U.S. patent application number 11/703076 was filed with the patent office on 2007-08-09 for cooling apparatus of kimchi refrigerator and method therefor.
This patent application is currently assigned to DAEWOO ELECTRONICS Corporation. Invention is credited to Jin Hwan Kim.
Application Number | 20070180839 11/703076 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 38332607 |
Filed Date | 2007-08-09 |
United States Patent
Application |
20070180839 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Kim; Jin Hwan |
August 9, 2007 |
Cooling apparatus of kimchi refrigerator and method therefor
Abstract
A cooling apparatus of a kimchi refrigerator having a storage
compartment includes a detector for detecting whether a door is
opened or not; a timer for performing to count an opening time of a
door when it is detected that the door is opened; a heat exchanger
installed in the door for cooling down warm air flown into an upper
part of the storage compartment to discharge the cooled air into
the storage compartment; and a controller for calculating a driving
time during which the heat exchanger is driven and providing a
cooling control signal to the heart exchanger pursuant to the
driving time when it is detected that the door is closed by the
detector.
Inventors: |
Kim; Jin Hwan; (Seoul,
KR) |
Correspondence
Address: |
BACON & THOMAS, PLLC
625 SLATERS LANE, FOURTH FLOOR
ALEXANDRIA
VA
22314
US
|
Assignee: |
DAEWOO ELECTRONICS
Corporation
Seoul
KR
|
Family ID: |
38332607 |
Appl. No.: |
11/703076 |
Filed: |
February 7, 2007 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
62/178 ; 62/186;
62/440 |
Current CPC
Class: |
F25B 21/02 20130101;
F25D 2700/02 20130101; F25D 2317/0665 20130101; F25D 2700/12
20130101; F25B 2321/0212 20130101; F25D 29/00 20130101; F25D
2600/02 20130101; F25D 23/12 20130101; F25D 31/005 20130101; F25D
2400/10 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
62/178 ; 62/186;
62/440 |
International
Class: |
F25D 17/00 20060101
F25D017/00; F25D 17/04 20060101 F25D017/04 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Feb 9, 2006 |
KR |
10-2006-0012503 |
Feb 9, 2006 |
KR |
10-2006-0012504 |
Claims
1. A cooling apparatus of a kimchi refrigerator having a storage
compartment, comprising: a detector for detecting whether a door is
opened or not; a timer for performing to count an opening time of a
door when it is detected that the door is opened; a heat exchanger
installed in the door for cooling down warm air flown into an upper
part of the storage compartment to discharge the cooled air into
the storage compartment; and a controller for calculating a driving
time during which the heat exchanger is driven and providing a
cooling control signal to the heart exchanger pursuant to the
driving time when it is detected that the door is closed by the
detector.
2. The cooling apparatus of claim 1, wherein the heat exchanger
includes a cooler for producing cool air to exchange the cool air
with the warm air.
3. The cooling apparatus of claim 2, wherein the heat exchanger
further includes: a cooling fan for sucking the warm air from the
storage compartment to discharge the cooled air that has been
heat-exchanged in the cooler into the storage compartment; and a
cooling fan driver for driving the cooling fan.
4. The cooling apparatus of claim 2, wherein the cooler is a
thermoelectric device.
5. The cooling apparatus of claim 4, wherein the cooling control
signal includes electrical current applied to the thermoelectric
device.
6. The cooling apparatus of claim 3, further comprising: a cool air
suction inlet, formed in the door, for sucking the warm air from
the storage compartment therethrough; a cooling air discharge
outlet, formed in the door, for discharging the heat-exchanged cold
air in the cooler into the storage compartment therethrough.
7. The cooling apparatus of claim 1, wherein the heat exchanger
includes a cold storage medium storing cooling air sucked from the
storage compartment.
8. The cooling apparatus of claim 7, wherein the cold storage
medium includes ethylene glycol.
9. A cooling apparatus of a kimchi refrigerator, comprising: a
detector for detecting whether a door is opened or not; a
temperature sensor for continuously detecting a current temperature
in the upper part of the storage compartment when it is detected
that the door is opened; a heat exchanger installed in the door for
cooling down warm air flown into the upper part of the storage
compartment to discharge the cooled air into the storage
compartment; and a controller for providing a cooling control
signal to the heat exchanger to drive it until the current
temperature reach a predetermined temperature in the storage
compartment when it is detected that the door is closed by the
detector.
10. The cooling apparatus of claim 9, wherein the heat exchanger
includes a cooler for producing cool air to exchange the cool air
with the warm air.
