Patent ID: 9736995
Date: 2017-08-22
CPC Classifications: A01G,Y02A

Claim:
1. A controlled environment enclosure comprising: a structure comprising an interior space bound by a floor, a ceiling, walls spanning between said floor and ceiling, an access way opening into said interior space from outside the enclosure, and an access door movable between open and closed positions at said access way to respectively open and close access to said interior space; a heating and cooling system; and a control system linked to the heating and cooling system for control of said heating and cooling system, the control system being operable to switch between a user customizable environmental control mode for achieving user-prescribed environmental conditions within the interior space and a pre-programmed user-selectable sterilization mode separate and independent of said user-customizable environmental control mode and pre-configured to employ temperature values exceeding those attainable in the user-customizable environmental control mode to heat the internal space to an elevated temperature level that exceeds the user-prescribed environmental conditions and sterilizes surfaces of said structure within the interior space; wherein the heating and cooling system comprises a refrigeration system operable to run a cooling cycle to cool the interior space and a heating cycle using hot gas from compression to heat said interior space, and an electric air heating system operable to perform only heating of said interior space, the control system being arranged to operate the heating and cooling cycles of the refrigeration system as needed to control an air temperature of the internal space according to the user-prescribed environmental conditions in the environmental control mode, without operation of said electric air heating system, and operate the electric air heating system, without the refrigeration system, in the sterilization mode to increase the air temperature of the internal space to an elevated level unattainable by the heating cycle of said refrigeration system and sufficient to sterilize said surfaces within the interior space.