Cooling system and method of controlling the same

Abstract

An oscillatory wave generating unit and an oscillatory wave sensing unit are installed at both ends of a refrigerant pipe of an evaporator of the cooling system, an amount of frost formed on the refrigerant pipe is determined by comparing a wave form of an oscillatory wave generated from one end of the refrigerant through the oscillatory wave generating unit and a wave form of the oscillatory wave sensed by the other one end of the refrigerant through the oscillatory wave sensing unit, and whether or not a defrosting operation is performed is determined by a result of the determination. The cooling system increases the accuracy in sensing the amount of the frost formed on the evaporator of a refrigerator, a Kimchi refrigerator, or an air conditioner, and respectively starts and ends the defrosting operation at proper points of time, thus enhancing a heat-exchanging performance and increasing energy efficiency.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 2008-0117363, filed on Nov. 25, 2008, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.BACKGROUND[0002]1. Field[0003]The present invention relates to a cooling system and a method of controlling the same, and more particularly to a cooling system, which senses frost formed on an evaporator by heat exchange, and a method of controlling the cooling system.[0004]2. Description of the Related Art[0005]In general, cooling systems are apparatuses, which circulate a refrigerant according to a refrigerating cycle and thus cool a designated space, and include a refrigerator, a Kimchi refrigerator, an air conditioner, etc.[0006]Here, the refrigerating cycle changes a refrigerant into four phases, such as compression, condensation, expansion, and evaporation, and thus needs to be provided with a compressor, a condenser, an expa...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0036]The method may further include respectively comparing the amounts of frost in the sections with a reference amount; and performing the defrosting operation, when the amount of frost in at least one section of the sections is more than the reference amount.

Problems solved by technology

Since the surface temperature of the evaporator cooling the indoor space through the refrigerating cycle is lower than the temperature of air in the indoor space, moisture condensed from the air of a relatively higher temperature in the indoor space is stuck to the surface of the evaporator and thus frost is formed on the surface of the evaporator.

The frost formed on the surface of the evaporator is gradually thickened as time goes by, and then the heat-exchanging efficiency of air passing through the evaporator is lowered and causes excessive power consumption.

However, this defrosting operation is performed based on the operating time of the compressor regardless of the real amount of the front formed on the surface of the evaporator, and thus is limited in the effective removal of the frost formed on the surface of the evaporator.

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