Importance

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Abstract

A method controls the operation of a refrigerator having plural chambers sharing a compressor, each chamber including system loads constituted by a heater and refrigeration cycling apparatus composed of the compressor, an evaporator and a solenoid valve, and containing kimchi to be fermented and stored. The method includes steps of reading a user programming signal input via a key inputting portion, the user programming signal representing any one of at least two predetermined temperature regions for any one chamber and a kimchi type and taste, to determine a matrix combination; determining a total fermentation time including a lactobacillus increasing time period and a lactobacillus reducing time period corresponding to the temperature region of the determined matrix combination; determining a fixed time and a changeable setting time for controlling a fermentation operation selectively performed by a heating routine and a cooling routine in any one chamber by the heater and the refrigeration cycling apparatus, respectively, the changeable setting time including a suspending time; selecting either one of the heating and cooling routines according to a chamber temperature state by sampling the evaporator temperature; controlling the operation of the system loads based on the selected routine throughout the total fermentation time, to ferment the contained kimchi according to the matrix combination; and storing the fermented kimchi after the suspending period has elapsed, by restarting the system loads constituted by the refrigeration cycling apparatus.

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First Claim