A multi-duct structure and method for collecting and detecting food odor in a refrigerator compartment

By designing a multi-air duct structure and a stepper motor-controlled odor collection method, it is solved that it is difficult to accurately collect the rotten odor of food in the refrigerator in the refrigerator, and the precise collection and analysis of odors in specific areas are achieved, and the economic and practicality of the product is improved.

CN113865188BActive Publication Date: 2025-05-02NANJING CHUANGWEI HOUSEHOLD ELECTRONICS APPLIANCES LTD
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Patent Information

Application Number
CN202111178462.9
Authority / Receiving Office
CN · China
Patent Type
Patents(China)
Current Assignee / Owner
Filing Date
2021-10-10
Publication Date
2025-05-02
Estimated Expiration
2041-10-10

AI Technical Summary

Technical Problem

The techniques used in existing refrigerators to detect spoiled odors in food in refrigerators have problems such as inaccurate collection and poor economical practicality, especially the difficulty in accurately collecting spoiled odors at specific locations.

Method used

A multi-air duct structure is designed, including an inner air duct and an outer air duct cover plate. One end of the inner air duct is connected to the odor analysis chamber, and the other end is connected to different parts of the refrigerator refrigerator through the air outlet provided on the inner air duct wall. The stepper motor is used to control the communication between the air outlet and the air inlet to realize the odor collection of the designated area.

Benefits of technology

It realizes the precise collection and analysis of food spoilage odors in specific areas of the refrigerator refrigerator refrigerator, improving the accuracy of odor analysis and the economic and practicality of the product.

✦ Generated by Eureka AI based on patent content.

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    Figure CN113865188B_ABST
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Abstract

The present invention provides a multi-duct structure and method for collecting and detecting food odor in a refrigerator refrigerating chamber. The multi-duct structure includes an inner duct and an outer duct cover plate arranged inside a refrigerating device. One end of the inner duct is connected to an odor analysis chamber, and the other end is connected to different parts of the refrigerator refrigerating chamber through N air outlets arranged radially at intervals on the pipe wall of the inner duct. The outer duct cover plate fits the outer wall of the inner duct. N air inlets adapted to the air outlets are radially arranged on the plate wall of the outer duct cover plate. The air outlets are arranged at a certain angle along the axial direction, or the air inlets are arranged at a certain angle along the axial direction. When the inner duct rotates along the axial direction or the outer duct cover plate rotates along the axial direction, the air outlets at different positions are connected to the air inlets in sequence. This solution can solve the difficulty of collecting food corruption odor in a specific area of ​​the refrigerator refrigerating chamber. At the same time, static odor in the chamber is used for analysis to improve the accuracy of odor analysis.
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Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention relates to the technical field of refrigeration equipment, and in particular to a structure and method for collecting and detecting odors of refrigerated food in a refrigerator. Background Art

[0002] At present, the refrigerator industry detects the smell of food spoilage in the refrigerator compartment by collecting natural air and static air in the refrigerator. There are roughly two ways to arrange the odor detection sensor:

[0003] One is to arrange multiple odor detection sensors in the cold storage room to collect odor signals from multiple locations, but due to the high value of the sensors, the economical and practicality is poor;

[0004] Another method is to place a single odor detection sensor at a certain location in the refrigerator to collect the average odor signal inside the refrigerator. Due to factors such as the operation of the refrigerator, opening and closing of the door, and the relative position of the sensor, it is difficult to accurately collect the odor of food spoilage at a specific location, and the application value is not high. Summary of the invention

[0005] To achieve the above-mentioned purpose, the technical solution of the present invention is as follows: the multi-air duct structure includes an inner air duct and an outer air duct cover plate arranged inside the refrigeration device, one end of the inner air duct is connected to the odor analysis chamber, and the other end is connected to different parts of the refrigerator refrigeration chamber through N air outlets arranged radially at intervals on the pipe wall of the inner air duct; the outer air duct cover plate is fitted with the outer wall of the inner air duct, and N air inlets adapted to the air outlets are radially arranged on the plate wall of the outer air duct cover plate;

[0006] The air outlet is arranged at a certain angle along the axial direction, or the air inlet is arranged at a certain angle along the axial direction; when the inner air duct rotates axially or the outer air duct cover rotates axially, the air outlets and air inlets at different positions are connected in sequence.

[0007] Based on the above scheme, the multi-duct structure can be vertically arranged on the back, sides and corners of the back and sides of the refrigerator's cold storage chamber. This structure can collect accurate and stable corrupt gases from multiple positions from top to bottom including fruit and vegetable boxes.

[0008] As an improvement of the present invention, the effective air duct at the bottom end of the inner air duct is connected to the odor analysis chamber, a fan and an odor detection sensor are arranged in the odor analysis chamber, and a damper is arranged on one side of the odor analysis chamber.

