ES2662820T3 - Cooling box and method to transport heat sensitive products in a transport vehicle and / or to distribute products to end customers - Google Patents

Abstract

A cooling box (1) for transporting heat sensitive products (2) in a transport vehicle (3) and / or for distributing heat sensitive products (2) to end customers, the cooling box (1) comprising: - a thermally insulated cube-shaped housing (7) with a commissioning opening (8) on an upper side (11), - a cover (12) for opening and closing the commissioning opening (8) of the housing (7), the lid (12) containing a cold accumulator (13) with eutectic material (14) and having at least one coupling (15) to couple a supply line (16) for a cooling fluid (17) and having heat exchange surfaces (19) for cooling the cold accumulator (13) by means of the cooling fluid (17), characterized in that it further comprises: - a first (9) and a second (10) storage chamber, both joints surrounded on five sides by the housing (7) and open on the upper side (11), - a pla Outlined outer bottom ca (20) to cooperate in a way of locking shape with an underlying grid (5; 29), - a profiled outer cover plate (21) for transporting other transport containers (30).

Description

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DESCRIPTION

Cooling box and method to transport heat sensitive products in a transport vehicle and / or to distribute products to end customers

The present invention relates to a cooling box for transporting refrigerated products in a transport vehicle and / or for distributing refrigerated heat sensitive products to end customers. The invention also relates to a method for transporting heat sensitive products together with other transport containers from a supply center to end customers.

Today, it has become increasingly common to transport and distribute merchandise, including food, in particular heat-sensitive products, from a distribution center to end customers. Grocery stores receive customer orders, for example online through Internet platforms, and organize the transportation of food and other products of daily life to customers. Until now, the most difficult part of such a business model is the transport of deep-frozen foods and / or fresh foods, which require both different temperatures, mainly below room temperature. The transport system must ensure that the required temperature ranges are not exceeded during the entire duration of the transport. In addition, to organize an economic system, it is necessary to transport many different goods together for many customers in a transport vehicle to be delivered at the same time, for example, beverages, refrigerated products and other food and / or products of daily living.

Of course, many types of cooling boxes are known in the prior art and many types of transport containers for different purposes are already used in the supply chains.

The usual cooling boxes use interchangeable cold accumulators to keep the goods fresh in the box for a certain period of time. It is also known to use carbon dioxide snow instead of cold accumulators. An example of such a system is described in WO 2011/086265 A1. The device for transporting and distributing heat-sensitive products as described in this document allows the box to be put into service with heat-sensitive products through a top-opening opening, and the temperature in the box is maintained. through a bag filled with a required amount of carbon dioxide snow.

US2007175236 describes a cooling box according to the preamble of claim 1.

It is an object of the present invention to create a cooling box, which is designed to be transported together with other cooling boxes and / or together with other types of containers in a transport vehicle. Another object of the present invention is to provide a cooling box in which different types of heat-sensitive products that require different transport temperature ranges, in particular deep-frozen foods and fresh foods such as salads or fruits, can be transported. A further object of the present invention is to create a method in the sense of a complete supply system for transporting and distributing heat sensitive products from a distribution center to final customers through transport vehicles.

A cooling box as a solution for the above object is defined in independent claim 1. The corresponding method for transporting and distributing heat sensitive products is defined in independent claim 11. Advantageous features according to the invention, which can be applied separately. or together as technically feasible are described in the respective dependent claims.

A cooling box for transporting heat sensitive products in a transport vehicle and / or for distributing heat sensitive products to end customers according to the present invention comprises:

- a thermally insulated cube-shaped housing with a commissioning opening on an upper side,

- a first and a second storage chamber, both together, surrounded on five sides by the housing and open on the upper side,

- a cover for opening and closing the opening for commissioning the housing, the cover containing a cold accumulator with eutectic material and having at least one coupling for coupling a supply line for a cooling fluid and having heat exchange surfaces to cool the cold store through the cooling fluid,

- an external bottom plate profiled to cooperate in a way of blocking shape with a certain underlying grid,

- a profiled outer cover plate for transporting other transport containers.

