Refrigerator

Abstract

To provide a refrigerator capable of detecting a half-open state of a storage chamber door liable to be erroneously determined to be in a closed state by a door sensor while saving consumption power.SOLUTION: A refrigerator comprises for example: a storage chamber door; a distance measuring sensor that is installed so as to keep the storage chamber door within the field of view and measures a distance to the storage chamber door based on radiation light radiated to the storage chamber door and reflected light of the radiation light; a door sensor that determines an open / closed state of the storage chamber door; a control unit that allows the distance measuring sensor to measure the distance when the door sensor determines that the storage chamber door is in a closed state; and a determination section that determines if the storage chamber door is in a half-open state based on the distance measured by the distance measuring sensor.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a refrigerator. [Background technology]

[0002] There are refrigerators that warn when the storage compartment door is half-open. In such refrigerators, the open / close detection is generally performed by a door sensor.

[0003] Furthermore, Patent Document 1 discloses that a distance measuring sensor is used to detect that a storage compartment door is opened, and then the photographing operation by the camera is controlled. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] Patent Publication No. 2022-42854 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] When the door sensor detects whether the door is open or closed, it may not be able to detect the small gap. In this case, cold air leaks through the small gap, increasing power consumption. On the other hand, the distance measurement sensor can grasp the open / closed state of the storage compartment door with higher accuracy than the door sensor, so by using the distance measurement sensor, it is possible to confirm that the storage compartment door is completely closed. However, in a method in which the distance measurement sensor constantly monitors the storage compartment door, as in Patent Document 1, the power consumption by the distance measurement sensor cannot be ignored.

[0006] An object of the present invention is to provide a refrigerator capable of detecting a half-open state of a storage compartment door that would be erroneously determined as a closed state by a door sensor, while suppressing power consumption. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] In order to solve the above problems, the refrigerator of the present invention includes, for example, a storage compartment door, a distance measuring sensor installed to include the storage compartment door in its field of view and measuring the distance to the storage compartment door based on light irradiated onto the storage compartment door and reflected light of the irradiated light, a door sensor that determines whether the storage compartment door is open or closed, a control unit that causes the distance measuring sensor to measure when the door sensor determines that the storage compartment door is closed, and a determination unit that determines whether the storage compartment door is half-open based on the distance measured by the distance measuring sensor. Effect of the Invention

[0008] According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a refrigerator capable of detecting a half-open state of a storage compartment door that would be erroneously determined as a closed state by a door sensor, while suppressing power consumption. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0009] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a side view showing a schematic configuration of a refrigerator in a first embodiment. [Diagram 2] 4 is a diagram showing an example of a half-open state of a storage chamber door in the first embodiment. FIG. [Diagram 3] FIG. 11 is a side view showing a schematic configuration of a refrigerator in a second embodiment. [Figure 4] FIG. 11 is a side view showing a schematic configuration of a refrigerator in a third embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0010] The present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. Note that the present disclosure is not limited to the embodiments described below. These embodiments are merely illustrative, and the present invention can be implemented in various forms with various modifications and improvements based on the knowledge of those skilled in the art. In addition, in each of the drawings used in the following description, the same symbols are used for common devices and equipment, and descriptions of devices, equipment, and operations that have already been described may be omitted. EXAMPLES

[0011] FIG. 1 is a side view showing a schematic configuration of a refrigerator 1 in the first embodiment. In FIG. 1, the left side corresponds to the front of the refrigerator. In this embodiment, a refrigerator 1 having a front-opening storage compartment door 3 and storage compartment doors 4 to 6 that can be pulled out forward will be described. However, the configuration of the storage compartment doors is an example and is not limited thereto. In addition, the storage compartments include a refrigerator compartment, a freezer compartment, an ice compartment, a vegetable compartment, etc.