11. The cooling apparatus of claim 10, wherein the heat exchanger
further includes: a cooling fan for sucking the warm air from the
storage compartment to discharging the cooled air that is
heat-exchanged in the cooler into the storage compartment; and a
cooling fan driver for driving the cooling fan.
12. The cooling apparatus of claim 10, wherein the cooler is a
thermoelectric device.
13. The cooling apparatus of claim 12, wherein the cooling control
signal includes electrical current applied to the thermoelectric
device.
14. The cooling apparatus of claim 11, further comprising: a cool
air suction inlet, formed in the door, for sucking the warm air
from the storage compartment; a cooling air discharge outlet,
formed in the door, for discharging the heat-exchanged cold air in
the cooler into the storage compartment.
15. The cooling apparatus of claim 10, wherein the heat exchanger
includes a cold storage medium storing cooling air sucked from the
storage compartment.
16. The cooling apparatus of claim 15, wherein the cold storage
medium includes ethylene glycol.
17. A cooling method of a kimchi refrigerator having a storage
compartment, comprising: detecting whether a door is opened or not;
performing to count an opening time of the door; calculating a
driving time of a heat exchanger pursuant to the counted opening
time; and driving the heat exchanger until the driving time is over
when the door is closed so that warm air flown into the upper part
of the storage compartment is cooled down and discharged into the
storage compartment.
18. The method of claim 17, wherein the driving time represents a
time period needed to cool down the warm air to a level of a
storage temperature of the storage compartment.
19. A cooling method of a kimchi refrigerator having a storage
compartment, comprising: detecting whether a door is opened or not;
sensing a current temperature in the storage compartment; and
driving a heat exchanger until the current temperature reaches a
predetermined temperature when the door is closed so that warm air
flown into the upper part of the storage compartment is cooled down
and discharged into the storage compartment.
20. The method of claim 19, wherein the predetermined temperature
represents a reference temperature needed to maintain the storage
compartment to a storage temperature thereof.
Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The present invention relates to a kimchi refrigerator, and
more specifically, to a cooling apparatus of a kimchi refrigerator
and a cooling method therefor, capable of rapidly cooling warm air
flown into an upper part of a storage compartment when a door of
the kimchi refrigerator is opened.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] Generally, in order to store frozen food and cold storage
food or fermented food (for example, kimchi and the like), there
are needed respective storages to store them at proper
temperatures. For the purpose of it, a refrigerator has a frozen
chamber and a cool chamber, which is mainly used.
[0003] Meanwhile, in the case that the cold storage foods and the
fermented foods are together stored in the cool chamber of the
refrigerator, there occurs a powerful stink in the cool chamber due
to the fermentation of the fermented food and also the powerful
stink penetrates into other cold storage food, thus changing native
smell of the cold storage food. Further, as the cold storage food
and the fermented food stored in the cold chamber increases in
their volume, it is needed to store voluminous fermented food (for
example, kimchi) in a separated storage.
[0004] Further, the kimchi becomes delicious when it is stored in a
storage container (for example, kimchi pot) buried into the ground
to ripe properly as traditional method in Korea.
[0005] However, due to the restriction of residence environment
such as an apartment house, a tenement house and the like, it is
not easy to bury such a storage container into the ground and to
store it in the residence hall, too.
[0006] Recently, in order to solve such a problem, a study has been
made on a kimchi refrigerator which is not a general refrigerator
but a separate refrigerator used to store kimchi, the kimchi
refrigerator commonly providing a storage compartment with
refrigerant compressed in a compressor by controlling a step
motor.
[0007] Further, according to an opening scheme of a door in the
kimchi refrigerator, the kimchi refrigerator is classified into a
cover type refrigerator whose door is attached in an upper part
thereof using a hinge or the like, a drawer type refrigerator whose
door is formed of a drawer, and a combination type refrigerator in
which the cover type and the drawer type are mixed.
[0008] Further, in the case of the cover type refrigerator, the
door has a cooling fan to flow cooling air of the storage
compartment from an upper part to a lower portion.
[0009] However, such a kimchi refrigerator in the art has a problem
in that, in order to lower a temperature of warm external air flown
into the upper part of the storage compartment when the door is
opened, the compressor should be driven. Therefore, the
refrigerator efficiency is reduced since much power is consumed as
the compressor is driven.
[0010] Further, there occurs a problem in that the warm air flown
into the upper part of the storage compartment is compulsorily
circulated into a lower portion of the storage compartment by the
cooling fan before the warm air is converted into cold air whose
temperature is properly predetermined, thus deteriorating the state
of the stored goods.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0011] It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to
provide a cooling apparatus of a kimchi refrigerator and a cooling
method therefor, capable of cooling down warm air flown into an
upper part of a storage compartment of the Kimchi refrigerator when
the door is opened and then discharging the cooled air into the
storage compartment.
