 18 and the evaporator 20 (hereinafter, this operation is referred to as “FC cooling”).

  In FIG. 7, section e corresponds to off-cycle cooling, section f corresponds to PC cooling, section g corresponds to FC cooling, and section h corresponds to cooling stop operation. The compressor 56 is driven between the section f and the section g, and is stopped between the section h and the section e. Moreover, the freezer compartment 18 is cooled during the section g, and the refrigerator compartment 17 is cooled between the section e and the section f. Here, the reason why the temperature change in the upper part of the refrigerating chamber 17 is large is that the upper part is adjacent to the high temperature outside air, while the lower part is adjacent to the low temperature freezing room 18, so during the non-cooling period. This is because the temperature difference between the upper and lower sides becomes larger and the air volume at the upper part is increased during cooling to quickly cool the upper part at a high temperature.

  Next, when the temperature detected by the FCC temperature sensor 54 decreases to the predetermined OFF temperature, the freezer damper 51 and the refrigerator compartment damper 52 are closed, and the compressor 56, the fan 23, and the evaporator fan 50 are stopped (hereinafter referred to as the “freezer compartment damper 51”). This operation is called “cooling stop”). During normal operation, a series of operations of off-cycle cooling, PC cooling, FC cooling, and cooling stop are repeated in order.

  Then, after the normal operation is continued for a predetermined time, in order to remove frost attached to the evaporator 20, off-cycle cooling is performed for a relatively long time (hereinafter, this operation is referred to as “off-cycle differential”). In FIG. 8, the control flow of the off-cycle differential is from “defrost start” to “defrost end determination”.

First, immediately before starting the PC cooling, when the normal operation exceeds a predetermined time, it is determined that “defrosting start”, that is, the start of off-cycle differential. This is aimed at the timing when the temperature in the refrigerator compartment 17 is relatively high and the amount of heat is large in order to melt and remove the frost attached to the evaporator 20 using the amount of heat in the refrigerator compartment 17. Then, with the compressor 56 stopped, the freezer damper 51 is closed, the refrigerating room damper 52 is opened, and the evaporator fan 50 is driven. Implement frost.

  And, when a DEF temperature sensor (not shown) for detecting the temperature of the evaporator 20 detects over 0 ° C., “defrosting completion determination”, that is, that the frost attached to the evaporator 20 has been completely removed. Determine, end the off-cycle differential operation, and return to normal operation.

  By this off-cycle differential, it is possible to reduce the power of the heating heater that is normally used when the evaporator 20 is defrosted, and at the same time save energy by reducing the capacity of the refrigeration cycle necessary for cooling the refrigerator compartment 17. Can be achieved.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-236369

  However, the conventional refrigerator configuration has a problem in that the time required for off-cycle differential changes greatly depending on the amount of food stored in the refrigerator compartment 17. This is because the amount of heat for melting the frost adhering to the evaporator 20 depends on the amount of heat of the food stored in the refrigerator compartment 17. There is also concern that the frost will not melt completely and the off-cycle differential will not end.

  Moreover, in the structure of the conventional refrigerator, by adding a heater for heating as an auxiliary heat source, the frost attached to the evaporator 20 can be reliably melted, but the heater for auxiliary use It is difficult to properly adjust the output. This is because, based on the amount of food stored in the refrigerator compartment 17, the amount of heat of the off-cycle differential supplied to the evaporator 20 is unknown, and the evaporator 20 in which the attached frost is melting has almost no temperature change. This is because it is difficult to accurately determine the defrosting speed. As a result, even if a heater for heating is added and used as an auxiliary heat source, there is a high possibility that it will be used urgently when the time required for off-cycle differential is abnormally long, or supply more output than necessary from the beginning. .

  The present invention solves the conventional problem, and determines the amount of heat of the off-cycle differential supplied to the evaporator 20 in advance and appropriately adjusts the output of the auxiliary heater to be turned off. The purpose is to properly control the time required for cycle differential.

  In order to solve the conventional problems, the refrigerator of the present invention detects the amount of food stored in the refrigerator before the off-cycle differential, selects the output of the heater for auxiliary use, and then turns off the cycle. It is characterized by performing a differential. This makes it possible to appropriately control the time required for off-cycle differential while suppressing the output of the heater for heating.

