Samsung patents fridge defrost system to stop ice clumps
Samsung has been granted a patent for a refrigerator that uses two separate heaters to melt frost from its cooling components. The system activates these heaters in a specific sequence to ensure the ice-making tray and cooling pipes are fully thawed before the compressor restarts.
In the filing’s own words
Disclosed herein is a refrigerator. The refrigerator includes a storage compartment, an evaporator configured to cool the air in the storage compartment, a first heater provided in the vicinity of the evaporator, a tray provided to accommodate water, a refrigerant pipe provided in contact with the tray and configured to cool the tray, a second heater provided in the vicinity of the refrigerant pipe, a compressor configured to supply a compressed refrigerant to at least one of the evaporator or the refrigerant pipe, and a processor configured to start an operation of the second heater after starting an operation of the first heater, and configured to start an operation of the compressor after stopping the operation of the first heater and the second heater. Accordingly, it is possible to prevent ice from being agglomerated caused by the defrosting operation.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. A refrigerator comprising: an evaporator; a first defrost heater provided in a vicinity of the evaporator; an ice-making tray: a refrigerant pipe configured to cool the ice-making tray; a switching valve provided in the refrigerant pipe; a second defrost heater provided in contact with the ice-making tray and in a vicinity of the refrigerant pipe such that heat generated by the second defrost heater is conducted to the ice-making tray and the refrigerant pipe; a compressor configured to supply a refrigerant to at least one of the evaporator or the refrigerant pipe, wherein the refrigerant discharged from the compressor flows into the refrigerant pipe, and the refrigerant discharged from the refrigerant pipe flows into the evaporator; and a processor configured to: start an operation of the first defrost heater to remove frost from the evaporator located downstream in a refrigerant path and start an operation of the second defrost heater to remove frost from the refrigerant pipe located upstream in the refrigerant path; stop the operation of the second defrost heater only when both (i) a temperature of the ice-making tray or the refrigerant pipe is equal to or greater than a second reference temperature and (ii) a predetermined minimum defrosting time has elapsed since starting the operation of the second defrost heater; start an operation of the compressor after stopping the operation of the second defrost heater; and control the switching valve to allow the refrigerant to be supplied to the refrigerant pipe during the operation of the compressor while the operations of the first defrost heater and the second defrost heater remain stopped.
Facts
- Company
- Samsung (SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.)
- Official title
- Refrigerator and control method thereof
- Patent number
- US12747894B2
- Application number
- 18649921
- Filed
- Apr 29, 2024
- Granted
- Sep 29, 2026
- Inventors
- 4
- Claims
- 19
Classified under
F25B 39/02 Mechanical engineeringF25B 13/00 Mechanical engineeringF25B 49/02 Mechanical engineeringMore from Samsung in Chips & hardware
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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.