FR2770630A1 - Cold storage cabinet for foodstuffs - Google Patents

Abstract

The cold storage cabinet has a lateral stream of cold air established inside the cabinet, passing from one side wall to the other. The cooling plant (27) that establishes the cold air flow is on top of the cabinet. The door (11) is hinged so it can be opened outward, then runs in guides to slide along the side wall of the cabinet for stable storage.

Description

 The invention relates to an industrial kitchen cabinet, and in particular, a cabinet for storing foodstuffs in a cold or cooled environment.

 There are already cabinets, in particular of the refrigerator type.

 However, these cabinets pose a certain number of problems linked to their use in an industrial kitchen (community kitchen in particular) where in particular certain standards impose strict conditions of work and use of these cabinets.

It is under these conditions that the subject of the invention is in particular
- to ensure an actual maintenance atmosphere at a cool temperature (less than 12 "C, preferably less than 8 - 10" C) inside the cabinet, when the door is opened for a relatively long period ( several minutes, even ten minutes),
- to be very strict on hygienic conditions, in particular at the location of the door and the access opening to the interior of the cabinet, which faces it,
- therefore, to avoid that the user has to hold or hold the door particularly, during all, or substantially all, of its opening time,
- quickly restore the cooled atmosphere required for storage inside the cabinet, once the door is closed (about 3 "C),
- And to further optimize the ease, or the conditions, of operating this door.

The solution of the invention consists in proposing that the cabinet comprises, in addition to
- a preservation chamber limited by a rear side, first and second opposite lateral sides and a front access opening,
- as well as a door, to close or open access to this room,
- And pivoting means, to pivot the door, facing the access opening, also
lateral supply means for bringing laterally and circulating in the free space of this chamber a flow of cooled fluid, these means being arranged on the first lateral side,
- lateral suction means, for laterally removing the fluid brought into the chamber and which has stayed there, these means being arranged on the second lateral side,
cooling means, for cooling the supply fluid and / or that taken off,
- And sliding guide means of this door, arranged externally facing the first or second lateral side, to retract the door along this side, in the open, stable position.

 In this way, the user will be able to maneuver with ease and quickly the door. The internal part of the latter (oriented towards the interior of the chamber in the closed position) will be quickly protected, once retracted, since it faces one of the side walls of the cabinet. Hygiene and effective maintenance at the desired temperatures, both open and closed doors, will also be favored by the lateral circulation of the cooling fluid inside the chamber, the effect thus produced being much preferable to that would produce traffic back and forth, or vice versa. In addition, the stabilization of the door in the open position, facing a lateral side of the cabinet, is ergonomic, mechanically reliable, prevents the door from being able to close unexpectedly (while avoiding having to use additional means for this. stop or stop) and limits the size of the cabinet, especially in the open position of its door.

Always to best promote hygienic conditions related to efficient cooling of the interior of the room whatever the conditions of use (door open or door closed), while promoting ergonomics of use, another feature of the invention advises
- that inside the chamber, on the two lateral sides, are defined several horizontal levels of slides suitable for receiving bins, or plates, for receiving food,
- And that said fluid supply and suction means inside the chamber include blowing and suction slots, respectively, extending substantially horizontally along said first and second sides, being distributed over at least most of the height of the chamber, these blowing and suction slots being arranged to blow or suck the flow of fluid above and below each level of slide.

To meet the same requirements, an alternative embodiment provides
- that the front opening of the cabinet and the door of the latter extend to the bottom of the cabinet,
- And that the internal space of the chamber is adapted to receive a food handling trolley, provided with several storage levels, said supply and suction means then advantageously being provided with the slots presented above.

 From the above, it will be understood that the conditions for producing the door are important in the context of the invention in order to meet the objectives sought. It is under these conditions that another characteristic of the invention recommends that the door comprises a first part substantially at the dimensions of the access opening to the chamber, to completely close this opening in the closed position, and a second part. forming a substantially vertical strip, remaining on the lateral retracting side when said door is closed, the first or second parts being linked together by said door pivot means, the second part of the door being also linked to slides arranged sliding along bars linked to the external retraction side of the cabinet, to define said sliding means of the door.

 Still to favor the movement of the door, in connection with possible mechanical stresses, and again for the sake of hygiene and ergonomics, an additional characteristic provides that the sliding bars of the door end in a rounding extending them axially. , in a horizontal plane, or substantially horizontal, on the front side of the cabinet.

An even more detailed description of the invention will now be given with reference to the accompanying drawings in which
FIG. 1 is an external view from a lateral side of an embodiment of the cabinet of the invention, door closed,
FIG. 2 is a front view, in the direction of the arrow II in FIG. 1, but with the door open,
FIG. 3 is a top view, in the direction of the arrow III in FIG. 1,
FIG. 4 is a top view, in the direction of arrow IV of FIG. 2,
FIG. 5 is a detailed view of the part marked V in FIG. 2,
FIG. 6 is a side view, like FIG. 1, but presents an alternative embodiment,
- And Figure 7 is a front view, in the direction of arrow VII of Figure 6; shown in this figure i, the door is open.

