Refrigerator and control method for the same

A refrigerator including a main body provided with a refrigerating chamber at an upper section and with a freezing chamber at a lower section, an ice making tray disposed in an upper space of an ice making chamber defined in the refrigerating chamber, a first storage container disposed in a lower space of the ice making chamber to store ice falling down from the ice making tray, and a second storage container disposed in a freezing chamber to store ice transferred from the ice making tray. The main body includes a guide channel to guide, when the first storage container reaches an ice-full state, ice falling from the ice making tray to the second storage container in the freezing chamber. The size of the ice making chamber is greatly reduced while a sufficient amount of the ice may be stored, thus securing a larger available space in the refrigerating chamber.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 2011-0021419, filed on Mar. 10, 2011 in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

Embodiments of the present invention relate to a refrigerator having an ice maker installed at a door to make water or ice and a control method for the same.

2. Description of the Related Art

A refrigerator is an apparatus which includes refrigeration cycle components therein to refrigerate or freeze foods stored therein using cool air generated from an evaporator among the refrigeration cycle components.

In a recent refrigerator, a refrigerating chamber with a relatively high use frequency is disposed at an upper section of the refrigerator while a freezing chamber is disposed at a lower section of the refrigerator. A dispenser is installed at a refrigerating chamber door to open/close the refrigerating chamber in order to dispense ice through the dispenser.

In such a refrigerator, an ice maker is also installed to make ice to be discharged through the dispenser, and the ice maker is advantageously disposed at a higher position than the dispenser in consideration of discharging the ice. Therefore, an ice making chamber is defined at one side of an upper portion of the refrigerating chamber using a thermal insulation wall, and the ice maker is installed in the ice making chamber.

SUMMARY

Therefore, it is an aspect to provide a refrigerator in which larger space of a refrigerating chamber becomes available and a method to control such a refrigerator.

In accordance with one aspect, a refrigerator includes a main body comprising a refrigerating chamber at an upper section thereof and provided with a freezing chamber at a lower section thereof, an ice making tray disposed in an upper space of an ice making chamber defined in the refrigerating chamber, a first storage container in a lower space of the ice making chamber to store ice falling from the ice making tray, and a second storage container in a freezing chamber to store ice transferred from the ice making tray, and the main body includes a guide channel to guide, when the first storage container enters an ice-full state, ice falling from the ice making tray to the second storage container in the freezing chamber.

The guide channel may be formed in a recessed way into a side wall of the main body, and the refrigerator may further include a channel cover removably installed to the side wall of the main body to cover the guide channel.

The refrigerator may further include a guide member to selectively guide ice removed from the ice making tray to any one of the guide channel and the first storage container, and a driving device to rotate the guide member.

The guide member may be rotatably installed to the side wall of the main body to guide the ice to any one of the guide channel and the first storage container depending on a rotation angle thereof.

The refrigerator may further include a refrigerating chamber door to open or close the refrigerating chamber, and a dispenser disposed in the refrigerating chamber door to guide discharge of the ice.

The refrigerator may further include a conveying auger disposed in the first storage container to enable ice in the first storage container to be discharged through the dispenser.

In accordance with another aspect, provided is a method to control a refrigerator comprising a refrigerating chamber at an upper section thereof and provided with a freezing chamber at a lower section. The method includes controlling an ice making operation of an ice maker to make ice in an ice making chamber defined in the refrigerating chamber to accommodate the ice maker, and guiding the ice to a first storage container in a lower space of the ice making chamber and a second storage container in the freezing chamber such that the ice is first guided to the first storage container until the first storage enters an ice-full state, and then to the second storage container until the second storage container enters an ice-full state.

The method may include determining whether the first storage container is in an ice-full state, beginning, upon determining that the first storage container is not in an ice-full state, to make ice using the ice maker, and guiding the ice made by the ice maker to the first storage container until the first storage container reaches an ice-full state.

The method may further include upon a determination that the first storage container is in an ice-full state, determining whether the second storage container is in an ice-full state. Upon determination that the second storage container is not in an ice-full state, to make ice using the ice maker, and guiding the ice made by the ice maker to the second storage container until the second storage container reaches an ice-full state.

The method may further include, after the second storage container reaches an ice-full state, terminating production of the ice using the ice maker.

The method may further include determining whether the first storage container is in an ice-full state, on a determination that the first storage container is in an ice-full state, determining whether the second storage container is in an ice-full state. Upon determining that the second storage container is not in an ice-full state, to make ice using the ice maker, and guiding the ice made by the ice maker to the second storage container until the second storage container reaches an ice-full state.

