KR102498724B1 - Refrigerator and Control method of refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a refrigerator and a method for controlling the refrigerator, comprising a controller that, when the temperature of the ice tray reaches a first set temperature, drives the ice tray motor to rotate the ice tray at a set angle to promote freezing, , the control unit determines a temperature change slope (A) of the ice tray before the temperature of the ice tray reaches the first set temperature and a temperature change slope (B) of the ice tray after the ice-ice motor is rotated. In comparison, it is characterized in that the additional operation of the ice breaking motor for promoting icing is determined.

Description

Refrigerator and control method of refrigerator {Refrigerator and Control method of refrigerator}

The present invention relates to a refrigerator and a method for controlling the refrigerator.

In general, a refrigerator is a home appliance that allows low-temperature storage of food in an internal storage space shielded by a door. To this end, the refrigerator is configured to cool the inside of the storage space using cool air generated through heat exchange with a refrigerant circulating in the refrigerating cycle, thereby storing stored food in an optimal state.

The inside of the refrigerator may be composed of a refrigerating chamber and a freezing chamber, and storage members such as shelves, drawers, and baskets are provided inside the refrigerating chamber and the freezing chamber. And, the refrigerating chamber and the freezing chamber are shielded by a door. The refrigerator is classified in various ways according to the arrangement of the refrigerating compartment and the freezing compartment and the shape of the door.

Refrigerators are gradually becoming larger and more multi-functional in accordance with changes in eating habits and the trend of high-end products, and refrigerators equipped with various structures and convenient devices considering user convenience are being released.

For example, the refrigerator may be equipped with an ice maker that makes ice, and ice is made by supplying cold air, and the ice is stored in the freezer so that the user can take it out and use it at a desired time.

On the other hand, the ice made in the ice maker must be able to be made quickly, and if the completion of ice making is delayed, problems such as increased power consumption and overcooling of food in a space adjacent to the ice maker may occur.

On the other hand, in conventional refrigerators, when the door is not opened for a long time or is maintained in a stable state for a long time, the freezing point of the water supplied to the ice maker does not freeze at 0 ° C and maintains a supercooled state, resulting in a delayed ice-making speed and an error in determining the completion of ice-making There is a problem that may occur, and this will be examined in more detail with reference to the drawings.

1 is a graph showing a change in tray temperature according to the lapse of time in an ice-making operation according to the prior art.

As shown in the figure, the ice-making operation as a whole may consist of a water supplying step (S1), an ice-making step (S2), and an ice-breaking step (S3).

In detail, when the ice making operation starts, a water supplying step (S1) of supplying water to the ice tray of the ice maker is performed. In the water supplying step (S1), the water supply valve is opened to fill the ice tray with water for making ice. While the water supplying step (S1) is in progress, the temperature of the ice tray continuously rises until the water supply is completed.

When the supply of water is completed, an ice-making step S2 in which cooling for ice-making is substantially performed may be performed. At the beginning of the ice making step (S2), a blowing fan is driven, and by driving the blowing fan, cold air may be supplied toward the ice maker, and the temperature of the ice tray is lowered. Of course, the operation of the blowing fan is not limited to being performed at the start of the ice making step (S2), and may be started during water supply or simultaneously with water supply.

In the ice making step (S2), the temperature of the ice tray is continuously decreased, and freezing may start at a temperature of 0°C or lower. However, if the door of the refrigerator is not opened and closed for a long period of time immediately after supplying water, the water stored in the ice tray may be in a stable or semi-stabilized state, and in such a state, it may be in a supercooled state in which a liquid state is maintained even at a temperature below 0 ° C. there is.

That is, the water stored in the ice tray maintains a liquid state without a phase change, and the temperature of the ice tray is continuously lowered with the same gradient as shown in FIG. 1 . In this state, when the temperature is continuously lowered and reaches a temperature of approximately -8° C., which is determined as completion of ice-making, a problem in which ice-making may be misjudged as complete may occur.

Of course, a phase change may occur and freezing may begin before -8 ° C is reached, but when the phase change occurs in a state lowered to about -6.5 ° C, as shown in the figure, water freezes instantly and turns into ice. The temperature of the ice tray rises due to the phase change. In this state, additional cooling is required to reach -8°C, which is the temperature at which ice making is completed.

