Domestic refrigeration appliance with a refrigerant circuit, and method for operating a domestic refrigeration appliance with a refrigerant circuit

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10488086-B2
Application number	US-201615753602-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 15, 2016
Priority date	Aug 21, 2015
Publication date	Nov 26, 2019
Grant date	Nov 26, 2019

Abstract

A domestic refrigeration appliance includes an insulated body with a coolable container delimiting a coolable space for food, a refrigerant circuit having a coolant and a compressor for cooling the space, and an electronic control apparatus and an electric drive with a three-phase AC synchronous motor and a control element or inverter for activating the motor. The compressor includes a chamber with an inlet and with an outlet, a piston mounted displaceably within the chamber, a crankshaft and the motor. The motor has a number of pole pairs greater than 1, a stator and a rotor mounted rotatably relative to the stator and coupled to the piston by the crankshaft. During compressor operation, the motor causes the piston to reduce the size of a volume enclosed by the compressor chamber and the piston to compress the coolant. A method for operating a domestic refrigeration appliance is also provided.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for operating a domestic refrigeration appliance, the method comprising the following steps:
providing a heat-insulated body with a coolable inner container delimiting a coolable interior space for storing food;
providing a refrigerant circuit for cooling the coolable interior space, the refrigerant circuit having a coolant, a compressor, and an electric drive, the electric drive having a three-phase AC synchronous motor and a control element for activating the three-phase AC synchronous motor, the compressor having a compressor chamber with an inlet and an outlet, a piston displaceably mounted within the compressor chamber, a crankshaft and the three-phase AC synchronous motor of the electric drive, the three-phase AC synchronous motor including a number P of pole pairs greater than 1, a stator and a rotor being coupled to the piston by the crankshaft and mounted for rotation relative to the stator, permitting the three-phase AC synchronous motor to cause the piston to reduce a volume enclosed by the compressor chamber and the piston to compress the coolant during operation of the compressor;
determining a position of the piston relative to the compressor chamber during operation of the compressor in an intended manner by:
determining a greatest absolute value of at least one instantaneous value of at least one electric phase current of the three-phase AC synchronous motor, for at least one full rotation of the rotor relative to the stator,
determining an angular position of the rotor relative to the stator assigned to the determined instantaneous value, and
determining the position of the piston relative to the compressor chamber based on a speed of the three-phase AC synchronous motor and the angular position of the rotor assigned to the determined instantaneous value.

2. The method according to claim 1 , which further comprises providing the control element as an inverter.

3. The method according to claim 1 , which further comprises providing the electric drive as a speed-regulated electric drive.

4. The method according to claim 3 , which further comprises providing a field-oriented regulator for the speed-regulated electric drive.

5. The method according to claim 1 , which further comprises the following steps:
dividing the overall angular range assigned to a complete rotation of the rotor into P consecutive angular sectors of equal size;
determining the greatest absolute value of the at least one instantaneous value of at least one of the electric phase currents of the three-phase AC synchronous motor for at least one full rotation of the rotor relative to the stator;
determining an angular sector to which the determined instantaneous value is assigned; and
using the determined angular sector to determine the angular position of the rotor relative to the stator assigned to the determined instantaneous value.

6. The method according to claim 5 , which further comprises using only one of the electric phase currents of the three-phase AC synchronous motor to determine the angular sector.

7. The method according to claim 5 , which further comprises using an angle forming a boundary between the determined angular sector and its preceding angular sector as the angular position of the rotor relative to the stator assigned to the determined at least one instantaneous value.

8. The method according to claim 5 , which further comprises the following steps:
determining the greatest absolute values of the instantaneous values for at least two of the electric phase currents of the three-phase AC synchronous motor only for the determined angular sector; and
determining the angular position of the rotor relative to the stator assigned to the position of the piston based on the determined instantaneous values.

9. The method according to claim 5 , which further comprises providing the electric drive as a speed-regulated electric drive with a field-oriented regulator for increasing a target current strength predetermined by the field-oriented regulator for the three-phase AC synchronous motor by a predefined value apart from for the angular sector to which the determined instantaneous value is assigned.

10. The method according to claim 1 , which further comprises activating the three-phase AC synchronous motor to slow to a stop within less than a ¾ rotation of the three-phase AC synchronous motor, starting when the piston is in a position relative to the compressor chamber being assigned to the angular position of the rotor relative to the stator assigned to the determined at least one instantaneous value.

11. The method according to claim 10 , which further comprises reducing the speed of the three-phase AC synchronous motor to a minimum speed before the three-phase AC synchronous motor slows down.

12. A domestic refrigeration appliance, comprising:
a heat-insulated body with a coolable inner container delimiting a coolable interior space for storing food;
a refrigerant circuit for cooling said coolable interior space, said refrigerant circuit including a coolant and a compressor;
an electric drive having a three-phase AC synchronous motor and a control element for activating said three-phase AC synchronous motor;
said compressor having a compressor chamber with an inlet and an outlet, a piston mounted displaceably within said compressor chamber, a crankshaft and said three-phase AC synchronous motor;
said three-phase AC synchronous motor including a number P of pole pairs greater than 1, a stator and a rotor coupled to said piston by said crankshaft, said rotor being mounted for rotation relative to said stator, permitting said three-phase AC synchronous motor to cause said piston to reduce a volume enclosed by said compressor chamber and said piston to compress said coolant upon operating said compressor; and
an electronic control apparatus being configured to activate said electric drive for determining a position of said piston relative to said compressor chamber during operation of said compressor in an intended manner by:
determining a greatest absolute value of at least one instantaneous value of at least one electric phase current of said three-phase AC synchronous motor, for at least one full rotation of said rotor relative to said stator,
determining an angular position of said rotor relative to said stator assigned to the determined instantaneous value, and
determining the position of the piston relative to said compressor chamber based on a speed of said three-phase AC synchronous motor and the angular position of said rotor assigned to the determined instantaneous value.

13. The domestic refrigeration appliance according to claim 12 , wherein said control element is an inverter.

Assignees

• Bsh Hausgeraete Gmbh

Inventors

• Paulduro Achim
• Beckmann Tommy
• Spiegel Christoph
• Klein Moritz

Classifications

• F25B49/025

  Motor control arrangements · CPC title

• F25B31/023 Primary

  with compressor of reciprocating-piston type · CPC title

• F25B49/022

  Compressor control arrangements · CPC title

• H02P27/06

  using DC to AC converters or inverters (H02P27/05 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H02P6/18

  without separate position detecting elements · CPC title