Patent · US Active

Refrigerator and controlling method thereof

US10488098B2 · kind B2 · utility

0Cited by
15References
11Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateDec 7, 2015
Grant dateNov 26, 2019
Priority date
Expiry dateJun 12, 2037

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG01N2291/102
  • WIPO fieldMeasurement
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

A refrigerator including a compressor, a condenser, and an expansion unit that constitute a refrigeration cycle, an evaporator that evaporates a refrigerant that has passed through the expansion unit, a heater that provides heat for defrosting the evaporator, and a frost sensor that is provided at one side of the evaporator to sense the amount of frost on the evaporator, the frost sensor including a sound-source transmitter that generates a sound-source of a first volume to the evaporator, and a sound-source receiver that receives a sound-source of a second volume formed after the sound-source transmitted by the sound-source transmitter reflects from or passes through the evaporator, and a controller that controls the heater to generate heat, when the difference between the first volume and the second volume reaches a predetermined volume.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.