A refrigerator including a compressor, a condenser, and an expansion unit that constitute a refrigeration cycle, an evaporator that evaporates a refrigerant that has passed through the expansion unit, a heating unit that provides heat for defrosting the evaporator, and a frost sensor unit that is provided at one side of the evaporator to sense the amount of frost on the evaporator, the frost sensor unit including a sound-source transmitting unit that generates a sound-source of a first volume to the evaporator, and a sound-source receiving unit that receives a sound-source of a second volume formed after the sound-source transmitted by the sound-source transmitting unit reflects from or passes through the evaporator, and a controller that controls the heating unit to generate heat, when the difference between the first volume and the second volume reaches a predetermined value.

In one implementation, a system for controlling defrost of a chilled environment includes a camera configured to capture images of one or more objects located in the chilled environment and a defrost control unit. The defrost control unit is configured to: receive an image of the one or more objects from the camera, analyze the image of the one or more objects to quantify an amount of frost formation on the one or more objects, determine when to initiate a defrost cycle in the chilled environment based on the amount of frost formation on the one or more objects, and in response to determining to initiate the defrost cycle, initiating the defrost cycle by sending a defrost control signal to a defroster. The defroster is configured to perform the defrost cycle within the chilled environment in response to receiving the defrost control signal.

A system and a method for defrosting/de-icing an air-conditioner are provided, the system comprising: a 3D depth sensor disposed inside an air-conditioner outdoor unit casing, for acquiring information regarding outer diameters of pipes of an outdoor heat exchanger, distances between the pipes, and distances between the respective pipes and an air-conditioner outdoor unit casing side plate; and a controller connected to the 3D depth sensor, for receiving the information acquired by the 3D depth sensor and controlling the air conditioner to enter or exit a defrosting-deicing mode. The system and method for defrosting/de-icing an air-conditioner provided by the present disclosure can effectively and timely perform defrost/de-ice operation on the outdoor heat exchanger to prevent freezing; besides, it can prevent the impact on the air-conditioner's heating function to the utmost extent so as to significantly improve user experience.

In one implementation, a system for controlling defrost of a chilled environment includes a camera configured to capture images of one or more objects located in the chilled environment and a defrost control unit. The defrost control unit is configured to: receive an image of the one or more objects from the camera, analyze the image of the one or more objects to quantify an amount of frost formation on the one or more objects, determine when to initiate a defrost cycle in the chilled environment based on the amount of frost formation on the one or more objects, and in response to determining to initiate the defrost cycle, initiating the defrost cycle by sending a defrost control signal to a defroster. The defroster is configured to perform the defrost cycle within the chilled environment in response to receiving the defrost control signal.

A system and a method for defrosting/de-icing an air-conditioner are provided, the system comprising: a 3D depth sensor disposed inside an air-conditioner outdoor unit casing, for acquiring information regarding outer diameters of pipes of an outdoor heat exchanger, distances between the pipes, and distances between the respective pipes and an air-conditioner outdoor unit casing side plate; and a controller connected to the 3D depth sensor, for receiving the information acquired by the 3D depth sensor and controlling the air conditioner to enter or exit a defrosting-deicing mode. The system and method for defrosting/de-icing an air-conditioner provided by the present disclosure can effectively and timely perform defrost/de-ice operation on the outdoor heat exchanger to prevent freezing; besides, it can prevent the impact on the air-conditioner's heating function to the utmost extent so as to significantly improve user experience.

A refrigerator including a compressor, a condenser, and an expansion unit that constitute a refrigeration cycle, an evaporator that evaporates a refrigerant that has passed through the expansion unit, a heating unit that provides heat for defrosting the evaporator, and a frost sensor unit that is provided at one side of the evaporator to sense the amount of frost on the evaporator, the frost sensor unit including a sound-source transmitting unit that generates a sound-source of a first volume to the evaporator, and a sound-source receiving unit that receives a sound-source of a second volume formed after the sound-source transmitted by the sound-source transmitting unit reflects from or passes through the evaporator, and a controller that controls the heating unit to generate heat, when the difference between the first volume and the second volume reaches a predetermined value.

A refrigerator including a compressor, a condenser, and an expansion unit that constitute a refrigeration cycle, an evaporator that evaporates a refrigerant that has passed through the expansion unit, a heater that provides heat for defrosting the evaporator, and a frost sensor that is provided at one side of the evaporator to sense the amount of frost on the evaporator, the frost sensor including a sound-source transmitter that generates a sound-source of a first volume to the evaporator, and a sound-source receiver that receives a sound-source of a second volume formed after the sound-source transmitted by the sound-source transmitter reflects from or passes through the evaporator, and a controller that controls the heater to generate heat, when the difference between the first volume and the second volume reaches a predetermined volume.

Provided are a refrigeration cycle that is formed by connecting a compressor, a condenser, expansion means, and an evaporator and that performs cooling operation; an evaporator heating device that heats the evaporator; a drain pan that receives drain-water from the evaporator and drains the drain-water; a drain-pan heating device that heats the drain pan; frost detecting means including a light-emitting element that emits light to the evaporator and a light-receiving element that receives reflected light from the evaporator and outputs a voltage according to the reflected light; and a control device that controls on-off operation of the evaporator heating device and the drain-pan heating device. The control device determines a frosting condition on the evaporator from an output of the frost detecting means and individually controls the evaporator heating device and the drain-pan heating device in accordance with the determination result.

An apparatus for defrosting an evaporator in a refrigeration system using an infrared emitting diode includes i) a frost detection sensor configured to receive a frost sensing signal from an output part of a control processor and to transmit a frost detection signal into an input part of a control processor, wherein the frost detection signal is generated by projecting infrared to the frost and receiving reflection-infrared from the frost; ii) a control processor configured to convert the frost detection signal into a digital signal in the signal converting part, to evaluate if the frost detection signal is higher than a threshold value which is set from a signal setting part, and to transmit the operation signal to the defroster, as well as the display signal to the signal display part; and iii) a defroster.

Provided are a refrigeration cycle that is formed by connecting a compressor, a condenser, expansion means, and an evaporator and that performs cooling operation; an evaporator heating device that heats the evaporator; a drain pan that receives drain-water from the evaporator and drains the drain-water; a drain-pan heating device that heats the drain pan; frost detecting means including a light-emitting element that emits light to the evaporator and a light-receiving element that receives reflected light from the evaporator and outputs a voltage according to the reflected light; and a control device that controls on-off operation of the evaporator heating device and the drain-pan heating device. The control device determines a frosting condition on the evaporator from an output of the frost detecting means and individually controls the evaporator heating device and the drain-pan heating device in accordance with the determination result.