That is, when supercooling occurs, additional cooling is required as much as the temperature rise region generated during the phase change, which can become a problem in that the overall ice-making operation time is increased. In addition, there is a problem in that food in the space where the ice maker is disposed may be supercooled due to excessive supply of cold air due to supercooling.

When the temperature of the ice tray reaches -8°C, which is the temperature at which ice making is determined, the ice making step (S2) is finished, and the ice breaking step (S3) is performed. In the breaking step (S3), it is determined that the ice is completed in the ice tray, and the ice is separated from the ice tray. When the ice removal is completed, the entire ice-making operation may end, and if it is determined that additional ice-making is necessary, the ice-making operation is performed again.

In this way, the total ice-making operation time due to supercooling during the conventional general ice-making operation is about 40 minutes or more, and the problem of power consumption due to the increase in ice-making operation time and the deterioration of ice-making performance due to misjudgment of whether ice-making is completed and the overcooling Damage to nearby food may occur.

And, in order to further improve the ice-making speed, Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2016-0046551 proposes various technologies such as a refrigerator control method that shortens the ice-making time by dividing water supplied to the tray.

An object of an embodiment of the present invention is to provide a refrigerator and a control method of the refrigerator capable of reducing power consumption by shortening an ice-making time.

An object of the present invention is to provide a refrigerator and a refrigerator control method capable of preventing overcooling in a freezer by minimizing unnecessary ice-making operations.

An object of the present invention is to provide a refrigerator and a control method of the refrigerator capable of improving ice-making performance and ice-making operation reliability by preventing an error in determining ice-making completion.

A refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a cabinet having a storage space opened and closed by a door; an ice tray disposed in the region of the storage space and storing supplied water; a blowing fan supplying cool air toward the ice tray; an ice shaving motor coupled to the ice tray and rotating the ice tray for ice shaving; a temperature sensor provided on the ice tray to measure the temperature of the ice tray; and a control unit configured to promote freezing by driving the ice tray motor to rotate the ice tray at a set angle when the temperature of the ice tray reaches a first set temperature, wherein the control unit controls the temperature of the ice tray to 1 The ice tray temperature gradient (A) before reaching the set temperature is compared with the temperature gradient (B) of the ice tray after the ice tray motor is rotated, and the ice tray motor is added to promote ice formation. It is characterized by determining the action.

The control unit may drive the ice shaving motor such that a rotational angle of the ice tray rotated at the first set temperature is smaller than a rotational angle during ice icing.

The ice tray may be provided inside the cabinet.

The ice tray may be provided on a rear surface of a refrigerator door.
The first set temperature may be set to a temperature between 0°C and the second set temperature for determining completion of ice making.

A control method of a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a water supply step of supplying water to an ice tray for making ice; an ice making step of supplying cold air to the ice tray; and an icing step of rotating the ice shaving motor to rotate the ice tray so that the frozen ice is flaked, and in the ice making step, when the temperature of the ice tray reaches a first set temperature, the ice tray is rotated at a set angle. a temperature change gradient (A) of the ice tray before the temperature of the ice tray reaches a first set temperature; It is characterized in that the additional operation of the ice carving motor is determined by comparing a temperature change gradient (B) of the ice tray after the ice carving motor is rotated.

It is possible that a rotational angle of the ice tray rotated at the first set temperature is smaller than a rotational angle during ice breaking.

In the ice-making step, rotation of the ice-ice motor to promote ice-making may be performed multiple times.
The first set temperature may be set to a temperature between 0°C and the second set temperature for determining completion of ice making.

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When the difference between the inclination A and the inclination B is less than or equal to a set value, it is possible to perform additional rotation of the ice breaking motor.

When the slope B is smaller than zero, it is possible to perform additional rotation of the ice-breaking motor.

The icing step may be performed when the difference between the slope A and the slope B is equal to or greater than a set value and at the same time the temperature of the ice tray reaches the second set temperature.

It is possible that the ice thawing step is performed when the difference between the slope A and the slope B is equal to or greater than a set size and at the same time the ice making step continues for a set time or longer.

According to the refrigerator and the refrigerator control method according to an embodiment of the present invention, the following effects can be expected.