[0012] According to a first embodiment of the present invention,
there is provided a cooling apparatus of a Kimchi refrigerator
having a storage compartment, comprising: a detector for detecting
whether a door is opened or not; a timer for performing to count an
opening time of a door when it is detected that the door is opened;
a heat exchanger installed in the door for cooling down warm air
flown into an upper part of the storage compartment to discharge
the cooled air into the storage compartment; and a controller for
calculating a driving time during which the heat exchanger is
driven and providing a cooling control signal to the heart
exchanger pursuant to the driving time when it is detected that the
door is closed by the detector.
[0013] According to a second embodiment of the present invention,
there is provided a cooling apparatus of a kimchi refrigerator,
comprising: a detector for detecting whether a door is opened or
not; a temperature sensor for continuously detecting a current
temperature in the upper part of the storage compartment when it is
detected that the door is opened; a heat exchanger installed in the
door for cooling down warm air flown into the upper part of the
storage compartment to discharge the cooled air into the storage
compartment; and a controller for controlling the heat exchanger to
drive until the current temperature reach a predetermined reference
temperature in the storage compartment when it is detected that the
door is closed by the detector.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0014] The above and other objects and features of the present
invention will become apparent from the following description of
preferred embodiments given in conjunction with the accompanying
drawings, in which:
[0015] FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a kimchi refrigerator
employing a cooling apparatus in accordance with the present
invention;
[0016] FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a first embodiment of a cooling
apparatus employed in the kimchi refrigerator in accordance with
the present invention;
[0017] FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a cooling method in
accordance with the first embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2; and
[0018] FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a second embodiment of a
cooling apparatus employed in the kimchi refrigerator in accordance
with the present invention; and
[0019] FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a cooling method in
accordance with the second embodiment illustrated in FIG. 4.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0020] Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention
will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying
drawings so that they can be readily implemented by those skilled
in the art.
First Embodiment
[0021] FIG. 1 shows a sectional view of a kimchi refrigerator
employing a cooling apparatus in accordance with the present
invention, and FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram illustrating a
first embodiment of the cooling apparatus employed in the kimchi
refrigerator.
[0022] As shown, the kimchi refrigerator includes a main body 100
and a cover type door 160 installed in an upper part of the main
body 100 using a hinge (not shown). The main body 100 includes a
compressor 110 to compress refrigerant, a condenser 120 in which a
heat exchange of the refrigerant compressed in the compressor 110
is performed, a cooling fan 130 with which a heat exchange of the
refrigerant passing through the condenser 120 is performed, and an
evaporator 140 installed on a storage compartment 150, in which the
refrigerant heat-exchanged in the condenser 120 is vaporized while
it passes through an expansion valve (not shown), and cooled by
performing a heat exchange with ambient air.
[0023] The cover type door 160 has a cooling apparatus incorporated
therein, which includes a door opening detector 210, a timer 220, a
heat changer 300, 170 and 171, and a controller 200.
[0024] The door opening detector 210 is installed in the door 160
and detects whether the door 160 is opened or not to produce a door
opening signal or a door closing signal. The door opening signal
represents the opening of the door while the door closing signal
represents the closing of the door, and these signals are provided
to the controller 200. Alternatively, the door opening detector 210
may be installed in the main body 100.
[0025] In the case that the door opening signal is generated from
the door opening detector 210, the timer 220 starts to count an
opening time of the door until the door is closed, under the
control of the controller 200. The counted total opening time is
provided to the controller 200.
[0026] The heat changer, installed in the door 160, serves to cool
down warm air flown into an upper part of the storage compartment
150 by performing heat exchange. The heat changer has a cooler 300,
a cooling fan driver 170 and a cooling fan 171. The cooler 300,
installed in the door 160, serves to lower down warm air flown by
the cooling fan 171. Such a cooler 300 preferably uses a
thermoelectric element.
[0027] In the present embodiment, the thermoelectric element
includes a peltier device which utilizes the peltier effect in
which a heat absorption (or generation) is caused by electric
current is used. The peltier effect is a phenomenon where when two
kinds of metal are connected in their ends and electric current
flows therethrough, one end performs an exothermic reaction and the
other performs an endothermic reaction, according to a direction of
the electric current.
[0028] The cooling fan driver 170, in response to a cooling control
signal from the controller 200, drives the cooling fan 171 to suck
the warm air flown into the upper part of the storage compartment
150 through an air suction inlet 180 and discharge the air that is
heat-exchanged by the cooler 300 into the upper part of the kimchi
refrigerator 100 through a discharge outlet 190 so that a circular
path of air flow is formed.