Concerning the external shape of the cooling box, the special situation in a transport vehicle was taken into account. Regular customer orders require the transport of beverage boxes, cooling boxes and other transport containers in the same vehicle. To do this in a safe and practical way, it is necessary

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Place heavy loads on the floor and form piles with the light weight containers on top. The most appropriate way is to place the beverage boxes on the floor of the cargo compartment of the transport vehicle and place the cooling boxes on top of them by completing the battery using other transport containers on the top of the cooling boxes . This means that the cooling boxes according to the present invention need a profiled outer bottom plate to cooperate in a way of locking form with a certain underlying grid, in particular the upper side of the beverage boxes. A profiled outer cover plate allows the cooling box to safely transport other transport containers. It is not absolutely necessary that the outer bottom plate and the outer cover plate of the cooling boxes can cooperate with each other, except to form higher stacks of several beverage and cooling boxes and other transport containers it is advantageous to use profiles, that can cooperate with each type of boxes or containers transported. The floor of the cargo compartment in the transport vehicle can also be profiled to allow cooperation with any type of boxes and containers and it is also possible to add racks that have a similar profile in the cargo compartment to allow flexible loading with different quantities and types of containers even if a layer is not completely full.

A second aspect of the present invention relates to the inside of a cooling box. Like most known cooling boxes, the box according to the present invention also has a thermally insulated cube-shaped housing with an opening for commissioning on an upper side. However, according to the present invention, the housing contains a first and a second storage chamber, which can be designed for one or two different temperatures, both together, surrounded on five sides by the housing and open on the upper side. A lid is used to open and close the opening for commissioning the housing, in which the lid contains a cold accumulator with eutectic material and has at least one coupling to couple a supply line for a cooling fluid, which allows cool the cold store through heat exchange surfaces. These heat exchange surfaces may preferably be inside the cold store, but external heat exchange surfaces may also be used.

As will be described in detail below, the cold accumulator is integrated in the lid and can be cooled allowing a cooling fluid to flow along the heat exchange surfaces. This differs from most other concepts with interchangeable cold accumulators or a vaporization cooling medium such as dry ice.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the cold accumulator has such a shape that it forms at least a part of a separation wall between the first and the second storage chamber. This feature allows the two storage chambers to be established in the cooling box by inserting the lid with the cold store and cooling both storage chambers for a certain period of transport time.

In another preferred embodiment, a first external surface of the cold accumulator is in contact with the first storage chamber and a second external surface of the cold accumulator is in contact with the second storage chamber, in which the first and second surfaces External have different areas and / or profiles and / or thermal surface insulators. This feature allows keeping the first and second storage chamber at different temperatures during transport. As the transfer of heat from the environment to the cooling box depends on the temperature difference between the environment and the interior of the storage chambers and the size of the walls of the storage chamber, the parameter area, profile and / or thermal insulator of the cold accumulator allows to adapt the heat transfer from the cold accumulator to both storage chambers to the most desired requirements. Depending on the eutectic material used to fill the cold accumulator and the working temperature range of this material, the above parameters can be adapted.

A cooling box according to the invention can either be unpacked with the customer and can be returned directly by the transport vehicle or left with the customer until it is returned by the customer to a supply center. For both purposes, it is important that the cold accumulator is integrated in the lid and cannot be removed or handled, and cannot endanger any person handling the cooling box. This, for example, is not always the case with containers cooled by carbon dioxide snow or by interchangeable cold accumulators. However, the integration of the cold accumulator into the lid makes it desirable that the cold accumulator can be cooled in a short period of time, in particular from 1 to 15 minutes, preferably from 5 to 10 minutes, in a supply center. In this way, it is not necessary to carry a large number of covers with cold accumulators inside a cooling chamber to cool them for hours, but the cooling can be done in a few minutes while the other part of the cooling box is Separated from the lid, it is cleaned and put into service with new heat-sensitive products.