In the ice-making stage where cold air is supplied, the ice tray is rotated at a set temperature below the freezing point so that the water supplied inside the ice tray can be shaken to get out of the stable state to prevent entry into a supercooled state or to eliminate the supercooled state to prevent freezing. make it happen

Accordingly, by fundamentally preventing the water stored in the ice tray from being supercooled, the freezing speed is increased, and furthermore, the overall ice-making operation time can be shortened. In addition, there is an effect of reducing power consumption through a reduction in ice-making operation time.

In addition, regardless of whether the ice tray is supercooled at a set temperature below the freezing point, it is possible to fundamentally block entry into a supercooled state by only slightly rotating the ice tray at a certain angle, and to prevent supercooling, the ice tray adjacent to the ice maker There is an advantage in preventing damage due to supercooling of food in the space. In particular, even if supercooled again after temporarily escaping from supercooling by driving the ice breaker motor or if the ice tray does not completely escape supercooling, the ice tray motor is additionally driven through the temperature gradient of the ice tray to prevent supercooling, thereby minimizing an increase in ice making time. There are advantages that can be

In addition, by preventing entry or maintenance of the supercooled state, the ice tray temperature in the supercooled state drops to a temperature close to the ice leaching temperature, thereby fundamentally preventing an error in determining that the ice making is complete, thereby improving ice making performance and reliability. effects can be expected.

1 is a graph showing a change in tray temperature according to the lapse of time in an ice-making operation according to the prior art.
2 is a view in which a door of a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention is opened.
3 is an exploded perspective view of an ice maker according to an embodiment of the present invention.
4 is a block diagram schematically illustrating a flow of control signals for an ice-making operation of the refrigerator.
5 is a flowchart illustrating the ice-making operation of the refrigerator sequentially.
6 is a graph showing a change in tray temperature according to the elapsed time of an ice-making operation of the refrigerator.

Hereinafter, specific embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with drawings. However, the present invention cannot be said to be limited to the embodiments in which the spirit of the present invention is presented, and other degenerative inventions or other embodiments included within the scope of the present invention can be easily made by adding, changing, or deleting other components. can suggest

In particular, the embodiment of the present invention will be described as an example in which an ice maker is provided on the freezer door of a side-by-side type refrigerator for convenience of description and understanding, and the present invention automatically supplies water and It should be noted in advance that it can be applied to all types of refrigerators that can be iced.

2 is a view in which a door of a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention is opened.

Referring to the drawings, a refrigerator 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention has a storage space formed therein and a cabinet 10 forming an outer shape, and a door that selectively shields the open front of the cabinet 10. The shape can be formed by

The inside of the cabinet 10 is partitioned left and right by barriers 11 to form a freezing chamber 12 and a refrigerating chamber 13, respectively, and the inside of the freezing chamber 12 and the refrigerating chamber 13 are for storing food. Multiple shelves and drawers may be provided.

Further, the rear wall of the freezing chamber 12 may be formed by a grill fan 15, and an evaporator 14 supplying cold air for cooling the freezing chamber 12 is located at the rear of the grill fan 15. may be provided.

A cool air outlet 151 may be provided above the grill fan 15, that is, above the rear wall of the freezing chamber 12, and a blower fan 16 may be provided behind the grill fan 15. Cool air generated in the evaporator by the driving of the blowing fan 16 may be supplied to the refrigerator space through the cold air discharge port 151, heat exchanged with air in the refrigerator space to cool the refrigerator space, and then the evaporator 14 ) side and can be circulated.

The door may include a freezing compartment door 21 and a refrigerating compartment door 22 that shield the freezing compartment 12 and the refrigerating compartment 13, respectively, and the freezing compartment door 21 and the refrigerating compartment door 22 are It is rotatably mounted on the cabinet 10 and configured to selectively open and close the freezing compartment 12 and the refrigerating compartment 13 .

Meanwhile, a dispenser (not shown) may be provided on the front of the freezing compartment door 21 . The dispenser may be configured to dispense purified water used as drinking water or ice made in the ice maker 100 to be described below from the outside.

Also, an ice maker 100 may be provided on the rear surface of the freezer compartment door 21 . The ice maker 100 is an apparatus for making ice by freezing automatically supplied water, and may be configured to automatically separate ice from the ice maker 100 after the ice is made.