In the refrigerator of the present invention, after appropriately selecting the output of the heater for auxiliary use, the time required for the off-cycle differential is suppressed while performing the off-cycle differential to suppress the output of the heater for heating. It is possible to control the temperature of the refrigerator compartment and the freezer compartment during off-cycle differential, and to reduce energy consumption of the refrigerator by reducing the amount of heating heater power necessary for defrosting. be able to.

The longitudinal cross-sectional view of the refrigerator in Embodiment 1 of this invention Cycle configuration diagram of refrigerator in Embodiment 1 of the present invention Schematic diagram of temperature sensor behavior of refrigerator in embodiment 1 of the present invention The figure which showed the control flow at the time of defrosting of the refrigerator in Embodiment 1 of this invention Vertical section of a conventional refrigerator Cycle configuration diagram of a conventional refrigerator Schematic diagram of temperature behavior of conventional refrigerator temperature sensor and refrigerated room The figure which showed the control flow at the time of defrosting of the conventional refrigerator

The first invention includes a refrigerator compartment, a freezer compartment, a refrigeration cycle, an evaporator that is a component of the refrigeration cycle, and an evaporator that supplies cold air generated in the evaporator to the refrigerator compartment and the freezer compartment. A fan, a heater for defrosting the evaporator, a refrigerator damper for blocking cold air supplied from the evaporator to the refrigerator compartment, and cold air supplied from the evaporator to the refrigerator compartment In the refrigerator having a freezer damper to be shut off, the freezer damper is opened, the refrigerator compartment damper is closed, and cold air generated in the evaporator is supplied while the refrigeration cycle is operated to supply the freezer FC cooling mode for cooling, PC cooling for closing the freezer compartment damper, opening the refrigerating compartment damper, supplying cold air generated by the evaporator while operating the refrigerating cycle, and cooling the refrigerating compartment Mode, the freezer compartment damper is closed, the refrigerator compartment damper is opened, and the evaporator fan is operated while the refrigeration cycle is stopped, thereby exchanging heat between the evaporator and the air in the refrigerator compartment. The off-cycle cooling mode, while energizing the heater for heating, closing the freezer compartment damper, opening the refrigerating compartment damper, and operating the evaporator fan while stopping the freezing cycle, It has an off-cycle differential mode that melts and removes frost adhering to the evaporator, and further includes a PCC temperature sensor that detects the temperature of the refrigerator compartment, and a temperature above the PCC temperature sensor. A DFP temperature sensor for detecting the temperature of the PCC temperature sensor and the DFP temperature sensor in the PC cooling mode or the off-cycle cooling mode. Zui and detects the food weight which is housed in the refrigeration compartment, after selecting the output of said heater on the basis of the food weight, intended to implement the off cycle defroster mode, in the PC cooling mode When the minimum value of the detected temperature of the DFP temperature sensor is lower than the detected value of the PCC temperature sensor at the same time by a predetermined value or more, it is determined that the amount of food stored in the refrigerator compartment is large, and the heating The off-cycle differential mode is performed without energizing the heater, and the time required for the off-cycle differential can be appropriately controlled, and the temperature of the refrigerator compartment or freezer compartment increases during the off-cycle differential. In addition, it is possible to save energy in the refrigerator by reducing the amount of electric power of the heating heater necessary for defrosting.

  Since the second invention is a refrigerator characterized by determining whether or not the off-cycle differential mode can be performed immediately before the start of the PC cooling mode, the refrigerator is turned off at a relatively high temperature immediately before the refrigerator compartment is cooled. The cycle differential mode can be implemented, and the amount of heat of the off-cycle differential supplied to the evaporator can be increased to further reduce the amount of electric power of the heating heater necessary for defrosting.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings, but the same reference numerals are given to the same components as those of the conventional example, and detailed description thereof will be omitted. The present invention is not limited to the embodiments.

(Embodiment 1)
1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a refrigerator according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a cycle configuration diagram of the refrigerator according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a temperature sensor behavior of the refrigerator according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a control flow during defrosting of the refrigerator in the first embodiment of the present invention.

