CN114980779A - Improvement of open type display refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

An open display refrigerator is provided, comprising: a refrigerated interior space, the air in the refrigerated interior space is separated from the air in the outer space of the open display refrigerator by an air curtain (3) established by a fan (6), the fan (6) blowing air through the air outlet (2) towards the corresponding air inlet (5) which recovers the air from the air curtain for recirculation to the air outlet (2); a weir separator (4); and a second weir separator (11) positioned away from the external space, thereby forming between the first weir separator (4) and the second weir separator (11) A channel for receiving air from the air curtain before it is recovered by the air inlet.

Description

Improvements in open display refrigerators

The present invention relates to improvements in open display refrigerators.

Open display refrigerators are commonly used in retail environments such as supermarkets and grocery stores. Open display refrigerators allow customers to view and easily access frozen goods stored in the refrigerator.

This type of refrigerator has an air curtain, which is established by blowing cold air across the front of the refrigerator. The air curtain flows from the air outlet at the top of the refrigerator towards the air inlet at the bottom of the refrigerator. The air inlet recycles air from the air curtain and recirculates the air to the air outlet via a cooling heat exchanger and fan.

The air curtain prevents the cold air inside the refrigerator from mixing with the warm air outside the refrigerator. However, this is rather inefficient, especially since the air curtain tends to overflow from the bottom of the refrigerator and hot air from the outside is carried into the air curtain. To overcome this problem, open display refrigerators typically use a weir-type baffle (also called a riser) that prevents the air curtain from overflowing from the bottom of the refrigerator, which is located on the refrigerator's bottom panel and in front of the air inlet. Typically, below the bottom plate of the refrigerator is a row of fans for drawing the air curtain into the air inlet and a heat exchanger for cooling the air recovered via the air inlet. The fan also pushes cooled air through the cavity of the refrigerator to create continuous recirculation for cooling the refrigerator.

Typically, the suction pressure the fan applies to the air inlet is limited, and some air is lost on the edge of the weir diaphragm where the fan cannot draw air into the air inlet. Also, at the bottom of the refrigerator, the air curtain is at its hottest and at its most differentiated. This warmer air affects items such as food products at the front of the bottom shelf, causing the items to be hotter than needed. Additionally, in refrigerators with perforated rear walls, some air is pushed through the perforations to create a horizontal, cross-flow of cool air across the shelves; however, at the bottom of the refrigerator, this cool air is often insufficient to slow down the airflow caused by the air curtain of getting hot.

Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide an open display refrigerator with a weir divider for preventing the air curtain from overflowing from the bottom of the refrigerator, which reduces the effect of relatively hot air from the air curtain on items in the bottom of the refrigerator.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an open display refrigerator comprising: a freezing interior space, air in the freezing interior space communicates with the open display refrigerator through an air curtain established by a fan The air in the outer space is separated, and the fan blows air through the air outlet towards the corresponding air inlet, which recovers the air from the air curtain for recirculation to the air outlet; the first weir-type barrier a plate positioned proximate the outer space; and a second weir spacer positioned away from the outer space thereby forming a channel between the first weir spacer and the second weir spacer , the passage is used to receive air from the air curtain before it is recovered by the air inlet.

The technical advantage of having a second weir baffle compared to using a single weir baffle is that it reduces the relatively hotter air from the air curtain to items at the bottom of the refrigerator by capturing a relatively larger amount of air from the air curtain Impact. This can be achieved in different ways, as described below.

Typically, weir separators are constructed of plastic, or in particular acrylic. The first weir baffle and the second weir baffle are used to form a nozzle/funnel, the inlet of the nozzle/funnel being raised relative to the air inlet. Typically, the first weir and the second weir will extend the entire width (or most of the width) of the air inlet and have similar heights. The technical advantage of having the first and second weirs of similar heights compared to weirs of different heights is that the greatest amount of air curtain is recovered.

The air inlet may comprise a grill, and either or both of the first weir baffle and the second weir baffle may be attached to the grill. Optionally, either or both of the first weir baffle and the second weir baffle may be attached to the body of the refrigerator near the air inlet.

In some embodiments, the first weir baffle and the second weir baffle have respective first edges, the first edges positioned proximate the air inlet, and wherein the first weir baffles and the second weir baffles have respective second edges positioned away from the air inlet, and wherein the distance between the respective first edges is greater than the distance between the respective second edges distance between.