[0029] The air suction inlet 180 is formed in a predetermined
position, e.g., below the cooling fan 171, on a bottom of the door
160. The discharge outlet 190 is formed in a predetermined position
on a bottom of the door 160 to communicate with the storage
compartment 150.
[0030] The controller 200 controls overall operations of the kimchi
refrigerator. Moreover, the controller 200, in response to the door
opening signal from the door opening detector 210, causes the timer
220 to count the opening time of the door 160 and calculates a
driving time on a based of the opening time of the door. Then the
controller 200 issues the cooling control signal to the heat
exchanger to drive it for the driving time during which the heat
exchanger is driven to cool down the warm air flown into the upper
part of the storage compartment 150 and discharge a cooled air into
the storage compartment 150.
[0031] According to the present invention, the driving time may be
calculated by: dividing the opening time as sections in each
predetermined time interval, e.g., about 10 seconds and
correspondingly assigning an appropriate driving time to each
divided section. Each driving time refers to a period of time
necessary to drive the heat exchanger to cool down the warm air to
a level of a storage temperature of the storage compartment
150.
[0032] Accordingly, in the present embodiment, the warm air can be
cooled by permitting the warm air through the thermoelectric device
to be cooled through an endothermic reaction using the electric
current applied to the thermoelectric element according to the
cooling control signal output from the controller 200 and
performing the heat exchange. Further, a conversion into the
exothermic reaction can be obtained according to a direction of the
electric current.
[0033] Further, it is also possible to control the amount of the
endothermic reaction or exothermic reaction according to an
electric current capacity applied to the thermoelectric element, so
that the amount of the endothermic reaction or exothermic reaction
can be controlled by adding an additional signal to increase the
electric current capacity to the cooling control signal output from
the controller 200 or changing an applied time of the cooling
control signal and then changing the electric current capacity
applied to the thermoelectric device.
[0034] Further, it is well known that those skilled in the art may
change the thermoelectric device with a constituent with that
cooling air can be generated.
[0035] Alternatively, the cooler 300 may include a cold storage
medium to store the cooling air. Such a cold storage medium serves
to perform a heat exchange of the air flown from the cooling air
sucking inlet 180 so as to be cooled. That is, under the control of
the controller 200, as the cooling fan 171 is driven, the air in
the storage compartment 150 is flown into the door 160 through the
cooling air sucking inlet 180, and the flown air is heat exchanged
with the cold storage medium. Unlike the cooler 300, the cold
storage medium keeps the same temperature as the storage
temperature of the storage compartment 150. For the sake of that,
the cold storage medium receives cooling air from the storage
compartment 150 through the cooling fan 171, keeping it at a
constant temperature. Accordingly, the warm air flown into the
storage compartment 150 after having been opened the door 160 is
flown into the door 160 by the cooling fan 171, and is converted
into the cooling air by performing a heat exchange with the cold
storage medium which keeps the same temperature as the storage
temperature of the storage compartment 150.
[0036] FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a cooling method of the
cooling apparatus in accordance with the first embodiment of the
present invention.
[0037] First of all, the controller 200 determines whether the door
160 of the kimchi refrigerator is opened or not through the use of
the door opening detector 210 (S100). If positive, under the
control of the controller 200, an opening time of the door begins
to be counted by the timer 220 (S110). However, if negative, a
control process returns to the step S100.
[0038] During counting the opening time of the door, it is
determined by the controller 200 whether a door closing signal is
generated from the door opening detector 210 (S120).
[0039] If it is determined that the door is closed in the step
S120, then the controller 200 forces to stop the counting of the
door opening time and calculates a total opening time from the time
of opening of the door to the time of the closing of the door
(S130).
[0040] Thereafter, the controller 200 calculates a driving time of
the heat exchanger on a basis of the counted total opening time
calculated in the step S130 (S140).
[0041] In the step S150, a cooling control signal from the
controller 200 is provided to the heat exchanger. Accordingly, the
cooling fan 171 of the heat exchanger is driven to suck the warm
air flown into the upper part of the storage compartment of the
kimchi refrigerator through the cooling air suction inlet 180, and
the sucked warm air is heat exchanged while it is passing through
the cooler 300 and discharged into the storage compartment 150
through the cooling air discharge outlet 190.
[0042] Subsequently, the controller 200 continuously checks whether
the driving time of the heat exchanger is over or not in order to
determine a driving termination of the heat exchanger while
performing the step S150 (S160). In case that the driving time of
the heat exchanger does not exceed, the control process returns to
the step S150.
