Linear compressor and control method thereof

Abstract

A linear compressor having a core combined to one end of a piston to detect a position of the piston reciprocally moving up and down. A first sensor coil and a second sensor coil detect the position of the core. The core has an upper core having a length shorter than one half of the length of the first sensor coil and a lower core having a length shorter than one half of the length of the second sensor coil in series. A method of controlling the operation of the linear compressor includes timing the upper core and the lower core driven by the piston through a stroke cycle, receiving the time and calculating a top dead center position based on the time or an offset value respectively, and controlling a piston stroke by varying the power driving the linear compressor according to the calculated top dead center or offset value.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 2003-37589, filed Jun. 11, 2003, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] 1. Field of the Invention [0003] The present invention relates to a linear compressor and a control method thereof. [0004] 2. Description of the Related Art [0005] A linear compressor is widely used to compress coolant in a freezing cycle such as a refrigerator, etc. The linear compressor measures the magnitude of a stroke of a piston, and controls an operation of the piston by applying a current to a driving motor of the linear compressor based on an analysis of the measured magnitude of the stroke of the piston. [0006]FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a position detection sensor of a piston of a conventional linear compressor. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the position detection sensor comprises a s...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0012] Accordingly, it is an aspect of the present invention to provide a linear compressor that detects a position of a piston accurately regardless of external environmental conditions.

Problems solved by technology

If the sensor circuit of the conventional linear compressor takes the linear property represented by a small angle of the slope like a line “b” due to the external environment, the piston controlled according to a normal operation in a high cooling capacity may have a problem of colliding with a valve of a cylinder.

Further variation of cooling capacity may excessively enlarge between a high cooling state and a low cooling state.

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