Abstract:
The invention provides for the private use of an apparatus to cool down bottled and similarly packed beverages (further to other food products, if desired) and, at the same time, to keep at optimum temperature and relative humidity values tobacco products, in particular cagars. To this purpose, use is made in a cabinet ( 110 ) of a column (F 1 ) of ascendinig air which, after undergoing refrigeration through a functional cooling unit ( 50 ) arranged in the lowest compartment ( 10 ), flows first through an intermediate compartment ( 120 ) holding the beverages, and then through the uppermost compartment ( 140 ) in w3hich the tobacco products are stored. Upon transfering its humidity over to said tobacco products, the air then flows back to the refrigerating unit ( 50 ) along a countercurrent flow (F 3 ) with respect to the ascending column (F 1 ).

Description:
DESCRIPTION  
         [0001]    The present invention refers to a method and an apparatus for preserving cigars (as well as other tobacco-based products) and bottled or similarly packed beverages at the same time, which is intended for private use, ie. for use not only in a private home or dwelling, including a hotel room, but also in restricted-access premises, admittance to which is restricted to persons of known identity and/or bound by statutory ties, such as for instance a club of cigar smoking persons.  
           [0002]    The optimum storage conditions for tobacco-based products required to ideally preserve the characteristics that are the most appreciated and valued ones by the consumers, starting from the scent thereof, are largely known to impose accurately controlled values of both temperature and relative humidity. On the other hand, there is currently no knowledge of the existence or availability of functional apparatuses, and not simple containers, which are adapted to ensure such optimum storage conditions even throughout longer periods of time. Known is on the contrary the existence of refrigerating apparatuses for bottled or canned beverages, which are commonly known as mini-bars and are traditionally not very much cared of under either the functional aspect or the aesthetical one.  
           [0003]    It therefore is a main purpose of the present invention to provide an apparatus in which there is generated a forced flow of air that is kept at the desired conditions of temperature and relative humidity in view of being able to store in a first compartment beverages held in a sealed container (such as in particular wine in bottles), or possibly even other fresh food products, cooled down at temperatures that are lower than the ambient temperature, but anyway higher than 0° C., and tobacco-based products in a subsequent compartment, communicating with said first one, at a correct value of relative humidity to preserve their characteristics. 
       
    
    
       [0004]    The description that is given below by way of non-limiting example, refers to the accompanying drawings, in which:  
         [0005]    [0005]FIG. 1 is a see-through overall view of an apparatus according to the present invention;  
         [0006]    [0006]FIG. 2 is a vertical-section view of the apparatus illustrated in FIG. 1;  
         [0007]    [0007]FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of the detail enclosed in the circle X in FIG. 2;  
         [0008]    [0008]FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of the detail enclosed in the circle Y in FIG. 2;  
         [0009]    [0009]FIG. 5 is a block diagram of the method according to the present invention. 
     
    
       [0010]    With reference to FIGS.  1  to  4 , an apparatus according to the present invention consists substantially of a parallelepiped-shaped outer cabinet  100 , which is subdivided, from the bottom upwards, into three compartments, ie.:  
         [0011]    a lower compartment  110 , which is closed not only by a rigid bottom wall  111 , but also by vertical walls  112  that are preferably made of wood, but may also be made of metal or a plastic material—provided that the latter is odourless—and which rests on the floor through levelling feet  113  and/or casters (not shown). Said compartment  110  houses the whole refrigerating unit  50  that is described further on;  
         [0012]    an intermediate compartment  120 , which is constituted by two side walls  121  and a rear wall  122  made with panes of crystal glass, such as for instance the so called “thermopane” sheet-glass material that has a low heat-conductivity characteristics. Sealing of the joining seams between the glass panes is carried out by means of any of the known techniques, such as for instance through the use of a clear silicone sealant. The compartment  120  is closed frontally by a door  123 , fabricated with a glass pane similar to the other ones, which occupies the whole of the front wall, is supported by means of preferably laminar hinges  124  by one of the side walls  121  and is provided with an appropriate handle (not shown). The bottom wall  125  of the intermediate compartment  120 , which at the same time acts as the top wall of the lower compartment  110 , is on the contrary made preferably of wood—but may also be made of metal or a plastic material, as far as the latter is odourless—and is sealed in the afore illustrated manner against the walls  121  and  122 . The bottom wall  125  is provided with a central portion in form of a grating with a plurality of through-perforations  127  (see FIG. 2) and rows of evenly spaced through-slots  128 , in an arrangement extending parallel to and in close proximity of the four sides of the compartment  120 . In the bottom wall  125  there is furthermore provided a blind groove  129  (see FIG. 3) that extends all over the width thereof parallel to the rear wall  122  and is much closer to the latter than to the door  123  (see FIG. 2). The intermediate compartment  120  is adapted to store in a preferred manner bottled wine and/or other alcoholic beverages, but may be used also to store other food products, as far as these are odourless and/or contained in