Supercooling apparatus, refrigerator, and control method thereof

A refrigerator comprising:

• a body having a freezing compartment defined therein;
• a storage defined independently of the freezing compartment in the body;
• a supercooling compartment positioned in the storage to indirectly refrigerate an object therein;
• a chilled air supply unit to supply chilled air from the freezing compartment to the storage;
• a hole formed at one side of the supercooling compartment to allow flow of the chilled air into and from the inside of the supercooling compartment;
• and
• a damper to open or close the hole,
• wherein the object in the supercooling compartment is directly or indirectly refrigerated selectively by the damper opening or closing the hole.

A refrigerator, comprising:

• a body having a freezing compartment defined therein;
• a storage defined independently of the freezing compartment in the body;
• a chilled air supply unit to supply chilled air from the freezing compartment to the storage;
• a supercooling compartment positioned in the storage, and refrigerated by the chilled air supplied from the chilled air supply unit to refrigerate an object therein;
• a temperature sensor positioned inside the supercooling compartment to detect an inner temperature of the supercooling compartment;
• and
• a controller to control the chilled air supply unit based on a temperature information provided by the temperature sensor,
• wherein the refrigerator maintains a supercooled state of the object by reducing a range of temperature variation within the supercooling compartment via control of the chilled air supplied from the chilled air supply unit.

A method for controlling a refrigerator, comprising:

• A) detecting a temperature T in a supercooling compartment;
• B) comparing the temperature T with at least one of a first preset temperature Tset1 set as a temperature of starting indirect refrigeration of an object after direct refrigeration, and with a second preset temperature Tset2 set as a target temperature;
• and
• C) controlling a chilled air supply unit acting to supply chilled air to a storage in which the supercooling compartment is provided, and a damper acting to adjust flow of the chilled air from the storage to the supercooling compartment according to the temperature T in the supercooling compartment, such that the direct refrigeration or the indirect refrigeration of the object within the supercooling compartment is selectively performed.