JPH0520664B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Technical field of invention] The present invention relates to a refrigerator having a switching chamber.

[Technical background of the invention and its problems] In recent years, in this type of refrigerator, in addition to the refrigerating compartment and the freezing compartment, at least one of the refrigerating compartment and the freezing compartment can be switched arbitrarily. The food is being served. However, in this device, the compressor and cold air circulation fan are operated and stopped by sensing the temperature of the freezer compartment, and the switching chamber for setting the refrigerator compartment and refrigerator compartment is attached to this. The temperature is now controlled by the shape. Therefore, even if the switching chamber is switched from the refrigerator compartment setting to the freezing compartment, if the freezing compartment is sufficiently cold, neither the compressor nor the cold air circulation fan will operate, and therefore the switching chamber will not operate. However, there is a problem in that the switching chamber cannot be quickly turned into a freezing chamber unless cold air is supplied to the switching chamber.

[Object of the Invention] The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and its purpose is primarily to provide a refrigerator that can quickly change its switching chamber from a refrigerator compartment to a freezer compartment. be.

[Summary of the Invention] The present invention is directed to short-circuiting the operating circuits of the compressor and the cold air circulation fan when the switching chamber is switched from the refrigerating room setting to the freezing room. This device is characterized in that it is equipped with a timer to operate the switching chamber, thereby enabling forced cooling operation of the switching chamber regardless of the temperature of the freezing chamber.

In addition, the present invention is connected in series with a defrosting timer and in parallel with a defrosting heater to defrost a cooler, and the forced operation timer is connected in series and in parallel to defrost the cooler. This device is equipped with a relay that functions to restart the defrosting operation, which stops the timer for forced operation during the defrosting operation, and ends the timer's timing operation during the defrosting operation. The present invention is characterized in that it is possible to prevent this from happening, and also to ensure that the defrosting timer can be restarted after the defrosting operation has ended, and that the cooling operation can also be reliably restarted.

[Embodiment of the Invention] An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

First, in Fig. 2, reference numeral 1 denotes a refrigerator cabinet, with a freezer compartment 2 in the upper part of the interior, a refrigerator compartment 3 in the lower part, and a compartment in between that can be arbitrarily switched to either the refrigerator compartment or the freezer compartment. It forms a switching chamber 4 that can be set, and in front of each chamber there are doors 5, 6,
It has 7 pivots. Reference numeral 8 denotes a cooler chamber formed in the partition wall 9 between the freezing chamber 2 and the switching chamber 4, in which a cooler 10 is disposed together with a fan 11 for circulating cold air. Note that 12 is, for example, a bimetal switch that operates upon sensing the end of defrosting of the cooler 10. Further, 13 is a duct extending from the cooler chamber 8 to the freezer compartment 2, 14 is a duct extending from the cooler chamber 8 to the refrigerator compartment 3 and the switching chamber 4, and 15 is a duct. 13 is a temperature-sensitive switch that senses the temperature of the freezer compartment 2, which is installed in a portion communicating with the freezer compartment 2; 16 is a duct 14 that extends to communicate with the refrigerator compartment 3; 14 is a duct from the cooler compartment 8; A duct extends to communicate with the refrigerator compartment 3 and the switching compartment 4, and 15 is a damper that senses the temperature of the refrigerator compartment 3 and is disposed in a portion of the duct 13 that communicates with the freezer compartment 2;
is a damper that senses the temperature of the switching chamber 4 and is disposed in a portion of the duct 14 that communicates with the switching chamber 4. In addition, although not shown, there is another operation for switching the switching chamber 4 from the refrigerator compartment state to the freezing compartment state (referring to the operation of the switch 25 described later) in the portion of the duct 14 that communicates with the switching chamber 4. A shutter is provided that opens in conjunction with the operation. Furthermore, 18 and 19 are suction ports for the freezer compartment 2 air and the switching compartment 4 air, respectively, which are formed in the front part of the partition wall 9, and 20 is the front part of the partition wall 21 between the refrigerator compartment 3 and the switching compartment 4. This is the air suction port of the refrigerator compartment 3 formed in the refrigerator compartment 3. In addition, 22 is the cabinet 1
This is a machine room formed at the rear lower part of the machine, in which a compressor 23 is disposed.

On the other hand, in FIG. 1, reference numeral 24 denotes a timer, particularly an electronic timer, which is started to operate by a switch 25 that is closed when the switching chamber 4 is switched from the refrigerator compartment to the freezer compartment. 26, and after a certain period of time, the switch 26 is closed.
is set to return to the open state. A switch 26 of such an electronic timer 24 is connected in parallel with the temperature-sensitive switch 15 of the type that detects two temperatures in the freezer compartment. Further, 27 is a timer for defrosting, which is configured to operate a changeover switch 28 connected in series with the temperature-sensitive switch 15 at regular intervals, and the compressor 23 is connected to the contact side before the changeover. and fan 11 are connected. still,
29 is a switch that responds to the opening and closing of the door 5 of the freezer compartment 2. A heater 30 for defrosting the cooler 10 is connected to the contact side of the switch 18 after the switch 18 is switched, via a bimetal switch 12 for detecting the end of defrosting. Further, a relay 31 is connected in series with the defrosting timer 27 and in parallel with the defrosting heater 30, and a relay switch 32 of this relay 31 is connected in series with the electronic timer 24.

