This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2010-0105694, filed on Oct. 28, 2010 in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field
Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to dehumidification control of a refrigerating compartment of a refrigerator.
2. Description of the Related Art
A refrigerator includes a main body having a freezing compartment and a refrigerating compartment separated from each other by an intermediate partition, and doors hinged to the main body to open or close the freezing compartment and the refrigerating compartment respectively. An evaporator and a fan are provided in each of the freezing compartment and the refrigerating compartment to produce cold air and blow the cold air into the freezing compartment or the refrigerating compartment.
As the temperature of outside air drops, heat loss of the refrigerating compartment is gradually reduced and consequently, the refrigerating compartment reaches a preset temperature without cooling. That is, cooling time is gradually reduced. In the case where a watery object is stored in the refrigerating compartment, reduction in the cooling time of the refrigerating compartment causes increase in the humidity of the refrigerating compartment, which results in a great amount of dewdrops formed at a surface of the partition toward the refrigerating compartment. Thus, there is a demand for an improved dehumidification control method to prevent formation of dewdrops in the refrigerating compartment.
It is an aspect of the present disclosure to effectively perform both temperature compensation and dehumidification of a refrigerating compartment of a refrigerator to prevent formation of dewdrops in the refrigerating compartment.
Additional aspects of the disclosure will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the disclosure.
In accordance with one aspect of the disclosure, a dehumidification control method of a refrigerator includes detecting a temperature of outside air around the refrigerator to judge whether or not the detected temperature corresponds to a low-temperature mode requiring dehumidification, heating a refrigerating compartment by operating a refrigerating compartment heater and a refrigerating compartment fan for dehumidification if the low-temperature mode is judged, cooling the refrigerating compartment by operating a compressor while continuously operating the refrigerating compartment fan, and simultaneously cooling and heating the refrigerating compartment to enable simultaneous implementation of temperature compensation by heating of the refrigerating compartment and dehumidification by cooling of the refrigerating compartment.
A heating time section of the refrigerating compartment and a cooling time section of the refrigerating compartment may be controlled to partially overlap each other.
The cooling of the refrigerating compartment may be performed if a preset time passes after heating of the refrigerating compartment is begun.
In accordance with another aspect of the present disclosure, a dehumidification control method of a refrigerator includes detecting a temperature of outside air around the refrigerator to judge whether or not the detected temperature corresponds to a low-temperature mode requiring dehumidification, turning off a compressor for a preset time prior to beginning dehumidification if the low-temperature mode is judged, heating the refrigerating compartment by operating a refrigerating compartment heater and a refrigerating compartment fan for dehumidification after the preset time passes, cooling the refrigerating compartment by operating the compressor while continuously operating the refrigerating compartment fan, and simultaneously cooling and heating the refrigerating compartment to enable simultaneous implementation of temperature compensation by heating of the refrigerating compartment and dehumidification by cooling of the refrigerating compartment.
A heating time section of the refrigerating compartment and a cooling time section of the refrigerating compartment may be controlled to partially overlap each other.
The cooling of the refrigerating compartment may be performed if a preset time passes after heating of the refrigerating compartment is begun.
In accordance with another aspect of the present disclosure, a refrigerator includes a compressor to compress a refrigerant, a refrigerating compartment evaporator for cooling of a refrigerating compartment, a refrigerating compartment heater to heat air around the refrigerating compartment evaporator, a refrigerating compartment fan to blow the air around the refrigerating compartment evaporator into the refrigerating compartment, and a control unit to heat the refrigerating compartment by operating the refrigerating compartment heater and the refrigerating compartment fan and cool the refrigerating compartment by operating the compressor while continuously operating the refrigerating compartment fan, the control unit controlling the refrigerator by simultaneously heating and cooling the refrigerating compartment to enable simultaneous implementation of temperature compensation by heating of the refrigerating compartment and dehumidification by cooling of the refrigerating compartment.
The refrigerating compartment evaporator may be located upstream of an air stream generated by rotation of the refrigerating compartment fan and the refrigerating compartment heater may be located downstream of the air stream.
The refrigerating compartment heater may be located upstream of an air stream generated by rotation of the refrigerating compartment fan and the refrigerating compartment evaporator may be located downstream of the air stream.