[0012] The refrigerator 1 is equipped with a door sensor 9 that determines whether the storage compartment doors 3 to 6 are open or closed. The door sensor 9 is composed of a magnet 9a provided on the storage compartment door side and a Hall element 9b provided on the main body 2 side, and is provided on each of the storage compartment doors 3 to 6. However, even if the door sensor 9 determines that the storage compartment doors 3 to 6 are closed, there may be a small gap between any of the storage compartment doors 3 to 6 and the main body 2, that is, the door may actually be half-open. Depending on the performance of the door sensor 9, there may be cases where the door sensor 9 cannot detect a gap of less than 10 millimeters, for example.

[0013] The refrigerator 1 is equipped with a distance measurement sensor 7 and a determination unit to detect such a half-open state of the storage compartment doors 3 to 6. The distance measurement sensor 7 only needs to perform measurement when the door sensor 9 determines that all of the storage compartment doors 3 to 6 are closed. Thus, the refrigerator 1 is equipped with a control unit that causes the distance measurement sensor 7 to perform measurement when the door sensor 9 determines that all of the storage compartment doors 3 to 6 are closed. Note that the determination unit and the control unit will be described as being included in a control device (not shown) that manages and controls the refrigerator 1, but this is not limited thereto, and a device including both the determination unit and the control unit may be provided separately, or devices corresponding to each of the determination unit and the control unit may be provided separately.

[0014] Distance measuring sensor 7 irradiates illumination light into field of view V and receives reflected light from objects within field of view V. Then, based on the irradiated light and reflected light, it measures the distance to each object within field of view V. Distance measuring sensor 7 in this embodiment is installed so that storage compartment doors 3-6 are included in field of view V, and measures the distance to each of storage compartment doors 3-6. In this embodiment, distance measuring sensor 7 is fixed to main body 2 via support 8.

[0015] When the distance measuring sensor 7 is measuring, the determination unit determines whether the storage chamber doors 3 to 6 are in a closed state or a half-open state based on the distance measured by the distance measuring sensor 7. Here, the "closed state" refers to a state where there is no gap between the storage chamber door and the main body 2.

[0016] Here, the determination by the determination unit will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. FIG. 1 shows an example where the storage chamber doors 3 to 6 of the refrigerator 1 are in a close contact state. In contrast, FIG. 2 shows an example where one of the storage chamber doors of the refrigerator is in a half-open state. In FIG. 1, assuming that the distance measuring sensor 7 measures the distance to the closed storage chamber door 5 and the distance to the storage chamber door 5 is L5. And in FIG. 2, assuming that the distance measuring sensor 7 measures the distance to the half-open storage chamber door 5 and the distance to the storage chamber door 5 is L5' (<L5). The determination unit determines that the storage chamber door 5 is in a half-open state when the distance to the storage chamber door 5, such as the distance L5', becomes shorter than the distance L5 to the closed storage chamber door 5. Note that the determination method by the determination unit is not limited to this. For example, it may be determined that the storage chamber door 5 is in a half-open state by detecting the front displacement between the closed storage chamber door 4 and the half-open storage chamber door 5.

[0017] In this way, in addition to the door sensor 9, the refrigerator 1 includes the distance measuring sensor 7 and the determination unit, so that it can accurately detect that any of the storage chamber doors 3 to 6 is in a half-open state.

[0018] The refrigerator 1 includes a notification unit that notifies a terminal device owned by the user of the refrigerator 1 that any of the storage chamber doors 3 to 6 is in a half-open state. For example, the notification unit communicates with the smartphone owned by the user and displays a notification that the storage chamber door is in a half-open state on the screen of the smartphone. At that time, notifications such as the duration of the half-open state of the storage chamber door, the state inside the storage chamber, and what kind of risks there are may also be made together.

[0019] The notification unit issues a notification when any of the storage compartment doors 3 to 6 remains half-open for a certain period of time (e.g., one minute) or more. This makes it possible to prevent erroneous notifications, such as a notification being issued when the user opens any of the storage compartment doors 3 to 6 to take food out of the refrigerator 1.