As described above, after the first storage container disposed in the ice making chamber reaches an ice-full state, the ice is transferred through the guide channel to the second storage container provided in the freezing chamber and then is stored therein. In this way, the size of the ice making chamber may be greatly reduced while a sufficient amount of the ice may be stored, resulting in securing a larger available space in the refrigerating chamber.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Below, a refrigerator according to one embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

As shown inFIG. 1andFIG. 2, a refrigerator according to one embodiment of the present invention includes a main body10which forms the appearance of the refrigerator and in which a plurality of food storage chambers, for example, two storage chambers10A and10B, are installed to be separated from each other. In this embodiment, the food storage chambers10A and10B are vertically partitioned such that the upper storage chamber10A forms a refrigerating chamber to store food in a refrigerated state and the lower storage chamber10B forms a freezing chamber to store food in a frozen state.

A pair of doors20A,20A is installed at both sides of an upper section of the main body10so that each of one-side ends of the doors is installed to the main body10in a pivotable way. In this manner, using the pair of doors20A,20A, the refrigerating chamber10A can be opened or closed. In the freezing chamber10B, a freezing chamber door20B is installed to move between an extended position and a retracted position so that the freezing chamber10B has a drawer type structure.

In a rear side of a lower section of the main body10, there is a machine chamber10D accommodating a compressor11to compress refrigerant, a condenser (not shown) in which the refrigerant and air exchange heat with each other and the refrigerant becomes cool, and an expansion valve (not shown) to expand the refrigerant in a pressure-reducing manner. In rear sides of the refrigerating and freezing chambers10A and10B, there are disposed evaporators12A and12B to generate cool air and two blowing fans13A and13B to enable the cool air generated from the evaporators to be supplied into the refrigerating and freezing chambers10A and10B. In this example, to cool the refrigerating and freezing chambers10A and10B independently, the two evaporators12A and12B are respectively disposed at the rear sides of the refrigerating and freezing chambers10A and10B.

The refrigerator includes an ice maker30to make ice and a dispenser40positioned in the refrigerating chamber door20A to guide outward discharge of ice made by the ice maker30. Since it is advantageous in discharging the ice that the ice maker30is positioned above the dispenser40, an ice making chamber10C is defined at one side of an upper portion of the refrigerating chamber10A by a thermal insulation wall, and the ice maker30is installed in the ice making chamber10C. Although not shown, an ice making switch is installed at the refrigerating chamber door20A to allow users to select an ice making operation.

The ice maker30includes an ice making tray31disposed at an upper space of the ice making chamber10C in which ice is made, a scraper32to separate ice from the ice making tray31, a heater33(refer toFIG. 3) to allow ice in the ice making tray31to be removed easily from the tray, a first storage container34disposed at a lower space of the ice making chamber10C to receive ice removed from the ice making tray31and store it, a conveying auger35rotatably installed in the first storage container34to guide, via its rotation, ice to be discharged to the dispenser40, and a conveying motor36to rotate the conveying auger35.

The dispenser40includes a discharge portion42which is a space formed by making a depression from a front face of the refrigerating chamber door20A toward an inner side of the refrigerating chamber door20A and which has a discharge opening41for discharge of ice. The dispenser40also includes an opening/closing member43to open or close the discharge opening41, an actuating lever44installed in the discharge portion42to operate the opening/closing member43and at the same time operate the conveying auger. The dispenser also includes a discharging channel45to guide ice discharged from the first storage container34to the discharge opening41.

The above-mentioned ice making chamber10C is defined at one side of and within the refrigerating chamber10A. Therefore, the larger the size of the ice making chamber10C, the smaller the size of the refrigerating chamber10A, resulting in limitation of the size of the first storage container34to a certain level.

For this reason, in this embodiment of the invention, a guide channel10E is installed to guide ice removed from the ice making tray31to the freezing chamber10B, and a second storage container14is provided in the freezing chamber10B to receive the ice transferred along the guide channel10E and store it.

The guide channel10E, as shown inFIG. 3toFIG. 5, is recessed into a side wall of the main body10. An upper end of the guide channel10E communicates with one side of a lower space of the ice making tray31while a lower end of the guide channel10E communicates with the second storage container14. As shown inFIG. 2, a channel cover15is installed on the side wall of the main body10in a detachable manner from the side wall so as to cover a portion of the guide channel10E. Thus, if it is necessary to clean the guide channel10E, the channel cover15is separated from the side wall of the main body10to expose the guide channel10E and clean the same.