[0009] Based on the above scheme, the corruption odor in a certain designated area is sucked into the chamber with the odor detection sensor for analysis through the fan in the odor analysis chamber.

[0010] As an improvement of the present invention, the bottom of the inner air duct has a support surface for accommodating a fixed connection piece and an effective air duct, and the support surface at the bottom of the inner air duct is connected to the rotating shaft on the stepper motor through the fixed connection piece.

[0011] Based on the above solution, the fixed connecting member can be a support shaft, which is used to fix the inner air duct on the rotating shaft of the stepper motor, and the outer air duct cover is fixedly arranged. When the inner air duct rotates, the air outlet corresponds to the air inlet.

[0012] As an improvement of the present invention, the inner air duct is a cylindrical air duct, the arc length angle of the inner air duct is set to α, the radius of the inner air duct is set to r, the effective air duct arc length at the bottom of the inner air duct is set to L, and L=3.14*r*α / 180 is satisfied.

[0013] Based on the above scheme, the gas entering the inner air duct enters the odor analysis chamber through the effective air duct at the bottom thereof, satisfying L=3.14*r*α / 180, limiting the ratio of the effective air duct to the inner air duct and ensuring the normal transmission of the gas in the inner air duct.

[0014] As an improvement of the present invention, the air outlet located on the surface of the inner air duct forms a certain angle β in the horizontal direction and satisfies β=α / (N+1). The air outlet corresponds one-to-one with the air inlet in the vertical direction. The height of the air outlet is set to h, the width is set to d, and 5mm≤d<L / 3N is satisfied.

[0015] Based on the above scheme, the air outlet is at a certain angle β in the horizontal direction. When the stepper motor rotates at an angle β, it can overlap with the air inlet on the outer air duct cover in sequence. d satisfies 5mm≤d<L / 3N, which ensures the appropriate width of the inner air duct inside the equipment.

[0016] As an improvement of the present invention, a method for collecting and detecting odors through a multi-air duct structure for collecting and detecting odors of food in a refrigerator refrigeration chamber includes the following steps:

[0017] 1) The stepper motor rotates at an angle of β, and the air outlets and air inlets on the inner air duct and the outer air duct cover overlap at the same horizontal line, the air inlet M1 is opened, and the air inlets M2, M3...MN are blocked and closed. At this time, the damper of the odor analysis chamber is in a closed state;

[0018] 2) Start the fan in the analysis chamber to suck the gas in the corresponding area into the odor analysis chamber;

[0019] 3) Turn off the fan, and the static odor sucked in is continuously analyzed by the odor detection sensor in the analysis chamber, and the collected information is stored in the system;

[0020] 4) The stepper motor rotates at an angle of β / 2 to close the air outlet, then starts the fan of the odor analysis chamber and opens the chamber damper at the same time.

[0021] As an improvement of the present invention, in the above 2), the time for continuously sucking the gas into the corresponding area is set to 20 seconds.

[0022] Based on the above scheme, the time for continuously sucking the gas in the corresponding area is set to be short, otherwise it will affect the static smell of the gas area.

[0023] As an improvement of the present invention, in the above 3), the continuous analysis time of the gas in the corresponding area is set to 60s to eliminate the influence of the analysis accuracy of the odor detection sensor.

[0024] As an improvement of the present invention, in 4), the stepper motor rotates at an angle of β / 2 to close the air outlet and open the chamber damper for 15 seconds to discharge the remaining analysis gas from the previous time.

[0025] Based on the above scheme, in order to eliminate the influence of the previous analysis gas, the stepper motor first rotates the β / 2 angle to close the air outlet, and then starts the fan of the odor analysis chamber, and at the same time opens the chamber damper for 15 seconds to discharge the remaining analysis gas and carry out the next analysis.

[0026] As an improvement of the present invention, the odor information of the corresponding area is collected in a cyclic manner and stored in the system, and the results are pushed to the user APP through the WiFi server. When the specified threshold is exceeded, a food expiration reminder is sent to the user APP.

[0027] The beneficial effects of the present invention are:

[0028] 1) The present invention designs an innovative air duct structure for odor detection, and according to the difference in the positions of the air duct outlets inside and outside the air ducts, combined with the control of the stepper motor, realizes the opening of the air duct in the designated area, and then starts the air suction fan, so that the target food gas in the designated area can be sucked into the odor analysis chamber, thereby solving the difficulty of collecting the food corruption odor in a specific area of ​​the refrigerator refrigerator. At the same time, the static odor in the chamber is used for analysis to improve the accuracy of odor analysis.

[0029] 2) It uses a single gas analysis chamber and a single gas detection sensor to collect corruption gas information at multiple locations, making the product more economical and practical. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0030] Figure 1 The present invention provides a schematic diagram of the working principle.

