GB2367117A

GB2367117A - Refrigeration display cabinets

Info

Publication number: GB2367117A
Application number: GB0015388A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Kas Traboulsi
Original assignee: FROST TECH Ltd
Current assignee: FROST TECH Ltd
Priority date: 2000-06-22
Filing date: 2000-06-22
Publication date: 2002-03-27
Also published as: GB0015388D0

Abstract

A refrigeration display cabinet comprises an open or openable front aspect for access, from the front of the cabinet, to a cooled portion 1 of the interior of the cabinet, two side walls, and an openable rear wall 3 for access, from the rear of the cabinet, to the cooled portion 1 of the interior of the cabinet. Each side wall contains a plurality of outlets 4 for supplying cold air to the cooled portion 1 of the interior of the cabinet, said outlets 4 positioned up substantially to the maximum height of the cooled portion 1 of the interior of the cabinet. The fan for use in blowing the cold air into the interior of the cabinet, has one or more fan blades, each of length between 15.4 cm and 17.2 cm, and each having a blade angle of between 31{ and 34{. The angular speed of rotation of the fan is preferably between 1300 and 1550 rpm.

Description

REFRIGERATION CABINET The present invention relates to a cabinet for keeping goods such as food products uniformly cool, but at the same time easily accessible from both the front and rear of the cabinet.

Previously, cabinets have been constructed in which cooled air is circulated from below and up into a cooled section of the cabinets, which displays the food products for self-service by consumers.

However, such arrangements have allowed only food products on the lower shelves within the cooled section to be kept at adequately cool temperatures, whilst the temperature on higher shelves exceeds health and safety levels.

Also known are large refrigerated cabinets for displaying dairy products, which allow access from the front of the cabinets, and which comprise panels of air ducts on the rear wall of the cabinet through which cooled air is passed to cool the products. A disadvantage of such arrangements is that access to the products from the rear of the cabinets is not possible, and so products cannot be replaced whilst consumers are simultaneously taking products out of the cabinets.

Further known are self-service cabinets that have rear access doors to allow replacement of cooled products at the same time as consumers are able to choose and take products out of the cabinets, cooled air being circulated from below the cooled section. However, opening the doors leads to an inevitable loss of cooled air such that temperature within the cabinets rises above health and safety limits.

The present invention seeks to overcome these disadvantages of the prior art arrangements.

Thus, according to one aspect, the present invention provides a refrigeration cabinet comprising an open or openable front aspect for access, from the front of the cabinet, to a cooled portion of the interior of the cabinet, two side walls, and an openable rear wall for access, from the rear of the cabinet, to the cooled portion of the interior of the cabinet, wherein each side wall contains a plurality of outlets for supplying cold air to the cooled portion of the interior of the cabinet, said outlets positioned up substantially to the maximum height of the cooled portion of the interior of the cabinet.

By passing cool air from substantially up to the maximum height of the cooled portion of the interior of the cabinet, this portion can be kept uniformly cool. Thus, food products, wherever they are placed within the cooled portion, whether on a top shelf or a lower shelf, will be kept at substantially the same cool temperature in accordance with health and safety regulations. Further, because the cooled air is circulated from the side walls into the cooled portion, access to the rear of the cabinet is not impeded and can be made via arrangements of sliding doors and the like.

In one embodiment, the outlet may be absent from a section of one or each of said side walls, said section being below the maximum height of the cooled portion of the interior of the cabinet, but otherwise said outlets being positioned up substantially to the maximum height of said cooled portion.

Preferably, within the cabinet are located a cooling unit for cooling air re-circulated from the cooled portion of the cabinet and a fan for circulating air from the cooled portion, through the cooling unit and onwards back into the cooled portion via the plurality of outlets. However, any suitable arrangement for circulating the cooled air can be used.

Typically, the cooling unit and the fan are located in a section of the cabinet situated below the cooled portion.

