AU3154399A

AU3154399A - Refrigerating drawer for storage column

Info

Publication number: AU3154399A
Application number: AU31543/99A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Jean-Pierre Guichon; Jean-Luc Pluton
Original assignee: PLUTON JEAN LUC
Current assignee: PLUTON JEAN LUC
Priority date: 1998-04-24
Filing date: 1999-04-14
Publication date: 1999-11-16
Also published as: TR200003109T2; EP1073871A1; PL343723A1; CN1301337A; FR2777985B1; WO1999056071A1; FR2777985A1; CA2329628A1; BR9909843A

Description

WO 99/56071 - 1 - PCT/FR99/00879 Refrigerating drawer for a storage column The present invention relates to a device intended for the storage of products, particularly 5 medicinal products, which needs to be stored at a relatively low temperature. The subject of this invention is, more specifically, a refrigerating drawer intended for this type of product, and fitting into a structure of a known type, known as a storage column, 10 consisting of superposed drawers. Thus, the invention provides a device suited to storage columns with drawers, which are units commonly used in pharmaceutical laboratories and dispensaries. Of all the pharmaceutical products there are, 15 only a small proportion of products needs to be kept at a low temperature. These products are generally stored inside a conventional refrigerator (such as one would normally find in a kitchen). This method of storage is not very practical for the user and, in particular, has 20 the following drawbacks: - The refrigerator is generally somewhat remote from the site at which the other pharmaceutical products, stored as indicated hereinabove in columns of drawers, are stored. 25 - The internal arrangement of a refrigerator is not suited to the storage of small-sized boxes, of which there may be about a hundred, which means products are piled up on top of each other with the risk of it not being easy to 30 find the sought-after product. - The working position of the person looking for a product in the refrigerator is not very comfortable. - The size of the refrigerator is also relatively 35 great, compared with the amount of products it contains. - Finally, each time the door to the refrigerator is opened, all of the products the refrigerator contains experience a variation in temperature, -2 the length and significance of which varies according to the time spent looking for a given product. Other solutions have already been envisaged, 5 but are not entirely satisfactory or do not correspond to actual needs. Thus, French Utility Certificate Application No. 2455256 relates to a refrigerating apparatus for keeping pharmaceutical products, this apparatus being 10 incorporated into a storage column with drawers. The apparatus in question takes the place of an ordinary drawer of the column, and serves to produce cold and distribute this coldness to the other drawers of said column. The entire column of drawers is thus 15 refrigerated. Now, as was mentioned earlier, only a small proportion of pharmaceutical products needs to be stored at low temperature. This known device does not therefore seem suited to real requirements. In addition, the temperature inside an ordinary drawer can 20 vary according to whether this drawer is at a great or short distance from the refrigerating apparatus, and the device therefore does not guarantee storage at a correctly controlled low temperature. German Patent Application No. 2744943 describes 25 a drawer unit for a pharmacy, equipped with a refrigerating device. This device too distributes coldness to a collection of drawers, which is unnecessary compared with current requirements. In addition, the refrigerating device described comprises 30 an evaporator located at the top of a column of drawers and collected by pipes to a compressor outside the unit, installed for example in a cellar. This then is a veritable heavy and bulky refrigeration plant rather than an autonomous and compact refrigerating device. 35 US Patent No. 5661978 has, as a subject, a refrigerating drawer for the storage of medicinal products, incorporated into a special unit. The drawer is equipped with a thermoelectric device, certainly of the Peltier-effect type, for cooling it. This choice of -3 technology is rather inappropriate because it makes the temperature difficult to control. In fact, in the case of US Patent No. 5661978, temperature control is provided by mixing cold air and warmer ambient air by 5 blowers which create a circulation of air, which is also needed to avoid excessive condensation on the thermoelectric elements, particularly in times of high ambient humidity. In particular, gratings and blowers are provided on the rear of the unit, which thus has a 10 specific structure. This then is a complex and expensive system in which the drawer does not constitute an autonomous subassembly that can be incorporated into a standard unit, of the storage column with drawers kind. In addition, the blowers 15 consume a great deal of energy, their electric motors giving out heat which opposes the production of coldness, and these blowers drive water-laden air onto the packagings of the medicinal products placed in the drawer, which is detrimental to the packaging and to 20 the medicinal products themselves. Thus, in general, the known solutions have, as drawbacks, the fact that they cool the entirety of the storage unit and/or that they locate some of the refrigerating hardware outside this unit and/or that 25 they are complex and expensive, particularly when they require a special unit. The present invention aims to overcome all of the aforementioned drawbacks by providing an autonomous refrigerating device allowing small quantities of 30 pharmaceutical products to be stored at low temperature, the device fitting completely into an existing column of drawers, without any modification thereto, and operating in a particularly reliable way while at the same time remaining simple and 35 inexpensive. To this end the