  In FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the refrigerator 11 includes a housing 12, a door 13, legs 14 that support the housing 12, a lower machine room 15 provided in the lower portion of the housing 12, and an upper portion provided in the upper portion of the housing 12. It has a machine room 16, a refrigeration room 17 disposed at the upper part of the casing 12, and a freezing room 18 disposed at the lower part of the casing 12. In addition, as components constituting the refrigeration cycle, a compressor 19 housed in the upper machine room 16, an evaporator 20 housed in the back side of the freezer room 18, and a main condenser 21 housed in the lower machine room 15 are provided. Have. In addition, it has a partition wall 22 that partitions the lower machine chamber 15, a fan 23 that is attached to the partition wall 22 and cools the main condenser 21, an evaporating dish 24 installed on the leeward side of the partition wall 22, and a bottom plate 25 of the lower machine chamber 15. Yes.

  In addition, a plurality of air intakes 26 provided in the bottom plate 25, an exhaust port 27 provided on the back side of the lower machine room 15, and a communication air passage 28 connecting the exhaust port 27 of the lower machine room 15 and the upper machine room 16 are provided. doing. Here, the lower machine chamber 15 is divided into two chambers by a partition wall 22, and a main condenser 21 is housed on the windward side of the fan 23 and an evaporating dish 24 is housed on the leeward side.

  Further, as the components constituting the refrigeration cycle, the dew-proof pipe 41 and the dew-proof pipe 41 which are located on the downstream side of the main condenser 21 and are thermally coupled to the outer surface of the housing 12 around the opening of the freezer compartment 18 are provided. It is located downstream, and has a dryer 42 that dries the circulating refrigerant, a throttle 42 that combines the dryer 42 and the evaporator 20 and depressurizes the circulating refrigerant.

  In addition, an evaporator fan 30 that supplies cold air generated in the evaporator 20 to the refrigerator compartment 17 and the freezer compartment 18, a freezer damper 31 that blocks cold air supplied to the freezer compartment 18, and cold air supplied to the refrigerator compartment 17 The refrigerator compartment damper 32 to be shut off, the duct 33 for supplying cold air to the refrigerator compartment 17, the FCC temperature sensor 34 for detecting the temperature of the freezer compartment 18, the PCC temperature sensor 35 for detecting the temperature of the refrigerator compartment 17, and the upper part of the refrigerator compartment 17 In particular, a DFP temperature sensor 36 that detects the temperature of the refrigerator compartment 17 above the PCC temperature sensor 35, and a heater 44 that is installed at the bottom of the evaporator 20 and serves as an auxiliary heat source during defrosting. Yes. Here, the duct 33 is formed along a wall surface where the refrigerator compartment 17 and the upper machine room 16 are adjacent to each other, and a part of the cold air passing through the duct 33 is discharged from the vicinity of the center of the refrigerator compartment, and most of the cold air is in the upper machine. After passing through the wall 16 while cooling the adjacent wall surface, it is discharged from the upper part of the refrigerator compartment 17.

  About the refrigerator in Embodiment 1 of this invention comprised as mentioned above, the operation | movement is demonstrated below.

  When the temperature detected by the DFP temperature sensor 36 rises to a predetermined ON temperature, the freezer damper 31 is closed with the compressor 19 stopped, the refrigerator compartment damper 32 is opened, and the evaporator fan 30 is driven. Thereby, the refrigerator compartment 17 is cooled using the evaporator 20 and the low-temperature sensible heat of the frost adhering to the evaporator 20 and the latent heat of fusion of the frost (hereinafter, this operation is referred to as “off-cycle cooling”). When the temperature detected by the DFP temperature sensor 36 falls to a predetermined OFF temperature, the freezer damper 31 is closed, the refrigerator compartment damper 32 is closed, and the evaporator fan 30 is stopped (hereinafter, this operation is referred to as “cooling”). Stopped)).

When the temperature detected by the PCC temperature sensor 35 rises to a predetermined ON temperature during off-cycle cooling or cooling stop, the freezer damper 31 is closed and the refrigerator compartment damper 32 is opened.
The compressor 19, the fan 23, and the evaporator fan 30 are driven. By driving the fan 23, the main condenser 21 side of the lower machine chamber 15 partitioned by the partition wall 22 has a negative pressure, and external air is sucked from the plurality of intake ports 26, and the evaporating dish 24 side has a positive pressure. The air is discharged from the plurality of discharge ports 27 to the outside. The air discharged from the lower machine room 15 is sent to the upper machine room 16 via the communication air passage 28 to cool the compressor 19.

