Refrigerator

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016018158-A1
Application number	US-201414776845-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jan 20, 2014
Priority date	Apr 3, 2013
Publication date	Jan 21, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A storage compartment, operation display means configured to display a plurality of power saving levels each indicating a power saving index and to accept an operation input of selecting one power saving level from among the plurality of power saving levels, and control means configured to, when an operation input of selecting one power saving level from among the plurality of power saving levels displayed on the operation display means is made, calculate one or a plurality of power saving plans regarding a target temperature for the storage compartment in accordance with the selected one power saving level, are included. The operation display means displays the power saving plans calculated by the control means and accepts an operation input of executing the power saving plan.

First claim

1 . A refrigerator comprising:
a storage compartment; an operation display unit configured to display a plurality of power saving levels each indicating a power saving index and to accept an operation input of selecting one power saving level from among the plurality of power saving levels; and a controller configured to, when an operation input of selecting one power saving level from among the plurality of power saving levels displayed on the operation display unit is made, calculate one or a plurality of target temperature setting plans regarding a target temperature for the storage compartment in accordance with the selected one power saving level, wherein the operation display unit displays the target temperature setting plans calculated by the controller and accepts an operation input of executing the target temperature setting plan.

2 . The refrigerator of claim 1 ,
wherein when the operation input of selecting one power saving level from among the plurality of power saving levels displayed on the operation display unit is made, the controller calculates a target temperature setting plan based on the selected one power saving level and a food load amount within the storage compartment.

3 . The refrigerator of claim 2 , wherein
the controller calculates a plurality of target temperature setting plans including the target temperature setting plan calculated based on the selected one power saving level and the load detected by the load detector, and in displaying the plurality of target temperature setting plans, the operation display unit displays the target temperature setting plans such that the target temperature setting plan calculated based on the selected one power saving level and the load detected by the load detector is distinguished from the other target temperature setting plans.

4 . The refrigerator of claim 1 ,
wherein the controller calculates the current power saving level based on an opening frequency of a door of the storage compartment and a set temperature for the storage compartment, and the operation display unit displays either one of or both the power saving level calculated by the controller and information which prompts power saving.

5 . The refrigerator of claim 1 , wherein the operation display unit is of a touch panel type.

6 . The refrigerator of claim 1 ,
wherein the controller has a function of communicating with an external device, and switches to a target temperature setting plan in which power consumption is lower than the current power consumption upon acquisition of information indicating that power consumption of the external device is increased to be equal to or higher than a threshold.

7 . The refrigerator of claim 1 ,
wherein the controller has a function of communicating with an Internet cloud via a network, and transmits operation information of the refrigerator via the cloud communication unit to the Internet cloud to store the operation information of the refrigerator in the Internet cloud.

8 . The refrigerator of claim 1 ,
wherein the controller has a function of communicating with an external device, and calculates a target temperature setting plan in which power consumption of the refrigerator is minimized upon acquisition of information indicating that it is difficult to supply power, and the operation display unit displays the target temperature setting plan in which the power consumption of the refrigerator is minimized.

9 . The refrigerator of claim 8 , wherein
upon acquiring the information indicating that it is difficult to supply power, the controller calculates a plurality of target temperature setting plans including the target temperature setting plan in which the power consumption of the refrigerator is minimized, and the operation display unit displays the plurality of target temperature setting plans including the target temperature setting plan in which the power consumption of the refrigerator is minimized.

10 . The refrigerator of claim 1 , wherein the operation display unit displays either one of or both a current set temperature for the storage compartment and a current power saving level.

Assignees

• Mitsubishi Electric Corp

Inventors

• Yokoo Hiroaki
• Okabe Makoto
• Sakamoto Katsumasa
• Maeda Go

Classifications

• G06T11/26

  Drawing of charts or graphs · CPC title

• G06T11/206

  Physics · mapped topic

• G05B15/02

  electric · CPC title

• F25D29/00 Primary

  Arrangement or mounting of control or safety devices · CPC title

• F25D2400/36

  Visual displays · CPC title