EP2154455A1 - Barrière de convection - Google Patents

Barrière de convection Download PDF

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Publication number
EP2154455A1
EP2154455A1 EP08161793A EP08161793A EP2154455A1 EP 2154455 A1 EP2154455 A1 EP 2154455A1 EP 08161793 A EP08161793 A EP 08161793A EP 08161793 A EP08161793 A EP 08161793A EP 2154455 A1 EP2154455 A1 EP 2154455A1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
freezer
flaps
flap
convection barrier
individual
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Withdrawn
Application number
EP08161793A
Other languages
German (de)
English (en)
Inventor
Thomas Zumstein
Christof Fattinger
Dieter Voegelin
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
F Hoffmann La Roche AG
Original Assignee
F Hoffmann La Roche AG
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by F Hoffmann La Roche AG filed Critical F Hoffmann La Roche AG
Priority to EP08161793A priority Critical patent/EP2154455A1/fr
Priority to US12/462,219 priority patent/US20100031685A1/en
Priority to EP09167047A priority patent/EP2154456A1/fr
Publication of EP2154455A1 publication Critical patent/EP2154455A1/fr
Withdrawn legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
    • F25—REFRIGERATION OR COOLING; COMBINED HEATING AND REFRIGERATION SYSTEMS; HEAT PUMP SYSTEMS; MANUFACTURE OR STORAGE OF ICE; LIQUEFACTION SOLIDIFICATION OF GASES
    • F25D—REFRIGERATORS; COLD ROOMS; ICE-BOXES; COOLING OR FREEZING APPARATUS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • F25D23/00—General constructional features
    • F25D23/02—Doors; Covers
    • F25D23/025—Secondary closures
    • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
    • F25—REFRIGERATION OR COOLING; COMBINED HEATING AND REFRIGERATION SYSTEMS; HEAT PUMP SYSTEMS; MANUFACTURE OR STORAGE OF ICE; LIQUEFACTION SOLIDIFICATION OF GASES
    • F25D—REFRIGERATORS; COLD ROOMS; ICE-BOXES; COOLING OR FREEZING APPARATUS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • F25D11/00—Self-contained movable devices, e.g. domestic refrigerators
    • F25D11/04—Self-contained movable devices, e.g. domestic refrigerators specially adapted for storing deep-frozen articles
    • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
    • F25—REFRIGERATION OR COOLING; COMBINED HEATING AND REFRIGERATION SYSTEMS; HEAT PUMP SYSTEMS; MANUFACTURE OR STORAGE OF ICE; LIQUEFACTION SOLIDIFICATION OF GASES
    • F25D—REFRIGERATORS; COLD ROOMS; ICE-BOXES; COOLING OR FREEZING APPARATUS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • F25D13/00—Stationary devices, e.g. cold-rooms
    • F25D13/02—Stationary devices, e.g. cold-rooms with several cooling compartments, e.g. refrigerated locker systems
    • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
    • F25—REFRIGERATION OR COOLING; COMBINED HEATING AND REFRIGERATION SYSTEMS; HEAT PUMP SYSTEMS; MANUFACTURE OR STORAGE OF ICE; LIQUEFACTION SOLIDIFICATION OF GASES
    • F25D—REFRIGERATORS; COLD ROOMS; ICE-BOXES; COOLING OR FREEZING APPARATUS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • F25D25/00—Charging, supporting, and discharging the articles to be cooled
    • F25D25/04—Charging, supporting, and discharging the articles to be cooled by conveyors

