Refrigerator and controlling method thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9901886-B2
Application number	US-201514617334-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 9, 2015
Priority date	Feb 10, 2014
Publication date	Feb 27, 2018
Grant date	Feb 27, 2018

Abstract

A refrigerator and a control method thereof are provided. The refrigerator includes a carbonated water producing apparatus configured to produce carbonated water by supplying water and carbon dioxide gas to a carbonated water tank, a user interface configured to display information of carbonated water concentration, and a control unit configured to control the carbonated water producing apparatus to produce the carbonated water according to the information of carbonated water concentration, wherein the user interface displays a set concentration of the carbonated water and a present concentration of the carbonated water.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A refrigerator comprising:
a user interface configured to display a plurality of levels each indicating a number of times that a supplying of carbon dioxide gas and a dissolving of the supplied carbon dioxide gas in water are performed, each of the displayed plurality of levels selectable by a user of the refrigerator;
a carbonated water producing apparatus including a carbonated water tank and configured to produce carbonated water of different concentrations of carbon dioxide gas dissolved in water by supplying the water and the carbon dioxide gas to the carbonated water tank; and
a controller configured to control the carbonated water producing apparatus to produce the carbonated water according to a level of the displayed plurality of levels indicating the number of times that the supplying of carbon dioxide gas and the dissolving of the supplied carbon dioxide gas are performed selected by the user at the user interface, and to control the user interface to display the level indicating the number of times that the supplying of carbon dioxide gas and the dissolving of the supplied carbon dioxide gas are performed selected by the user and a level of a concentration of carbon dioxide gas dissolved in the water stored in the carbonated tank of the carbonated water producing apparatus.

2. The refrigerator according to claim 1 , wherein:
the controller controls the carbonated water producing apparatus so that the carbonated water producing apparatus supplies the carbon dioxide gas to be dissolved in the water at least once according to a target concentration based on the level indicating the number of times that the supplying of carbon dioxide gas and the dissolving of the supplied carbon dioxide gas selected by the user.

3. The refrigerator according to claim 2 , wherein:
the controller controls the user interface to display the concentration of the carbonated water according to the number of times the carbon dioxide gas is supplied to the carbonated water tank.

4. The refrigerator according to claim 3 , wherein:
the controller determines an amount of time the carbon dioxide gas is supplied based on the concentration of the carbonated water.

5. The refrigerator according to claim 1 , wherein:
the user interface displays an amount of the carbonated water stored in the carbonated water tank.

6. The refrigerator according to claim 5 , further comprising:
a dispenser configured to discharge the carbonated water from the refrigerator.

7. The refrigerator according to claim 6 , wherein
the controller determines the amount of the carbonated water stored in the carbonated water tank, based on an amount of time the carbonated water is discharged through the dispenser.

8. The refrigerator according to claim 6 , wherein
the controller determines the amount of the carbonated water stored in the carbonated water tank based on an amount of discharged carbonated water discharged through the dispenser.

9. The refrigerator according to claim 1 , wherein
the controller determines whether to produce the carbonated water based on a ratio of a present amount of the carbonated water to a maximum amount of the carbonated water and the concentration of the carbonated water when a command to produce carbonated water is inputted by the user at the user interface.

10. The refrigerator according to claim 9 , wherein
the controller controls the user interface to display that carbonated water production is not possible when a target concentration is smaller than a value obtained by multiplying a ratio by the concentration of carbonated water stored in the carbonated water tank.

11. The refrigerator according to claim 9 , wherein
the controller controls the user interface to display producing carbonated water having the target concentration when the target concentration is equal to or larger than a value obtained by multiplying the ratio by the concentration of carbonated water stored in the carbonated water tank.

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Kim Woo Sung
• Kim Jung Yeob
• Cho Sung Ho
• Ko Kyung Tae

Classifications

• B67D1/0888

  Means comprising electronic circuitry (e.g. control panels, switching or controlling means) · CPC title

• B67D2001/1263

  the level being detected electrically · CPC title

• B01F3/04808

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic

• B67D1/0884

  Means for controlling the parameters of the state of the liquid to be dispensed, e.g. temperature, pressure · CPC title

• A23L2/54

  Mixing with gases · CPC title