In accordance with another aspect of the present disclosure, a dehumidification control method of a refrigerator includes detecting a temperature of outside air around the refrigerator to judge whether or not the detected temperature corresponds to a low-temperature mode requiring dehumidification, heating a refrigerating compartment by operating a refrigerating compartment heater and a refrigerating compartment fan after a preset time for first dehumidification passes if the low-temperature mode is judged, cooling the refrigerating compartment by operating a compressor while continuously operating the refrigerating compartment fan, and simultaneously cooling and heating the refrigerating compartment to enable simultaneous implementation of temperature compensation by heating of the refrigerating compartment and dehumidification by cooling of the refrigerating compartment, turning off the compressor for a preset time after completion of the first humidification and before implementation of second dehumidification, and heating the refrigerating compartment by operating the refrigerating compartment heater and the refrigerating compartment fan for second dehumidification after the preset time passes, cooling the refrigerating compartment by operating the compressor while continuously operating the refrigerating compartment fan, and simultaneously cooling and heating the refrigerating compartment to enable simultaneous implementation of temperature compensation by heating of the refrigerating compartment and dehumidification by cooling of the refrigerating compartment.
The first dehumidification and the second dehumidification may be controlled such that a heating time section of the refrigerating compartment and a cooling time section of the refrigerating compartment partially overlap each other.
In each of the first dehumidification and the second dehumidification, the cooling of the refrigerating compartment may be performed if a preset time passes after heating of the refrigerating compartment is begun.
In accordance with a further aspect of the present disclosure, a dehumidification control method of a refrigerator includes heating a refrigerating compartment by operating a refrigerating compartment heater and a refrigerating compartment fan, cooling the refrigerating compartment by operating a compressor while continuously operating the refrigerating compartment fan, and simultaneously cooling and heating the refrigerating compartment to enable simultaneous implementation of temperature compensation by heating of the refrigerating compartment and dehumidification by cooling of the refrigerating compartment.
A heating time section of the refrigerating compartment and a cooling time section of the refrigerating compartment may be controlled to partially overlap each other.
The cooling of the refrigerating compartment may be performed if a preset time passes after heating of the refrigerating compartment is begun.
These and/or other aspects of the disclosure will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which:
Reference will now be made in detail to the exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout.
The refrigerating compartment 110 contains a refrigerating compartment evaporator 106, a refrigerating compartment fan motor 106a, a refrigerating compartment fan 106b, and a refrigerating compartment heater 104a, which are arranged in an innermost cold air generating space thereof (the right region of
Expansion devices (capillary tubes, expansion valves, etc.) (not shown) to depressurize and expand a refrigerant are installed at an entrance of the refrigerating compartment evaporator 106 and an entrance of the freezing compartment evaporator 108. A condenser (not shown) is provided at an exit of a compressor 102. The refrigerating compartment evaporator 106, the expansion device for the refrigerating compartment evaporator 106, the freezing compartment evaporator 108, the expansion device for the freezing compartment evaporator 108, the condenser, and the compressor 102 are connected to one another via refrigerant pipes to constitute a single refrigerant cycle. In addition to the aforementioned constituent elements, the refrigerant cycle may further include, e.g., various shapes of valves and additional refrigerant pipes as necessary.
The refrigerating compartment 110 contains a multi-purpose chamber 130 providing an independently partitioned storage space. The multi-purpose chamber 130 is separably coupled to a guide passage 134 to guide cold air into the multi-purpose chamber 130. A flap 133 is installed at an entrance of the guide passage 134. The flap 133 is hinged to the guide passage 134 and thus, an opening angle of the flap 133 is adjustable. The multi-purpose chamber 130 includes an inclined ceiling panel 132 made of an insulating material. The panel 132 is provided with a plurality of discharge holes, through which the cold air is supplied into the multi-purpose chamber 130.
A damper 109 is installed above the refrigerating compartment fan 106b. If the damper 109 is opened, the cold air generated from the refrigerating compartment evaporator 106 is uniformly supplied into the entire refrigerating compartment 110. On the contrary, if the damper 109 is closed, the cold air generated from the refrigerating compartment evaporator 106 is supplied only into the multi-purpose chamber 130. The damper 109 is driven to be opened or closed by a damper motor 109a.
A compressor drive unit 212, a freezing compartment fan drive unit 214, a refrigerating compartment fan drive unit 216, a damper drive unit 218, a display unit 210, and a defrosting heater drive unit 220 are connected to an output side of the control unit 202 to enable communication therebetween. These drive units respectively drive the compressor 102, the freezing compartment fan motor 108a, the refrigerating compartment fan motor 106a, the damper motor 109a, the refrigerating compartment heater 104a, and the freezing compartment heater 104b. The display unit 210, connected to the output side of the control unit 202 to enable communication therebetween, displays current operational states (temperature, etc.) or various preset values of the refrigerator.
