Patent Publication Number: US-2009229299-A1

Title: Temperature Coller for Rapid Cooling and/or Rapid Freezing of Products to be Stored at Low Temperature for Domestic Use

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention concerns a temperature cooler for rapid cooling and/or rapid freezing of products to be stored at low temperature. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The coolers in question conventionally use a powerful refrigerating plant capable of performing the rapid cooling or rapid freezing, to the core, of the food products introduced into an insulated compartment. 
     The refrigerating plant and the compartment are generally designed with dimensions such as to ensure the so-called “core” cooling of a food product roughly from a starting temperature of about 70° C. to a temperature of about 3° C. in a time period of no more than 90 minutes. Similarly the refrigerating plant and the compartment generally have dimensions such as to ensure core freezing of the said product to a temperature of about −18° C. in a time not greater than about 4 hours. The power levels installed are consequently considerably greater than those envisaged in conventional refrigerating plants intended for the conservation of the refrigerated or frozen product. 
     In particular, plants with evaporators, fans and relatively large-size condensers for circulation of large air flows are used. 
     Normally these coolers are intended for collective catering services, such as restaurants, refectories and food or pastry workshops, where the size of the support structure of the cooler is relatively unimportant. However, they improve to such an extent the conservation capacity of the food products that there has also been a demand for them in smaller environments, such as domestic environments. 
     Being able to achieve the very rapid core cooling of cooked food allows in fact the conservation thereof to be prolonged, while at the same time preventing the proliferation of bacteria which, as is known, alter very rapidly the organoleptic properties of the fresh products. 
     In a domestic environment, however, there exist spatial and aesthetic requirements which are not considered to be important in the kitchen of a restaurant or a company or hospital canteen. 
     For such an environment, in fact, these coolers would need to be built into the furniture of the kitchens in such a way as to occupy little space and not negatively affect the design thereof. 
     More particularly, in this context of domestic or semi-professional use, the compressor and the condenser are, as is known, preferably positioned above (or below) the insulated compartment, while the evaporator with the associated fan are preferably positioned inside the compartment itself. 
     Adopting this constructional criterion penalizes in particular the aesthetic appearance of the cooler since the fins of the condenser are arranged visibly in the front part thereof in the manner of partition from the external environment so that they are passed through by the air sucked in by a fan situated between them. 
     In particular, the presence of these fins is not very acceptable in modern kitchens where attention to the design is increasingly appreciated and where the aesthetic design requirements must be increasingly independent of technical and constructional requirements. 
     Moreover, the need for hygiene, in particular in such a domestic environment, is not compatible with the visible arrangement of the fins on which it is in fact easy for dust to settle or dirt to collect owing to their broad surface area. 
     Temperature coolers of the known type are unable to satisfy the market requirements, such as those typically of a “family” environment and those for example of a small food workshop, since they excessively impair the aesthetic appearance of the furniture inside which they are fitted. 
     In this situation, the main object of the present invention is to provide a temperature cooler which is able to satisfy, on the one hand, the requirements typical of the dimensions associated with built-in furniture, without adversely affecting the thermotechnical performance, and allow at the same time a configuration of the cooling plant able to satisfy the most demanding aesthetic and hygiene requirements. 
     A further object of the present invention is to provide a cooler which is constructionally simple and inexpensive to produce and operationally entirely reliable. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The technical features of the invention, in accordance with the abovementioned objects, may be clearly determined from the claims below. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       Other features and the advantages the invention will emerge more clearly from the detailed description which follows, provided with reference to the accompanying drawings, which show a purely exemplary and non-limiting embodiment in which: 
         FIGS. 1 and 2  are partially sectioned side views, with some parts removed so that other parts are more clearly visible, of a temperature cooler constructed in accordance with the present invention and shown with a flap arranged in two different operating positions; 
         FIGS. 3 and 4  show a view, on a larger scale, of  FIGS. 1 and 2 , respectively; 
         FIG. 5  shows a front view of the cooler according to the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
     With reference to the accompanying drawings, the temperature cooler according to the present invention has been denoted in its entirety by  1 . 
     The support structure  2  has a substantially box-like form and is provided with facing side walls L,L′, with facing front and rear walls A and P, respectively, and with facing top and bottom walls S and I, respectively, the latter wall optionally being provided with support feet. 
     The support structure  2  contains internally an insulated compartment  4  inside which an access opening removably closed by a door  6  is formed. 
     The compartment  4  is also defined in a conventional manner by an end wall, facing the opening, by a pair of side walls, by a ceiling and by a base. The side walls have, formed in them in an entirely conventional manner, guides for supporting a grille in turn intended to support trays, pans or other containers for the food to be cooled. 