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to a convection barrier in accordance with the features of claim 1, and to a freezer comprising such convection barrier.
  • Such biological samples can be e.g. blood samples (whole blood, plasma, serum), urine samples, tissue samples, or samples containing cells (e.g. primary cells, stem cells), proteins, DNA, RNA (RNAi, mRNA), or antibodies.
  • blood samples whole blood, plasma, serum
  • urine samples tissue samples
  • samples containing cells e.g. primary cells, stem cells
  • proteins e.g. DNA, RNA (RNAi, mRNA), or antibodies.
  • the store described therein comprises a system of drawers arranged in a manner so as to form a shelf, which allows robotic access to the biological samples whilst maintaining storage conditions.
  • the drawers can be opened individually by the robot pulling the respective drawer outwards so as to allow access to the interior of the drawer where the biological samples are stored.
  • each drawer is provided with a block made of styrene in a manner such that the styrene blocks of adjacently arranged drawers abut against one another.
  • this does inherently bear the risk that an adjacently arranged drawer is also pulled out although this is not intended and may cause an unwanted temperature rise of the stored samples.
  • the small but continuous leakage of cold air (or cold nitrogen) at the butt faces of adjacent styrene blocks is in total comparatively high, since the - 80°C storage compartments do not have front doors permitting a tight separation of the -80°C areas from the -20°C areas in the system.
  • Cooling of a complete humidity controlled room for storing biological samples as described above to about -80°C (or below) is generally feasible.
  • standard handling devices such as for example robots, usually do not work properly. Therefore, particularly for long-term storage of biological samples, specific -80°C freezers are typically used.
  • Such freezers for long term storage of samples usually have a tight and thermally insulating door which separates the environment outside the freezer from the -80°C interior of the freezer.
  • a so-called "robotic store” a plurality of such freezers is arranged in a -20°C room as well as a robot for taking the samples out of the respective freezer.
  • the robot cannot be arranged in a -80°C environment, since this simply is not economically feasible in such an environment, and in addition maintenance of the robot would be difficult then.
  • the robot is arranged outside the freezers in the -20°C environment where it is capable of working properly.
  • certain problems may arise.
  • the -80°C cooled air flows out of the interior of the freezer while at the same time -20°C air flows from the environment into the interior of the freezer thus leading to a rise in temperature and humidity within the freezer.
  • opening and closing of the door results in a negative pressure inside the freezer which makes the door extremely difficult to get opened again until the negative pressure is equalized by inflowing air, e.g. through the sealing of the door of the freezer or through a pressure equilibration valve in the wall of the freezer.
  • the convection barrier for a freezer in accordance with the invention comprises:
  • the curtain formed by the individual flaps covers the opening which allows access to the freezer, so that the -80°C air may not flow out of the freezer as the door of the freezer is open.
  • an actuator such as a robot or a part thereof
  • an actuator such as a robot or a part thereof
  • only one of the flaps must be opened so as to allow the robot to get access to the sample.
  • the arrangement of flaps forming the closed curtain may be achieved by arranging the flaps in a manner such that the butt faces of adjacently arranged flaps form the tight seal when they are in the closed position.
  • the arrangement of flaps forming the closed curtain may be achieved by arranging the flaps in a manner sucht the the flaps at least partially overlap and form the tight seal when they are in the closed position (similar to the tiles of a roof).
  • the individual flaps are provided with a bi-stable locking means being connected to the actuation means for releasably locking the individual flaps in the closed or in the open position, respectively.
  • a bi-stable locking means is connected to the actuation means for releasably locking the individual flaps in the closed or in the open position, respectively.
  • the bi-stable locking means comprises a spring, which keeps the flap locked in the open or the closed position with the aid of tensioning forces.
  • lips are attached to the individual flaps.
  • a lip is attached to at least one of the edges abutting or overlapping the adjacently arranged flap.
  • Such lips serve a plurality of purposes. Firstly, they further improve the seal of the interior of the freezer. Secondly, they form a protection for the material the flaps are made of. And thirdly, they simplify the process of opening and closing the flap, since the frictional coefficient of the material the lips are made of is low.
  • a particularly suitable material for the lips is Teflon® (polytetrafluoroethylene).
  • the individual flaps are made of glass ceramics.
  • Glass ceramics is a material which has only a low thermal conductivity.
  • the interior of the freezer is additionally protected against the comparatively "high" temperatures (-20°C) outside the interior of the freezer (where the temperature is about -80°C). Since the glass ceramics has a very small thermal expansion coefficient, the temperature gradient perpendicular to the flaps does not cause bending of the flaps which could give rise to a leakage between adjacent flaps
  • a further aspect of the invention relates to a freezer comprising a housing and a door, the housing having an opening allowing access to the interior of the freezer through the opening as the door of the freezer is open.
  • the freezer further comprises a convection barrier as it has already been described with respect to the various embodiments discussed above.
  • the convection barrier is arranged such that the opening allowing access to the interior of the freezer is covered by the flaps of the convection barrier.
  • Fig. 1 shows a perspective view of an embodiment of a freezer 1 according to the invention with an embodiment of a convection barrier 2 according to the invention mounted thereto, with the door of the freezer not being shown in Fig. 1 for the sake of simplicity.
  • Freezer 1 comprises a housing 10 having an opening 11 at the front side of freezer 1.
  • a plurality of compartments are arranged in the interior 12 of freezer 1, in which drawers 3 carrying trays containing the stored samples can be arranged.
  • Also shown schematically in Fig. 1 are parts of a robot 4 for automated access to the samples, in particular an actuator 40 for opening and closing the flaps of the convection barrier 2.
  • Convection barrier 2 comprises a plurality of individual flaps 20 mounted to an outer frame 21, with flaps 20 being adjacently and abuttingly arranged one above the other so that they form a closed curtain when the flaps 20 are in the closed position.
  • flaps 20 are shown in the open position for the sake of better understanding, although in practice usually only one of the flaps 20 is in the open position at a time.
  • FIG. 3 detail III of Fig. 2 is shown in an enlarged perspective view.
  • one flap 20 is shown in the open position while both the flap 20 arranged immediately below the open flap 20 and the flap 20 arranged immediately above the open flap 20 are in the closed position.
  • lips 22 are attached to the flaps 20.
  • lips 22 may be made of Teflon® while flaps 20 may be made of glass ceramics such as those offered under the trademark ROBAX® by Schott AG, Mainz, Germany.
  • Lips 22 serve various purposes, for example they protect the glass ceramics of flaps 20, they improve the thermal seal provided by the convection barrier 2 and they simplify opening and closing of flaps 20 due to the low frictional coefficient of the Teflon® material.
  • Flaps 20 are mounted to holders 23 which themselves are fixed to or are an integral part of an actuation means 24 which allows the flap 20 to be pivoted from the closed position to the open position and vice versa.
  • Bi-stable locking means in form of a spring 25 are provided whereby flaps 20 can be locked either in the open or in the closed position.
  • one end of spring 25 is attached to a pin 26 which is fixedly mounted to frame 21 while the other end of spring 25 is mounted to actuation means 24.
  • actuator 40 comprises a slot 400 and actuation means 24 comprises a pin 240.
  • actuator 40 To perform the pivotal movement of flap 20 indicated by double-headed arrows 5 in Fig. 4 , actuator 40 must be moved in a manner to allow pin 240 to enter slot 400 until pin 240 is located at the closed upper end of slot 400. At that time, actuator 40 is to perform a movement essentially corresponding to arrow 5.

