Partial-freezing meat fresh-preservation control method, controller, and refrigerator

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12345467-B2
Application number	US-201716612252-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 30, 2017
Priority date	May 9, 2017
Publication date	Jul 1, 2025
Grant date	Jul 1, 2025

Abstract

A partial-freezing meat fresh-preservation control method, a controller and a refrigerator are provided. The control method includes: S1 ( 101 ), acquiring a current temperature of meat food in a compartment of a refrigerator in real time; S2 ( 102 ), judging whether the current temperature of the meat food is greater than or equal to a first temperature threshold t 0 , and if yes, performing S3 ( 103 ); S3 ( 103 ), controlling the compartment to perform a cooling operation; S4 ( 104 ), judging whether the meat food is frozen during the cooling operation, and if yes, performing S5 ( 105 ), S5 ( 105 ), starting timing once the freezing occurs, and performing S6 ( 106 ) after the timing reaches a first preset time period; S6 ( 106 ), controlling the compartment to perform a heating operation; wherein, after the performance of the step S6 ( 106 ) is completed, the performance of the step S1 ( 101 ) is continued. The partial-freezing fresh-preservation control method provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure can maintain the meat food in a fresh and easy-to-cut state for a long time, and make up for the technical gap in the field.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A refrigerator comprising a compartment configured to store a piece of meat; and
a controller configured to:
acquire a first temperature of a piece of meat in the compartment;
determine whether the first temperature of the piece of meat is greater than or equal to a first temperature threshold, the first temperature threshold being a temperature value that keeps the piece of meat in a partially-frozen and easy-to-cut state;
control a cooling operation on the compartment in response to that the controller determines that the first temperature of the piece of meat is greater than or equal to the first temperature threshold;
determine whether the piece of meat is frozen during the cooling operation;
start a timing operation in response to that the controller determines that the piece of meat is frozen during the cooling operation; and
control a heating operation on the compartment after the timing operation has lapsed a first preset time period, wherein the first preset time period has a duration of at least one hour and is chosen to maintain the piece of meat in the partially-frozen and easy-to-cut state, and to reduce a cooling-warming switching frequency.

2. The refrigerator of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to control a heating operation on the compartment in response to determining that the first temperature of the piece of meat is less than the first temperature threshold.

3. The refrigerator of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to control a cooling operation on the compartment in response to determining that the piece of meat has not been frozen during the cooling operation.

4. The refrigerator of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to:
determine that the piece of meat is frozen during the cooling operation in response to the piece of meat has a valley temperature point during the cooling operation and a temperature elevation amount in a first preset continuous time period starting from the valley temperature point is greater than or equal to a preset temperature change amount; and;
determine that the piece of meat is frozen during the cooling operation in response to that a temperature of the piece of meat remains unchanged during a second preset continuous time period during the cooling operation.

5. The refrigerator of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to acquire the first temperature of the piece of meat in the compartment of the refrigerator using a plurality of temperature sensors; and
determine whether the piece of meat is frozen during the cooling operation using the plurality of temperature sensors and based on a first determination result of a temperature sensor of the plurality of temperature sensors indicating that the piece of meat has been frozen during the cooling operation.

6. The refrigerator of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to:
control the cooling operation on the compartment according to an initial target temperature, the initial target temperature being in a range from about −10° C. to about −1° C.

7. The refrigerator of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to:
control the cooling operation on the compartment according to a first target temperature, and continuously control the cooling operation on the compartment according to a second target temperature after the piece of meat has been cooled down to the first temperature threshold, the first target temperature being lower than the second target temperature.

8. The refrigerator of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to:
control a damper of the compartment to be fully opened and perform the cooling operation according to an initial target temperature, and control the damper of the compartment to be half-opened and continuously perform the cooling operation according to the initial target temperature after a temperature of the piece of meat has been cooled down to the first temperature threshold.

9. The refrigerator of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to:
control the heating operation on the compartment according to a third target temperature, the third target temperature being in a range from about −1° C. to about 4° C.

10. The refrigerator of claim 1 , wherein the compartment is one or more of:
a variable temperature chamber of the refrigerator or a variable temperature region isolated by the variable temperature chamber, a variable temperature drawer in a refrigerating compartment of the refrigerator or a variable temperature region isolated by the variable temperature drawer, and a variable temperature drawer in a freezing compartment of the refrigerator or a variable temperature region isolated by the variable temperature drawer.

11. The refrigerator of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to:
send a reminder information to a user in response to that it is determined that a storage time of the piece of meat in the compartment of the refrigerator exceeds a preset number of days.

12. A controller configured to be arranged in a refrigerator, wherein the controller is further configured to:
acquire a first temperature of a piece of meat in a compartment of the refrigerator;
determine whether the first temperature of the piece of meat is greater than or equal to a first temperature threshold, the first temperature threshold being a temperature value that keeps the piece of meat in a partially-frozen and easy-to-cut state;
control a cooling operation on the compartment in response to determining that the first temperature of the piece of meat is greater than or equal to the first temperature threshold;
determine whether the piece of meat is frozen during the cooling operation;
start a timing operation in response to that the controller determines that the piece of meat is frozen during the cooling operation; and
control a heating operation on the compartment after the timing operation has lapsed a first preset time period, wherein the first preset time period has a duration of 2 to 6 hours and is chosen to maintain the piece of meat in the partially-frozen and easy-to-cut state, and to reduce a cooling-warming switching frequency.

Assignees

• Hefei Hualing Co Ltd
• Hefei Midea Refrigerator Co
• Midea Group Co Ltd

Inventors

• Gong Qinqin
• Shi Huixin
• Wu Zhigang
• Ning Zhifang

Classifications

• A23B2/805

  Materials not being transported through or in the apparatus with or without shaping, e.g. in the form of powders, granules or flakes · CPC title

• A23B2/82

  Thawing subsequent to freezing · CPC title

• A23B2/001

  Details of apparatus, e.g. pressure feed valves or for transport, or loading or unloading manipulation · CPC title

• G05B15/02

  electric · CPC title

• F25D2700/16

  Sensors measuring the temperature of products · CPC title