Abstrict A refrigerator has a device for generating an air curtain, and
the air curtain generating device operates according to the sensor
for sensing the opening/closing of the door and the temperatures
in the cooling compartment sensed by temperature sensors. The air
curtain is generated when the door is opened and when the temperature
of the area near the door is higher than the temperature of the
area distant from the door. Thus, the area near the door in the
cooling compartment is efficiently cooled when the door is closed,
and the operation for generating an air curtain is exactly performed
when the door is opened even if the sensor for sensing the opening/closing
of the door is out of order.
Claims What is claimed is:
1. A refrigerator having a cabinet forming a cooling compartment,
a door mounted on said cabinet for opening/closing an opening of
said cooling compartment, said refrigerator comprising:
a cool air duct having a cool air port opened at an area adjacent
to the opening of said cooling compartment;
a fan for blowing cool air in said cool air duct to be discharged
through the cool air port so as to generate an air curtain for shutting
off the opening of said cooling compartment;
a means for sensing opening/closing of said door;
a means for sensing temperatures of areas adjacent to said door
and distant from said door;
a control part for controlling said blowing fan to operate when
an opened door is sensed by said opening/closing sensing means and
when the temperature of the area adjacent to said door is sensed
by said temperature sensing means to be higher than the temperature
of the area distant from said door.
2. The refrigerator as claimed in claim 1, wherein said opening/closing
sensing means is a push button switch being pushed and released
when said door is closed and opened respectively.
3. The refrigerator as claimed in claim 1, wherein said temperature
sensing means comprises,
a door temperature sensor being disposed near said door in said
compartment; and
a cooling compartment temperature sensor being disposed at an opposite
side wall to said door in said cooling compartment.
4. A method for controlling an air curtain generating operation
in a refrigerator, said refrigerator having a cabinet forming a
cooling compartment, a door mounted on said cabinet for opening/closing
an opening of said cooling compartment, a cool air duct having a
cool air port opened at an area adjacent to the opening of said
cooling compartment, a fan for blowing cool air in said cool air
duct to be discharged through the cool air port, wherein an air
curtain for shutting off the opening of said cooling compartment
is generated by the cool air discharged through the cool air port
according to an operation of said blowing fan, said controlling
method comprising the steps of:
sensing opening/closing of said door;
operating said blowing fan if said door is opened;
sensing temperatures of areas adjacent to said door and distant
from said door; and
controlling said blowing fan to operate when the temperature of
the area adjacent to said door is sensed to be higher than the temperature
of the area distant from said door. Description BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a refrigerator having a device
for generating an air curtain which is operated according to the
temperatures in a cooling compartment and a method for controlling
an air curtain generating operation thereof.
2. Prior Art
FIG. 1 shows a conventional refrigerator, which shows a refrigerator
having a device for generating an air curtain for shutting off the
opening of a cooling compartment when the door is opened. The refrigerator
has, as shown in FIG. 1, a cabinet 10 forming a freezing compartment
21 and a fresh food compartment 22 which are partitioned from each
other by a wall 27, and a freezing compartment door 24 and a fresh
food compartment door 25 which open/close the freezing compartment
21 and fresh food compartment 22 respectively.
A compressor 23 is installed in a lower rear part of the cabinet
10, and an evaporator 29 for generating cool air by evaporating
refrigerant supplied from the compressor 23 is installed in the
rear of the freezing compartment 21. A cooling fan 19 for blowing
the cool air generated by the evaporator 29 is installed at the
upper side of the evaporator 29.
A device 20 for generating an air curtain is provided in the upper
side of the fresh food compartment 22. The air curtain generating
device 20 comprises a cool air duct 13 provided in the upper side
of the fresh food compartment 22, and a blowing fan 11 for blowing
the cool air from the evaporator 29 into the cool air duct 13. The
cool air duct 13 is formed with a cool air discharge port 15 at
one end thereof which is opened downward at the area adjacent to
an opening of the fresh food compartment 22. The cool air blown
into the cool air duct 13 is discharged downward, by which the air
curtain for shutting off the opening of the fresh food compartment
22 is generated.