The ice maker 100 includes an ice tray 120 in which water automatically supplied for ice making is received to make ice, and an ice tray 120 rotating the ice tray 120 to separate ice from the ice tray 120. It may include a motor 111 and a temperature sensor 123 that measures the temperature of the ice tray 120 . The configuration of the ice maker 100 is general and a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

An ice bank 23 may be provided below the ice maker 100 to store ice made in the ice maker 100 before being taken out to the dispenser. The ice bank 23 stores the ice made in the ice maker 100, and is configured so that the ice separated from the ice maker 100 can fall.

And, the ice bank 23 is configured to communicate with the dispenser so that stored ice can be supplied to the dispenser. In addition, the ice maker 100 and the ice bank 23 may be integrally mounted on the door liner forming the rear surface of the freezer compartment door 21, and at least inside the cover 24 mounted on the door liner. Some may be configured to be accommodated.

Of course, the ice maker 100 may be provided in a form exposed to the inside of the freezing compartment space as needed, or may be provided inside the freezing compartment 12 instead of the freezing compartment door 21 . Also, the ice maker 100 may be provided in the refrigerating compartment 13 or a separate heat-insulated space provided in the area of the refrigerating compartment 13 .

In addition, an inlet 241 serving as an inlet passage for cold air for making ice may be provided at one side of the cover 24 above the ice maker 100 . The inlet 241 may be located at a position facing the cold air outlet 151 . Accordingly, the cold air discharged from the cold air outlet 151 flows in through the inlet 241 and is supplied to the ice maker 100 to freeze water stored in the ice tray to make ice.

Of course, a separate flow path may be formed toward the ice maker 100 so that cold air is directly supplied to the ice maker 100 without passing through the inner region of the freezing compartment 12 .

3 is an exploded perspective view of an ice maker according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to the drawing, the ice maker 100 generally includes a drive unit 110 provided with an ice-ice motor 111 and an ice tray 120 coupled to the ice-ice motor 111 and receiving water for making ice. can be configured to include

The driving unit 110 may be composed of a combination of a driving unit case 114 forming an external shape, an ice-breaking motor 111 accommodated inside the driving unit case 114, and a plurality of gears coupled to the ice-breaking motor 111. can In addition, a tray rotation shaft 112 coupled to the ice tray 120 and a lever rotation shaft 113 coupled to the full ice detection lever 140 may protrude from one side of the drive unit case 114 .

The ice tray 120 includes a plurality of partitioned cells 121, and ice is formed in each of the ice trays 120. In addition, one end of the ice tray 120 may be coupled to the tray rotation shaft 112 of the drive unit 110, and the other end of the ice tray 120 may be coupled to the shaft coupling portion 133 of the tray cover 130. It is coupled to and becomes rotatable. The ice tray 120 may be rotatably disposed by being directly or indirectly connected to the ice shaving motor 111 .

In addition, a temperature sensor 123 may be provided on a lower surface of the ice tray 120 . The temperature sensor 123 senses the temperature of the ice tray 120, and by sensing the temperature of the ice tray 120, completion of ice making can be determined.

In addition, a tray cover 130 may be provided above the ice tray 120 to prevent the supply of cold air to the ice tray 120 and to prevent the ice tray 120 from overflowing with water.

The tray cover 130 may have a structure to which the driving unit 110 and the ice tray 120 may be fixed. In addition, an edge 131 formed along the circumference of the upper surface of the ice tray 120 and an opening 132 between the edges 131 may be included.

The cold air directed toward the ice maker 100 may be concentrated on the upper surface of the ice tray 120 through the opening 132, and thus the water contained in the cell 121 may be effectively cooled and made ice.

Also, while the ice-making operation is in progress, the lower end of the rim 131 comes into contact with the circumference of the upper surface of the ice tray 120, and thus, water in the ice tray 120 may be prevented from overflowing.

A full ice detecting lever 140 may be provided at one side of the driving unit 110 . The full ice detecting lever 140 is formed with a shaft coupling portion 141 connected to the lever rotating shaft 113 of the driving unit 110, and extends below the ice tray 120 along the ice tray 120. .

Also, the full ice detection lever 140 may be interlocked with the operation of the ice shaving motor 111 and rotated before ice tray 120 is shaved to sense whether the ice stored in the ice bank 23 is full ice. It can be configured so that

Hereinafter, an ice-making operation of a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention having the above structure will be described.

4 is a block diagram schematically illustrating a flow of control signals for an ice-making operation of the refrigerator. And, FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the ice-making operation of the refrigerator sequentially.

