Abstract:
A method for allocating a chilling substance to a transport tote for preserving a food product therein includes measuring thermal properties of the food product to be transported; calculating environmental conditions for which the transport tote is to be exposed during transport; allocating an amount of the chilling substance to a container for being deposited in the transport tote for the preserving of the food product; and depositing the container in the transport tote.
   A related apparatus is also provided.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    The present embodiments relate to transport cooling for grocery totes. 
         [0002]    Carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) is used to provide refrigeration for home grocery delivery. CO 2  provides reliable and tremendous cooling per unit mass and leaves no moisture as it melts. CO 2  pellets are also readily available, although expensive to use for shipping purposes. Dry ice is usually packed with the food product all around the food product, even in many instances covering same, prior to shipment. The filling of the dry ice results in shipping the container as a “one size fits all” approach with the dry ice. It is also not uncommon for the dry ice to be delivered manually with no understanding as to the correct amount of refrigeration needed for the product being shipped. As a result, the “one size fits all” approach is an inefficient and certainly can be an unnecessarily expensive process when shipping the grocery product. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0003]    There is therefore provided a method for allocating a chilling substance to a transport tote for preserving a food product therein, which includes measuring thermal properties of the food product to be transported; calculating environmental conditions for which the transport tote is to be exposed during transport; allocating an amount of the chilling substance to a container for being deposited in the transport tote for the preserving of the food product; and depositing the container in the transport tote. 
         [0004]    There is also provided an apparatus for preserving a food product for transport to an end user, which includes a transport tote having an internal space therein sized and shaped to receive the food product; and a sealed container in which CO 2  snow is contained, the sealed container positioned in the transport tote. 
         [0005]    Other features of the present embodiments are set forth herein and provided in the present claims. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING 
         [0006]    For a more complete understanding of the present invention, reference may be had to the following description of exemplary embodiments considered in connection with the accompanying drawing FIGURE, of which: 
           [0007]    The FIGURE shows a side view of an automated CO 2  portioning system embodiment of the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0008]    The FIGURE shows products, such as grocery products, shipped in totes or containers, which hold at least one and for many uses a plurality of bags of groceries. The totes can be packaged for the groceries to be shipped in a frozen state, a chilled state, or ambient. 
         [0009]    Before explaining the inventive embodiments in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and arrangement of parts illustrated in the accompanying drawings, if any, since the invention is capable of other embodiments and being practiced or carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology or terminology employed herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation. 
         [0010]    In the following description, terms such as a horizontal, upright, vertical, above, below, beneath and the like, are to be used solely for the purpose of clarity illustrating the invention and should not be taken as words of limitation. The drawings are for the purpose of illustrating the invention and are not intended to be to scale. 
         [0011]    The present embodiments provide a supplier for a shipper of grocery products with a solution for accurately allocating the right amount of CO 2  with each grocery tote depending upon the product being shipped in the tote. The amount of CO 2  to be used for each tote is based upon the products thermal characteristics, delivery time for the tote, the refrigeration necessary for the products being delivered, and environmental conditions to which the tote is subjected during the delivery to the recipient. 
         [0012]    Referring to the FIGURE, there is disclosed how the process of the present embodiments works for the automated CO 2  portioning system for grocery totes in the present embodiments. In particular and referring to the FIGURE, a system for a method is shown generally at  10  and includes the following stages. 
         [0013]    (1) Empty grocery totes  12 , boxes or containers enter an automatic conveyor line  14  or conveyor belt. The conveyor line  14  includes an inlet  16  and an outlet  18 . The tote  12  has an internal space  20  which can be closed off with a top  22  by way of for example flaps of closure material. The internal space  20  is sized and shaped to receive at least one and for many applications a plurality of groceries  24  or grocery bags containing a food product or products, in addition to a snow box  26 . 
         [0014]    (2) The totes  12  are filled with the groceries  24  specific to a customer&#39;s order. Thermal characteristics of the groceries  24  are known and uploaded into a database (ie., storage temperature, mass, specific heat, latent heat, etc.). The thermal mass of the groceries  24  in each tote  12  can be calculated. The top  22  of the tote  12  remains in an open position for a purpose to be described hereinafter. 
         [0015]    (3) The snow box  26  (insulated box for holding CO 2  snow  28  or CO 2  pellets) is positioned in the internal space  20  near a top of the delivery tote  12 . During this step, the computer system (not shown) calculated the amount of CO 2  snow  28  required for transport based on the following variables, ie. thermal properties of food=thermal mass, desired holding temperature of product, external conditions for the day (outside temperature, humidity over the course of the day), delivery time to customer site, amount of time the tote  12  will remain at the customer site, conditions of a delivery platform transporting the tote  12  such as for example conditions inside a delivery truck (chilled, frozen, ambient). The delivery platform may be intermodal, ie transportable in an intermodal delivery platform where, for purposes herein, “intermodel delivery platform” refers to transport of freight in an intermodal container or vehicle (truck, ship, rail) without any handling of the freight itself when changing modes. With these variables, accurate heat transfer calculations can be made which will result in an estimate of the amount of CO 2  snow  28  required to be deposited in the snow box  26  for use with the groceries  24  in the tote  12 . 
         [0016]    (4) The calculated amount of CO 2  snow  28  is automatically dispensed or deposited in the snow box  26  as per stage (3) above. The snow box  26  is sealed to prevent direct contact with the CO 2  pellets in the snow box. 
         [0017]    (5) The tote  12  is closed by moving the top  22 , such as the flaps for example, into a position to seal off access to the internal space  20  of the tote. The tote  12  then exits the conveying line  14  for loading into trucks (not shown) and shipment to customer(s) at a remote location. 
         [0018]    An alternative embodiment calls for the snow box  26  to be filled separately with the CO 2  snow  28 , possibly at a remote location from the conveyor line  14  shown, after which the snow box is deposited on top of the grocery products  24  in the tote. The top  22 , or open-end of the tote, can have a movable cover or a pair of flaps which overlap to seal the opening of the internal space  20  of the tote after the grocery products  24  and snow box  26  are deposited therein. 
         [0019]    The snow box  26  rests on top of the grocery products  24  for chilling or maintaining same in a frozen state. The grocery products  24  do not have to be packaged, but can instead by unwrapped items such as for example apples, pears, IQR (individual quick frozen) shrimp, etc. 
         [0020]    It will be understood that the embodiments described herein are merely exemplary, and that a person skilled in the art may make variations and modifications without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. All such variations and modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the invention as described and claimed herein. It should be understood that the embodiments described above are not only in the alternative, but can be combined.