sealed containers. A rectangular and particularly thick pane of crystal glass  130  is arranged inside the intermediate compartment  120  in such a manner as to rest with its lower edge  134  in the groove  129  provided in the wall  125  (see FIG. 3) and, with its upper edge, in close vicinity of the top of the rear wall  122 . The remaining two edges of the pane  130  can be either be close to the corresponding cabinet side walls  121 —as shown in FIG. 1—or slightly spaced therefrom, if this is needed to improve the air flow in the intermediate compartment  120 , as explained in the following. The inner volume of the intermediate compartment  120  is thus subdivided into two parts, generally indicated at A and B in FIG. 2, the former being significantly larger than the latter (for instance, 90% and 10% of the total volume of the compartment  120 , respectively). In the pane  130  there are provided, in an appropriate geometrical arrangement, a plurality of cylindrical through-perforations  131 , the terminal ends  132 ,  133  of which are radiused, ie. rounded and flared (see FIG. 4). The thickness of the glass pane  130 , the shape and the size of the perforations  131  are selected in such a manner as to enable the neck portions of the bottles B 1 , B 2  (of any type whatsoever among those available on the market) to be inserted through the perforations themselves so that the layout of the bottles may be either perpendicular to the pane  130  (so as to keep their cork properly wet) or horizontal (such as for instance in the case of bottles with crown caps or screw-type plug) according to the particular kind of neck and the latter being inserted in the corresponding perforation  131  to a lesser or greater extent (see FIG. 2);  
         [0013]    an upper compartment  140  which is entirely made of wood, preferably an aromatic wood, and which comprises a bottom wall  141  that also forms the top wall of the intermediate compartment  120  and is similar to the afore described bottom wall  125 , ie. featuring a central portion in the form of a grating with a plurality of through-perforations  143  (see FIG. 2) and rows of through-slots  144 , in an arrangement extending parallel to and in close proximity of the four sides of the compartment. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the said wall  141  is provided with a slot (not shown) where the upper edge of the glass pane  130  is accomodated with a small clearance. The sealing of the various walls of the compartment  140  both against each other and against the glass walls of the intermediate compartment  120  is carried out in the same manner as told earlier in this description. As this is best illustrated in FIG. 1, the side walls  145  are solid and closed, whereas access to the interior of the upper compartment  140  is ensured by two lids at right angle that are fixed in mutually opposite positions to the top wall  148  by means of hinges  149 . In the proximity of the bottom wall  141 , however at a certain vertical distance therefrom, inside the compartment  140  there is arranged a partition panel  150 , which is also made of the same kind of wood as used for the compartment itself, and which has substantially the same overall size as the said wall  141 . The surface of the panel  150  is almost entirely occupied by through-apertures  151  and is adapted to sustain cigars S 1 , S 2 , and/or other tobacco-based products, resting thereon, as this is best illustrated in FIG. 2. The upper compartment  140  is preferably fitted out with a hygrometer and, possibly, also a thermometer (not shown) in order to enable the users to keep the conditions of the air inside said compartment under close control.  
         [0014]    From the functional point of view, the apparatus according to the present invention is characterized in that it makes preferably use of a thermoelectric refrigerating unit, for instance of the type sold in Italy under the trade-name of “ECOLD”, which is generally indicated at  50  in FIG. 2. This unit (further to a temperature control device that may advantageously consist of an electronic thermostat of an already known type) substantially consists of an outer casing  51  mounted in an accommodation hole  115  provided in a closed wall  114  of a thermally and electrically insulating material, which occupies the entire plan-view extension of the lower compartment  110  of the apparatus.  
         [0015]    Inside the outer casing  51  there is to be found a sandwich-type arrangement that is above all formed by a plurality of Peltier cells that are connected thermally in parallel and electrically in series with each other thanks to the connection via a pair of electric cables  53 ,  54  to a power supply  55  (per se well known) where the AC supplied by the power mains via a cable-and-plug assembly  56  is converted into a 12 or 24-V DC. Said sandwich arrangement is further formed by a pair of very thin horizontal ceramic plates, which are in turn associated to an upper heat sink  56 , having a first motor-fan  57  associated therewith, and to a lower heat sink  58 , having a second motor-fan associated therewith, respectively. The upper heat sink  56  is the low-temperature one, whereas the lower heat sink  58  is the high-temperature one.  
         [0016]    The delivery side of the first motor-fan  57 , which is situated in a central position under the bottom wall  125  of the intermediate compartment  120 , is connected to the perforations of the grating-like portion  126  thereof via a frusto-conical conduit  60 , while the intake side thereof is situated further down below, ie. in a lower position in correspondence of the upper heat sink  56 , and receives the air flowing in from the peripheral slots  128 , as this will be described in greater detail further on.  
         [0017]    Again, the second motor-fan  59  is situated in a central position in correspondence of the lower heat sink  58 . The solid, ie. closed wall  114  is effective in preventing the air flows generated by each one of the motor-fans  57  and  59  from mingling with each other.  