Referring to the drawing, the ice making operation may include a water supplying step (S1), an ice making step (S2), and an ice breaking step (S3).

When the ice making operation starts, the water supplying step (S1) is performed, and the control unit 17 opens the water supply valve 150 to start supplying water to the ice tray 120. Water to be supplied may be supplied for a predetermined time or at a predetermined flow rate, and may be supplied to fill all the cells 121 of the ice maker 100. When a set amount of water is supplied to the ice tray 120, the water supply valve 150 is closed by the control unit 17, and water supply is completed. When the water supply is completed, the water supply step (S1) ends. [S100]

When the water supplying step (S1) is finished, the ice making step (S2) is started. With the start of the ice making step (S2), the control unit drives the blowing fan 16. Cool air generated in the evaporator 14 by driving the blowing fan 16 may be supplied toward the ice maker 100 . Water supplied to the ice tray 120 by the driving of the blowing fan 16 may be cooled. [S100]

In addition, the driving time of the blowing fan 16 may be calculated by the timer 171 together with the driving of the blowing fan 16 . After water supply is completed, the controller 17 determines whether the blower fan 16 has been driven for a first set time period T1 while the water supply valve 150 is closed.

The first set time T1 may be set to a temperature at which the ice tray 120 is sufficiently cooled and an accurate temperature change can be sensed through the temperature sensor 123 . For example, the first set time T1 may be set to approximately 1 minute during which the ice tray 120 is substantially cooled. [S210]

When a set time T1 elapses after the blowing fan 16 is operated, the controller 17 measures the temperature of the ice tray 120 detected by the temperature sensor 123 and stores it in a storage unit. do. The temperature sensor 123 continuously measures the temperature of the ice tray 120 until it reaches the first set temperature t1 and may store the temperature in the storage unit.

In addition, the controller 17 may calculate the slope of the temperature change of the ice tray 120 through the measured temperature change of the ice tray 120, and the calculated slope (A) is also the storage unit 172 ) can be stored in In addition, the progress state of ice making can be determined through the calculated and stored slope A. [S220]

Meanwhile, the controller 17 determines whether the temperature of the ice tray 120 has reached the first set temperature t1. In this case, the first set temperature t1 may be any temperature lower than 0°C at which freezing starts, for example, -1°C.

That is, when the temperature of the ice tray 120 is lower than 0° C., which is the temperature at which ice formation occurs, ice making can be completed within the set time period T only when the ice tray 120 starts to freeze, that is, the phase change starts.

However, in a state in which the water supplied to the ice tray 120 is stabilized, freezing may not start and enter a supercooling state even when the temperature reaches a lower temperature after passing the first set temperature T1.

The controller 17 determines whether the ice tray 120 has reached the first set temperature t1 in order to prevent the water supplied to the ice tray 120 from maintaining a supercooled state. In detail, when the temperature of the ice tray 120 does not reach the first set temperature t1, the controller 17 continuously calculates and stores the temperature change gradient A of the ice tray 120, , when the temperature of the ice tray 120 reaches the first set temperature t1, the ice shaving motor 111 is instructed to operate. [S230]

When the ice tray 120 reaches the first set temperature t1, the controller 17 operates the ice-ice motor 111. At this time, the ice carving motor 111 may be rotated at an angle significantly smaller than the rotation angle of the ice tray 120 in the ice carving step (S3). In order to differentiate from the operation of the ice-ice motor 111 in the ice-ice step (S3), when the ice tray 120 reaches the first set temperature (t1), the ice-ice motor 111 is operated. This is referred to as ice-making rotation, and rotation of the ice tray 120 in the ice-breaking step (S3) may be referred to as ice-making rotation.

Since the ice tray 120 only needs to be rotated so that the water supplied therein can get out of the stable state, even if it is rotated at an angle of about 3° to 7°, the supplied water can shake and get out of the stable state. Of course, the rotation angle of the ice tray 120 may be adjusted within a range in which the water in the ice tray 120 does not overflow. The ice tray 120 may be rotated smaller than a rotation angle when the ice is rotated.

