A defrost or thaw measuring device has a dumbbell or hourglass-shaped rotatable compartment with a cavity, the cavity being partly filled with at least two phase change materials having different melting points. The measuring device may determine the time period of thawing at two or more temperature intervals in the refrigeration space.

An artificial intelligent food refrigerating device and a method for refrigerating food by using the same are disclosed. An artificial intelligent food refrigerating device according to the present disclosure identifies the size, volume, type, and quantity of food to be put into it and determines a target refrigeration temperature and refrigeration time for the food based on an identification result. The artificial intelligent food refrigerating device and method according to the present disclosure may be associated with an artificial intelligent module, a robot, an augmented reality (AR) device, a virtual reality (VR) device, a 5G service-related device, etc.

A partial-freezing meat fresh-preservation control method, a controller and a refrigerator are provided. The control method includes: S1 (101), acquiring a current temperature of meat food in a compartment of a refrigerator in real time; S2 (102), judging whether the current temperature of the meat food is greater than or equal to a first temperature threshold to, and if yes, performing S3 (103); S3 (103), controlling the compartment to perform a cooling operation; S4 (104), judging whether the meat food is frozen during the cooling operation, and if yes, performing S5 (105), S5 (105), starting timing once the freezing occurs, and performing S6 (106) after the timing reaches a first preset time period; S6 (106), controlling the compartment to perform a heating operation; wherein, after the performance of the step S6 (106) is completed, the performance of the step S1 (101) is continued. The partial-freezing fresh-preservation control method provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure can maintain the meat food in a fresh and easy-to-cut state for a long time, and make up for the technical gap in the field.

A refrigerator provides visual information indicating a map of the refrigerator and technical operations of the corresponding regions. The refrigerator includes a voice recognition function using a proximity sensor. The refrigerator has input/output (I/O) management functions for foods stored therein. The refrigerator communicates with a peripheral device over a network.

Disclosed is a refrigerator including a main body forming a refrigerating chamber and a freezing chamber each including a temperature sensor, a cooling unit having a compressor and an evaporator accommodated inside the main body and driven to circulate a refrigerant in the compressor and the evaporator to generate cold air around the evaporator, a fan positioned inside the main body to supply the cold air to the freezing chamber, a damper positioned between the freezing chamber and the refrigerating chamber and opened and closed to allow the freezing chamber and the refrigerating chamber to selectively communicate with each other, and a controller controlling the damper for a predetermined damper opening time when a temperature of the freezing chamber reaches a freezing satisfaction temperature according to driving of the cooling unit. A temperature change of the refrigerating chamber over time may be reduced and power consumption may be improved.

A temperature control system is used for controlling a temperature of a control target to a target temperature that changes with lapse of time. The system includes: a first adjustment apparatus that includes a first tank that stores a first heat transfer medium, adjusts the temperature of the first heat transfer medium to a first set temperature, and supplies the temperature-adjusted first heat transfer medium; a first circulation circuit through which the first heat transfer medium flows from the first adjustment apparatus to a first flow-through path and returns to the first adjustment apparatus; an adjustment section that adjusts an amount of heat supplied from the first flow-through path to the control target; a memory that stores a relation between the lapse of time and the target temperature; and a controller.

A control method for a refrigerator includes sensing a temperature of a storage room; operating a cool air supply at a cooling power when the sensed temperature of the storage room is equal to or above a first reference temperature; operating the cool air supply at a delay power, which is less than the cooling power, when the sensed temperature of the storage room is equal to or below a second reference temperature, which is less than the first reference temperature while the cool air supply is operating at the cooling power; and adjusting the cooling power or the delay power of the cool air supply according to the temperature of the storage room while the cool air supply is operating at the delay power, and operating the cool air supply at the determined adjusted cooling power or delay power.

A temperature controlled storage apparatus 8(10), comprising; a plurality of lockable storage spaces, each of the plurality of lockable storage spaces comprising one or more compartments; in which the temperature of each of the one or more compartments is independently controllable to provide either one of: chilled temperature; or frozen temperature; and wherein access to the storage space is remotely programmable.

A single-system air-cooled refrigerator, comprising a refrigerating compartment and a freezing compartment, wherein the refrigerator further comprises: a first air duct and a second air duct, which communicate the refrigerating compartment with the freezing compartment respectively; a first air door and a second air door which open and close the first air duct and the second air duct respectively; a refrigerating system; and a control system, configured to control opening and closing of the first air door and the second air door to implement a first working mode, a second working mode, or a third working mode of the refrigerator. The first working mode is that neither the freezing compartment nor the refrigerating compartment is switched, the second working mode is that the freezing compartment is switched to the refrigerating compartment, and the third working mode is that the refrigerating compartment is switched to the freezing compartment.

A method for controlling a refrigerator includes providing an initial input value to a heater configured to supply heat to an evaporator, performing a continuous operation of the heater based on the initial input value to increase a temperature of the evaporator to a predetermined temperature, determining a period of time taken to increase the temperature of the evaporator to the predetermined temperature, determining whether the period of time is within a reference period of time, operating the heater based on a first input value that is equal to the initial input value based on a determination that the period of time is outside of the reference period of time, and operating the heater based on a second input value that is less than the initial input value based on a determination that the period of time is within the reference period of time.