Patent ID: 8161763

Claim:
A method of controlling a refrigerator for repeatedly performing a refrigerating operation and a freezing operation simultaneously or alternately in a refrigerating/freezing cycle, comprising: operating a constant speed compressor; and controlling an opening and a closing of a refrigerant control three-way valve to control heat exchange at a plurality of evaporators connected in parallel for refrigerating and freezing chambers, respectively, thereby reducing not only consumption of electricity by the compressor, but also reducing a pressure difference between an entrance of the compressor and an exit of the compressor upon starting of the compressor, wherein controlling the opening and the closing of the refrigerant control three-way valve comprises: controlling the refrigerant control three-way valve to be closed for a preset period of time during a portion of the refrigerating/freezing cycle for both the refrigerating chamber and the freezing chamber immediately after ending operation of the compressor in the refrigerating/freezing cycle to prevent refrigerant from being introduced into the plurality of evaporators after ending operation of the compressor; and after the preset period of time in which the refrigerant control three-way valve is closed during the portion of the refrigerating/freezing cycle, controlling the refrigerant control three-way valve to be opened for both the refrigerating chamber and the freezing chamber for a predetermined period of time before beginning operation of the compressor in a next refrigerating/freezing cycle, wherein the predetermined period of time of the refrigerant control three-way valve is in a range of approximately 3 minutes to 7 minutes.