US 2019/0162467 A1 · REFRIGERATOR AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING THE SAME

Abstract

A refrigerator includes: a cabinet in which a storage compartment is formed; a refrigerator door for opening and closing the storage compartment; a rack which can move from an initial position to a door opening position to open the refrigerator door; a driving motor which generates a driving force to move the rack; a power transmission unit which transmits power of the driving motor to the rack; a rotation detection unit which detects a rotation number of the driving motor; and a controller that controls the driving motor based on information on the rotation number detected by the rotation detection unit, in which the controller may control the driving motor to a first state until the rack moves from the door opening position to a reference position and may control the driving motor to a second state until the rack moves from the reference position to the initial position.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A refrigerator comprising:

a cabinet in which a storage compartment is defined;
a refrigerator door connected to the cabinet and configured to open and close the storage compartment;
a rack configured to move from an initial position to a door opening position to open the refrigerator door;
a driving motor configured to generate a driving force to move the rack;
a power transmission unit configured to transmit power from the driving motor to move the rack;
a rotation detection unit configured to detect a number of rotations of the driving motor;
and
a controller configured to control the driving motor based on information regarding the number of rotations detected by the rotation detection unit by:
controlling the driving motor according to a first control state to move the rack from the door opening position to a reference position;
and
controlling the driving motor according to a second control state to move the rack from the reference position to the initial position.

8 more elements

A method of controlling a refrigerator that comprises (i) a rack configured to move to open a door of the refrigerator, and (ii) a driving motor configured to generate a driving force to move the rack, the method comprising:

rotating the driving motor in a first direction to move the rack from an initial position to a door opening position so as to open the door;
stopping the driving motor based on the rack reaching the door opening position;
rotating the driving motor at a first reference speed in a second direction, which is opposite to the first direction, to move the rack back to the initial position;
determining whether the rack reaches a reference position before reaching the initial position;
rotating the driving motor at a second reference speed which is less than the first reference speed in the second direction based on the rack reaching the reference position;
and
stopping the driving motor based on a determination that the rack reaches the initial position from the reference position.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Refrigerator and method for controlling the same

Life of this patent

Refrigerator and method for controlling the same

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims20