CA2329628A1 - Refrigerating drawer for storage column - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention concerns a refrigerating drawer (3) for storing medicines to be kept at low temperature, incorporated in a storage column (1) with drawers (2), such as those used in chemist's shops. The refrigerating drawer (3) designed to be autonomous is substituted for an ordinary drawer (2) and combines, in one single functional unit, an isothermal chest (6) with evaporator, designed to receive the products to be stored, and a refrigeration unit with compressor and condenser, connected to the evaporator.

Description

Refrigerating drawer for cotton storage The present invention relates to a device intended for storage of products, especially medicines, the storage of which must be done at relatively low temperature. The object of this invention is, more particularly, a refrigerator drawer intended for this kind of products, and taking place inside a structure of a known type, called column storage, consisting of stacked drawers. Thus, the invention provides a device suitable for storage columns with drawers, which are io furniture commonly used in pharmacies and laboratories pharmaceutical.
Among all pharmaceutical products, only one low proportion of products needs to be kept low temperature. The storage of these products is generally done at the interior of a conventional refrigerator (usually found in a kitchen). This storage mode is not very practical for the user, and it has, in particular, the following disadvantages - The refrigerator is, in general, more or less large distance. the storage location of other products 2o pharmaceuticals, arranged as indicated above in drawer columns.
- The interior layout of a refrigerator is not suitable for storing small boxes, the number of which can be around a hundred, which leads to the piling up of products on top of each other, with the may not find the product you are looking for easily.
- 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 ,.
3o important, compared to the quantity of products it contains.
- Finally, each time the refrigerator door is opened, all the products it contains undergoes a variation thermal, more or less long and important depending on the search time for a specific product.

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f '2 , Other solutions have already been considered, but they do not not entirely satisfactory, or do not meet needs real.
Thus, your request for French utility certificate N ° 2455256 relates to a refrigerated appliance for the preservation of products pharmaceutical, this device fits into a storage column with drawers. The device in question takes the place of an ordinary drawer of your cotton, and it is used to produce: cold and to distribute this cold to the other drawers of said column. The whole of the column with drawers is thus 1o refrigerated. As mentioned above, only a small proportion of pharmaceutical products requires low temperature storage.
This known device therefore does not appear to be adapted to concrete needs. Of more, depending on whether an ordinary drawer is more or less far away of the refrigeration unit, the temperature inside this drawer 15 may vary, and therefore the device does not guarantee storage at low temperature properly controlled.
German patent application no. 244943 describes a piece of furniture with drawers for pharmacy, po ~ rrvu of a refrigeration device. This device also ensures the distribution of cold to a set of o drawers. Ge which is useless compared to current needs. Moreover. The refrigerant device described includes an evaporator located at the top a column of drawers, and connected by conduits to a compressor outside the cabinet, installed for example in a cellar. So it’s about a real heavy and bulky refrigeration installation, and not 25 of a self-contained and compact refrigeration device.
German patent application No. 2648237 describes a cabinet refrigerator with several drawers. This cabinet imports drawers which receive the products to be refrigerated, and a special drawer who does not receive products to be refrigerated, but which contains a group 3o refrigerator used to cool other drawers. Placing the group refrigerator in a special drawer here facilitates the maintenance of this group.
Outraged the classic components of a refrigeration unit, namely a compressor, condenser and evaporator, this special drawer has also a ventilator and openings, necessary to circulate the air 35 cold by directing it towards the other drawers, As in your documents previous, it is a drawer unit refrigerated in its entirety, and te MODIFIED SHEET

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2a refrigeration unit must be i of a power and dimension important, to be able to refrigerate all the drawers.
US Patent No. 319579 describes, was also, a refrigerated cabinet with compartments and game shooting receiving food products keep cold, and with a "technical" container which contains only a refrigeration unit and a Seratitator, producing cold air and circulating towards the compartments and / or drawers which contain the foodstuffs. I;
US Patent No. 5,619,978 relates to a refrigerated drawer io for the storage of medam ~ itsr incorporated in a special piece of furniture. ! .e drawer is provided with a thermoelectric device, certainly with Peitier effect, This cooling choice is not very appropriate, because it makes it difficult to control the temperature. In fact, in the case of US Patent No. 5661978, the temperature control is provided by .5 mixture of cold air and warmer air, thanks to fans Creating air circulation, taqk ~ e ~ le is also necessary to avoid too much condensation ~ on your thermoelectric elements, especially in case of strong hurn ~ ideal room. In particular, grids and fans are provided on the rear of the cabinet, which thus has a i, i I s MODIFIED SHEET
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specific structure. It is therefore a complicated and expensive system, in which the drawer does not constitute an autonomous sub-assembly, which can be incorporated into standard furniture, such as a storage column drawers. In addition, the fans consume significant energy, their electric motors releasing heat which prevents production cold, and these fans propel water-laden air over the drug packaging placed in the drawer, which is bad for packaging and for the drugs themselves.
Thus, in general, the known solutions have for 1o disadvantages of cooling an entire piece of furniture storage, and / or focusing part of the cold production equipment outside of this piece of furniture, and / or to be complex and expensive in particular because they require special furniture.
The present invention aims to remedy all of the disadvantages previously exposed, by providing a device for autonomous refrigeration, allowing to store at low temperature of small quantities of pharmaceutical products, the device integrating completely in an existing drawer column, without modifying that ci, and operating in a particularly reliable way, while remaining simple 2o and inexpensive.
To this end, the invention essentially relates to a drawer refrigerant, intended for the storage of medicines and similar products, designed to occupy the place of an ordinary drawer in a column storage, the refrigerating drawer including, grouped in a block unique and autonomous function, an insulated box with evaporator, planned to receive the products to be stored, and a production group of cold with compressor and condenser, connected to the evaporator.
Thus, the invention provides an entirely refrigerating drawer autonomous, both mechanically (this drawer replacing a drawer ordinary, of which it retains the dimensional characteristics) only on the cold production plan. Such a device has many advantages - It avoids the need for a refrigerator, located at a more distant or less important from the main storage location of medication.

- The autonomous refrigerating drawer constitutes a device of reduced size, sufficient for product storage requiring to be stored at low temperature, and not requiring no connection for its operation any outdoor system (other than power in electrical energy), hence an optimization of the point of view of space.

- This refrigerated drawer uses a production system of simple and proven cold, knowing a refrigeration unit with 1o compressor, condenser and vaporizer, which is reliable and economical, easy maintenance, and quickly the phenomena of condensation, making optional the presence of a fan; if provided, the fan is associated to alone condenser to reduce the surface of it, and no the furniture itself should not be modified or adapted to receive other fans or be ventilated by all means (unlike the US patent stated N 5661978).

- The device which is the subject of the invention makes it possible to store the 2o pharmaceutical products, requiring conservation at cold, in the middle of other products whose conservation born do not ask for special precautions from the point of view thermal.

- This device also allows to keep, for storage keep cold products, a method of classification in alphabetical order or in galnical form, specific to the pharmaceutical field.

- The insulated box keeps the temperature ideal for products requiring cold storage, in 3 o seeing any unnecessary loss of cold towards others drawers of the storage column.

- Insofar as it has the size of a drawer classic, and where it is really autonomous from the point of view functional, the refrigerator drawer object of the present invention can be adapted very easily on a column of storage already in place, and requiring no modification, substituting for an ordinary drawer, and this with great flexibility of use: possibility of choice the position of the refrigerator drawer, deletion of this refrigerator drawer for the replacement of an ordinary drawer, 5 replacing other conventional drawers with drawers refrigerants (if cold storage needs arise to exceed the capacity of a single drawer ?, etc ...
According to one embodiment of the invention, the drawer refrigerant includes the functional block with insulated box and group io of cold production, inserted inside an existing drawer, which him then serves as a support, and provides the sliding function. In that case, the functional block in question can occupy either the entire volume interior of existing drawer, only a fraction of interior volume of this drawer, this last possibility being interesting in the case where a very small quantity of products should be kept cold, while the drawers are relatively large.
According to another embodiment of the invention, the drawer refrigerant not only includes the functional block with box isothermal and refrigeration unit, but also a framework with 2o sliding system, and it thus constitutes a complete drawer which substitutes to an ordinary drawer.
Advantageously, the insulated box of the cooling drawer, object of the invention, is internally divided into several compartments, by internal partitions, preferably modular. The upper portion of the insulated box is closed by a plurality of hatches thermally insulating, giving access to the various compartments of said insulated box. These provisions further facilitate storage products, and above all they limit the thermal variations undergone by the products, when the refrigerating drawer is opened.
3o The refrigerating drawer, object of the invention, can in particular be present as a drawer of relatively low height, fitting into a storage column provided with a multiplicity of drawers of low height, which corresponds to a usual drawer column structure.
However, according to another possibility falling within the framework of the invention, the refrigerating drawer is presented as a relatively great height, equal to a multiple of the height of an ordinary drawer a storage column; in this case, access to the interior of the drawer, therefore to products kept cold, can be done laterally, in particular by side doors, themselves made accessible when the drawer is pulled out.
The present invention also relates, as such, to a block autonomous function for refrigerating drawer as defined above, this functional block comprising an insulated box with an evaporator, and a refrigeration unit with compressor and condenser, connected to the evaporator.
1o The invention will be better understood using the description which follows, with reference to the appended schematic drawing representing, by way of examples, some embodiments of this refrigerator drawer for storage column Figure 1 is a perspective view of a column of storage, equipped with a refrigerating drawer in accordance with this invention, according to a first embodiment;
Figure 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of this drawer refrigerant, according to II-II of Figure 1;
Figure 3 is a plan view from above, without your hatches 2o closing and with part torn off, of the refrigerating drawer of Figures 1 and 2 ;
Figure 4 is a perspective view of another column of storage, equipped with two refrigerating drawers in accordance with this invention but constituting different embodiments of the former ;
Figure 5 is a side view, partially in section, of one refrigerating drawers of Figure 4;
Figure 6 is a horizontal sectional view of the refrigerator drawer in Figure 5.
Figure 1 shows a drawer storage column for 3o pharmacy, designated as a whole by the reference 1, which includes in this example three vertical series of drawers 2, each of relatively low height h. One of the ordinary 2 drawers is replaced by a refrigerating drawer 3, with the same external dimensions (length, width and height), the refrigerating drawer 3 therefore also having, in particular, low height h.

Figures 2 and 3 show in more detail the structure of the drawer refrigerant 3. This drawer 3, has a frame, provided with lateral slides 4, the frame and the slides not being modified compared to those of a ordinary drawer 2. The cooling drawer 3 also has a panel for facade 5, whose structure and appearance are identical to the panels of front of other drawers 2.
Most of the volume of the cooling drawer 3 is occupied by an insulated box 6, comprising a horizontal bottom 7, longitudinal vertical walls 8, a front vertical wall 9 and a wall 1o vertical rear 10, made of thermally insulating material, thick sufficient. The interior of the insulated box 6 is divided into several compartments 11 by internal partitions 12, preferably modular.
The upper part of the insulated box 6 is closed by a plurality of hatches 13 made of thermally insulating material; opening the hatches 13, made possible when the cooling drawer 3 is extended (see Figure 1 ), gives access to the various internal compartments 11 of the box isothermal 6.
The refrigerating drawer 3 also includes, behind the box isotherm 6, a refrigeration unit 14 itself composed of a 2o compressor 15 of small volume, of a condenser 16 ventilated or not ventilated, and an electrical relay 17. The refrigeration unit 14 is connected, by conduits 18 carrying the refrigerant, to a flat evaporator 19 disposed horizontally, on the bottom 7 of the box isothermal 6. The evaporator 19 is covered by a protective plate 20, also constituting the bottom of the compartments 11.
The refrigeration unit 14 being connected to a suitable source of electrical power, through compatible connections with the sliding of the drawer, one obtains on the whole a drawer independent refrigerant 3, replacing an ordinary drawer 2 and 3o designed to receive, and keep cold, pharmaceutical products requiring to be stored at low temperature. To ensure good contr8) e of its operation, the refrigerating drawer 3 can still be equipped with a regulation thermostat, guaranteeing a temperature inside the insulated box 6, as well as a warning light operation and / or a temperature indicator placed on its front panel 5, these accessories not being shown in the drawing.

