Refrigerator and controlling method thereof
US9328953B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Feb 17, 2011 |
| Grant date | May 3, 2016 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Apr 19, 2033 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG01N2291/102
- WIPO fieldMeasurement
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
A refrigerator includes a compressor, a condenser, an expansion unit, an evaporator for evaporating a refrigerant that has passed through the expansion unit, a heating unit for providing heat for defrosting the evaporator, a photographing device provided at one side of the evaporator and disposed to photograph the evaporator, so as to sense the amount of frost on the evaporator, the photographing device including a photographing unit for photographing frost on the evaporator and the surrounding background, and a control unit configured to determine the amount of frost on the evaporator from an image taken by the photographing device by acquiring pixel values which are proportionate to the amount of frost on the evaporator by applying image processing which includes binarization that separates the frost from other acquired images to determine the amount of frost on the evaporator, the control unit further configured to control the heating unit to operate when the amount of frost exceeds a predetermined amount.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.