         [0018]    The method according to the present invention, as carried out in an apparatus made in accordance with the above description and installed in a room that typically has an ambient temperature of T A =+20° C. or higher, comprises the following phases, which are repeated indefinitely, as illustrated in the block diagram of FIG. 5:  
         [0019]    I) Within the upper zone of the lower compartment  110 , the air taken in by the first motor-fan  57  is cooled down by the action of the upper heat sink  56  to a temperature T MIN  in the order of +5/+10° C., ie. certainly and anyway higher than 0° C. but, of course, suitably lower than the ambient temperature T A .  
         [0020]    II) A forced flow of refrigerated air is generated from bottom upwards through the perforations  127  of the grating-like portion  126  of the bottom wall  125 , in such a manner as to bring about an ascending column of refrigerated air inside the intermediate compartment  120 , at the centre of the base of the apparatus. As this is indicated in FIG. 2 by the arrows F 1  pointing upwards, such an ascending column is situated mostly, though not uniquely, before the pane  130 , that is inside the frontal and larger part A of the inner volume of the compartment  120 , which is also the part that accommodates the body of the bottles B 1 , B 2 .  
         [0021]    III) The bottles B 1 , B 2  (and/or any other food products possibly stored in the intermediate compartment  120 ) are evenly cooled down by said ascending column of refrigerated air. The temperature of the air will of course rise by a few degrees Celsius as it moves upwards along the ascending column, until it eventually reaches a value T MAX  when it reaches the through-perforations  143  in the grating-shaped central portion  142  of the top wall  141  of the intermediate compartment  120  and the upper edge of the pane  130 ;  
         [0022]    IV) The air is then circulated inside the upper compartment  140 , ie. below and above the perforated panel  150  on which the cigars S 1 , S 2  are resting, so as indicated by the horizontal arrows F 2  of FIG. 2. It will of course be appreciated that the air inside the compartment  140  has also a relative humidity that, when the various design parameters of the apparatus (such as for instance the refrigeration capacity of the refrigerating unit  50 , the flow rate ensured by the first motor-fan  57  and the load capability of the compartment  120 ) are appropriately defined, lies within an optimum range of values in view of the desired preservation of the cigars S and/or the other tobacco-based products that may be stored in this compartment. In any case, it will be possible to place a shallow tray (not shown) filled with water to increase the value of relative humidity;  
         [0023]    V) The now substantially dried air flows back into the intermediate compartment  120 , moving downwards under the suction of the first motor-fan  57  along four flow paths (in countercurrent with respect to the afore mentioned ascending column) which start from the through-slots  142  in the wall  141 , move down along the side walls  121 , the rear wall  122  and the door  123 , flow through the slots  128  provided in the wall  125 , and finally reach the upper heat sink  56  (see arrows F 3  in FIG. 2). This is effective in preventing condensation from forming on the various glass surfaces, since the resulting misting effect would be of hindrance to a clear view by the users, through said glass surfaces, of the products stored in the compartment  120 .  
         [0024]    In a fully traditional manner, the lower heat sink  58  is cooled down by a flow of air which is taken in from the surrounding ambient, for example via through-slots  115  that are provided in at least one of the side walls  112  of the lower compartment  110  (see FIG. 1), and which is then conveyed back into the surrounding ambient by the second motor-fan  59  via apertures (not shown) provided in the bottom wall  111 , as this is indicated by the arrows F 4  and F 5  in FIG. 2.  
         [0025]    The advantages afforded to the consumers by the present invention are manifold and may be summarized as follows.  
         [0026]    First of all, it provides a method and an apparatus that were not available to private users hitherto.  
         [0027]    From a functional point of view, the use of a thermoelectric refrigerating unit ensures the largest possible extent of accuracy in controlling the values of both the temperature and relative humidity of the air used to refrigerate the beverages and to preserve the tobacco-based products. Furthermore, it does not generate any noise and does not make use of any of the traditional, aesthetically unpleasant evaporators.  
         [0028]    From a construction point of view, the preferred use of a material such as wood for the compartment intended for storing the tobacco-based products, contributes to the scent of the same products being able to be kept unaltered throughout longer periods of time, whereas the use of crystal glass panes for almost the totality of the parts of the compartment intended for storing the beverages improves the overall fitness for use of the same compartment, further to conferring an excellent aesthetical appearance to the apparatus itself.  
         [0029]    It will be appreciated that the apparatus according to the present invention—as claimed here below—may also be implemented in different embodiments and (as far as only the first and second compartments thereof are concerned) using materials differing from the above described ones, without of course departing from the scope of the appended claims. In particular, through an appropriate design of the perforations in the inclined glass pane, the apparatus may be adapted to also accommodate beverages packeed in other containers, eg. cans.  
         [0030]    The alternative use of more traditional or widespread refrigerating units, such as compression or absorption ones, can finally not be excluded, even if this may put some penalty on the above described advantages.