The second storage container14is formed in a drawer type and is installed in the freezing chamber10B in a movable manner. At one side of the second storage container14, a transfer opening14athrough which the ice is transferred to the container14is provided so as to communicate with the lower end of the guide channel10E.

Ice made in the ice maker30first fills the first storage container34until the first storage container34is completely filled with the ice. Thereafter, the ice is guided to the second storage container14to fill the same.

To this end, a guide member16is disposed at the upper end of the guide channel10E to enable transfer of the ice falling from the ice making tray31to a selected one of the first storage container34and the guide channel10E.

The guide member16is installed at the side wall of the main body10in a rotatable manner and enables, by rotation thereof, such transfer of the ice falling from the ice making tray31to the selected one of the first storage container34and the guide channel10E depending on a rotation angle thereof. A driving device17such as a motor, etc. is installed at the main body10to rotate the guide member16.

For sensing ice amount, a first ice amount sensor18A-18B is disposed in the ice making chamber10C to sense ice amount of the first storage container34, and a second ice amount sensor19A-19B is disposed in the freezing chamber10B to sense ice amount of the second storage container14. In this embodiment, the first ice amount sensor18A-18B includes a light-emitting unit18A and a light-receiving unit18B. The second ice amount sensor19A-19B includes a light-emitting unit19A and a light-receiving unit19B.

As shown inFIG. 6, the refrigerator includes a control unit100to control the ice maker30and the guide member16, a first ice amount sensing unit110including the first ice amount sensor18A and18B, a second ice amount sensing unit120including the second ice amount sensor19A and19B, and a guide member driver140including the driving device17.

Now, a method of controlling such a refrigerator will be described in detail with reference toFIG. 7.

As mentioned above, the refrigerator according to this embodiment the ice made in the ice maker30first fills the first storage container34until the first storage container34is completely filled with ice, and thereafter is guided to the second storage container14to fill the same.

For this purpose, it is first checked whether the ice making switch is in an ON state (200), and then if the ice making switch is in an ON state, the amount of ice in the first storage container34is sensed using the first ice amount sensor18A and18B (201).

It is determined whether the first storage container34is in an ice-full state (202). Upon a determination that the first storage container34is not in an ice-full state, the ice maker30begins to make ice (203). The ice made by the ice maker30is guided to the first storage container34by rotating the guide member16to a closed position using the driving device17(204).

The operation (204) of guiding the ice made by the ice maker30to the first storage container34continues until it is determined that the first storage container34is in an ice-full state. As the ice is being guided to the first storage container34the amount of ice contained within the first storage container is sensed again (205). It is determined again if the first storage container34is in a full state (206). Such operations (204,205and206) are repeated until it is determined that the first storage container34is in an ice-full state.

Upon a determination that the first storage container34is in an ice-full state, the amount of ice in the second storage container14is sensed using the second ice amount sensor19A and19B (207). It is determined whether the second storage container14is in an ice-full state (208). Upon a determination that the second storage container14is in an ice-full state, the ice making operation terminates (209). Upon determining that the second storage container14is not in an ice-full state, the ice made by the ice maker30is guided to the guide channel10E by rotating the guide member16to an open position using the driving device17(210). The ice guided to the channel10E is transferred to the second storage container14through the transfer opening14a. Once ice is guided to the second storage container14, the amount of ice in the second storage container14is again sensed (211). It is again determined whether the second storage container14is in an ice-full state (208). Such operations (208,210and211) are repeated until it is determined that the second storage container14is in an ice-full state and thus the ice making operation terminates (209).

At the operation (202) of determining whether the first storage container34is in an ice-full state and it is determined that the first storage container34is in an ice-full state, the amount of ice in the second storage container14is sensed using the second ice amount sensor19A and19B (212). Subsequently, it is determined whether the second storage container14is in an ice-full state (213). Upon determining that the second storage container14is not in an ice-full state, the ice maker30begins to make ice (214).

After the ice making operation (214), ice made by the ice maker30is guided to the guide channel10E by rotating the guide member16using the driving device17(210). Once ice is guided to the second storage container14, the amount of ice in the second storage container14is again sensed (211) and then it is again determined whether the second storage container14is in an ice-full state (208). Such operations (208,210and211) are repeated until it is determined that the second storage container14is in an ice-full state.

Using the above-mentioned method, the first storage container34is first filled with ice and, thereafter, the second storage container14is filled with ice.