[0020] The notification unit may notify only once, or may notify periodically if any of the storage compartment doors 3 to 6 continues to be half-open. When the notification unit notifies periodically, the notification unit ends the periodic notification when any of the storage compartment doors 3 to 6 is opened or when all of the storage compartment doors 3 to 6 are in a tightly closed state.

[0021] Furthermore, instead of or in addition to the notification unit, the refrigerator 1 may include an alarm unit that notifies the user of the refrigerator 1 that any of the storage compartment doors 3 to 6 is half-open. For example, the alarm unit includes a light or a display unit installed on the front of the storage compartment door 3, and notifies the user by turning on the light or by displaying a message such as "The storage compartment door is half-open" on the display unit. The alarm unit may also notify the user by emitting a sound. As with the above-mentioned notification unit, the alarm unit issues an alarm when any of the storage compartment doors 3 to 6 remains half-open for a certain period of time (e.g., one minute) or more to prevent false alarms.

[0022] The notification by the notification unit may be performed only once, or may be performed periodically if any of the storage compartment doors 3 to 6 continues to be half-open. When the notification by the notification unit is performed periodically, the notification unit ends the periodic notification when any of the storage compartment doors 3 to 6 is opened or when all of the storage compartment doors 3 to 6 are in a tightly closed state.

[0023] As described above, according to this embodiment, the distance measuring sensor 7 performs measurement only when all of the storage compartment doors 3 to 6 are closed, and in other cases, the open / closed states of the storage compartment doors 3 to 6 are monitored only by the door sensor 9, which requires less power consumption than the distance measuring sensor 7. Thereafter, when any of the storage compartment doors 3 to 6 is opened or closed, the corresponding door sensor 9 detects the open state, and all the door sensors 9 detect the closed state again. In response to this, when the distance measuring sensor 7 confirms that the storage compartment doors 3 to 6 are sealed, the open / closed states of the storage compartment doors 3 to 6 are monitored only by the door sensor 9. With this configuration, the refrigerator 1 can detect the half-open state of the storage compartment doors 3 to 6, which would otherwise be determined to be closed by the door sensor 9, while suppressing power consumption. EXAMPLES

[0024] 3 is a side view showing a schematic configuration of a refrigerator in Example 2. Note that a description of commonalities with Example 1 will be omitted.

[0025] The refrigerator 1 of this embodiment further includes a human presence sensor 10. The human presence sensor 10 detects whether or not a person is present within a range R1 in front of the storage compartment doors 3 to 6. When the door sensor 9 determines that all of the storage compartment doors 3 to 6 are closed and the human presence sensor 10 has not detected a person, the control unit causes the distance measurement sensor 7 to perform measurement.

[0026] According to this embodiment, when a user is in front of the refrigerator 1 and there is no need to notify or alert the user of the half-open state, no measurement is performed by the distance measurement sensor 7, thereby further reducing power consumption by the distance measurement sensor 7. EXAMPLES

[0027] 4 is a side view showing a schematic configuration of a refrigerator in Example 3. Note that a description of commonalities with Examples 1 and 2 will be omitted.

[0028] The refrigerator 1 of this embodiment further includes a thermosensor 11 in addition to the configuration of the refrigerator 1 of the embodiment 1 or 2. The thermosensor 11 is, for example, a thermography camera or the like, and acquires the temperature distribution in an area R2 around the storage compartment doors 3 to 6. The control unit can improve the detection accuracy of, for example, a half-open state by using the distance measuring sensor 7 and the thermosensor 11 together.