Preferably, the plurality of outlets are located on the outer surface of air ducts extending up the side walls. Thus, the air ducts are located so as not to be an obstruction when access from the rear of the cabinet is desired.

In a particularly preferred embodiment, the air ducts are located to the rear of each side wall and the cooling unit is located at a distance spaced from the rear of the cabinet that is substantially equal to the distance that the air ducts extend from the rear of the cabinet into the cooled portion of the cabinet. Such an arrangement allows the flow of cooled air to gain easy access to the plurality of outlets once it has passed out of the cooling unit.

Usually, the fan has one or more fan blades, each fan blade having a length of between 17.2 cm and 15.4 cm. Further, each fan blade preferably has a blade angle of between 34"and 310 and an angular speed of rotation of between 1300 and 1550 rpm.

The present invention will now be described with reference to the following non-limiting example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 shows a cross-sectional side view of a cabinet according to the present invention; and Figure 2 illustrates a perspective front view of the cabinet shown in Figure 1.

Figures 1 and 2 show a refrigeration cabinet having an open front aspect for access, from the front of the cabinet, to a cooled portion 1 of the interior of the cabinet, two side walls 2, and an openable rear wall 3 for access, from the rear of the cabinet, to the cooled portion 1 of the interior of the cabinet.

Each side wall 2 contains a plurality of outlets 4 for supplying cold air to the cooled portion of the interior of the cabinet, said outlets 4 positioned up substantially the whole height of the cooled portion 1 of the interior of the cabinet. The rear wall 3 is openable by way of an arrangement of two sliding doors 5.

Within the cabinet are located a cooling unit 6 for cooling air recirculated from the cooled portion 1 of the cabinet and a fan 7 for circulating air from the cooled portion 1, through the cooling unit 6 and onwards back into the cooled portion 1 via the plurality of outlets 4. A compressor unit 8, below the cooling unit 6, provides the means for allowing the cooling unit 6 to cool air passing through the cooling unit 6.

The plurality of outlets 4 are located on the outer surfaces of two air ducts 9 each extending up a side wall 2.

The air ducts 9 are located to the rear of each side wall 2 and the cooling unit 6 is located at a distance 10 spaced from the rear of the cabinet that is substantially equal to the distance 11 that the air ducts 9 extend from the rear of the cabinet into the cooled portion 1 of the cabinet.

Food products may be placed via the rear doors 5 onto shelves 12 located within the cooled portion 1 of the interior of the cabinet.

Such food is easily accessible by consumers from the open front of the cabinet, and will remain at the correct cooled temperature whilst inside the cooled portion, no matter which shelf it is located upon.

Preferably, the shelves 12 are of increasing depth the lower in the cooled portion 1 that they are located, thus providing a tiering of shelves to allow good display of food products, which can also be accessed easily.

The front aspect of the cooled portion 1 of the cabinet may be open, as shown in Figure 1, where a first glass panel 13 serves to limit loss of cooled air from the cooled portion and a second glass panel 14 serves to prevent warm external air from increasing the temperature of the cool air within the cooled portion 1. In addition, further glass panels may be added to the side aspects, thus extending side walls 2 and so preventing cooled air escaping from the cooled portion 1, but still allowing views of the food products to be readily available to customers.

Whilst opening the rear doors 5 may allow some cool air to escape, the arrangement is such that any temperature increase is minimised and the correct interior temperature is quickly regained upon closing the doors, after access has been achieved.

The refrigeration cabinet of the present invention provides a means for displaying food products with easy access both for consumer and owner, whilst allowing the products to be kept at uniformly cool and correct temperatures in accordance with health and safety regulations.