  On the other hand, the refrigerant discharged from the compressor 19 is condensed while leaving a part of the gas while exchanging heat with the outside air in the main condenser 21 and then supplied to the dewproof pipe 41. The refrigerant that has passed through the dewproof pipe 41 dissipates heat through the housing 12 and condenses while warming the opening of the freezer compartment 18. The liquid refrigerant that has passed through the dew-proof pipe 41 is moisture-removed by the dryer 42, depressurized by the throttle 43, and evaporated by the evaporator 20, while exchanging heat with the air in the refrigerator compartment 17 and cooling the refrigerator compartment 17. Then, it returns to the compressor 19 as a gaseous refrigerant (hereinafter, this operation is referred to as “PC cooling”).

  Next, when the temperature detected by the PCC temperature sensor 35 falls to a predetermined OFF temperature or when the temperature detected by the FCC temperature sensor 34 rises to a predetermined ON temperature, the freezer damper 31 is opened and refrigerated. The chamber damper 32 is closed, and the compressor 19, the fan 23, and the evaporator fan 30 are driven. Thereafter, by operating the refrigeration cycle in the same manner as PC cooling, the freezer compartment 18 is cooled by exchanging heat between the inside air of the freezer compartment 18 and the evaporator 20 (hereinafter, this operation is referred to as “FC cooling”). Next, when the temperature detected by the FCC temperature sensor 34 falls to a predetermined OFF temperature, the cooling stop operation is performed.

  Note that off-cycle cooling operates in preference to cooling stop during cooling stop, and does not operate during PC cooling and FC cooling. In addition, PC cooling and FC cooling are operated with priority over off-cycle cooling. Further, the OFF temperature at which the off-cycle cooling is stopped is set higher than the ON temperature at which the PC cooling is started. As a result, during normal operation, the basic operation is to repeat a series of operations of PC cooling, FC cooling, and cooling stop in order, and while the PC cooling and FC cooling operations are not performed, the cooling stop and off-cycle cooling are performed several times. Repeat repeatedly.

  In FIG. 3, section a corresponds to PC cooling, section b corresponds to FC cooling, section c corresponds to off-cycle cooling, and section d corresponds to cooling stop operation. By this series of operations, the efficiency of the refrigeration cycle can be increased by keeping the temperature of the evaporator 20 at the time of PC cooling higher than that at the time of FC cooling, and the frost adhering to the evaporator 20 is melted by off-cycle cooling. By reusing latent heat, energy can be saved by reducing the capacity of the refrigeration cycle necessary for cooling the refrigerator compartment 17 while reducing heater power (not shown) during defrosting.

  Further, based on the DFP temperature sensor 36 provided in the upper part of the refrigerating chamber 17 having a relatively large temperature change, the off-cooling is performed several times while the PC cooling operation and the FC cooling operation are not performed. Since the ratio between the off-cycle cooling and the PC cooling for cooling 17 can be accurately adjusted, the PC cooling operation time can be appropriately ensured.

  In addition, as the detection temperature of the PCC temperature sensor 35 or the FCC temperature sensor 34 increases, even in the case of off-cycle cooling, this is stopped, and PC cooling or FC cooling is preferentially switched to PC cooling or FC cooling. An operation time can be ensured appropriately, and temperature changes in the refrigerator compartment 17 and the freezer compartment 18 can be suppressed.

Further, by setting the OFF temperature at which the off-cycle cooling is stopped higher than the ON temperature at which the PC cooling is started, the temperature of the DFP temperature sensor 36 provided in the upper part of the refrigerating chamber 17 having a relatively high temperature is set as the PCC temperature sensor By controlling the off-cycle cooling while keeping it relatively high, the temperature change in the upper part of the refrigerator compartment 17 can be suppressed. In the first embodiment, the OFF temperature for stopping off-cycle cooling is set higher than the ON temperature for starting PC cooling. However, the OFF temperature for stopping off-cycle cooling is set to OFF for stopping PC cooling. The same effect can be obtained even if the temperature is set higher than the temperature.

  Further, the duct 33 is formed on the wall surface of the refrigerating room 17 adjacent to the upper machine room 16 that is hotter than the outside air, thereby cooling the refrigerating room 17 during off-cycle cooling and PC cooling, particularly the refrigerating room 17. By raising the temperature of the cool air that cools the upper part of the refrigerator, it is possible to avoid overcooling of the upper part of the refrigerator compartment 17 and further suppress temperature fluctuations of the upper part of the refrigerator compartment 17, and Since cooling can be avoided, the amount of cool air that cools the refrigerator compartment 17 during PC cooling can be increased, and the efficiency of the heat exchange of the evaporator 20 can be improved to obtain higher refrigeration cycle efficiency during PC cooling. it can.