subject of the invention is essentially a refrigerating drawer intended for storing medicinal and similar products, which drawer is designed to occupy the space of an ordinary drawer in a -4 storage column, the refrigerating drawer comprising, grouped together as a single and autonomous entity, an isothermal box with evaporator, designed to take the products which are to be stored, and a refrigeration 5 unit with compressor and condenser, connected to the evaporator. Thus, the invention proposes a refrigerating drawer which is entirely autonomous, both from the mechanical point of view (this drawer replacing an 10 ordinary drawer the dimensional characteristics of which it maintains) and from the refrigerating point of view. A device such as this has numerous advantages: - It avoids recourse to a refrigerator located at some distance from the main medicinal-product 15 storage site. - The autonomous refrigerating drawer constitutes a device of small dimensions, large enough for storing the products that need to be stored at low temperature, and requiring no connections 20 to any external system (other than the electrical power supply) for its operation, hence providing optimization from the point of view of bulk. - This refrigerating drawer uses a simple and 25 proven cold-producing system, namely a refrigeration unit with compressor, condenser and evaporator, which is reliable and economical, easy to maintain, and avoids phenomena of condensation, thus making the 30 presence of a blower optional; if there is a blower, the blower is associated just with the condenser, to reduce the area thereof, and under no circumstances does the unit itself have to be modified or adapted to take other 35 blowers or be ventilated by any means (this being unlike the aforementioned US Patent No. 5661978). - The device that forms the subject of the invention thus allows for the storage of -5 pharmaceutical products that need to be kept cold, among the other products whose storage does not require special precautions from the thermal viewpoint. 5 - This device also makes it possible, for storing products that have to be kept cold, to maintain a method of classification in alphabetical order or in terms of galenic form specific to the pharmaceutical field. 10 - The isothermal box makes it possible to keep products that need to be kept cold at an ideal temperature, avoiding any needless loss of coldness toward the other drawers in the storage column. 15 - Insofar as it has the bulk of a conventional drawer, and as it is truly autonomous from the functional point of view, the refrigerating drawer that is the subject of the present invention can very easily be adapted to a 20 storage column already in situ, requiring no modification and substituting for an ordinary drawer, and this can be done with great flexibility of use: possibility of choosing the position of the refrigerating drawer, of 25 removing this refrigerating drawer to refit an ordinary drawer, of replacing other conventional drawers with refrigerating drawers (if the requirements for keeping cold exceed the capacity of a single drawer), etc. 30 According to one embodiment of the invention, the refrigerating drawer comprises the functional entity with isothermal box and refrigeration unit, inserted inside an existing drawer, which then acts as a support for it and fulfills the sliding function. In 35 this case, the functional entity in question can occupy either the entire interior volume of the existing drawer or just a fraction of the interior volume of this drawer, the latter possibility being advantageous -6 when a very small number of products need to be kept cold, and the drawers are of relatively large size. According to another embodiment of the invention, the refrigerating drawer comprises not only 5 the functional entity with isothermal box and refrigeration unit, but also a frame with a system of runners and thus constitutes a complete drawer that can be substituted for an ordinary drawer. Advantageously, the isothermal box of the 10 refrigerating drawer, which is the subject of the invention, is internally divided into a number of compartments by internal partitions, preferably reconfigurable ones. The upper part of the isothermal box is closed by a number of thermally insulating flaps 15 providing access to the various compartments of said isothermal box. These arrangements make the storage of products even easier, and above all they limit the thermal variations experienced by the products when the refrigerating drawer is opened. 20 The refrigerating drawer that is the subject of the invention may, in particular, be in the form of a drawer of relatively short height, that can be inserted into a storage column equipped with a number of drawers of short height, which corresponds to a conventional 25 structure of a column of drawers. However, according to another possibility which falls within the context of the invention, the refrigerating drawer is in the form of a drawer of relatively tall height, equal to a multiple of the 30 height of an ordinary drawer of a storage column; in this case, access to the interior of the drawer and therefore to the products kept cold, can be had laterally, particularly via lateral doors, which are themselves made accessible when the drawer is out. 35 The present invention also relates, as such, to an autonomous functional entity for a refrigerating drawer as defined hereinabove, this functional entity comprising an isothermal box with evaporator and a -7 refrigeration unit with compressor and condenser, connected to the evaporator. The invention will be better understood with the aid of the description which follows, with 5 reference to the attached diagrammatic drawing which, by way of examples, depicts a number of embodiments of this refrigerating drawer for a storage column: Figure 1 is a perspective view of a refrigerating column equipped with a refrigerating 10 drawer according to the present invention, according to a first embodiment; Figure 2 is a view in longitudinal section on II-II of Figure 1 of this refrigerating drawer; Figure 3 is a plan view from above, without the 15 closure flaps and the partial cutaway, of the refrigerating drawer of Figures 1 and 2; Figure 4 is a perspective view of another storage column equipped with two refrigerating drawers according to the present invention, but constituting 20 embodiments which differ from the previous one; Figure 5 is a side view in part section of one of the refrigerating drawers of Figure 4; Figure 6 is a view in horizontal section of the refrigerating drawer of Figure 5. 