Claims

CLAIMS : 1 A refrigeration cabinet comprising an open or openable front aspect for access, from the front of the cabinet, to a cooled portion of the interior of the cabinet, two side walls, and an openable rear wall for access, from the rear of the cabinet, to the cooled portion of the interior of the cabinet, wherein each side wall contains a plurality of outlets for supplying cold air to the cooled portion of the interior of the cabinet, said outlets positioned up substantially to the maximum height of the cooled portion of the interior of the cabinet.
2 A cabinet as claimed in claim 1, wherein the outlets are absent from a section of one or each of said'side walls, said section being below the maximum height of the cooled portion of the interior of the cabinet, but otherwise said outlets being positioned up substantially to the maximum height of said cooled portion.
3 A cabinet as claimed in either of claim 1 or 2, wherein within the cabinet are located a cooling unit for cooling air re circulated from the cooled portion of the cabinet and a fan for circulating air from the cooled portion, through the cooling unit and onwards back into the cooled portion via the plurality of outlets.
4 A cabinet as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the cooling unit and the fan are located in a section of the cabinet situated below the cooled portion.
5 A cabinet as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the plurality of outlets are located on the outer surface of air ducts extending up the side walls.
6 A cabinet as claimed in claim 5, wherein the air ducts are located to the rear of each side wall and the cooling unit is located at a distance spaced from the rear of the cabinet that is substantially equal to the distance that the air ducts extend from the rear of the cabinet into the cooled portion of the cabinet.
7 A cabinet as claimed in any one of claims 3 to 6, wherein the fan has one or more fan blades, each fan blade having a length of between 17.2 cm and 15.4 cm.

8 A cabinet as claimed in any one of claims 3 to 7, wherein the fan has one or more fan blades, each fan blade having a blade angle of between 34 and 310.

9 A cabinet as claimed in any one of claims 3 to 7, wherein the fan has one or more fan blades being rotatable at an angular speed of rotation of between 1300 and 1550 rpm.

10 A refrigeration cabinet substantially as hereinbefore described with reference, and/or as illustrated by, the accompanying drawings. Amendments to the claims have been filed as follows CLAIMS: 1. A refrigeration cabinet comprising an open or openable front aspect for access, from the front of the cabinet, to a cooled portion of the interior of the cabinet, two side walls, and an openable rear wall for access, from the rear of the cabinet, to the cooled portion of the interior of the cabinet, wherein each side wall contains a plurality of outlets for supplying cold air to the cooled portion of the interior of the cabinet, said outlets positioned up substantially to the maximum height of the cooled portion of the interior of the cabinet.

2. A cabinet as claimed in claim 1, wherein the cooled portion of the interior of the cabinet comprises one or more shelves and whereby means is provided for recycling within the cabinet the air supplied to the cooled portion back to the plurality of outlets.

3. A cabinet as claimed in either claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the outlets are absent from a section of one or each of said side walls, said section being below the maximum height of the cooled portion of the interior of the cabinet, but otherwise said outlets being positioned up substantially to the maximum height of said cooled portion.

4. A cabinet as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein within the cabinet are located a cooling unit for cooling air re-circulated from the cooled portion of the cabinet and a fan for circulating air from the cooled portion, though the cooling unit and onwards back into the cooled portion via the plurality of outlets 5. A cabinet as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the cooling unit and the fan are located in a section of the cabinet situated below the cooled portion.

6. A cabinet as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the plurality of outlets are located on the outer surface of air ducts extending up the side walls 7. A cabinet as claimed in claim 6, wherein the air ducts are located to the rear of each side wall and the cooling unit is located at a distance spaced from the rear of the cabinet that is substantially equal to the distance that the air ducts extend from the rear of the cabinet into the cooled portion of the cabinet.
8. A cabinet as claimed in any one of claims 4 to 7, wherein the fan has one or more fan blades, each fan blade having a length of between 17.2 cm and 15.4 cm.
9. a cabinet as claimed in any one of claims 4 to 8, wherein the fan has one or more blades, each fan blade having a blade angle of between 34 and 31.
10. A cabinet as claimed in any one of claims 4 to 8, wherein the fan has one or more fan blades being rotatable at an angular speed of rotation of between

1300 and 1550 rpm.
11. A refrigeration cabinet substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and/or as illustrated by, the accompanying drawings.