  Then, after a normal operation consisting of a series of operations of PC cooling, FC cooling, off-cycle cooling, and cooling stop is continued for a predetermined time, the heater 44 for heating is used as necessary to remove frost attached to the evaporator 20. A relatively long period of off-cycle cooling is performed using this (this operation is hereinafter referred to as “off-cycle differential”). In FIG. 4, the control flow of the off-cycle differential is from “freezer compartment damper close” to “defrost completion determination”.

  First, immediately before starting the PC cooling, when the normal operation exceeds a predetermined time, it is determined that “defrosting has started”. This is aimed at the timing when the temperature in the refrigerator compartment 17 is relatively high and the amount of heat is large in order to melt and remove the frost attached to the evaporator 20 using the amount of heat in the refrigerator compartment 17.

  Then, the amount of the food stored in the refrigerator compartment 17 is determined. When the amount of food is large, the heating heater 44 is not energized, and when the amount of food is small, the heating heater 44 is energized. Thereafter, as a series of operations of the off-cycle differential, the freezer compartment damper 31 is closed with the compressor 19 stopped, the refrigerator compartment damper 32 is opened, and the evaporator fan 30 is driven to defrost the evaporator 20. To implement.

  Here, a method for estimating the amount of food stored in the refrigerator compartment 17 will be described. Since the PC cooling for mainly cooling the refrigerator compartment 17 is controlled based on the PCC temperature sensor 35, the average value of the temperature detected by the PCC temperature sensor 35 has a good correlation with the temperature of the food stored in the refrigerator compartment 17. is there. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 3, the DFP temperature sensor 36 that detects the temperature of the upper part of the refrigerator compartment 17 is relatively higher than the PCC temperature sensor 35 in the modes (b, c, d) other than the PC cooling. Cooling (a) tends to approach the PCC temperature sensor 35. This is because cold air is mainly supplied from the upper part of the refrigerator compartment 17 through the duct 33.

  As a result, when the amount of food stored in the refrigerator compartment 17 is relatively large and the heat capacity in the refrigerator compartment 17 is large, the total amount of cold air supplied from the upper part of the refrigerator compartment 17 becomes large, and the DFP temperature sensor 36 The temperature to be detected decreases to a temperature that is about the same as or lower than that of the PCC temperature sensor 35. On the other hand, when the amount of food stored in the refrigerator compartment 17 is relatively small and the heat capacity in the refrigerator compartment 17 is small, the temperature detected by the DFP temperature sensor 36 is lowered only to a temperature relatively higher than the PCC temperature sensor 35. do not do.

  Therefore, for example, when the minimum value of the detected temperature of the DFP temperature sensor 36 during PC cooling is lower than the detected temperature of the PCC temperature sensor 35 at the same time by a predetermined value or more, the food stored in the refrigerator compartment 17 It can be determined that the amount is large. Similarly, the amount of food stored in the refrigerator compartment 17 can be determined from the difference in temperature behavior during off-cycle cooling, but the detection accuracy is excellent because the temperature change during PC cooling is greater.

In the refrigerator according to the first embodiment of the present invention, the amount of food stored in the refrigerator compartment 17 is estimated based on the difference in temperature behavior during PC cooling between the DFP temperature sensor 36 and the PCC temperature sensor 35. The amount of heat of the food stored in the refrigerator compartment 17 can be directly estimated, and the output of the heating heater 44 can be accurately adjusted.

  And, when a DEF temperature sensor (not shown) for detecting the temperature of the evaporator 20 detects over 0 ° C., “defrosting completion determination”, that is, that the frost attached to the evaporator 20 has been completely removed. After the determination, the off-cycle differential operation is terminated, and the energization of the heating heater 44 is stopped, and then the normal operation is resumed.

  With this off-cycle differential, especially when the amount of food stored in the refrigerator compartment 17 is large, the heating heater 44 is not used, and at the same time, the capacity of the refrigerating cycle necessary for cooling the refrigerator compartment 17 is reduced. Can save energy. At this time, since the amount of food stored in the refrigerator compartment 17 is large and the amount of heat necessary for defrosting the evaporator 20 can be ensured, the off-cycle differential can be completed in an appropriate time.

