Patent ID: 9488403
Filing Date: 2016-11-08
CPC Classification: F25D

Claim Text:
1. An appliance comprising: an appliance cabinet having a height and a width; and comprising at least one food storage compartment and at least one storage tank on an interior surface of or within a back wall of the at least one food storage compartment, where the at least one storage tank comprises: a front cover; a back cover that matingly engages the front cover to form a liquid tight seal with the front cover and along with the front cover defines an interior tank volume; a phase-changing material disposed within the interior tank volume; a heat exchanger containing refrigerant tubing which transfers heat from the phase-changing material to the refrigerant tubing; and wherein the at least one storage tank has a width that extends at least a majority of the width of the at least one food storage compartment and wherein the at least one storage tank, when fully charged with cooling capacity, maintains the foods storage compartment at a temperature of 45° F. or less for at least 8 hours without activating a compressor; wherein the appliance comprises a liner disposed about an interior of the appliance cabinet and wherein the liner comprises a tank exposing mechanism along the back wall of the at least one food storage compartment that is configured to move between an open, storage tank exposing position where the at least one storage tank is directly exposed to the air within the cabinet and a closed position where air within the cabinet is not directly exposed to the at least one storage tank and wherein the tank exposing mechanism is configured to automatically move to the open, storage tank exposing position when the appliance loses power.