25 Figure 1 depicts a storage column with drawers for a pharmacy, denoted overall by the reference 1, which in this example comprises three vertical series of drawers 2, each of relatively short height h. One of the ordinary drawers 2 is replaced by a refrigerating 30 drawer 3, with the same external dimensions (length, width and height), the refrigerating drawer 3 therefore also in particular having a short height h. Figures 2 and 3 show the structure of the refrigerating drawer 3 in greater detail. This drawer 3 35 has a frame, fitted with lateral runners 4, the frame and the runners being unchanged by comparison with those of an ordinary drawer 2. This refrigerating drawer 3 also comprises a front panel 5, the structure -8 and appearance of which are identical to the front panels of the other drawers 2. Most of the volume of the refrigerating drawer 3 is occupied by an isothermal box 6 comprising a 5 horizontal bottom wall 7, longitudinal vertical walls 8, a vertical front wall 9 and a vertical rear wall 10 made of thermally insulating material of sufficient thickness. The inside of the isothermal box 6 is divided into a number of compartments 11 by internal 10 partitions 12, preferably reconfigurable ones. The upper part of the isothermal box 6 is closed by a number of flaps 13 made of thermally insulating material; the opening of the flaps 13, made possible when the refrigerating drawer 3 is out (see Figure 1), 15 gives access to the various internal compartments 11 of the isothermal box 6. The refrigerating drawer 3 also comprises, behind the isothermal box 6, a refrigeration unit 14 itself made up of a small-volume compressor 15, a 20 condenser 16 with or without blower, and an electrical relay 17. The refrigeration unit 14 is connected, by pipes 18 conveying the refrigerant, to a flat evaporator 19 arranged horizontally on the bottom wall 7 of the isothermal box 6. The evaporator 19 is covered 25 by a protective plate 20, which also constitutes the bottom wall of the compartments 11. As the refrigeration unit 14 is connected to an appropriate electrical power supply, by connections which are compatible with the sliding of the drawer, 30 there is obtained, in the assembly, a refrigerating drawer 3 of autonomous nature, replacing an ordinary drawer 2 and designed to take, and keep cold, pharmaceutical products which need to be stored at low temperature. To provide good control over its 35 operation, the refrigerating drawer 3 may also be equipped with a regulating thermostat guaranteeing an appropriate temperature inside the isothermal box 6, and with an operating and/or temperature indicator -9 lamp, placed on its front panel 5, these accessories not being depicted in the drawing. Figure 4 depicts another storage column 1', comprising ordinary drawers 2 and two refrigerating 5 drawers 3 and 3'. In the refrigerating drawer 3, which in this instance constitutes a variation on the one already described, the functional entity comprising the insulating box 6 and the refrigeration unit occupies 10 just a fraction of the total interior volume of the drawer 3. In particular, this functional entity occupies just a fraction (about two-thirds) of the total width of the drawer 3, and the remainder of the interior volume of this drawer 3 constitutes a space 15 for the storage of products which do not need to be kept cold. The other refrigerating drawer 3' visible in Figure 4 and depicted also in greater detail in Figures 5 and 6, is of a configuration fairly different than 20 those already described. Specifically, this refrigerating drawer 3' has a relatively tall height H, equal to a multiple of the height h of an ordinary drawer 2 of the storage column 1', the width of the refrigerating drawer 3' however still being less than 25 that of an ordinary drawer 2 (for example equal to half of the width of a drawer 2). The refrigerating drawer 3' again has an isothermal box 6, here of tall height, to the rear of which is placed the refrigeration unit 14 made up of a 30 compressor 15, a condenser 16 and an electrical relay 17, connected by pipes 18 to a flat evaporator 19 arranged at the base of the isothermal box 6, under a protective plate 20. A number of storage shelves 21 are placed 35 inside the isothermal box 6. One of the lateral faces of the refrigerating drawer 3' is equipped with a number of lateral doors 22, preferably transparent ones, which become accessible when the drawer 3' is out, and which themselves give access to the -10 pharmaceutical products placed inside the isothermal box 6, on the shelves 21. Of course, the external dimensions of the refrigerating drawer, and its internal arrangements, 5 may be altered without departing from the scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A refrigerating drawer intended for storing medicinal and similar products that have to be stored 5 at a relatively low temperature, characterized in that it is designed to occupy the space of an ordinary drawer (2) in a storage column (1, 1'), the refrigerating drawer (3, 3') comprising, grouped together as a single and autonomous entity, an 10 isothermal box (6) with evaporator (19), designed to take the products which are to be stored, and a refrigeration unit (14) with compressor (15) and condenser (16), connected (at 18) to the evaporator (19). 15