[0029] The determination by the determination unit will be described with reference to FIG. 4. FIG. 4 shows a case where the storage compartment door 5 is half-open, as in FIG. 1. When the storage compartment door 5 is half-open, cool air C leaks from the gap between the storage compartment door 5 and the main body 2. In this case, the determination unit determines that the storage compartment door 5 is half-open when it detects that, in addition to the condition of the distance measuring sensor 7 that the distance to the storage compartment door 5 described in the first embodiment is shorter than that in the tightly closed state, the temperature in the vicinity (side and below) of the storage compartment door 5 is lowered in the temperature distribution, and the temperature in other areas is higher, for example, at room temperature, resulting in a temperature difference (for example, 5°C or higher). The same can be done for the other storage compartment doors 3 to 6.

[0030] As described above, the refrigerator 1 of this embodiment is equipped with a thermosensor 11, and by using both the distance sensor 7 and the thermosensor 11 to detect the half-open state of the storage compartment doors 3 to 6, the accuracy of detecting the half-open state of the storage compartment doors 3 to 6 can be improved.

[0031] Instead of the above-mentioned method, the determination may be made only from the detection information of the door sensor 9 and the thermosensor 11 without using the distance measuring sensor 7. For example, when the storage compartment door 5 is half-open, although the door sensor 9 detects that it is closed, it is assumed that the temperature in the vicinity of the storage compartment door 5 (sides and below) has dropped, and other areas are at room temperature. In other words, when the above-mentioned temperature difference occurs between the vicinity of the storage compartment door 5 and other areas (for example, an area far from the refrigerator 1 within the detection range of the thermosensor 11 (the area on the left side in FIG. 4)), it may be determined that the door is half-open. When the door sensor 9 detects that the door is open, it is assumed that the user is often using the refrigerator 1 to take food in and out, so in this case, it is not determined that the door is half-open. [Explanation of symbols]

[0032] 1: Refrigerator 2: Main body 3~6: Storage room door 7: Distance sensor 8: Support part 9: Door sensor 10: Human presence sensor 11: Thermosensor V: Field of view R1: Range R2: Range C: Cold air

Claims

1. The storeroom door, a distance measuring sensor that is installed so as to include the storage compartment door in its field of view and measures a distance to the storage compartment door based on light irradiated onto the storage compartment door and reflected light of the irradiated light; a door sensor for determining whether the storage compartment door is open or closed; a control unit that causes the distance measuring sensor to perform measurement when the door sensor determines that the storage compartment door is closed; a determination unit that determines whether the storage compartment door is half-open based on the distance measured by the distance measuring sensor. A refrigerator characterized by:

2. 2. The refrigerator according to claim 1, A human presence sensor is further provided for detecting whether or not a person is present in front of the storage compartment door. The control unit causes the distance measuring sensor to perform measurement when the door sensor determines that the storage compartment door is closed and the human presence sensor does not detect a human. A refrigerator characterized by:

3. 2. The refrigerator according to claim 1, A thermosensor for acquiring a temperature distribution around the storage compartment door is further provided, The control unit causes the thermosensor to perform measurement when the distance measuring sensor is performing measurement, The determination unit determines whether the storage compartment door is in the half-open state based on the distance and the temperature distribution when the distance measuring sensor and the thermosensor are measuring. A refrigerator characterized by:

4. 2. The refrigerator according to claim 1, A thermosensor for acquiring a temperature distribution around the storage compartment door is further provided, The determination unit determines whether the storage compartment door is in the half-open state based on detection by the distance measuring sensor and a temperature distribution detected by the thermosensor. A refrigerator characterized by:

5. The storeroom door, a door sensor for determining whether the storage compartment door is open or closed; A thermosensor for acquiring a temperature distribution around the storage compartment door; a determination unit that, when the door sensor determines that the storage compartment door is in a closed state, determines whether the storage compartment door is in a half-open state based on a temperature distribution detected by the thermosensor. A refrigerator characterized by:

6. A refrigerator according to any one of claims 1 to 5, A notification unit is provided for notifying a terminal device owned by a user that the storage compartment door is in the half-open state. A refrigerator characterized by:

7. A refrigerator according to any one of claims 1 to 5, a notification unit that notifies a user that the storage compartment door is in the half-open state; A refrigerator characterized by:

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