FIG. 4 shows another storage column 1 ′, comprising ordinary 2 drawers and two refrigerated drawers 3 and 3 '.
In the refrigerating drawer 3, which here constitutes a variant of the one previously described, the functional block, comprising the box insulator 6 and the chiller, occupies only one fraction of the total interior volume of drawer 3. In particular, this block functional occupies only a fraction (about two-thirds of the width total of drawer 3, and the remainder of the interior volume of this drawer 3 constitutes a storage space for products that do not need to be kept cold.
The other refrigerating drawer 3 'visible in FIG. 4, and shown also in more detail in Figures 5 and 6, is of a fairly configuration different from those previously described. Indeed, this 3 'refrigerator drawer has a relatively large 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 'being however less than that of a drawer 2 ordinary (for example equal to half the width of a drawer 2).
The refrigerating drawer 3 'still has an insulated box 6, here of great height, behind which is placed the production group 2o of cold 14 composed of a compressor 15, a condenser 16 and a electrical relay 17, connected by conduits 18 with an evaporator dish 19 arranged at the base of the insulated box 6, under a plate of protection 20.
A plurality of storage shelves 21 are placed at the interior of the insulated box 6. One of the side faces of the drawer 3 'refrigerant is provided with several side doors 22, preferably transparent, which become accessible when the 3 ′ drawer is extended, and which then themselves give access to the pharmaceutical products placed inside the insulated box 6, on the shelves 21.
3o Of course, the external dimensions of the cooling drawer, as well as its interior layout, can be modified without departs from the scope of the present invention.

Claims

9 1 - Refrigerated drawer (3, 3'), intended for storing medicines and similar products, to be stored at relatively low temperature, characterized in that it comprises, grouped together in a block unique and autonomous functional unit, an isothermal box (6) with evaporator (19), the isothermal box (6) being provided to receive the products to be stored, and a cold production unit (14) with compressor (15) and condenser (16), connected (at 18) to the evaporator (19).
2 - Cooling drawer according to claim 1, characterized in that that it includes the functional block with isothermal box (6) and group of cold production (14), inserted inside an existing drawer (2).
3 - Cooling drawer according to claim 2, characterized in that that the aforementioned functional block occupies the entire interior volume of the existing drawer (2).
4 - Cooling drawer according to claim 2, characterized in that that the aforementioned functional block occupies a fraction of the internal volume of the existing drawer (2).
- Cooling drawer according to claim 2, characterized in that that it includes not only the functional block with isothermal box (5) and cold production unit (14), but also a frame with slide system (4), and thus constitutes a complete drawer (3) substitutable for an ordinary drawer (2).
6 - Cooling drawer according to any one of the claims 1 to 5, characterized in that its isothermal box (6) is divided internally into several compartments (11), by internal partitions (12) preferably modular.
7 - Cooling drawer according to claim 6, characterized in that that the upper part of the isothermal box (6) is closed by a plurality of thermally insulating hatches (13), giving access to the different compartments (11) of said isothermal box (6).
8 - Use of a refrigerated drawer according to any of the claims 1 to 7 in a storage column (1) provided with a multiplicity of drawers (2) of low height (h), the refrigerator drawer (3) to presenting itself as a drawer of relatively low height (h), intended to occupy the location of an ordinary drawer (2) of the column of storage (1).
9 - Use of a refrigerated drawer according to any of the claims 1 to 6 in a storage column (1'), the drawer cooler (3') in the form of a relatively large drawer height (H), equal to a multiple of the height (h) of an ordinary drawer (2) of the storage column (1').
- Use of a refrigerating drawer in a column of storage according to claim 9, characterized in that the access has the interior of the refrigerating drawer (3') is lateral, and ensured in particular by of the side doors (22), themselves made accessible when the drawer (3') is out.
11 - Autonomous function block for refrigerated drawer according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that it comprises an isothermal box (6) with evaporator (19), the box isothermal (6) being provided to receive the products to be stored, and a cold production unit (14) with compressor (15) and condenser (16) connected [at 18] to the evaporator (19).