Refrigerator and method for controlling the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11199358-B2
Application number	US-201916566413-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 10, 2019
Priority date	Sep 14, 2018
Publication date	Dec 14, 2021
Grant date	Dec 14, 2021

Abstract

A method of controlling a refrigerator includes operating a cool air supply to output cool air for cooling a storage compartment, obtaining a result value based on a temperature value sensed by a temperature sensor during a first reference time interval, obtaining a plurality of result values during a second reference time interval, determining a representative temperature of the storage compartment among the obtained plurality of result values, determining an output of the cool air supply based on the representative temperature, and operating the cool air supply at the determined output.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of controlling temperature by a refrigerator including a controller, the method comprising:
operating a cool air supply to output cool air for cooling a storage compartment;
obtaining a result value based on a temperature value sensed by a temperature sensor during a first reference time interval, wherein the obtaining of the result value includes:
obtaining a plurality of temperature values sensed by the temperature sensor by sampling during the first reference time interval; and
obtaining the result value which is an average value of the plurality of temperature values;

obtaining a plurality of average values during a second reference time interval, wherein the obtaining of the plurality of average values includes:
obtaining the plurality of average values at respective first reference time intervals during the second reference time interval;

determining a representative temperature of the storage compartment among the obtained plurality of average values;
determining an output of the cool air supply based on the representative temperature; and
operating the cool air supply at the determined output.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining of the representative temperature of the storage compartment includes:
obtaining the average value having a highest frequency among the plurality of average values; and
determining the average value having the highest frequency as the representative temperature.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the determining of the representative temperature of the storage compartment includes:
obtaining the average value having the highest frequency among all of the plurality of average values.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the determining of the representative temperature of the storage compartment includes:
obtaining the average value having the highest frequency among some of the plurality of average values.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the determining of the representative temperature of the storage compartment includes:
determining a first average value initially obtained as a reference temperature; and
obtaining the average value having the highest frequency among the plurality of average values whose temperature difference from the reference temperature is within a predetermined range.

6. The method of claim 2 , wherein the determining of the representative temperature of the storage compartment includes:
when there are at least two average values having same highest frequency among all of the plurality of average values, obtaining one average value of the at least two average values as the representative temperature.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the obtained one average value is an average value having a higher temperature among the at least two average values.

8. The method of claim 2 , wherein the determining of the representative temperature of the storage compartment includes:
determining an average value initially obtained as a reference temperature; and
when there is no average value whose temperature difference from the reference temperature is within a predetermined range among the plurality of average values, obtaining one of average values whose temperature difference from the reference temperature is within the predetermined range as the representative temperature.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the obtained one of the average values as the representative temperature is a highest temperature value among the average values whose temperature difference from the reference temperature is within the predetermined range.

10. A refrigerator comprising:
a storage compartment;
a cool air supply to cool the storage compartment;
a temperature sensor to sense a temperature value of the storage compartment, wherein the temperature sensor senses a plurality of temperature values at sampling time intervals during a first reference time interval;
a memory to store a result value obtained based on the temperature value sensed by the temperature sensor; and
a controller to control the cool air supply, wherein the controller is configured to obtain an average value of the plurality of temperature values as the result value, and configured to obtain a plurality of average values during a second reference time interval, wherein the controller is configured to:
determine a representative temperature of the storage compartment using the plurality of average values stored in the memory; and
determine an output of the cool air supply based on the determined representative temperature.

11. The refrigerator of claim 10 , wherein the controller is configured to determine the average value having a highest frequency among the plurality of average values as the representative temperature.

12. The refrigerator of claim 11 , wherein the controller is configured to obtain the plurality of average values at respective first reference time intervals during the second reference time interval.

13. The refrigerator of claim 11 , wherein the controller is configured to determine the average value having the highest frequency among all of the plurality of average values as the representative temperature of the storage compartment.

14. The refrigerator of claim 11 , wherein the controller is configured to determine the average value having the highest frequency among some of the plurality of average values as the representative temperature of the storage compartment.

15. The refrigerator of claim 14 , wherein the controller is configured to determine an initially obtained average value as a reference temperature, and
wherein the controller is configured to determine the average value having the highest frequency among average values whose temperature difference from the reference temperature is within a predetermined range as the representative temperature of the storage compartment.

16. The refrigerator of claim 11 , wherein when there are at least two average values having same highest frequency among all of the plurality of average values, the controller is configured to determine one of the at least two average values having a higher temperature as the representative temperature of the storage compartment.

17. The refrigerator of claim 11 , wherein the controller is configured to determine an initially obtained average value as a reference temperature; and
wherein when there is no average value whose temperature difference from the reference temperature is within a predetermined range among the plurality of average values, the controller is configured to determine a highest temperature value among temperature values whose temperature difference from the reference temperature is within the predetermined range as the representative temperature.

Assignees

• Lg Electronics Inc

Inventors

• Kim Hyeryeong
• Kim Jindong

Classifications

• F25D2700/123

  more than one sensor measuring the inside temperature in a compartment · CPC title

• F25D2500/04

  Calculation of parameters · CPC title

• F25D2700/12

  Sensors measuring the inside temperature · CPC title

• F25D17/045

  Air flow control arrangements · CPC title

• F25D29/00 Primary

  Arrangement or mounting of control or safety devices · CPC title