FAULT DETECTION AND DIAGNOSIS FOR REFRIGERATOR FROM COMPRESSOR SENSOR

• Main Authors: Keres Stephen L, Litch Andrew D, Gomes Alberto Regio
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 16.03.2017
• Subjects: BLASTING; CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES RELATED TO BUILDINGS,e.g. HOUSING, HOUSE APPLIANCES OR RELATED END-USERAPPLICATIONS; COMBINED HEATING AND REFRIGERATION SYSTEMS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; HEAT PUMP SYSTEMS; HEATING; LIGHTING; LIQUEFACTION SOLIDIFICATION OF GASES; MANUFACTURE OR STORAGE OF ICE; MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; POSITIVE DISPLACEMENT MACHINES FOR LIQUIDS; PUMPS; PUMPS FOR LIQUIDS OR ELASTIC FLUIDS; REFRIGERATION MACHINES, PLANTS OR SYSTEMS; REFRIGERATION OR COOLING; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS; TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINSTCLIMATE CHANGE; WEAPONS

A refrigerator, a sealed refrigerant system, and method are provided where the refrigerator includes at least a refrigerated compartment and a sealed refrigerant system including an evaporator, a compressor, a condenser, a controller, an evaporator fan, and a condenser fan. The method includes monitoring a frequency of the compressor, and identifying a fault condition in the at least one component of the refrigerant sealed system in response to the compressor frequency. The method may further comprise calculating a compressor frequency rate based upon the rate of change of the compressor frequency, wherein a fault in the condenser fan is identified if the compressor frequency rate is positive and exceeds a condenser fan fault threshold rate, and wherein a fault in the evaporator fan is identified if the compressor frequency rate is negative and exceeds an evaporator fan fault threshold rate.