US 12,013,168 B2
Refrigerator and method for controlling same
Donghoon Lee, Seoul (KR); Donghoon Lee, Seoul (KR); Wookyong Lee, Seoul (KR); Seungseob Yeom, Seoul (KR); Yongjun Bae, Seoul (KR); Sunggyun Son, Seoul (KR); and Chongyoung Park, Seoul (KR)
Assigned to LG ELECTRONICS INC., Seoul (KR)
Appl. No. 17/281,749
Filed by LG ELECTRONICS INC., Seoul (KR)
PCT Filed Oct. 1, 2019, PCT No. PCT/KR2019/012850
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Mar. 31, 2021,
PCT Pub. No. WO2020/071740, PCT Pub. Date Apr. 9, 2020.
Claims priority of application No. 10-2018-0117785 (KR), filed on Oct. 2, 2018; application No. 10-2018-0117819 (KR), filed on Oct. 2, 2018; application No. 10-2018-0117821 (KR), filed on Oct. 2, 2018; application No. 10-2018-0117822 (KR), filed on Oct. 2, 2018; application No. 10-2018-0142117 (KR), filed on Nov. 16, 2018; and application No. 10-2019-0081745 (KR), filed on Jul. 6, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2021/0396441 A1, Dec. 23, 2021
Int. Cl. F25C 5/08 (2006.01); F25C 1/18 (2006.01); F25C 1/24 (2018.01); F25C 1/25 (2018.01); F25D 29/00 (2006.01)
CPC F25C 5/08 (2013.01) [F25C 1/24 (2013.01); F25C 1/25 (2018.01); F25D 29/00 (2013.01); F25C 1/18 (2013.01); F25C 2400/06 (2013.01); F25C 2400/10 (2013.01); F25C 2400/14 (2013.01); F25C 2600/04 (2013.01); F25C 2700/12 (2013.01)] 9 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A refrigerator comprising:
a storage chamber;
an ice maker;
a cold air supply configured to supply cold air;
a tray provided in the storage chamber and including a cell that forms a space in which a liquid introduced into the space is to phase-change into ice;
a heater configured to provide heat to the tray; and
a controller configured to:
start an ice making process after a liquid supply amount of the liquid is supplied to the cell,
operate the heater while the ice is being formed so that gas bubbles dissolved in the liquid within the cell move from a first portion of the space where the liquid has phase-changed into the ice to a second portion of the space where the liquid is in a fluid state,
determine whether the heater operates abnormally during the ice making process based on a temperature of the cell sensed by a temperature sensor, and
when the heater is determined to operate abnormally during the ice making process, reducing the liquid supply amount supplied to the cell during a subsequent ice making process,
wherein the controller is configured to determine that the heater operates abnormally during the ice making process, based on an elapsed time having elapsed from the start of the ice making process until the temperature of the cell sensed by the temperature sensor reaches a first reference temperature.