EP1576325B1 - Rapid cooling method and device - Google Patents

Abstract

Disclosed is a rapid cooling device for freezing food, comprising a container (11) which is filled with a heat transfer liquid and is provided with at least one flexible wall (15). Said container (11) is part of a circuit which also comprises a tank (8) for the heat transfer liquid.

Description

The present invention relates to a method and a device for rapid cooling, in particular of pre-packaged beverages, or for quick freezing of small-sized goods, in particular of foods such as fresh fruits and vegetables.

The shelf life of sensitive foods to be kept cool is severely compromised if there are gaps in the cold chain on the way from the manufacturer to the consumer's home. Often there are such gaps if the consumer can not load the food quickly enough after shopping in his refrigerator or freezer. Since the re-cooling of such food in the refrigerator takes place essentially by heat exchange via the air, it can take some time after loading the food in the refrigerator until the set temperature is reached again and the proliferation of microorganisms in the food is stopped as far as possible. To improve the shelf life of such foods, it is desirable to cool them in the refrigerator as quickly as possible.

Even with packaged drinks, which are often not perishable and therefore usually stored outside a refrigerator, it is desirable to have devices and methods that allow such drinks to cool quickly to a comfortable drinking temperature.

For freezing fresh fruit and vegetables in private households, it is customary to put the washed, damp fresh goods in plastic cans or bags and to load them into the storage chamber of a freezer, where the freezing process can take several hours. At the end of the freezing process, the frozen product usually forms a solid block, which is hardly dismantled in pieces in the frozen state with household-standard means. The user is therefore forced to consider already when freezing food, in which pack size he will need them later, then pack the food in this pack size and freeze. To be flexible in case of doubt, he will usually opt for a small package size. Accordingly, he needs a large number of containers. Especially If the frozen food is packaged in bags that are used only once, then avoidable waste is produced and the consumer incurs unnecessary costs.

Industrially produced frozen foods are increasingly being offered "shock-frozen" lately. In these foods, the individual pieces are not frozen together, but loose in the frozen state. This allows the consumer to buy such frozen foods in large packs that contain more than the amount needed for a meal, to withdraw from these packs when needed the required amount and to keep the unneeded residue further frozen. This makes the handling of the frozen food very easy and flexible. In addition, by using large package sizes, packaging material and costs can be saved and waste avoided.

There is a need also to provide means for the private household, which allow a rapid cooling, in particular a freezing of food.

Methods and apparatus for quick-cooling food according to the preambles of claims 1 and 4 are made EP 0 357 286 A1 respectively. GB-A-2 303 692 known. These methods or devices are only effective for foodstuffs which have a bottle-like or long-cylindrical shape, namely beverage containers, and are therefore also recommended only for cooling drinks.

The object of the present invention is to specify a method and a device for quick-cooling food, which is flexible with regard to the shape of the food to be cooled.

The object is achieved by a method having the features of claim 1 and a rapid cooling device with the features of claim 4 dependent claims are directed to advantageous developments of the invention.

It makes sense that such a quick-cooling device is installed in a storage chamber of a refrigerator, since it then does not need its own means for cooling the heat transfer fluid.

If the quick-cooling device is installed in a refrigeration device, the tank is expediently located on a ceiling of the storage chamber. Often located immediately below the ceiling of such a storage chamber, a flat etager, which is intended to hold cold packs, and the rear area can be used to accommodate such a tank well.

Even if the quick-cooling device is not used, the presence of such a tank as a heat buffer is favorable for the efficiency of the refrigerator in which it is installed. Therefore, it is desirable to be able to leave the tank in the storage chamber of the refrigerator even if the at least one chamber of the cooling device just is not needed and should be removed from the storage chamber. To make this possible, a releasable coupling is preferably inserted in the circuit between the tank and the at least one container.

When using the rapid cooling device for cooling drinks, the storage chamber in which the tank is located, a freezing chamber, while serving as a bottle cooler container is conveniently located in a normal or fresh cooling chamber of the same refrigerator.

A placement of the tank below the bottle cooler serving container favors the outflow of heat transfer fluid from the container into the tank and thus the release of a cooled in the bottle cooler bottle or other beverage container when not in use.

A time or temperature dependent automatic control of the operation of the pump is desirable to prevent overcooling of a beverage container.

