US 12,072,137 B2
Refrigerator
Donghoon Lee, Seoul (KR); Wookyong Lee, Seoul (KR); Seungseob Yeom, Seoul (KR); Donghoon Lee, Seoul (KR); Yongjun Bae, Seoul (KR); Sunggyun Son, Seoul (KR); and Chongyoung Park, Seoul (KR)
Assigned to LG ELECTRONICS INC., Seoul (KR)
Appl. No. 17/282,304
Filed by LG ELECTRONICS INC., Seoul (KR)
PCT Filed Oct. 1, 2019, PCT No. PCT/KR2019/012856
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Apr. 1, 2021,
PCT Pub. No. WO2020/071746, 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. 10-2019-0081701 (KR), filed on Jul. 6, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2021/0341209 A1, Nov. 4, 2021
Int. Cl. F25C 5/08 (2006.01); F25C 1/10 (2006.01); F25C 1/24 (2018.01)
CPC F25C 5/08 (2013.01) [F25C 1/10 (2013.01); F25C 1/24 (2013.01); F25C 2400/10 (2013.01); F25C 2400/14 (2013.01); F25C 2600/02 (2013.01); F25C 2600/04 (2013.01); F25C 2700/12 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A refrigerator comprising:
a storage chamber;
a cooler configured to supply cold air into the storage chamber;
a first tray configured to define a first portion of a cell;
a second tray configured to define a second portion of the cell, the first and second portions being configured to form a space in which a liquid introduced into the space is phase changed into ice;
a liquid supply configured to supply the liquid into the space of the cell;
a heater provided adjacent to at least one of the first tray or the second tray;
a controller configured to control the heater such that:
during an ice making process, the controller controls the heater to be turned on in at least partial section while the cooler supplies the cold air so that air bubbles dissolved in the liquid within the space of the cell moves from where the ice is forming toward where tape liquid is still in a liquid state, and
the controller controls the heater so that when a heat transfer amount between the cold air within the storage chamber and the liquid of the space of the cell increases, a heating amount of the heater increases, and when the heat transfer amount between decreases, the heating amount of the heater decreases so as to maintain a first ice making rate within a predetermined range that is lower than a second ice making rate when the ice making process is performed in a state in which the heater is turned off,
wherein the predetermined range is configured such that a first ice making amount according to the first ice making rate within the predetermined range is:
equal to or greater than (a second ice making amount when the heater is turned off)×a1 (g/day), and
is less than or equal to (the second ice making amount when the heater is turned off)×b1 (g/day), wherein the a1 is 0.25 or more and 0.42 or less, and the b1 is 0.64 or more and 0.91 or less.
 
7. The refrigerator of claim 1, wherein the controller controls the ice making rate to vary when a set ice transparency is changed based on a table of ice transparency and the ice making rate.