 Firstly, in FIGS. 1 to 4, an industrial kitchen unit, such as for example a collective kitchen, is identified as a whole 1.

 Hereinafter, this piece of furniture will be called "wardrobe".

 The cabinet 1 comprises a cabinet frame 3, rectangular, of a height which can be approximately 150 cm to 200 cm (H), of a depth (P), for example from 80 cm to 120 cm and of a width (1), for example from 80 cm to 120 cm.

 As can be seen in FIG. 2, the frame 3 is in fact a box, thermally not very conductive (in stainless steel, in particular) which surrounds a cold interior chamber 5.

 In this case, the chamber 5 is delimited by different walls of the frame comprising a horizontal top wall 3a, a rear vertical wall 3b (see for example Figure 1), and two side side walls, 3c and 3d. The frame does not in this case include a bottom wall, so that a carriage, for example on casters, stylized at 7 in FIGS. 1 and 3, can enter it without abutting on such a floor wall.

 To avoid loss of cold and promote hygiene, seals can be provided at the bottom of the walls 3b, 3c, 3d.

 At the front, the chamber is wide open, on most of its front surface marked 9 in FIG. 2.

 This opening 9 can be closed, practically to the ground, and therefore over practically the entire height (H), by a door 11 equipped with an internal seal (not shown).

 In the closed position of the door, a cold of about 0 C to 4C, and preferably around 3 C, can reign inside the chamber 5, while in the open position of the door, as on the Figure 2, we must be able to maintain about - 12 C (and preferably about - 10'C) inside this same room, assuming the atmosphere of the room in which the cabinet 1 is placed below about 25OC , and this during a service, a preparation of food, dishes, etc ..., requiring that the door remains open for several minutes.

 To achieve this objective, in addition to the characteristics of the door which we will return to below, a cold air sweeping system has been provided inside the chamber 5.

 For this, internal lateral conduits 13a, 13b (see FIGS. 2 and 3) extend over a significant part of the depth (P) and over practically the entire height <H) of the cabinet, along the internal side of the side walls 3c, 3d.

 Internally, these conduits are each connected to a series of horizontal mouths, or grids identified for a certain number of them, allowing the conduits to communicate with the interior of the chamber, and this at the location of the lateral sides. of the cabinet.

 The vents 15 are advantageously presented as thin strips, possibly screened, allowing a gaseous flow to pass through them, in particular cold air. They preferably extend horizontally and can, depending on requirements, direct the air horizontally, or more or less upwards, or downwards.

 It is advised that these vents are substantially evenly distributed over the height (H), being parallel to each other, or at least that their arrangements allow cold air to circulate, with a lateral sweep between the walls 3c, 3d, as indicated by the arrows in FIG. 2 (even if the direction of these arrows could be reversed), so that all the loading levels (a priori horizontal) 17 of the carriage 7 can be subjected to this lateral scanning of air. Thus, when trays or dishes are placed on, or between, levels 17, they will themselves be subjected to this sweeping and therefore maintained in the desired cooled atmosphere (the carriage being of course then assumed to be housed inside the bedroom).

 At the top of the cabinet, the vertical conduits 13a, 13b, are connected respectively (taking into account the direction of circulation here used) to conduits for supplying fluid 19a, and for recovering fluid 19b, the fluid in question being advantageously air (other types of gas may be suitable).

 Above the cabinet, in a box 21, the conduits 19a, 19b are respectively connected to a fan 23 and to a heat exchange battery 25 open to the outside via ventilation openings 27 (see FIG. 1 ).

 As a heat exchange battery, any known refrigeration equipment for generating, or regenerating, cold can be used.

 In this way, the air cooled by the exchange battery 25 is set in motion by the fan 23, so as to pass into the supply duct 19a, then the distribution duct 13, after having been filtered, if necessary , through the air filter 29. The cold air of suitable "hygienic" quality is then blown through the diffusion vents 15 inside the chamber 5, and this laterally, in this case from the partition 3c towards the opposite partition 3d, or, after having stayed inside the chamber, the air is recovered to be recycled inside the suction duct 3d, to be if necessary again filtered again at 31, and return to the cold generator 25, or a new cycle begins. The operation can be in completely closed circuit, or partially open, with suction of outside air.

 Thus constituted, the cabinet provides very good hygienic and conservation conditions to which the conditions for producing the door 11, in particular with regard to its mounting, are not unrelated.

 In this regard, it will be noted that the door 11, preferably typically metallic like the rest of the cabinet (like usual industrial kitchen furniture) essentially comprises two parts: a first part 11a extending essentially in a plane along dimensions at least equal to those of the front opening 9 of the chamber, and a second part 11b presenting itself as a lateral strip, as can be seen in particular in FIGS. 1, 3 and 4.