     The cooler comprises a ventilation unit and a cooling plant which do not form the subject of a specific claim. 
     The compartment  4  has, arranged above it, a part of the cooling plant composed of the compressor  3  and the condenser  5 . 
     The latter is provided with a plurality of heat exchange fins  7  which are arranged in the vicinity of the front wall A of the cooler  1  and are passed through by a flow of air sucked in by a first electric fan  11  situated behind the condenser  5  immediately adjacent to the fins  7 . 
     In accordance with a possible embodiment shown schematically in the accompanying figures, a chamber  9 , indicated by broken lines in  FIG. 1 , is formed, with a housing, inside the compartment  4 . This chamber  9  is separated by partition  10  into two parts, one which houses an evaporator  12  and the other one which houses an electric fan  11 ′ able to force the air of the compartment  4  through the evaporator  12  in order to cool or freeze the products. 
     The electric fan  11  is designed with dimensions suitable for the air flows required in a temperature cooler, in the case in question for example for a flow of about 500 m3/h. The refrigerating plant is similarly designed, in relation to the dimensions of the compartment, with an electric compressor having a power, for example, of about 500 Watt. 
     According to the idea forming the basis of the present invention, the cooler  1  comprises a movable flap  13  which is mounted on the support structure  2  along the front wall A so as to removably close the front area occupied by the fins  7  of the condenser  5 . 
     The flap  13  is actuated by actuating means  14  described in detail below so as to move between an operating position  15 , shown in  FIGS. 1 and 3 , where it is raised from the fins  7  of the condenser  5  so as to allow the intake of air, and a non-operative position  16 , shown in  FIGS. 2 and 4 , where it is arranged so as to cover the fins  7  when operationally no air intake is envisaged, for example when the cooling plant is not functioning. 
     In greater detail, preferably the movable flap  13  has the form substantially of a parallelepiped with a rectangular front side and is hinged frontally on the cooler  1  on its upper side  17  so as to rotate rotatably about an axis Y parallel to the front wall A of the cooler  1 . 
     The actuating means  14 , mentioned above, comprise at least one arm  18  having a first end  19  connected to the movable flap  13  so as to cause raising or lowering thereof about the axis Y, and a second end  20  connected to a cam  21  actuated by a motor  22 . 
     As can be easily seen in  FIG. 3 , the first end of the arm  18  has, mounted thereon, a magnet  23  for connection to the inner surface  24  of the movable flap  13  which is specially made of treated steel or some other metal able to be attracted by a magnet. The magnet  23  is preferably formed by two rings of magnetized neodymium (or other treated ferromagnetic material) supported on the first end  19  of the arm  18  by means of a fork member so as to be free to rotate in contact with the inner surface  24  of the flap  13  about an axis Y parallel to the axis Y of the said flap  13 . 
     The presence of the magnet  23  ensures a reliable connection of the arm  8  to the flap  13  so as to cause the movement of the latter and at the same time allows the flap  13  to be raised completely, separating it from the arm  18 , so that it is possible to clean behind the flap  13  itself the corresponding fins of the condenser which require periodic cleaning and maintenance. 
     Advantageously the end-of-travel positions are ensured by a switch  25  which is operated directly by the profile of the cam  21  on which it rests by means of a lever  26 . 
     The flap  13  forms in a non-operative position a continuous surface with the door  6  of the compartment, which is in an adjacent position underneath the flap  13 . This allows the cooler  1 , once it has been designed with its support structure suitable for built-in mounting inside a piece of furniture, to be incorporated in an aesthetically pleasing manner in a kitchen environment, in particular forming visible surfaces which are substantially flat. 
     The support structure  2  may for example be designed with dimensions suitable for possible built-in mounting inside kitchen furniture, for example with a width L of 560 mm and a depth P of 549 mm. The compartment  4  with the abovementioned dimensions allows the core cooling, to a temperature of about 3° C. in a time period not greater than about 90 minutes or core freezing to a temperature of about −18° C. in a time period not greater than about 4 hours, of a food product which has an initial temperature of about 70° C. These performance characteristics distinguish a temperature cooler from the normal refrigerating apparatus intended for the more straightforward storage of the product in a refrigerated environment. 
     The invention thus conceived therefore achieves the predefined objects. 
     Obviously it may also assume, in its practical embodiment, forms and configurations which are different from that illustrated above, without thereby departing from the present scope of protection. 
     Moreover all the details may be replaced by technically equivalent elements and the dimensions, the forms and the materials used may be of any nature according to requirements.