[0043] However, in the case that the driving time is over in the
step S160, a control signal to terminate the driving of the heat
exchanger is issued to the heat exchanger, that is, the cooling fan
driver 170 and the cooler 300 (S170), whereby the control process
is completed.
Second Embodiment
[0044] FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating another embodiment of
a cooling apparatus employed in the kimchi refrigerator in
accordance with the present invention.
[0045] The second embodiment of the cooling apparatus is also
incorporated in the cover type door 160 in an upper part of the
kimchi refrigerator as in the first embodiment of the present
invention.
[0046] The cooling apparatus includes a door opening detector 210,
a temperature sensor 230, a cooler 300, a cooling fan driver 170
and a cooling fan 171, and a controller 200.
[0047] The cooling apparatus of the second embodiment of the
present invention is substantially identical with that of the first
embodiment, except that the timer is substituted with the
temperature sensor, which will be fully discussed as below.
Therefore, the components having the same reference numerals in the
second embodiment as those in the first embodiment will not be
fully discussed for the sake of a simple explanation.
[0048] The temperature sensor 230, installed in the storage
compartment 150, detects a current temperature in the upper part of
the storage compartment 150 caused by the flown warm air when the
door 160 is opened. The detected current temperature is provided to
the controller 200.
[0049] The controller 200 controls overall operations of the kimchi
refrigerator. Moreover, the controller 200 has a predetermined
reference temperature maintaining the, storage compartment 150 to a
storage temperature thereof.
[0050] Then, the controller 200, when receiving a door closing
signal from the door opening detector 210, issues a cooling control
signal to the cooler 300 and the cooling fan driver 170 in order to
cool down the warm air flown into the upper part of the storage
compartment 150.
[0051] That is, the controller 200 continuously detects through the
temperature sensor 230 the current temperature in the storage
compartment 150 being changed by the warm air flown when the door
160 is opened, and then provides the cooling control signal to the
heat exchanger when the door 160 is closed until the current
temperature reaches the reference temperature.
[0052] FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a cooling method in
accordance with the second embodiment illustrated in FIG. 4.
[0053] First of all, the controller 200 detects whether the door
160 of the kimchi refrigerator is opened or not (S200) through the
use of the door opening detector 210.
[0054] If it is detected that the door is open, a control process
goes to step S210 where a current temperature raised warm air flown
into the upper part of the storage compartment 150 when the door
160 is open is detected by the temperature sensor 230.
[0055] If it is detected that the door 160 does not open, however,
the control process returns to the step S200.
[0056] During detecting the current temperature, in the step S220,
it is detected whether the door closing signal is generated from
the door opening detector 210.
[0057] If positive, the control process goes to step S230; however,
if negative, the control process returns to the step S220.
[0058] In the step S230, the controller 200 provides a cooling
control signal to the heat exchanger for driving it if the
controller 200 detects that the door 160 is closed by checking the
door closing signal from the door closing detector 210 at
present.
[0059] Thereafter, pursuant to the cooling control signal provided
from the controller 200, the cooling fan 171 is driven by the
cooling fan driver 170 to suck the warm air flown into the upper
part of the storage compartment 150 through the cooling air suction
inlet 180. Accordingly, the sucked warm air by the cooling fan 171
is heat exchanged while it is passing through the cooler 300 and
discharged into the storage compartment 150 through the cooling air
discharge outlet 190.
[0060] During driving the heat exchanger, the controller 200 checks
whether the current temperature is changed by comparing it with the
reference temperature (S250).
[0061] In the case that the current temperature still exceeds the
reference temperature in the step S250, the controller 200 keeps
the cooling control signal to repeatedly perform the steps S230 to
S240.
[0062] Meanwhile, in the step S250, in the case that the current
temperature is equal to or lower than the reference temperature,
the controller 200 does not provide the cooling control signal to
the heat exchanger, to thereby terminating the driving of the heat
exchanger.
[0063] As described above, the present invention has an advantage
that the warm air flown into the kimchi refrigerator when the door
is opened is rapidly sucked and cooled down.
[0064] Further, the present invention has an advantage that the
temperature of the storage compartment can be rapidly stabilized
with the minimized compressor driving or without any compressor
driving, since the flown warm air is rapidly cooled down as the
door is opened.
[0065] Further, the present invention has an advantage that
electric energy efficiency can be remarkably enhanced since the
temperature change of the kimchi refrigerator when the door is
opened can be controlled without driving the compressor.
[0066] While the invention has been shown and described with
respect to the preferred embodiments, it will be understood by
those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may
be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the
invention as defined in the following claims.
* * * * *