 The two parts 11a, 11b of the door are interconnected by a hinge system comprising in this case three hinges 31a, 31b, 31c (Figure 1) connecting the edges of said parts.

 The second part llb appears as a narrow plate extending essentially vertically over most of the height H.

 The front rotation of the leaf lla takes place around a vertical axis 33 joining the three hinges and situated in a corner of the front face of the cabinet, in the closed position of the door.

 The second part 11b of the door is also mounted sliding on a rod system, along a lateral side of the cabinet, in this case the 3d side.

 More specifically, in the illustrated embodiment, the part llb which permanently faces this lateral side is provided with three slides 35a, 35b, 35c interposed between the part llb and the wall 3d.

 These slides are fixed (in particular welded) to the element llb and are slidably mounted around three horizontal bars 37a, 37b, 37c, thus forming the linkage.

 The three tubular bars 37a-37c are fixed slightly apart to the 3d side of the cabinet and each have, near the front face of the latter where the opening 9 is located, an axial extension marked 39 in Figures 3 and 4 for the bar 37a, this extension forming a rounded end substantially tangent to the front side 3a of the cabinet.

 In addition, upper and lower angles (41a and 41b respectively) border the strip 11b when it is in the front position (door closed) as in FIG. 1.

 The operation of the door is as follows: when the door is closed, that is to say that its leaf is folded in front of the front opening 9 of the chamber and that the latter is closed in a substantially hermetic manner, the part angularly fixed llb of the door is in the front position as in FIGS. 1 and 3. The sliders 35a-35c are located in the immediate vicinity of the rounded edges 39, which prevent excessive mechanical forces from being absorbed in the event of improper operation of the door when it closes its opening.

 For this opening, the leaf 11a is first placed in alignment with the frame îlb (Figure 4) and the entire door is pushed backwards, parallel to the lateral side considered of the cabinet, until that the slides come into abutment against the tabs 41 for fixing the bars to the cabinet.

 In FIGS. 6 and 7, we find the same characteristics of the invention as in FIGS. 1 to 5, except that the cabinet, identified here 10, no longer rests directly on the ground, but on casters 43, directional of preferably, these rollers being fixed under a bottom 3e which the cabinet presents and which now therefore also defines the bottom of the interior chamber 5.

 It should also be noted that internally, horizontal or substantially horizontal slides 45 are advantageously interposed unitarily between two suction or blowing vents 15, so that the dishes engaged in these slides 45 are cooled above and below by the air sweep.

Claims (5)

 1.- Food storage cabinet in cooled environment, including  - a preservation chamber (5) limited by a rear side, first and second opposite lateral sides (3c, 3d) and a front access opening (9),  - lateral supply means (13b, 15) for bringing laterally and circulating in the free space of this chamber a flow of cooled fluid, these means being arranged on the first lateral side (3d),  - lateral suction means (13a, 15) for laterally removing the fluid brought into the chamber and which has remained there, the means being arranged on the second lateral side (3c),  - cooling means (25) for cooling the supply fluid and / or that taken,  - a door (11) to close or open access to the room,  - pivoting means (31a) for pivoting the door facing the access opening,  - And sliding guide means (35a, 37a) of the door, arranged externally facing the first or second lateral side to retract the door along this side, in the open, stable position.  2. - cabinet according to claim 1, characterized in that  - inside the chamber (5), on the two lateral sides, are defined several horizontal levels of slides (45) suitable for receiving trays, or plates, for receiving food,  - And said fluid supply and suction means inside the chamber include blowing and suction slots (15), respectively, extending substantially horizontally along said first and second sides, being distributed over the essential at least the height of the chamber, these slots being arranged to blow or suck the flow of fluid above and below each level of slides (45).  3. - cabinet according to claim 1, characterized in that  - The opening (9) and the door (lla) extend substantially to the bottom of the cabinet and the interior space of the room is adapted to receive a food handling trolley (7), provided with several levels (17) storage,  - And said fluid supply and suction means inside the chamber include blowing and suction slots (15), respectively, extending substantially horizontally along said first and second sides, being distributed over the essential at least the height of the chamber, these slots being arranged to blow or suck the flow of fluid above and below each level (17) of storage of the carriage.  4. Cabinet according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the door (11) comprises a first part (lla) substantially at the dimensions of the access opening (9) to the chamber, to completely seal this opening in the closed position, and a second part (llb) forming a substantially vertical strip, remaining on the lateral retracting side (3d) when said door is closed, the first or second parts being linked together by said pivot means of the door, the second part of the door being also linked to slides (35a) arranged sliding along bars (37a) linked to the external retraction side of the cabinet, to define said sliding means of the door.  5. A cabinet according to claim 4, characterized in that the bars (37a) for sliding the door end in a rounding (39) extending them axially, in a horizontal plane, or substantially horizontal, on the front side of the wardrobe.