Refrigerator and control method thereof

Abstract

A refrigerator for preventing the generation of frost and a control method of the refrigerator. The refrigerator includes an ice cube tray, a water supply unit for supplying water for making ice cubes to the ice cube tray, an air blast unit for circulating cooled air, and a controller for preventing the operation of the air blast unit in a water supply mode, in which the water is supplied to the ice cube tray.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION [0001] This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 2004-21493, filed Mar. 30, 2004, 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 refrigerator and a control method thereof, and, more particularly, to a refrigerator for preventing the generation of frost and a control method thereof. [0004] 2. Description of the Related Art [0005] Generally, a refrigerator comprises freezing and refrigerating chambers for storing foods, a heat exchanger for heat-exchanging a refrigerant compressed by a compressor and condensed by a condenser with air in the refrigerator, and an air blast fan for circulating the air, in the refrigerator, cooled by the heat-exchanging into the freezing and refrigerating chambers. [0006] The refrigerator serves to make ice cubes as well as to store...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0016] In accordance with another aspect, the present invention provides a refrigerator comprising: a freezing chamber; an ice cube tray positioned in the freezing chamber; a water supply unit for supplying water for making ice cubes to the ice cube tray; an air blast unit for circulating air cooled by a heat exchanger to supply the cooled air to the ice cube tray; and a controller for preventing the operation of the air blast unit so that vapor generated from the water supplied to the ice cube tray by the cooled air supplied from the air blast unit is not frozen.

[0017] The controller may prevent the air blast unit from being operated in a water supply mode, in which the water is supplied to the ice cube tray.

Problems solved by technology

Therefore, the above conventional refrigerator causes a difficulty in using ice cubes when they are required, thus causing inconvenience to users.

However, since the freezing chamber fan of the above conventional refrigerator is operated to supply the cold air to the ice cube tray even when the water is supplied to the ice cube tray, vapor generated by evaporation of the water contacts the cold air, thus creating frost in the freezing chamber or conglomerating the ice cubes stored in the ice cube storage container.

That is, since the temperature of the water supplied to the ice cube tray in the summer is approximately 23° C., a small quantity of the water has supplied to the ice cube tray evaporates into vapor, and the vapor contacts the cold air circulated by the freezing chamber fan and then creates frost in the freezing chamber or conglomerates the ice cubes stored in the ice cube storage container into a lump, thereby causing a difficulty of efficiently discharging the ice cubes to the outside of the freezing chamber.

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