The technical advantage of positioning the first edges of the first and second weirs to form narrower openings for receiving the air curtain, compared to using a single weir, is that nozzles are formed, thereby increasing suction pressure is reduced, and therefore more air curtain is collected.

In some embodiments, the first weir baffle and the second weir baffle have respective first edges, the first edges positioned proximate the air inlet, and wherein the first weir baffles and said second weir baffles have respective second edges located away from said air inlets, and wherein said respective first edges are approximately equal to a distance between said respective second edges the distance between.

The technical advantage of positioning the first and second weirs so that they are approximately parallel to each other, compared to using a single weir, is that the suction area is raised further along the air curtain, reducing The amount of relatively hot air delivered to items stored on the bottom of the refrigerator.

In some embodiments, the first weir baffle and the second weir baffle have respective first edges, the first edges positioned proximate the air inlet, and wherein the first weir baffles and the second weir baffles have respective second edges positioned away from the air inlet, and wherein the distance between the respective first edges is less than the distance between the respective second edges distance between.

The technical advantage of positioning the first edges of the first and second weirs to form wider openings for receiving the air curtain is that more air is captured compared to using a single weir curtain, as it has a wider gap in profile for air curtain entry.

In some embodiments, a portion of the air inlet is covered such that the surface area of the air inlet for receiving air from the air curtain is reduced.

The air inlet may be covered by a separate cover plate, or alternatively, a portion of the first or second weir diaphragm may be shaped to cover a portion of the air inlet.

The technical advantage of reducing the surface of the air inlet is that the suction pressure is increased and thus more air curtain is captured.

In some embodiments, the second weir baffle is shaped such that a portion of the weir baffle covers a portion of the air inlet such that a surface area of the air inlet for receiving air from the air curtain reduce.

In some embodiments, the first weir separator and/or the second weir separator has a rectangular cross-section.

In some embodiments, the first weir separator and/or the second weir separator has a cross-section that includes a curve.

In some embodiments, the second weir partition extends a longer distance in the vertical direction than the first weir partition relative to the bottom of the refrigerator.

The technical advantage of having the second weir partition with a height higher than the first weir partition is that the overflow of cold air from the inside of the refrigerator over the front of the weir partition is reduced.

In some embodiments, the first weir partition extends a longer distance in a vertical direction than the second weir partition relative to the bottom of the refrigerator.

The technical advantage of having a second weir with a lower height than the first is that a horizontal pull of cold air is created across the lower shelves, which reduces the impact of the relatively hot air of the air curtain on the load on the bottom of the refrigerator. The effect of items at the front.

In some embodiments, there is provided a kit for assembling a first weir separator and a second weir separator as described above, the kit comprising: the first weir separator; the the second weir partition; and attachment means for attaching the first weir partition and the second weir partition to a refrigerator. The attachment means may be screws, rivets, glue, grooves, a combination of these or any other method known in the art.

In some embodiments, the open display refrigerator further includes an air curtain guide for guiding the flow of air within the air curtain. The air curtain guide may further include at least one light source disposed in the air curtain guide to illuminate the interior refrigerated storage space.

In some embodiments, the air curtain guides are in the form of wind panels.

A wind panel is an air guide that guides air in a specific way. Air panels work by being positioned in the refrigerator's air curtain, with a portion of the air curtain flowing on either side of the air panel. The wind panel imparts shape to the air flow and directs the air flow in a desired direction. The specific shape of the air panel causes a change in the flow direction of the air curtain as the air curtain flows past the air panel. A typical design of wind panels that can be used is a curved wind panel. The arcuate wind panels are generally oriented with the leading edge uppermost and the arcuate surface facing away from the interior space. The air panel is shaped to, when placed in the air curtain, produce a lower pressure on one side (at the suction surface (ie, the arcuate surface)) than on the other side (at the pressure surface).

