Adaptive defrost control for a refrigerator

摘要

An adaptive defrost control for a refrigeration device alternately operated in cooling and defrosting cycles includes means for detecting the rate of change of temperature of an evaporator of the refrigeration device during a defrosting cycle, means for determining the length of time the rate of change of evaporator temperature remains at substantially zero and means for establishing the duration of a subsequent cooling cycle in dependence upon the determined length of time. The determined length of time is indicative of the magnitude of the frost load that formed on the evaporator and the length of the next cooling cycle is adjusted in accordance therewith so that the magnitude of the frost load built up on the evaporator in subsequent cooling cycles is forced toward a value which increases the efficiency of the refrigeration device.