Fig. 1

eine erfindungsgemäße Schnellkühlvorrichtung in einem schematischen Schnitt, eingebaut in ein Kältegerät;

Fig. 2

einen schematischen Schnitt durch eine zweite Ausgestaltung der Schnellkühlvorrichtung,

Fig. 3

einen schematischen Schnitt durch eine dritte Ausgestaltung der Schnellkühlvorrichtung,

Fig. 4

eine perspektivische Ansicht des Behälters gemäß einer dritten Ausgestaltung der Schnellkühlvorrichtung, die nicht unter dem Schutzumfang der Ansprüche fällt, und

Fig. 5

den Behälter aus Fig. 4, montiert an einer zu kühlenden Flasche.

Further features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description of exemplary embodiments with reference to the accompanying figures. Show it:

Fig. 1

a quick cooling device according to the invention in a schematic section, installed in a refrigerator;

Fig. 2

a schematic section through a second embodiment of the rapid cooling device,

Fig. 3

a schematic section through a third embodiment of the rapid cooling device,

Fig. 4

a perspective view of the container according to a third embodiment of the rapid cooling device, which does not fall under the scope of the claims, and

Fig. 5

the container off Fig. 4 , mounted on a bottle to be cooled.

This in Fig. 1 Refrigerating appliance 1 shown in a schematic section is a freezer. A heat-insulating housing 2 surrounds a storage chamber 3, which is divided by several tiered storage 4 in compartments 5, 6, 7. The Etageren 4 are each formed as grates with flowed through by a refrigerant lines.

The uppermost compartment 5, immediately below the ceiling of the storage chamber 3, has only a height of a few cm and is therefore highly efficiently cooled by its tier 4. This compartment is filled to a large extent by a tank 8, with a heat transfer fluid, eg. B. a brine or an alcohol-water mixture is filled.

In the underlying compartment 6 there are a pump 9 and a Schnellgefrierbox 10 with a lower part 11 and a lid 12, both of which each have rigid outer walls and facing inner walls 15 of a soft, resilient sheet material. Surrounded by outer and inner walls cavities of the lower part 11 and the lid 12 are connected to each other via pipes 13, with the pump 9 and the tank 8 to a circuit. Lower part 11 and lid 12 are fixable to each other, so that the cover 12 can push in between the lower part and lid enclosed piece of refrigerated goods 14 against the hydrostatic pressure of the heat transfer fluid contained therein in the lower part. In this way, an intimate contact between the refrigerated goods 14 and the flexible inner walls 15 of the lower part and the lid is ensured, which allows a rapid heat exchange between the refrigerated goods and the heat transfer fluid in the Schnellgefrierbox 10. The pump 9 ensures a continuous exchange of the heat transfer fluid between the cool box 10 and the tank. 8

In order to conveniently remove the pump 9 and the Schnellgefrierbox 10 from the refrigerator when not in use, are in the pipes 13, which use the tank 8 with the pump or the cover 12, quick couplings 16 are arranged, which are self-closing in the separated state to to prevent leakage of the refrigerant.

Such couplings can be omitted if the entire rapid cooling device including the tank 8 can be removed from the refrigeration device.

An electrical connector 17 is provided on the inner wall of the housing 2 for the power supply of the pump 9.

The pump 9 is shown separately in the Fig. From the Schnellgefrierbox 10, but it is understood that they z. B. may be connected to the lower part 11 to form a structural unit in order to simplify handling. It is also conceivable to place a motor of the pump 9 on the foam side of the housing inner wall and to provide it with a magnetic coupling which rotationally drives a pump head arranged in the bearing chamber 3. Thus, the electrical connector 17 and consequently a required for them opening of the housing inner wall can be avoided.

Fig. 2 shows a schematic section through a second embodiment of the quick device according to the invention, mounted in a combination refrigerator. As in the first embodiment, a filled with a heat transfer fluid tank 8 is housed in a top compartment 5 of the freezer compartment of the refrigerator 1. The tank extends substantially over the entire width of the compartment 5 and therefore has extensive, easily deformable wall surfaces 20th

Via pipes 13, the tank 8 is connected to a bottle cooler 18, which is housed in a normal or fresh cooling zone 21 of the refrigerator 1. The bottle cooler 18 is substantially in the shape of a cup having a rigid outer wall 19 and a flexible inner wall 15 which defines a recess for receiving a bottle 22 to be cooled. The space between outer wall 19 and inner wall 15 forms a container for the heat transfer fluid.

