Patent ID: 9328956
Filing Date: 2016-05-03
CPC Classification: F25B,F25D,Y02B

Claim Text:
1. A method of operating a refrigerator appliance that includes a fresh food compartment, a freezer compartment, an evaporator, a variable speed evaporator fan for moving air over the evaporator, a variable damper for controlling the flow of air from the freezer compartment to the fresh food compartment, and a variable speed compressor, the method comprising the steps of: providing a set point temperature, FF SP, for the fresh food compartment; providing a set point temperature, FZ SP, for the freezer compartment; measuring FF THERM, the temperature of the fresh food compartment; measuring FZ THERM, the temperature of the freezer compartment; determining FF ERR, the fresh food compartment temperature error, using FF SP and FF THERM; determining FZ ERR, the freezer food compartment temperature error, using FZ SP and FZ THERM; using FF ERR to determine the fresh food compartment demand for cold air, q using FZ ERR to determine the freezer compartment demand for cold air, q setting the speed of the evaporator fan based on q setting the position of the damper based on q setting the speed of the compressor based on a combination of FF ERR and FZ ERR, and a logarithmic correction factor calculated using q lowering the energy consumption of the refrigerator appliance.