[0031] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of the odor analysis chamber provided by the present invention.

[0032] Figure 3 This is the first schematic diagram of the multi-duct structure of the present invention.

[0033] Figure 4 This is a second schematic diagram of the multi-duct structure of the present invention.

[0034] List of figure symbols: 1- damper, 2- odor detection sensor, 3- fan, 4- external air duct cover, 5- internal air duct, 6- stepper motor. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0035] The following is combined with Figure 1-4 The present invention will be further illustrated with the following specific embodiments. It should be understood that the following specific embodiments are only used to illustrate the present invention and are not used to limit the scope of the present invention.

[0036] Example: See Figure 1 The multi-air duct structure includes an inner air duct 5 and an outer air duct cover plate 4 arranged inside the refrigeration device, one end of the inner air duct 5 is connected to the odor analysis chamber, and the other end is connected to different parts of the refrigerator refrigeration chamber through N air outlets arranged radially at intervals on the pipe wall of the inner air duct 5; the outer air duct cover plate 4 is fitted with the outer wall of the inner air duct 5, and N air inlets adapted to the air outlets are radially arranged on the plate wall of the outer air duct cover plate 4;

[0037] The air outlet is arranged at a certain angle along the axial direction, or the air inlet is arranged at a certain angle along the axial direction; when the inner air duct 5 rotates along the axial direction or the outer air duct cover plate 4 rotates along the axial direction, the air outlets at different positions are connected with the air inlets in sequence. The multi-air duct structure can be vertically arranged at the back, side, and corner of the back and side of the refrigerator compartment. This structure can collect accurate and stable corruption gas from multiple positions from top to bottom including the fruit and vegetable box.

[0038] See also Figure 2 The effective air duct at the bottom of the inner air duct 5 is connected to the odor analysis chamber, and a fan 3 and an odor detection sensor 2 are arranged in the odor analysis chamber, and a damper 1 is arranged on one side of the odor analysis chamber. The fan 3 in the odor analysis chamber sucks the corruption odor of a certain designated area into the chamber with the odor detection sensor 2 for analysis.

[0039] The bottom of the inner air duct 5 has a support surface for accommodating a fixed connection member and an effective air duct. The support surface at the bottom of the inner air duct 5 is connected to the rotating shaft on the stepper motor through a fixed connection member. The fixed connection member can be a support shaft, which is used to fix the inner air duct 5 on the rotating shaft of the stepper motor, and the outer air duct cover plate 4 is fixedly arranged. When the inner air duct 5 rotates, the air outlet corresponds to the air inlet.

[0040] See also Figure 3 to Figure 4The inner air duct 5 is a cylindrical air duct, the arc length angle of the inner air duct 5 is set to α, the radius of the inner air duct 5 is set to r, and the effective air duct arc length at the bottom of the inner air duct 5 is set to L, and L=3.14*r*α / 180 is satisfied. The gas entering the inner air duct 5 enters the odor analysis chamber through the effective air duct at the bottom thereof, satisfying L=3.14*r*α / 180, which limits the ratio of the effective air duct to the inner air duct 5 and ensures the normal transmission of the gas in the inner air duct 5.

[0041] The air outlet located on the surface of the inner air duct 5 forms a certain angle β in the horizontal direction and satisfies β=α / (N+1). The air outlet corresponds to the air inlet in the vertical direction. The height of the air outlet is set to h, and the width is set to d, and satisfies 5mm≤d<L / 3N. The air outlet forms a certain angle β in the horizontal direction. When the stepper motor 6 rotates at an angle β, it can overlap with the air inlet on the outer air duct cover 4 in turn. d satisfies 5mm≤d<L / 3N to ensure the appropriate width of the inner air duct 5 inside the device.

[0042] Furthermore, a method for collecting and detecting odors through a multi-duct structure for collecting and detecting odors of food in a refrigerator compartment is provided, the method comprising the following steps:

[0043] 1) The stepper motor 6 rotates at an angle of β, the air outlets and air inlets on the inner air duct 5 and the outer air duct cover 4 coincide with each other at the same horizontal line, the air inlet M1 is opened, and the air inlets M2, M3 ... MN are blocked and closed. At this time, the damper 1 of the odor analysis chamber is in a closed state;

[0044] 2) Start the fan 3 in the analysis chamber to suck the gas in the corresponding area into the odor analysis chamber;

[0045] 3) Turn off the fan 3, the static odor sucked in is continuously analyzed by the odor detection sensor 2 in the analysis chamber, and the collected information is stored in the system;

[0046] 4) The stepper motor 6 rotates at an angle of β / 2 to close the air outlet, and then starts the fan 3 of the odor analysis chamber, and opens the chamber damper 1 at the same time.

