Method and apparatus maintaining liquid beverages in a supercooled state

Abstract

Disclosed herein is a refrigerator including a device to restrain the freezing of liquid-phase beverages, thereby stably maintaining the supercooled state of the liquid-phase beverages. The refrigerator includes a main body, a supercooling chamber disposed in the main body such that cool air is supplied to the supercooling chamber, a microwave generator to oscillate microwaves to the supercooling chamber, and a control unit to control the magnitude of the microwaves oscillated from the microwave generator. The present invention has the effect of restraining the freezing of the liquid-phase beverages, thereby stably maintaining the supercooled state of the liquid-phase beverages, and therefore, increasing the supercooled degree of the liquid-phase beverages.

1 . A refrigerator, comprising:
 a main body;   a supercooling chamber disposed in the main body such that cool air is supplied to the supercooling chamber;   a microwave generator to oscillate microwaves to the supercooling chamber; and   a control unit to control the magnitude of the microwaves oscillated from the microwave generator.   
   
   
       2 . The refrigerator according to  claim 1 , wherein the microwave generator is a magnetron. 
   
   
       3 . The refrigerator according to  claim 2 , wherein the control unit includes a shielding member to control the transmissivity of microwaves oscillated by the magnetron to control the magnitude of the microwaves. 
   
   
       4 . The refrigerator according to  claim 3 , wherein the shielding member is made of a metal plate having a lattice structure of a predetermined size. 
   
   
       5 . The refrigerator according to  claim 2 , wherein the control unit includes a current controller to control current applied to the magnetron to control the magnitude of the microwaves in the supercooling chamber. 
   
   
       6 . The refrigerator according to  claim 1 , wherein the microwave generator includes an electrode unit to create an electric field in the supercooling chamber and a voltage unit to apply an AC voltage to the electrode unit. 
   
   
       7 . The refrigerator according to  claim 6 , wherein the electrode unit includes a pair of plates which are mounted to opposite walls of the supercooling chamber, respectively. 
   
   
       8 . The refrigerator according to  claim 7 , wherein the plate mounted at the bottom of the supercooling chamber is provided with holes in which containers containing supercooled water are located. 
   
   
       9 . The refrigerator according to  claim 6 , wherein the control unit includes a voltage control unit to control the voltage applied by the voltage unit to control the magnitude of the microwaves. 
   
   
       10 . The refrigerator according to  claim 9 , wherein the voltage control unit includes a voltage converter to convert the magnitude of the voltage applied by the voltage unit and a frequency converter to convert the frequency of the voltage applied by the voltage unit. 
   
   
       11 . The refrigerator according to  claim 10 , wherein the magnitude of the voltage converted by the voltage converter is 2 kV to 10 kV, and the frequency of the voltage converted by the frequency converter is 100 kHz to 1 MHz. 
   
   
       12 . A refrigerator, comprising:
 a main body;   a supercooling chamber disposed in the main body such that cool air is supplied to the supercooling chamber;   at least one partition to divide an inner space of the supercooling chamber;   a microwave generator to oscillate microwaves to each space of the supercooling chamber divided by the at least one partition; and   a control unit to control a magnitude of the microwaves oscillated by the microwave generator.   
   
   
       13 . The refrigerator according to  claim 12 , wherein the at least one partition includes a plurality of partitions. 
   
   
       14 . A method, comprising:
 mixing air from a refrigeration compartment and a freezer compartment so a temperature of the mixed air reaches a predetermined temperature;   directing the mixed air into a supercooling chamber; and   oscillating microwaves through the supercooling chamber, thereby preventing one or more supercooled beverages stored in the supercooling chamber from freezing despite agitation.   
   
   
       15 . The method according to  claim 14 , further comprising:
 controlling a magnitude of the oscillated microwaves to attain the desired supercooled degree of the supercooled beverages.   
   
   
       16 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the supercooling chamber is partitioned into multiple partitions, the magnitude of the microwaves oscillated through each partition controlled to supercool beverages stored in each partition based on the appropriate set temperature for beverages in the respective partitions.