On a first of the two pipes 13, a pump 9 for pumping heat transfer fluid from the tank 8 into the bottle cooler 18 is arranged. The second pipe 13 has a bottleneck 23 at which, when the pump 9 is in operation, a pressure drop is formed.

A control circuit 24 is connected to the pump 9 and to a temperature sensor 25 mounted on the bottle cooler 18 or, as shown in the figure, on the second pipe 13 before entering the tank 8. The control circuit 24 is activatable by a user to operate the pump 9 so that Heat transfer fluid is circulated at a temperature below 0 ° C from the tank 8 in the bottle cooler 18. The thereby resulting in the interior of the bottle cooler 18 pressure increase causes regardless of the exact dimensions of the bottle placed therein 22, the flexible inner wall 15 of the bottle cooler 18 closely conforms to the bottle 22, so that it is highly efficiently cooled. If the temperature sensor 25 indicates a temperature just above the freezing point, which indicates that the bottle 22 is largely cooled and that the continuation of the cooling process there is a risk that the bottle contents freezes, the control circuit 24 switches off the pump 9 again.

On a display panel (not shown) on the housing of the refrigerator, a display element may be provided which indicates the operating state of the pump 9, so that a user can see from the display element, whether the bottle 22 is sufficiently cooled, without opening the refrigerator 1 have to.

Once the pump 9 is turned off, the pressure drop disappears at the bottleneck 23 and the heat transfer fluid tends to drain from the bottle cooler 18 in the lower-lying tank 8. This reduces the amount of heat transfer fluid in the bottle cooler 18, and the flexible inner wall 15 withdraws from the bottle 22, so that it can be easily removed.

Instead of completely switching off the pump 9 after reaching a critically low temperature at the temperature sensor 25, it is of course also possible for the control circuit 25 to enter an interval operating mode in which it automatically switches the pump 9 back on when the difference between that from the sensor 25 detected temperature and the normal storage temperature in the normal cooling zone 21 is below a threshold, so as to keep the bottle 22 permanently at a lower temperature than that of the normal cooling zone.

In a simpler embodiment, the temperature-dependent control circuit 24 may also be replaced by a timing circuit which, when activated by a user, operates the pump 9 for a predetermined or user-set period of time and then turns it off.

In the Fig. 3 shown embodiment of the rapid cooling device is characterized in that the tank 8 is divided by a Peltier element 30 into an antechamber 32 and a main reservoir 33. The Peltier element 30 is powered by a current source 42 through a switch 31 which is under the control of the control circuit 24 and is at least always closed when the pump 8 is in operation. Heat transfer fluid circulated by the pump 9 does not reach the main reservoir 33, but only flows through the prechamber 32, where it cools in contact with the cold side of the Peltier element 30 and then flows back to the bottle cooler 18. The warm side of the Peltier element 30 is in contact with the main reservoir 33 to deliver heat received from the pre-chamber 32 to the heat transfer fluid therein.

The tank 8 could in this embodiment, as in the embodiment of Fig. 2 be housed in a colder chamber of the refrigerator than the bottle cooler 18; However, this is not essential, because even if bottle cooler 18 and tank 8 are in a same chamber of the refrigerator, the Peltier element 30 is capable of circulating the pump 9 circulated heat transfer fluid to a lower temperature than that of the chamber hold.

Thus, since no connecting lines for pumping the heat transfer fluid from one chamber of the refrigerator to another are required, this configuration is particularly easy to install or retrofit in a refrigerator.

Of course, the divided by the Peltier element 30 tank according to Fig. 3 even with a freezer like in Fig. 1 shown used.