In addition, the ice-making motor 111 may be rotated by an angle set by the ice-making rotation and reversely rotated to an initial position so that the ice tray 120 may be returned to an initial state. In addition, the ice-making motor 111 may continuously perform the ice-making rotation multiple times so that the water supplied to the ice tray 120 is definitely out of the supercooled state. [S240]

Meanwhile, in a state in which supercooling is resolved by the rotation of the ice-ice motor 111, freezing immediately starts, and ice on the ice tray 120 can be quickly made. And, in order to determine whether sufficient ice is being made, the control unit 17 determines whether the second set time T2 has elapsed after the rotation of the ice breaking motor 111 .

The second set time T2 may be set to a temperature at which the ice tray 120 is sufficiently cooled and a significant temperature change can be sensed through the temperature sensor 123 . For example, the second set time T2 may be set to approximately 1 minute.

The controller 17 waits while supplying cold air to the ice tray 120 until the second set time period T2 elapses after the ice breaking motor 111 rotates. When the second set time T2 elapses, the controller 17 stores the temperature of the ice tray 120 . [S250]

When the second set time T2 elapses, the controller 17 stores the temperature measured by the temperature sensor 123 . In addition, the controller 17 calculates and stores the temperature change gradient B of the ice tray 120 through the measured temperature change. [S260]

In addition, the controller 17 determines the pre-stored temperature change gradient (A) of the ice tray 120 before operation of the ice-ice motor 111 and the temperature of the ice tray 120 after the second set time period (T2) has elapsed. It is determined whether the error (absolute value of (A-B)/A) between the change slopes (B) is greater than the set value.

In some cases, despite the rotation of the ice-ice motor 111, the ice-making progress speed is not sufficient or the phase change itself does not occur, so the supercooled state may still be maintained. In this case, the error may be smaller than the set value.

In this case, it is determined that the supercooling state has not completely escaped, and the control unit 17 enters a step [S240] of operating the ice breaking motor 111 again. [S270]

In addition, the controller 17 may determine whether the temperature change gradient B of the ice tray 120 is greater than zero. When the temperature change slope (B) of the ice tray 120 is greater than 0 in a state where the error is smaller than the set value, it can be determined that supercooling is resolved, but the temperature change slope (B) of the ice tray 120 If is less than 0, it is determined that the overcooling has not been resolved, and the control unit enters a step [S240] of operating the ice-ice motor 111 again. [S280]

Meanwhile, upon completion of the step [S270] or [S280], the control unit 17 continues until the temperature of the ice tray 120 reaches the second set temperature t2 or the ice making completion time T. The blowing fan 16 may be continuously driven to continue cooling and ice making may proceed. When the temperature of the ice tray 120 reaches the second set temperature t2 or the ice making completion time T, the controller 17 determines that ice making is completed. [S290]

When it is determined that the ice making is completed by the controller 17, the controller 17 drives the ice carving motor 111, and the ice carving motor 111 rotates the ice tray to form the ice tray 120. The ice that has been made is separated from the ice tray 120.

When the ice removal from the ice tray 120 is completed, the ice removal motor 111 returns to the initial position and the ice making operation ends.

Hereinafter, a state when a normal ice making operation is performed through such an ice making operation will be described.

6 is a graph showing a change in tray temperature according to the elapsed time of an ice-making operation of the refrigerator.

As shown in the drawing, the ice-making operation of the refrigerator 1 may be composed of the water supply step (S1), ice-making step (S2), and ice-breaking step (S3) as a whole, and detailed descriptions of each step are described above. same as bar

When the water supplying step (S1) starts, water is supplied by opening the water supply valve 150, and due to the water supply, the temperature of the ice tray 120 rises until the water supply is completed.

After the water supplying step (S1) ends, when the ice making step (S2) starts, the temperature of the ice tray 120 is continuously decreased by the operation of the blowing fan 16. When the temperature of the ice tray 120 is below 0° C., freezing starts, and when the ice tray 120 is frozen, the temperature change gradients A and B of the ice tray 120 become different due to a phase change.

When the temperature of the ice tray 120 reaches the first set temperature t1, the ice tray motor 111 is operated to rotate the ice tray 120 by a predetermined angle so that the water stored in the ice tray 120 This causes the stored water to get out of the stable state and promote freezing.

That is, even if no ice is formed when the temperature of the ice tray 120 is 0°C, when the first set temperature t1, for example, -1°C is reached, the rotation of the ice tray 120 results in a supercooled state. It can get out and allow freezing to occur.