[0047] In the above 2), the time for continuously sucking the gas in the corresponding area is set to 20 seconds. The time for continuously sucking the gas in the corresponding area is set to be short, otherwise it will affect the static smell of the gas area.

[0048] In the above 3), the continuous analysis time of the gas in the corresponding area is set to 60s to eliminate the influence of the analysis accuracy of the odor detection sensor 2.

[0049] In the above 4), the stepper motor rotates at an angle of β / 2 to close the air outlet and opens the air door 1 of the chamber for 15 seconds to discharge the remaining analysis gas from the previous analysis. In order to eliminate the influence of the previous analysis gas, the stepper motor first rotates at an angle of β / 2 to close the air outlet, then starts the fan 3 of the odor analysis chamber, and opens the air door 1 of the chamber for 15 seconds to discharge the remaining analysis gas and conduct the next analysis.

[0050] The odor information of the corresponding area is collected in a cycle and stored in the system, and the results are pushed to the user APP through the WiFi server. If the specified threshold is exceeded, a food expiration reminder is sent to the user APP.

[0051] It should be noted that the above content only illustrates the technical idea of ​​the present invention and cannot be used to limit the protection scope of the present invention. For ordinary technicians in this technical field, several improvements and modifications can be made without departing from the principle of the present invention. These improvements and modifications all fall within the protection scope of the claims of the present invention.

Claims

1. A method for collecting and detecting food odor in a refrigerator compartment, characterized in that: The multi-duct structure comprises an inner duct (5) and an outer duct cover plate (4) arranged inside the refrigeration device; one end of the inner duct (5) is connected to the odor analysis chamber, and the other end is connected to different parts of the refrigerator refrigeration chamber through N air outlets arranged radially at intervals on the tube wall of the inner duct (5); the outer duct cover plate (4) is fitted with the outer wall of the inner duct (5), and N air inlets adapted to the air outlets are radially arranged on the plate wall of the outer duct cover plate (4); the air outlets are arranged at a certain angle along the axial direction, or the air inlets are arranged at a certain angle along the axial direction; when the inner duct (5) rotates along the axial direction or the outer duct cover plate (4) rotates along the axial direction, the air outlets at different positions are connected to the air inlet in sequence, and a fan (3) is arranged in the odor analysis chamber. and an odor detection sensor (2), a damper (1) is arranged on one side of the odor analysis chamber, the bottom of the inner air duct (5) has a support surface for accommodating a fixed connection piece and an effective air duct, the support surface at the bottom of the inner air duct (5) is connected to a rotating shaft on a stepper motor (6) via a fixed connection piece, the inner air duct (5) is a cylindrical air duct, the air duct arc length angle of the inner air duct (5) is set to α, the radius of the inner air duct (5) is set to r, the effective air duct arc length at the bottom of the inner air duct (5) is set to L, and L=3.14*r*α / 180 is satisfied, the air outlet located on the surface of the inner air duct (5) forms a certain angle β in the horizontal direction, and β=α / (N+1) is satisfied, the air outlet corresponds to the air inlet in the vertical direction, the air outlet height is set to h, the width is set to d, and 5mm≤d<L / 3N, the method comprises the following steps: 1) the stepper motor (6) rotates at an angle of β, the air outlet and the air inlet on the inner air duct (5) and the outer air duct cover (4) overlap on the same horizontal line, the air inlet M1 is opened, and the air inlets M2, M3...MN are blocked and closed, and at this time the damper (1) of the odor analysis chamber is in a closed state; 2) the fan (3) in the analysis chamber is started to suck the gas in the corresponding area into the odor analysis chamber; 3) the fan (3) is turned off, the static odor sucked in is continuously analyzed by the odor detection sensor (2) in the analysis chamber, and the collected information is stored in the system; 4) the stepper motor (6) rotates at an angle of β / 2 to close the air outlet, and then the fan (3) in the odor analysis chamber is started, and the damper (1) of the chamber is opened at the same time, and the stepper motor (6) rotates at an angle of β / 2 to close the air outlet and open the chamber damper (1) for 15 seconds to discharge the remaining analysis gas from the previous time.

2. A method for collecting and detecting food odor in a refrigerator compartment according to claim 1, characterized in that: In the step 2), the time for continuously sucking the gas into the corresponding area is set to 20 seconds.

3. A method for collecting and detecting food odor in a refrigerator compartment according to claim 1, characterized in that: In step 3), the continuous analysis time of the gas in the corresponding area is set to 60 seconds to eliminate the influence of the analysis accuracy of the odor detection sensor (2).

4. A method for collecting and detecting food odor in a refrigerator compartment according to claim 1, characterized in that: The odor information of the corresponding area is collected in a cycle and stored in the system, and the results are pushed to the user APP through the WiFi server. If the specified threshold is exceeded, a food expiration reminder is sent to the user APP.

Citation Information

Patent Citations

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    CN105928298A

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