Fig. 4 shows a modified embodiment of a bottle cooler 26 which does not fall under the scope of the claims. In contrast to the bottle cooler 18, the bottle cooler 26 has no rigid outer wall, but its walls are formed by flexible plastic sheets which are locally welded together to form a zig-zag tubular interior. At one longitudinal end, the films are flat welded together to form a flat tongue 27. The tubes 13 extend between the two foils enclosed along the tongue 27 and open onto a respective longitudinal end of the tubular cavity. A velcro patch 28 is on the viewer in Fig. 4 facing side of the tongue 27 is attached. A Velcro strip 29 complementary to the patch 28, shown in the figure as a dashed outline, is located on the side of the bottle cooler 26 facing away from the observer.

Fig. 5 shows the bottle cooler 26 in use when cooling a bottle 22. It is wrapped around the belly of the bottle so that the two in Fig. 5 concealed Velcro parts 28, 29 come into contact with each other and adhere to each other. Due to its flexibility, the container is able to form-fit to bottles with very different diameters and thus to effect a very intense heat exchange between the bottle and circulating in the bottle cooler 26 heat transfer fluid.

Claims (17)

1. Method for rapid cooling of foodstuffs, comprising the steps:

   a) cooling a thermal transfer liquid to a temperature above the freezing point of the thermal transfer liquid,

   b) enclosing a stock (14), which is to be cooled, between a flexible wall (15) of a container (11), which contains the thermal transfer liquid and is connected in a circuit with a tank (8) for the thermal transfer liquid, and a cover (12) and bringing the stock (14) into contact with the flexible wall (15) of the container (11),
   characterised in that

   c) the cover (12) is a second container for a thermal transfer liquid with at least one flexible wall (15), and in which the flexible wall (15) of the cover (12) is brought into contact with the stock, which is to be cooled, in such a manner that the stock (14) to be cooled is enclosed on both sides between flexible walls.
2. Method according to claim 1, characterised in that the thermal transfer liquid in step a) is cooled down to a temperature below 0° C.
3. Method according to claim 1 or 2, in which the thermal transfer liquid is brought into circulation between a tank (8) and the container (11, 12).
4. Rapid cooling device comprising a first container (11, 12), which is filled with a thermal transfer liquid and which comprises at least one flexible wall (15) and is connected in a circuit with a tank (8) for the thermal transfer liquid, wherein a cover (12) which is placeable to cover the flexible wall (15) is associated with the first container (11), characterised in that the cover (12) is constructed as a second container for a thermal transfer liquid, which comprises at least one flexible wall (15) in such a manner that the stock (14) to be cooled can be enclosed on two sides between flexible walls.
5. Rapid cooling device according to claim 4, characterised by means for fixing the two containers (11, 12) with respect to one another.
6. Rapid cooling device according to one of claims 4 and 5, characterised in that at least one of the containers (11, 12) has at least one stiff wall.
7. Rapid cooling device according to any one of claims 4 to 6, characterised in that the flexible wall bounds a cut-out for reception of an article to be cooled.
8. Rapid cooling device according to any one of claims 4 to 7, characterised in that the circuit comprises a pump (9).
9. Rapid cooling device according to claim 8, characterised by a control circuit for switching off the pump (9) after a predetermined operating time period.
10. Rapid cooling device according to claim 9, characterised by a temperature sensor (25) and a control circuit (24) for switching off and/or switching on the pump (9) on the basis of a temperature detected by the temperature sensor (25).
11. Rapid cooling device according to any one of claims 4 to 10, characterised in that the thermal transfer liquid has a freezing point of -10° C.
12. Rapid cooling device according to any one of claims 4 to 11, characterised in that the tank (8) is subdivided by a Peltier element (30).
13. Refrigerating appliance with incorporated rapid cooling device according to any one of claims 4 to 12.
14. Refrigerating appliance with incorporated rapid cooling device according to claim 13, characterised in that the tank (8) is arranged at a cover of a first storage chamber (3) of the refrigerating appliance.
15. Refrigerating appliance with incorporated rapid cooling device according to claim 13 or 14, characterised in that the tank (8) and the container (18, 26) are accommodated in different storage chambers (3, 21) of the refrigerating appliance.
16. Refrigerating appliance with incorporated rapid cooling device according to any one of claims 13 to 15, characterised in that the tank (8) is arranged at a lower level than the container (11, 12, 18, 26).
17. Refrigerating appliance with incorporated rapid cooling device according to any one of claims 13 to 16, characterised in that a detachable coupling (16) is inserted into the circuit between the tank (8) and the at least one container (11, 12).

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