The control unit 202 controls general operation of the refrigerator 100 in cooperation with the above described various constituent elements, to allow the refrigerating compartment 110 and the freezing compartment 120 to reach preset temperatures. In addition, in consideration of the temperature of outside air, the control unit 202 enables automated dehumidification of the refrigerating compartment 110, to prevent formation of dewdrops or frost at the inner surface of the refrigerating compartment 110. Alternatively, dehumidification may be manually performed whenever a user requests (sets) dehumidification, regardless of the temperature of outside air.
For dehumidification, first, as illustrated in
Considering the refrigerating compartment humidity curve of
If the temperature of the refrigerating compartment 110 is not kept constant in the overlap section 302 differently from illustration of
During dehumidification 406 to 414, first, the refrigerating compartment heater 104a is operated for temperature compensation of the refrigerating compartment 110. Also, the refrigerating compartment fan 106b is operated until the compressor 102 begins operation, so as to supply heated air around the refrigerating compartment evaporator 106 into the refrigerating compartment 110 (406). This serves to reduce a temperature difference between cold air generated by new cooling and high-temperature air around the refrigerating compartment evaporator 106. The compressor 102 begins operation at time t1 to start cooling of the refrigerating compartment 110 (408). The overlap section 302 begins simultaneously with operation of the compressor 102. If a preset time of the overlap section 302 passes after the compressor 102 begins operation, the refrigerating compartment fan 106b is continuously operated, but the refrigerating compartment heater 104a is turned off to end the overlap section 302 (410). If completion of dehumidification of the refrigerating compartment 110 is judged, the refrigerating compartment fan 106b is turned off to end dehumidification (412). Here, a criterion to judge completion of dehumidification of the refrigerating compartment 110 may be previously set in the control unit 202 in consideration of cooling time of the refrigerating compartment 110, operation time of the refrigerating compartment heater 104a, the temperature of outside air, etc. Alternatively, dehumidification may be set to end when particular interior conditions of the refrigerating compartment 110 are satisfied. After completion of dehumidification, cooling of the freezing compartment 120 is selectively performed as necessary (414).
In
In the embodiment illustrated in
In
Thus, providing the compressor off section (502 of
Expansion devices (capillary tubes, expansion valves, etc.) (not shown) to depressurize and expand a refrigerant are installed at an entrance of the refrigerating compartment evaporator 706 and an entrance of the freezing compartment evaporator 708. A condenser (not shown) is provided at an exit of a compressor 702. The refrigerating compartment evaporator 706, the expansion device for the refrigerating compartment evaporator 706, the freezing compartment evaporator 708, the expansion device for the freezing compartment evaporator 708, the condenser, and the compressor 702 are connected to one another via refrigerant pipes to constitute a single refrigerant cycle. In addition to the aforementioned constituent elements, the refrigerant cycle may further include, e.g., various shapes of valves and additional refrigerant pipes as necessary.
The refrigerating compartment 710 contains a multi-purpose chamber 730 providing an independently partitioned storage space. The multi-purpose chamber 730 is separably coupled to a guide passage 734 to guide cold air into the multi-purpose chamber 730. A flap 733 is installed at an entrance of the guide passage 734. The flap 733 is hinged to the guide passage 734 and thus, an opening angle of the flap 733 is adjustable. The multi-purpose chamber 730 includes an inclined ceiling panel 732 made of an insulating material. The panel 732 is provided with a plurality of discharge holes, through which the cold air is supplied into the multi-purpose chamber 730.
A damper 709 is installed above the refrigerating compartment fan 706b. If the damper 709 is opened, the cold air generated from the refrigerating compartment evaporator 706 is uniformly supplied into the entire refrigerating compartment 710. On the contrary, if the damper 709 is closed, the cold air generated from the refrigerating compartment evaporator 706 is supplied only into the multi-purpose chamber 730. The damper 709 is driven to be opened or closed by a damper motor 709a.
Unlike in the refrigerating compartment 110 of
As is apparent from the above description, one or more embodiments include a dehumidification control method of a refrigerator to effectively perform both temperature compensation and dehumidification of a refrigerating compartment so as to prevent formation of dewdrops in the refrigerating compartment.
Although embodiments of the present disclosure have been shown and described, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the disclosure, the scope of which is defined in the claims and their equivalents.
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