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US 12,287,140 B2Granted
Refrigerator and operating method thereof
AssigneeLG Electronics Inc.
InventorsYongbum Cho, Dong Hwi Kim, Hyeonseong Lee, Sunghee Kang
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A refrigerator and a method of controlling an operation thereof are proposed. In the refrigerator and method thereof, heat control of heaters for preventing a damper from freezing is performed according to at least any one condition set in consideration of a room temperature and refrigerator internal humidity. Accordingly, consumption of power due to unnecessary heat generation of the heaters may be reduced, thereby improving the power consumption.
Claims18
A refrigerator comprising:
- a refrigerator body defining a first storage compartment and a second storage compartment having, respectively, different target temperature ranges;
- a supply duct configured to guide at least a portion of cold air, which is generated by an operation of a compressor and is flowing to one of the first or second storage compartments, to another one of the first or second storage compartments;
- a damper configured to selectively block a flow of the cold air guided to the supply duct;
- one or more heaters configured to provide heat to at least one of the damper or the supply duct;
- a room temperature sensor configured to detect a room temperature;
- refrigerator internal temperature sensors configured to detect respective temperatures in the first and second storage compartments;
- a refrigerator internal humidity sensor configured to detect humidity in at least one of the first or second storage compartments;
- and
- a controller configured to control operation of at least one of the heaters when at least one condition, that is evaluated on a basis of a sensing value of at least one of the room temperature sensor or the refrigerator internal humidity sensor, is satisfied,
- wherein one of the first or the second storage compartments includes a vertical surface having an outlet to receive cold air from the supply duct, and the refrigerator internal humidity sensor is provided on the vertical surface at a position higher than a vertical center of the vertical surface and lower than the outlet.
7 more elements
A method of controlling an operation of a refrigerator, the method comprising:
- performing a cooling operation to maintain each of a first storage chamber compartment and a second storage compartment in respective set temperature ranges while supplying or blocking cold air to at least any one of first or the second storage compartments by selectively opening or closing a supply duct through an operation of a damper and by controlling an operation of a compressor;
- and
- performing a defrosting operation for the damper to prevent freezing of the damper or to defrost the damper, when frozen, by controlling operations of one or more heaters configured to provide heat to at least one of the damper or the supply duct,
- wherein during the defrosting operation for the damper, the operations of the heaters are controlled on a basis of:
- at least one of a room temperature or an internal humidity of at least one of the first or the second storage compartments, and
- an operation status of at least one of the compressor or the damper, and
- wherein one of the first or the second storage compartments includes a vertical surface having an outlet to receive cold air from the supply duct, and a sensor to detect the internal humidity is provided on the vertical surface at a position higher than a vertical center of the vertical surface and lower than the outlet.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.