For this reason, the heat exchange surfaces of the cold accumulator are preferably designed and sized to cool the cold accumulator by vaporizing liquid nitrogen in the cold accumulator through the coupling. Although other cooling means such as liquid carbon dioxide can be used, liquid nitrogen seems to be the most suitable means to cool cold accumulators economically and without complicated couplings or exhaust systems.

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To ensure that the eutectic material in the cold accumulator cannot spoil the goods transported or endanger customers, even in the event of a leak, a material that is solid should be used after cooling and remains as a gel when heated . Of course, a non-poisonous material should be used. Such materials are already available and are used in interchangeable cold accumulators.

To form a safe enclosure and / or to improve heat exchange, the eutectic material is contained according to another embodiment of the invention in a metallic housing and / or has metallic heat exchange surfaces, preferably the metallic housing forms at least a part of heat exchange surfaces. This embodiment can be carried out, for example, by heat exchange pipes inside the eutectic material to guide a cooling fluid or by metal plates, preferably torn or otherwise profiled, along which the flow fluid flows. cooling. The internal heat exchange surfaces in the cold accumulator compared to the external heat exchange surfaces have the advantage that they cannot be damaged during handling and better distribute the cold in the eutectic material.

It should be noted that the described concept makes it necessary for the cooling box according to the invention to be transported by a single person such as, for example, beverage boxes. This restricts the external dimensions to similar dimensions or even the same dimensions as those of the beverage boxes. Under certain conditions, a size of up to twice the size of the beverage boxes may be possible. This means that the external dimensions of length, width and height of the cooling box are 500 x 300 x 55 mm +/- 20% for each dimension separately, preferably 10%.

In another embodiment of the invention, the cold accumulator has a T-shaped cross section that forms an internal part of the lid and perpendicular to this internal part a separation wall between the first and the second storage chamber. In this case, the heat exchange surfaces between the cold accumulator and the storage chambers can be made larger and the lower part of the cooling box does not need to contain a structural wall. However, to prevent the products from being placed in the area of the separation wall during commissioning, networks can be provided on both sides to allow, after commissioning, to introduce the separation wall between the networks.

As mentioned above, the cooling box according to the invention is designed to be handled by a single person, preferably having a weight of less than 10 kg when empty and being designed to transport up to 15 kg as a transportable load. The handles or the like should be placed on the outer side walls of the cooling box so that they do not disturb the load from side to side.

In any case, the shape and dimensions of the cooling box are adapted to the shape of other transport containers, in particular usual beverage boxes, to be transported together with the cooling box in a transport vehicle.

The present invention also relates to a method for transporting chilled heat sensitive products together with other transport containers from a supply center to the end customers according to claim 11. This method comprises:

- put into service at least one cooling box as described above with heat-sensitive products cooled in the supply center,

- cool the cooling tank of the cooling box before or during commissioning by connecting its coupling to a supply line that supplies cooling fluid for a predetermined time interval,

- disconnect the coupling and close the lid of the cooling box,

- placing the cooling box in a transport vehicle having a lower part with a grid corresponding to the profiled lower plate of the cooling box or already containing other transport containers or racks having an upper surface with a grid corresponding to the plate bottom profile of the cooling box,

- placing other containers or racks that have a shape corresponding to the profiled outer cover plate of the cooling box on top of the cooling box or several similar cooling boxes,

- transport and distribute refrigerated products to end customers,

- return the cooling box to the supply center, and

- clean the storage chambers of the cooling box and start the process again as described.

The method according to the invention allows high performance in a supply center insofar as the cooling of the cold accumulator, which is integrated in the lid of the cooling box, can be done by

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separated to the cleaning of the two storage chambers and the commissioning of the cooling box. Since cleaning and commissioning can take a few minutes, only the cold store is designed to be cooled in a few minutes. For this purpose it is coupled to a supply line that supplies a cooling fluid for a predetermined time interval. The time interval may depend on the required amount of cooling fluid and can be controlled by usual control means. If the control means show that the cooling is complete, the coupling is disconnected and the lid can be used to close a cooling box already in service.

