Patent ID: 7001154

Claim:
An apparatus for controlling a linear compressor, comprising: a collision detection unit detecting a collision of a piston with a valve due to operations of the linear compressor; a control unit determining whether the collision of the piston occurs based on an output signal from the collision detection unit; and a compressor driving unit controlling a maximum amplitude of the piston of the linear compressor under a control of the control unit, wherein the collision detection unit includes: a bridge unit having first and second coils serially connected to a ground, and first and second resistors connected in parallel with the first and second coils and serially connected to each other; a core linearly reciprocating by penetrating the first and second coils according to a movement of the piston of the linear compressor and made of a magnetic substance; a sine wave generating unit providing a sine wave to the first resistor and the first coil; first and second half-wave rectifying units, each comprising a diode half-wave rectifying an output signal from a junction of the first and second resistors, and an output signal from the junction of the first and second coils, respectively; a differential amplifying unit differentially amplifying output signals from the first and second half-wave rectifying units; a low pass filter removing a high frequency component of an output signal from the differential amplifying unit; and a peak detection unit detecting a peak of an output signal from the low pass filter, and outputting a detected result to the control unit.