Now, in the case of the configuration as described above, normally when the temperature-sensitive switch 15 senses the temperature of the freezer compartment 2 and opens/closes it, the compressor 23 and the fan 1 are connected via the contact side before switching of the switch 28.
1 is energized and de-energized, so that when it is energized, the cooler 10
The cold air generated by the fan 11 is passed through the duct 13 to the freezer compartment 2, and is also passed through the duct 14 and dampers 16, 17 to the refrigerator compartment 3 and the switching compartment 4.
When the power is cut off, it is stopped and each chamber is maintained at an appropriate temperature, particularly the switching chamber 4, which is assumed to be in the refrigerating room temperature in this case. Under such a situation, when the switch 25 is closed to change the switching chamber 4 to the freezing chamber, the electronic timer 24 starts operating and the switch 26 is opened at the same time as the shutter (not shown) is opened. The temperature-sensitive switch 15 is thereby short-circuited, i.e., the temperature-sensitive switch 15 is closed.
An energizing circuit for the compressor 23 and the fan 11 is formed regardless of the state of the compressor 23 and the fan 11. Therefore, even if the freezer compartment 2 is sufficiently cold and the temperature-sensitive switch 15 is open, the compressor 23 and fan 11 are forcibly operated to cool the switching compartment 4, so the switching The chamber 4 is cooled quickly and quickly changes to the state of a freezing chamber unlike the conventional one. In the case of this embodiment, after a certain period of time has elapsed, the electronic timer 24 returns the switch 26 to the open state, thereby stopping the operation of the compressor 23 and fan 11.

Furthermore, when the defrosting time is reached, the defrosting timer 27 switches the changeover switch 28, so the operation of the compressor 23 and the fan 11 is stopped, and instead the defrosting heater 30 is energized via the bimetal switch 12 and generates heat. . Furthermore, at this time, the defrosting timer 27 is short-circuited and stops its timing operation, and the relay 31 is energized in parallel with the defrosting heater 30 to open the relay switch 32, so the electronic timer 24 is activated at this time. Even if the switch 25 is closed, it is not energized and the timekeeping operation is stopped.

When the defrosting is finished, the bimetal switch 12 is opened, and the defrosting timer 2 is opened.
7 is released from the short circuit and restarts the timing operation, and the defrosting heater 30 and the relay 31 are substantially cut off and stop generating heat and operating. Therefore, the relay switch 32 also returns to the closed state, and the electronic timer 2
4 is restarted, and its timing operation is restarted.

That is, in the case of this configuration, when the defrosting operation is started while the electronic timer 24 is proceeding with the timing operation, or when the electronic timer 24 is brought into a state where the timing operation should proceed during the defrosting operation. When the electronic timer 24 is activated by the relay 31
It is possible to stop the timing operation of the electronic timer 24 and restart the timing operation after the defrosting operation is completed.If the timing operation of the electronic timer 24 ends during the defrosting operation, the switching chamber 4 cannot be switched to the freezing chamber. This allows the switching chamber 4 to be reliably used as a freezing chamber without causing problems such as not being frozen.

In addition, when the defrosting timer 27 resumes timing operation, even if the defrosting heater 30 is disconnected, the defrosting timer 27 will be energized through the relay 31, so the changeover switch 28 must be switched. The previous state can be returned to normal, and the operation of the compressor 23 and fan 11 can be reliably restarted. Therefore, the cooling operation will not remain unrestarted and can be reliably restarted.

[Effects of the Invention] As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, in a refrigerator which has a switching chamber in addition to the freezing compartment that can be set to switch between at least a refrigerator compartment and a freezing compartment, the switching compartment can be quickly changed from the setting state of the refrigerator compartment to the state of the freezing compartment regardless of the temperature of the freezer compartment, and can be done reliably by linking it with defrosting operation. This provides an excellent effect in that the cooling operation can be reliably restarted after the frost operation.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an electric circuit diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional side view of the entire refrigerator of the same embodiment. In the figure, 2 is a freezer compartment, 3 is a refrigerator compartment, 4 is a switching compartment,
10 is a cooler, 11 is a fan for circulating cold air, 15
23 is a compressor, 24 is an electronic timer, 25 is a temperature-sensitive switch that senses frozen room temperature.
26 is a timer switch, 31 is a relay, and 32 is a relay switch.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 In addition to the freezer compartment, it has at least a switching compartment that can be set to switch between the refrigerator compartment and the freezing compartment,
A timer is installed to short-circuit the operating circuits of the compressor and cold air circulation fan to forcibly operate the compressor and cold air circulation fan when the switching chamber is switched from the refrigerating room setting to the freezing room. A relay that is connected in series with a frost timer and in parallel with a defrosting heater to defrost a cooler, and functions to cut off energization to the forced operation timer during defrosting and resume energization after defrosting is completed. A refrigerator characterized by being equipped with.