The external shape of the cooling box allows safe transport in a transport vehicle similar to the known transport of beverage boxes and the like, which can form batteries, when placed on top of each other. The shape of the cooling box also makes it possible to transport several of them or a mixture of beverage boxes, cooling boxes and other transport containers in a hand cart or the like for distribution to end customers. The empty cooling box is then returned to the supply center either with the transport vehicle or later by the customer, where it can be cleaned to start the entire process again.

In a preferred embodiment, the cooling fluid is liquid nitrogen, which is widely and economically available and can be released in the environment or in a nitrogen network after use to cool the cold accumulators.

The safest way to transport different goods in a transport vehicle is to place the heaviest parts on a lower level and form batteries with the light weight containers on top. In relation to the present invention, this means that the beverage boxes (standard) form a lower layer, the cooling boxes are used for one or more intermediate layers and other transport containers are placed on top of them.

An example and details of the present invention are explained in connection with the drawings. However, the present invention is not restricted to the details of the drawings and all the features shown can be used separately or in combination with each other.

Fig .: 1: shows a schematic perspective view of a cooling box according to the invention with a somewhat raised lid.

Fig. 2: shows a longitudinal section through a cooling box according to fig. 1, and

Fig. 3: shows in a schematic view a general view on a transport cycle according to the invention.

Fig. 1 and 2 show a schematic perspective view in a cooling box 1 according to the invention with a somewhat raised lid 12 and a longitudinal section through such cooling box, respectively. The cooling box 1 has a thermally insulated housing 7 in a cube shape and with dimensions similar to a usual beverage box. This means in particular that the length L and the width W allow the cooling box 1 to be placed with a profiled outer bottom plate 20 in one or two usual beverage boxes. The height H of the cooling box 1 including the cover 12 is about 500 mm +/- 20%. The lid 12 has a profiled outer lid plate 21 for safely transporting other transport containers (not shown in Fig. 1). The cover 12 comprises a cold accumulator 13 containing a eutectic material 14 to keep the inside of the cooling box 1 cold. In the embodiment shown, the cold accumulator 13 has a T-shape that forms an internal part 27 of the lid 12 and perpendicular thereto a separation wall 22 between a first 9 and a second storage chamber 10. Inside the eutectic material 14 or at least in contact with it a heat exchange surface 19 is provided, herein case formed by at least one metal pipe for guiding a cooling fluid 17 through the interior of the entire cold accumulator 13. The cooling fluid 17, preferably liquid nitrogen LIN, enters the cold accumulator 13 through a coupling 15 to which a supply line not shown can be connected. The fluid of

cooling 17 leaves the cold accumulator through an outlet 38, or also coupled to an exhaust line

or simply open to the environment 6. The size, shape and profile of the heat exchange surface 19 are designed to cool the cold accumulator within 1 to 15 minutes by supplying liquid nitrogen LIN, which is released as gaseous nitrogen in the outlet 38. The cold accumulator 13 has at least partially a metal housing 26. When the lid 12 is closed, the cold accumulator 13 has a first external surface 23 that forms two sides of the first storage chamber 9 and a second external surface 24 forming two sides of the second storage chamber 10. To maintain different temperatures in the first 9 and the second storage chambers 10, the first external surface 24 is at least partially covered by a surface insulator 25, while the Second outer surface 24 is the metal housing 26 itself. This results in a lower temperature in the second storage chamber 10, which can be used, for example, to transport frozen foods.

To maintain an empty space for the separation wall 22 while the cooling box 1 with products 2 is put into service, two networks 35 can be provided. To maintain the separation wall 22 in a stable position, a support 39 receives a end of the separation wall 22 is mounted on the floor of the

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cooling box 1. The handles 36 allow a single person to transport the entire cooling box 1 and a profiled outer cover plate 21 allows to securely place other transport containers (not shown) on top of at least one box cooling 1.