In the fresh food compartment 22, a sensor (not shown) for sensing
the opening/closing of the fresh food compartment door 25 is provided,
and the blowing fan 11 is controlled to operate only when the open
state of the door 25 is sensed by the sensor. Thus, the air curtain
is generated only when the door 25 is open so as to prevent leakage
of the cool air through the opening of the fresh food compartment
22 at the open state of the door 25.
A plurality of cool air ports 16, 18 are formed at the rear walls
of the freezing compartment 21 and the fresh food compartment 22.
When the door 25 is closed, the cool air from the evaporator 29
is blown by the cooling fan 19 to be supplied into the freezing
compartment 21 and the fresh food compartment 22, and accordingly
the foodstuffs stored in the freezing compartment 21 and the fresh
food compartment 22 are frozen and refrigerated respectively.
However, in such a conventional refrigerator, there is a problem
that the area adjacent to the door 25 cannot be cooled efficiently.
The area adjacent to the door 25 lies in direct contact with th
e outside air when the door 25 is opened, and thus the temperature
thereof rises to the temperature of the outside air in a short time.
But, in such a conventional refrigerator, since the area adjacent
to the door 25 cannot be cooled directly, rapid and uniform cooling
cannot be achieved. Moreover, since the operation of the air curtain
generating device depends on the results of sensing of the sensor,
the operation for generating air curtain cannot be performed exactly
when the sensor is out of order or the operation of the sensor is
unstable.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been proposed to overcome the above described
problems in the prior art, and accordingly it is an object of the
present invention to provide a refrigerator in which the area adjacent
to the door can be cooled by the air curtain generating device,
and the air curtain generation operation is performed exactly despite
the trouble in the operation of the sensor for sensing the opening/closing
of the door.
To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a refrigerator
having a cabinet forming a cooling compartment, a door mounted on
said cabinet for opening/closing an opening of said cooling compartment,
said refrigerator comprising: a cool air duct having a cool air
port opened at an area adjacent to the opening of said cooling compartment;
a fan for blowing cool air in said cool air duct to be discharged
through the cool air port so as to generate an air curtain for shutting
off the opening of said cooling compartment; a means for sensing
opening/closing of said door; a means for sensing temperatures of
areas adjacent to said door and distant from said door; a control
part for controlling said blowing fan to operate when an opened
door is sensed by said opening/closing sensing means and when the
temperature of the area adjacent to said door is sensed by said
temperature sensing means to be higher than the temperature of the
area distant from said door.
It is preferable that said temperature sensing means comprises,
a door temperature sensor being disposed near said door in said
compartment; and a cooling compartment temperature sensor being
disposed at an opposite side wall to said door in said cooling compartment.
Also, according to the present invention, a method for controlling
an air curtain generating operation in a refrigerator is provided,
which is a method for controlling an air curtain generating operation
in a refrigerator, said refrigerator having a cabinet forming a
cooling compartment, a door mounted on said cabinet for opening/closing
an opening of said cooling compartment, a cool air duct having a
cool air port opened at an area adjacent to the opening of said
cooling compartment, a fan for blowing cool air in said cool air
duct to be discharged through the cool air port, wherein an air
curtain for shutting off the opening of said cooling compartment
is generated by the cool air discharged through the cool air port
according to an operation of said blowing fan, said controlling
method comprising the steps of: sensing opening/closing of said
door; operating said blowing fan if said door is opened; sensing
temperatures of areas adjacent to said door and distant from said
door; and controlling said blowing fan to operate when the temperature
of the area adjacent to said door is sensed to be higher than the
temperature of the area distant from said door.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The present invention will be better understood and its various
objects and advantages will be more fully appreciated from the following
description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings,
in which:
FIG. 1 is a side sectional view of a conventional refrigerator
having air curtain generating device;
FIG. 2 is a side sectional view of a refrigerator according to
the present invention;
FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a part of the refrigerator according
to the present invention; and
FIG. 4 is a flow chart of a controlling method according to the
present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail
with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 2 is a side sectional view of a refrigerator according to
the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a part of
the refrigerator according to the present invention. The refrigerator
according to the present invention has, like the conventional refrigerator
shown in FIG. 1, a cabinet 30 forming a freezing compartment 41
and a fresh food compartment 42 which are partitioned from each
other by a wall 47, and a freezing compartment door 44 and a fresh
food compartment door 45 which open/close the freezing compartment
41 and fresh food compartment 42 respectively.