In some embodiments, the air curtain guide further includes a front portion, wherein the front portion includes a housing formed of a transparent plastic material for displaying at least one product label.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 shows a conventional open display refrigerator with a single weir partition;

Figure 2 shows the open display refrigerator of Figure 1 with a second weir partition installed;

Figure 3 shows a single weir partition attached to the bottom of an open display refrigerator;

Figure 4 shows a deformation of the first and second weir partitions attached to the bottom of an open display refrigerator;

Figure 5 shows another variation of the first and second weir diaphragms attached to the bottom of an open display refrigerator with the addition of a closure plate applied to the air inlet;

Figure 6 shows another variation of the first and second weir baffles attached to the bottom of an open display refrigerator;

Figure 7 shows another variation of the first and second weir diaphragms attached to the bottom of an open display refrigerator with the addition of a closure plate applied to the air inlet;

Figure 8 shows another variation of the first and second weir baffles attached to the bottom of an open display refrigerator;

Figure 9 shows another variation of the first and second weir diaphragms attached to the bottom of an open display refrigerator with the addition of a closure plate applied to the air inlet.

Figure 1 shows a cross section through a conventional open display refrigerator. The refrigerator has an interior space that is kept below ambient temperature. Inside the interior space, there are four shelves and a bottom 9. The refrigerator 1 creates an air curtain 3 by blowing cold air from the air outlet 2 towards the air inlet 5 . The first weir partition 4 helps to prevent air from the air curtain 3 from escaping from the front of the refrigerator. The air inlet 5 recovers the air from the air curtain 3 and at least one fan 6 in the refrigerator 1 recirculates the air to the air outlet 2 via the cooling heat exchanger 7 and the duct 8 . A cooling heat exchanger is typically placed within the refrigerator 1 and maintains the recirculated air (and thus the air that is blown through the air outlet 2 to form an air curtain) at the desired temperature. The desired temperature is chosen to be lower than the ambient temperature and to prevent the cold air of the interior space 2 from mixing with the warm air outside the refrigerator 1 . Items 10 to be kept cool can be stored on the bottom of the refrigerator 9 .

The first arrow 3b shows the general path of the air curtain flowing from the air outlet 2 to the air inlet 5 . The second arrow 3c shows how some of the air in the air curtain escapes from the front of the refrigerator, past the front of the first weir partition 4 . The third arrow 3a shows how some of the air from the air curtain impinges on the items 10 on the bottom 9 of the refrigerator. The fourth arrow 3d shows how the cold air expelled from the perforations in the rear wall of the refrigerator hits the bottom of the air curtain 3 .

FIG. 2 shows an open display refrigerator 1 similar to the open display refrigerator of FIG. 1 , but with a second weir partition 11 attached near the air inlet 5 . These weirs are arranged to form nozzles and thus increase the suction pressure at which the air curtain is received in the gap between the two weirs. The first arrow 3b again shows the general path of the air curtain flowing from the air outlet 2 to the air inlet 5 . The second arrow 3c shows how the air that would have escaped from the front of the refrigerator 1 without the second weir 11 is now held behind the first weir 4 and also flows to the Air inlet 5. Similarly, the third arrow 3a shows how the air that would normally strike the items 10 stored on the bottom 9 of the refrigerator is now held behind the second weir partition 11 . Similarly, the fourth arrow 3d shows how the air hitting the bottom of the air curtain 3 is now held behind the second weir 11 .

FIG. 3 shows an enlargement of the first weir partition 4 of the refrigerator shown in FIG. 1 . It can be seen that the air from the air curtain flows past the front of the first weir partition 4 and out of the front of the refrigerator.

FIG. 4 shows an enlargement of the first weir partition 4 and the second weir partition 11a of the refrigerator shown in FIG. 1 . It can be seen that the air from the air curtain is held between the two weirs. In the present embodiment, the second weir 11a has a cross-section including a curve, and the gap between the top edges of the first and second weirs at which the air curtain is received is smaller than that of the first weir The gap between the weir and the bottom edge of the second weir near the air inlet 5 .

FIG. 5 shows a deformation of the weir separator shown in FIG. 4 . It can be seen that there is an additional cover plate 12 which covers a portion of the air inlet 5, thereby reducing the surface area of the air inlet 5 and increasing the suction pressure. In this variant, the sealing plate 12 is separate from the second weir diaphragm 11a; however, it is envisaged that the second weir diaphragm 11a may be a continuous configuration covering a portion of the air inlet 5, thereby eliminating the need for a separate sealing plate 12 needs.

FIG. 6 shows a deformation of the weir separator shown in FIG. 4 . In this embodiment, the second weir separator 11b has a rectangular cross section, and the first weir separator 4 is parallel to the second weir separator 11b.