When freezing begins in the ice tray 120, the temperature change of the ice tray 120 is made more gradual. At this time, the temperature change gradient B of the ice tray 120 and the ice tray The phase change state is confirmed through the temperature change gradient (A) of the ice tray 120 immediately before rotation of ). In this case, when it is determined that the water inside the ice tray 120 is still in a supercooled state or that the ice tray 120 is not sufficiently iced, the ice tray 120 may be additionally rotated.

In the ice making step, cold air is continuously supplied by the blowing fan 16, and when the temperature of the ice tray 120 reaches the second set temperature t2, the ice making step S2 is terminated and the ice tray 120 is reached. The operation of the blowing fan 16 may be stopped.

When the ice-making step (S2) ends, an ice-breaking step (S3) in which the ice-breaking motor 111 is driven to break the ice may be performed, and the ice-making operation is completed.

The time T taken to complete the ice-making operation is approximately 37 minutes, and the ice-making operation time can be shortened.

Meanwhile, even if the temperature of the ice tray 120 does not reach the second set temperature t2, if it is satisfied in step [S270] or step [S280], the ice making operation reaches the set time, for example, 40 minutes. If so, the ice-making step (S3) may be performed and the ice-making may be terminated.

Claims (13)

A cabinet having a storage space opened and closed by a door;
an ice tray disposed in the region of the storage space and storing supplied water;
a blowing fan supplying cool air toward the ice tray;
an ice shaving motor coupled to the ice tray and rotating the ice tray for ice shaving;
a temperature sensor provided on the ice tray to measure the temperature of the ice tray;
When the temperature of the ice tray reaches a first set temperature, the ice shaving motor is driven to rotate the ice tray at a set angle to promote icing;
The control unit,
a temperature change gradient (A) of the ice tray before the temperature of the ice tray reaches a first set temperature;
By comparing the temperature change gradient (B) of the ice tray after the ice-ice motor is rotated,
Refrigerator, characterized in that for determining the additional operation of the ice break motor for promoting freezing.
According to claim 1,
The control unit,
The refrigerator according to claim 1 , wherein the ice shaving motor is driven such that a rotation angle of the ice tray rotated at the first set temperature is smaller than a rotation angle during ice shaving.
According to claim 1,
The refrigerator, characterized in that the ice tray is provided inside the cabinet.
According to claim 1,
The refrigerator, characterized in that the ice tray is provided on the rear surface of the refrigerator door.
According to claim 1,
The refrigerator, characterized in that the first set temperature is set to a temperature between 0 ℃ and the second set temperature for determining the completion of ice making.
a water supply step of supplying water to the ice tray for making ice;
an ice making step of supplying cold air to the ice tray;
And an icing step of rotating the ice shaving motor so that the ice tray rotates to flake the frozen ice,
In the ice making step, when the temperature of the ice tray reaches a first set temperature, the ice tray is rotated at a set angle to promote freezing,
a temperature change gradient (A) of the ice tray before the temperature of the ice tray reaches a first set temperature;
By comparing the temperature change gradient (B) of the ice tray after the ice-ice motor is rotated,
Control method of a refrigerator, characterized in that for determining the additional operation of the ice motor.
According to claim 6,
The method of controlling a refrigerator, characterized in that a rotational angle of the ice tray rotated at the first set temperature is smaller than a rotational angle during ice breaking.
According to claim 6,
The control method of a refrigerator, characterized in that the rotation of the ice-ice motor for promoting ice-making in the ice-making step is performed a plurality of times.
According to claim 6,
The control method of the refrigerator, characterized in that the first set temperature is set to a temperature between 0 ℃ and the second set temperature for determining the completion of ice making.
According to claim 6,
A method of controlling a refrigerator, characterized in that performing additional rotation of the ice breaking motor when the error between the slope (A) and the slope (B) is less than a set size.
According to claim 10,
A method of controlling a refrigerator, characterized in that performing additional rotation of the ice breaking motor when the slope (B) is smaller than 0.
According to claim 6,
The control method of the refrigerator, characterized in that the ice-breaking step is performed when the error between the slope (A) and slope (B) is equal to or greater than a set value and at the same time the temperature of the ice tray reaches a second set temperature.
According to claim 6,
The control method of a refrigerator, characterized in that the ice-breaking step is performed when the error between the slope (A) and the slope (B) is greater than a set size and at the same time, the ice-making step continues for a set time or longer.

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