A compressor 43 is installed in a lower rear part of the cabinet
30, and an evaporator 49 for generating cool air by evaporating
refrigerant supplied from the compressor 43 is installed in the
rear of the freezing compartment 41. At the upper side of the evaporator
49, a cooling fan 39 for blowing the cool air generated by the evaporator
49 is installed to supply the freezing compartment 41 and the fresh
food compartment 42 with the cool air.
A device 40 for generating an air curtain which shuts off the opening
of the fresh food compartment 42 according to the opening of the
fresh food compartment door 45 is provided in the upper side of
the fresh food compartment 42. The air curtain generating device
40 comprises a cool air duct 33 provided in the upper side of the
fresh food compartment 42 and a blowing fan 31 for blowing the cool
air from the evaporator 49 into the cool air duct 33. The cool air
duct 33 is formed with a cool air discharge port 35 at one end thereof
which is opened downward at the area adjacent to the opening of
the fresh food compartment 42. The cool air blown into the cool
air duct 33 is discharged downward, by which the air curtain for
shutting off the opening of the fresh food compartment 42 is generated.
For the blowing fan 31, a cross flow fan which is capable of blowing
uniformly is adopted.
A push button switch 60 is installed on the front surface of the
fresh food compartment 42. The push button switch 60 is pushed by
the door 45 when the door 45 is closed and released when the door
45 is opened. A microprocessor 61 installed in the refrigerator
senses that the door 45 is opened when the push button switch 60
is released. The blowing fan 31 operates when the push button switch
60 senses the opened door 45. Thus, the air curtain is generated
when the door 45 is opened, so the leakage of the cool air is prevented
when the door 45 is opened.
Two temperature sensors 63, 65 are installed in the fresh food
compartment 42. The temperature sensors 63, 65 consist of a door
temperature sensor 63 disposed near the inner side surface of the
door 45 in order to sense the temperature of the area adjacent to
the door 45 in the fresh food compartment 42, and a cooling compartment
temperature sensor 65 disposed near the rear wall of the fresh food
compartment 42 in order to sense the temperature of the area distant
from the door 45. The temperatures sensed by the temperature sensors
63, 65 are inputted to the microprocessor 61. If the temperatures
sensed by the temperature sensors 63, 63 are different from each
other at more than a predetermined degree, in other words, if the
temperature of the area near the door 45 is higher than the temperature
of the area near the rear wall of the fresh fool compartment at
more than the predetermined degree, the microprocessor 61 operates
the blowing fan 31 to generate an air curtain.
Hereinbelow, the processor for controlling the refrigerator as
illustrated above will be described.
During the operation of the refrigerator, the microprocessor 61
senses whether the door 45 is opened or not S1. If an opened door
45 is sensed, the microprocessor 61 operates the blowing fan 31
to generate the air curtain for shutting off the frontal opening
of the fresh food compartment 42, S2. If the close state of the
door 45 is sensed during the operation of the blowing fan 31, S3,
the microprocessor 61 stops operating of the blowing fan 31, S4.
When the door 45 is closed, the microprocessor 61 operates the
blowing fan 31 and the cooling fan 35 on the basis of the temperatures
sensed by the temperature sensors 63, 65. That is, if the rise in
the temperature of the area near the door 45 is sensed S5, the blowing
fan 31 begins to operate S6, and if the area near the door 45 is
cooled so that the temperature thereof reaches the temperature in
the fresh food compartment 42 during the operation of the blowing
fan 31, S7, the blowing fan 31 stops operating S8.
Since the air curtain is generated according to the temperature
of the area near the door 45 and the state of the door 45, the leakage
of the cool air is prevented when the door 45 is opened and the
cooling intensity of the area near the door 45 is enhanced when
the door 45 is closed.
As described above according to the present invention, the area
near the door is cooled efficiently when the door is closed, and
the operation for generating an air curtain is exactly performed
when the door is opened even if the sensor for sensing the opening/closing
of the door is out of order.
Although the present invention has been described and illustrated
in detail, it is clearly understood that the same is by way of illustration
and example only and is not to be taken by way of limitation, wherein
the spirit and scope of the present invention is limited only by
the terms of the appended claims. |