FIG. 7 shows a deformation of the weir separator shown in FIG. 6 . It can be seen that there is an additional cover plate 12 which covers a portion of the air inlet 5, thereby reducing the surface area of the air inlet 5 and increasing the suction pressure. In this variation, the sealing plate 12 is separate from the second weir diaphragm 11b; however, it is envisaged that the second weir diaphragm 11b may be of continuous construction covering a portion of the air inlet 5, thereby eliminating the need for a separate sealing plate 12 needs.

FIG. 8 shows a deformation of the weir separator shown in FIG. 4 . In this embodiment, the second weir 11c has a rectangular cross-section, and the gap between the top edges of the first and second weirs at which the air curtain is received is larger than that of the first weir The gap between the bottom edge of the second weir diaphragm and the second weir diaphragm near the air inlet 5.

FIG. 9 shows a deformation of the weir separator shown in FIG. 8 . It can be seen that there is an additional cover plate 12 which covers a portion of the air inlet 5, thereby reducing the surface area of the air inlet 5 and increasing the suction pressure. In this variation, the sealing plate 12 is separate from the second weir diaphragm 11c; however, it is envisaged that the second weir diaphragm 11c may be of continuous construction covering a portion of the air inlet 5, thereby eliminating the need for a separate sealing plate 12 needs.

Any of the weir partitions described above can be supplied as a kit for assembling existing refrigerators. Such a kit includes a first weir separator and a second weir separator according to any of the embodiments described above. In addition, such kits may also include means of attaching the weir divider to the refrigerator, such as screws, nails and/or glue.

Claims (15)

1. An open display refrigerator, comprising: a refrigerated interior space having air separated from air in the exterior space of the open display refrigerator by an air curtain established by a fan that blows air through an air outlet toward a corresponding air inlet that recovers air from the air curtain for recirculation to the air outlet;

a first weir grate positioned proximate the exterior space; and

a second weir grate located away from the exterior space, thereby forming a passage between the first weir grate and the second weir grate for receiving air from the air curtain before the air from the air curtain is recovered by the air inlet.

2. The open display refrigerator of claim 1 wherein the first and second weir partitions have respective first edges positioned proximate the air inlet, and wherein the first and second weir partitions have respective second edges positioned distal the air inlet, and wherein a distance between the respective first edges is greater than a distance between the respective second edges.

3. The open display refrigerator of claim 1 wherein the first and second weir partitions have respective first edges positioned proximate the air inlet, and wherein the first and second weir partitions have respective second edges positioned distal the air inlet, and wherein a distance between the respective first edges is approximately equal to a distance between the respective second edges.

4. The open display refrigerator of claim 1 wherein the first and second weir partitions have respective first edges positioned proximate the air inlet, and wherein the first and second weir partitions have respective second edges positioned distal the air inlet, and wherein a distance between the respective first edges is less than a distance between the respective second edges.

5. The open display refrigerator of any preceding claim, wherein a portion of the air inlet is covered such that a surface area of the air inlet for receiving air from the air curtain is reduced.

6. The open display refrigerator of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the second weir dam is shaped such that a portion of the weir dam covers a portion of the air inlet such that the surface area of the air inlet for receiving air from the air curtain is reduced.

7. The open display refrigerator of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the first weir dam and/or the second weir dam has a rectangular cross-section.

8. The open display refrigerator of any of the preceding claims, wherein the second weir dam has a cross-section comprising a curve.

9. The open display refrigerator of any preceding claim, wherein the second weir grate extends a greater distance in a vertical direction than the first weir grate relative to a bottom of the refrigerator.

10. The open display refrigerator of any one of claims 1-8, wherein the first weir dam extends a greater distance in a vertical direction than the second weir dam with respect to a bottom of the refrigerator.

11. A kit for assembling the first and second weir dams of any one of the preceding claims, the kit comprising:

the first weir grate;

the second weir plate; and

an attachment device for attaching the first weir grate and the second weir grate to a refrigerator.

12. The open display refrigerator of any one of claims 1-10, wherein the open display refrigerator further comprises an air curtain guide for guiding the flow of air within the air curtain.

13. The open display refrigerator of claim 12 wherein the air curtain guide is in the form of a wind plate.

14. The open display refrigerator of claim 12 or 13, further comprising at least one light source disposed in the air curtain guide to illuminate an interior refrigerated storage space.

15. The open display refrigerator of any one of claims 12-14, wherein the air curtain guide further comprises a front portion, wherein the front portion includes a housing formed of a transparent plastic material for displaying at least one product label.

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