2. The refrigerating drawer for a storage column as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that it comprises the functional entity with isothermal box (6) and refrigeration unit (14), inserted inside an existing drawer (2). 20

3. The refrigerating drawer for a storage column as claimed in claim 2, characterized in that the aforementioned functional entity occupies the entire interior volume of the existing drawer (2).

4. The refrigerating drawer for a storage column 25 as claimed in claim 2, characterized in that the aforementioned functional entity occupies a fraction of the interior volume of the existing drawer (2).

5. The refrigerating drawer for a storage column as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that it 30 comprises not only the functional entity with isothermal box (6) and refrigeration unit (14), but also a frame with a system of runners (4) and thus constitutes a complete drawer (3) that can be substituted for an ordinary drawer (2). 35

6. The refrigerating drawer for a storage column as claimed in any of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that its isothermal box (6) is internally divided into a number of compartments (11) by internal partitions (12), preferably reconfigurable ones. -12

7. The refrigerating drawer for a storage column as claimed in claim 6, characterized in that the upper part of the isothermal box (6) is closed by a number of thermally insulating flaps (13) providing access to the 5 various compartments (11) of said isothermal box (6).

8. The refrigerating drawer for a storage column as claimed in any of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that it is in the form of a drawer (3) of relatively short height (h), that can be inserted into a storage 10 column (1) equipped with a number of drawers (2) of short height (h).

9. The refrigerating drawer for a storage column as claimed in any of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that it is in the form of a drawer (3') of relatively 15 tall height (H), equal to a multiple of the height (h) of an ordinary drawer (2) of a storage column (1').

10. The refrigerating drawer for a storage column as claimed in claim 9, characterized in that access to the interior of this drawer (3') is lateral and 20 provided in particular by lateral doors (22) which are themselves made accessible when the drawer (3') is out.

11. An autonomous functional entity for a refrigerating drawer as claimed in any of claims 1 to 10, comprising an isothermal box (6) with evaporator 25 (19), and a refrigeration unit (14) with compressor (15) and condenser (16) connected (at 18) to the evaporator (19).