  When the amount of food stored in the refrigerator compartment 17 is small due to the off-cycle differential, the heater 44 is used for heating, and the amount of food stored in the refrigerator compartment 17 and the power output from the heater 44 for heating are used. By using both of the quantities as heat sources, it is possible to reduce energy consumption by reducing the amount of power of the heater 44 for heating and reducing the capacity of the refrigeration cycle necessary for cooling the refrigerator compartment 17. At this time, it is possible to secure the amount of heat necessary for defrosting the evaporator 20 by supplementing the amount of heat of the food stored in the refrigerator compartment 17 with the amount of electric power output from the heater 44 for heating. The off-cycle differential can be terminated.

  In the refrigerator according to the first embodiment of the present invention, the heat source for the off-cycle differential is adjusted by switching the heating heater 44 on / off, but the output is output when the amount of food stored in the refrigerator compartment 17 is large. If the amount of food stored in the refrigerator compartment 17 is small, the same effect can be expected even if the output is reduced and the output of the heating heater 44 is selected.

  As described above, the refrigerator of the present invention has an off-cycle differential mode in which the evaporator 20 is defrosted while cooling the refrigerator compartment 17 while the refrigeration cycle is stopped. After detecting the amount of food stored in the refrigeration room and selecting the output of the heater to be used as an auxiliary, the off cycle def is executed to properly control the time required for the off cycle def. It is possible to suppress the rise in temperature of the refrigerator compartment and the freezer compartment during the off-cycle def, and to reduce the amount of electric power of the heater required for defrosting and to save energy in the refrigerator .

  As described above, the refrigerator according to the present invention is a refrigerator having an off-cycle cooling mode and an off-cycle differential mode in which the refrigerator compartment is cooled while the refrigeration cycle is stopped in addition to the FC cooling mode and the PC cooling mode. By adjusting the output of the heater for heating based on the amount of stored food, the off-cycle differential time can be adjusted appropriately, so that it can also be applied to other refrigerated products such as commercial refrigerators.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 Refrigerator 12 Housing | casing 15 Lower machine room 16 Upper machine room 19 Compressor 20 Evaporator 30 Evaporator fan 31 Freezer compartment damper 32 Refrigeration room damper 33 Duct 34 FCC temperature sensor 35 PCC temperature sensor 36 DFP temperature sensor 44 Heating heater

Claims (2)

Refrigeration room, freezing room, refrigeration cycle, evaporator as a component of the refrigeration cycle, evaporator fan for supplying cold air generated in the evaporator to the refrigeration room and the freezing room, and the evaporator A heater for defrosting, a refrigerating room damper for shutting off cool air supplied from the evaporator to the refrigerating room, and a freezer compartment damper for shutting off cool air supplied from the evaporator to the freezing room An FC cooling mode in which the freezer compartment damper is opened, the refrigerator compartment damper is closed, and cold air generated in the evaporator is supplied to cool the freezer compartment while operating the refrigerating cycle. A PC cooling mode for closing the freezer damper, opening the refrigerating chamber damper, supplying cold air generated in the evaporator while operating the refrigerating cycle, and cooling the refrigerating chamber; An off-cycle cooling mode in which heat is exchanged between the evaporator and air in the refrigerator compartment by closing the freezer damper, opening the refrigerator compartment damper, and operating the evaporator fan while stopping the refrigeration cycle And by adhering to the evaporator by closing the freezer damper, opening the refrigerator compartment damper and operating the evaporator fan while stopping the refrigeration cycle while energizing the heater. A PCC temperature sensor for detecting the temperature of the refrigeration room, and a DFP for detecting the temperature of the upper part of the refrigeration room. Refrigeration based on the temperature change between the PCC temperature sensor and the DFP temperature sensor in the PC cooling mode or the off-cycle cooling mode. Detecting the food weight housed within, after selecting the output of said heater on the basis of the food weight, intended to implement the off cycle defroster mode, the DFP temperature sensor in the PC cooling mode When the minimum detected temperature is lower than the detected temperature of the PCC temperature sensor at the same time by a predetermined value or more, it is determined that the amount of food stored in the refrigerator compartment is large, and the heating heater is energized. A refrigerator that performs the off-cycle differential mode without . 2. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein whether or not the off-cycle differential mode can be performed is determined immediately before the start of the PC cooling mode.

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