Fig. 3 gives an overview of the entire transport cycle when transport boxes 1 according to the present invention are used. In a supply center 32, the first 9 and the second 10 storage chambers of a cooling box 1 are cleaned before the commissioning of products ordered by an end customer. During commissioning, fresh foods are placed in the first storage chamber 9 while deep-frozen foods can be placed in the second storage chamber 10. During the cleaning and commissioning of the cooling box 1, its lid 12 is cooled connecting the coupling 15 to a supply line 16, which supplies liquid nitrogen LIN as a cooling fluid 17 from a reservoir 18 to flow through the eutectic material 14 in the cold accumulator 13 before it is released as gaseous nitrogen through an outlet 38 to the environment 6 or an exhaust line 37. The supply is maintained for a predetermined filling time T or until a certain temperature of the cold store 13 is reached. The filling can be controlled by a control circuit (no shown). After commissioning and releasing the cover 12 of the supply line 16, the cover 12 is used to close the cooling box 1 and to establish a separation wall 22 between the first 9 and the second 10 chambers of storage. The closed cooling box 1 together with other such boxes is loaded in a transport vehicle 3, which receives, for example, a lower layer 28 of beverage boxes (standard) 29, on which the cooling boxes 1 are packed. Finally, the transport containers 31 for light weight goods can be packed in the upper part of the cooling boxes 1. The lower part 4 of the transport vehicle 3 should have a grid 5 with a profile to safely transport the boxes of drinks 29 or the cooling boxes 1 in a way of locking shape. Optionally, the transport vehicle compartment 3 contains at least one frame 33, which can safely transport 34 cooling boxes 1 on an upper surface, even if a lower layer 28 is not completely filled with beverage boxes 29. The transport vehicle Transportation 3 can now deliver drinks, food and / or other items as they were commissioned to end customers. In the end, the empty cooling boxes 1 (as well as the beverage boxes 29 and the empty transport containers 31) are returned to the supply center 32, where the entire cycle can be restarted.

The present invention allows a safe and economical transport of different goods, including fresh food and deep-frozen food to the final customers. Especially, the handling of heat-sensitive food is improved and risks during transport and the possible handling of the cooling boxes by end customers are minimized. The cooling boxes can be used to either unload them directly with the customer or leave them with the customer to keep the food transported fresh for a few hours and to allow the customer to return the cooling box. In any case, the transport cycle does not require large cooling chambers for interchangeable cold accumulators nor does it take a long time to clean, refill and cool the returned cooling boxes.

Reference List

1 cooling box

2 Product

3 Transport vehicle

4 Bottom of the vehicle

5 Grid of the bottom of the vehicle

6 Environment

7 Thermally insulated housing

8 Commissioning opening

9 First storage chamber

10 Second storage chamber

11 Upper side

12 cover

13 Cold accumulator

14 Eutectic material

15 Coupling

16

17

18

19

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twenty-one

22

2. 3

24

25

26

27

28

29

30

31

32

33

3. 4

35

36

37

38

39

L

W

H

T

Supply line Cooling fluid Tank

Heat exchange surface Profiled external bottom plate Profiled external lid plate Separation wall First external surface Second external surface Surface insulator Metal housing Internal part of the lid Bottom layer Beverage box

Grid formed by the upper sides of the beverage boxes Transport container Supply center Rack

Upper frame surface

Net

Handle

Exhaust line

Departure

Support

Length

Width

Height

Filling time interval.

Claims (13)

5 10 fifteen twenty 25 30 35 40 Four. Five 1. A cooling box (1) for transporting heat sensitive products (2) in a transport vehicle (3) and / or for distributing heat sensitive products (2) to end customers, comprising the cooling box (1) : - a thermally insulated cube-shaped housing (7) with a commissioning opening (8) on an upper side (11), - a cover (12) for opening and closing the commissioning opening (8) of the housing (7), the cover (12) containing a cold accumulator (13) with eutectic material (14) and having at least one coupling (15) to couple a supply line (16) for a cooling fluid (17) and having heat exchange surfaces (19) to cool the cold accumulator (13) by means of the cooling fluid (17), characterized in that it also includes: - a first (9) and a second (10) storage chamber, both together surrounded by five sides by the housing (7) and open on the upper side (11), - a profiled outer bottom plate (20) for cooperating in a way of locking shape with an underlying grid (5; 29), - a profiled outer cover plate (21) for transporting other transport containers (30). 2. The cooling box (1) according to claim 1, wherein the shape of the cold accumulator (13) is such that it forms at least a part of a separation wall (22) between the first (9) and the Second (10) storage chamber. 3. The cooling box (1) according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a first external surface (23) of the cold accumulator (13) that is in contact with the first storage chamber (9) and a second surface External (24) of the cold accumulator (13) that is in contact with the second storage chamber (10) have a different area and / or profile and / or thermal surface insulator (25). 4. The cooling box (1) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the heat exchange surfaces (19) of the cold store (13) are designed and sized to cool the cold store (13) by vaporizing nitrogen liquid (LIN) entering the cold store (13) through the coupling (15). 5. The cooling box (1) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the eutectic material (14) in the cold store (13) is a solid when cooled and is a gel at ambient temperatures (6) usual. 6. The cooling box (1) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the eutectic material (14) is contained in a metal housing (26) and / or has metal heat exchange surfaces (19), preferably the metallic housing (26) forming at least a part of the heat exchange surfaces (19). 7. The cooling box (1) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the external dimensions of length (L), width (W) and height (H) of the cooling box (1) are 500 x 300 x 500 mm [millimeters] plus or minus 20% for each separately, preferably 10%. The cooling box (1) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the cold accumulator has a T-shaped cross section that forms an internal part (27) of the lid (12) and perpendicular to this part internal (27) a separation wall (22) between the first (9) and the second (10) storage chamber. 9. The cooling box (1) according to one of the preceding claims, whereby the cooling box (1) is designed to be operated by a single person, preferably having a weight of less than 10 kg [Kilograms] and being designed to transport up to 15 kg as transportable cargo. 10. The cooling box (1) according to one of the preceding claims, whereby the shape and dimensions of the cooling box (1) are adapted to the shape of other transport containers (31), in particular boxes of usual drink (29), to be transported together with the cooling box (1). 11. A method for transporting heat sensitive products (2) together with other transport containers (31) from a supply center (32) to end customers, the method comprising: - operating at least one cooling box (1) according to one of claims 1 to 10 with heat sensitive products (2) cooled in the supply center (32), 10 fifteen twenty - cooling the cold store (13) of the cooling box (1) before or during commissioning by connecting its coupling (15) to a supply line (16) that supplies cooling fluid (17) during an interval of default time (T), - disconnect the coupling (15) and close the cover (12) of the cooling box (1), - placing the cooling box (1) in a transport vehicle (3) that has a lower part (4) with a grid (5) corresponding to the profiled bottom plate (20) of the cooling box (1) or that it already contains other transport containers (31) or racks (33) that have an upper surface (34) with a grid corresponding to the profiled bottom plate (20) of the cooling box (1), - placing other containers (31) or racks (33) that have a shape corresponding to the profiled outer cover plate (21) of the cooling box (1) on top of the cooling box (1) or several boxes cooling (1) similar, - transport and distribute refrigerated products (2) to end customers, - return the cooling box (1) to the supply center (32), and - clean the storage chambers (9, 10) of the housing (7) of the cooling box (1) and start the process again as described. 12. The method according to claim 11, wherein liquid nitrogen (LIN) or liquid carbon dioxide is used as the cooling fluid (17). 13. The method according to claims 11 or 12, wherein the transport vehicle (3) is provided with at least one lower layer (28) of beverage boxes (29), having an upper side forming a grid (29) corresponding to the profiled outer bottom plate (20) of the cooling box (1) before loading the cooling boxes (1), and in which other transport containers (31), preferably of lighter weight than the boxes of cooling (1), are loaded on top of the cooling boxes (1).