Landscapes

  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
  • Combustion & Propulsion (AREA)
  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
  • Thermal Sciences (AREA)
  • General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Refrigerator Housings (AREA)
EP08161793A 2008-08-05 2008-08-05 Barrière de convection Withdrawn EP2154455A1 (fr)

Priority Applications (3)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
EP08161793A EP2154455A1 (fr) 2008-08-05 2008-08-05 Barrière de convection
US12/462,219 US20100031685A1 (en) 2008-08-05 2009-07-31 Convection Barrier
EP09167047A EP2154456A1 (fr) 2008-08-05 2009-08-03 Barrière de convection

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
EP08161793A EP2154455A1 (fr) 2008-08-05 2008-08-05 Barrière de convection

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP2154455A1 true EP2154455A1 (fr) 2010-02-17

Family

ID=40097142

Family Applications (2)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP08161793A Withdrawn EP2154455A1 (fr) 2008-08-05 2008-08-05 Barrière de convection
EP09167047A Withdrawn EP2154456A1 (fr) 2008-08-05 2009-08-03 Barrière de convection

Family Applications After (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP09167047A Withdrawn EP2154456A1 (fr) 2008-08-05 2009-08-03 Barrière de convection

Country Status (2)

Country Link
US (1) US20100031685A1 (fr)
EP (2) EP2154455A1 (fr)

Cited By (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
CN102401536A (zh) * 2010-09-09 2012-04-04 Lg电子株式会社 用于滑动式门的导轨附接结构和具有导轨附接结构的冰箱
CN109373672A (zh) * 2018-11-06 2019-02-22 青岛海尔股份有限公司 冰箱
CN109373673A (zh) * 2018-11-06 2019-02-22 青岛海尔股份有限公司 冰箱

Families Citing this family (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US9351569B1 (en) 2013-02-11 2016-05-31 Automated Cells and Equipment, Inc. Parts supply drawer system for robot assisted manufacturing

Citations (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3840148A (en) * 1972-01-28 1974-10-08 L Fontana Conveyance equipment which allows the discharge of all or partly of the load by means of an electromagnetic control device
EP0235824A2 (fr) * 1986-03-07 1987-09-09 EDELHOFF POLYTECHNIK GMBH & CO. Récipient à ordures
US20030136141A1 (en) * 2002-01-18 2003-07-24 Kendro Laboratory Products, Inc. Access tunnel for low temperature freezing systems
EP1639892A1 (fr) * 2004-09-14 2006-03-29 The Automation Partnership (Cambridge) Limited Système de stockage à ultra basse température

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* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3840148A (en) * 1972-01-28 1974-10-08 L Fontana Conveyance equipment which allows the discharge of all or partly of the load by means of an electromagnetic control device
EP0235824A2 (fr) * 1986-03-07 1987-09-09 EDELHOFF POLYTECHNIK GMBH & CO. Récipient à ordures
US20030136141A1 (en) * 2002-01-18 2003-07-24 Kendro Laboratory Products, Inc. Access tunnel for low temperature freezing systems
EP1639892A1 (fr) * 2004-09-14 2006-03-29 The Automation Partnership (Cambridge) Limited Système de stockage à ultra basse température

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JUSTIN M. OWEN; PETER WOODS: "Designing and implementing a large- scale automated -80°C archive", INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF EPIDEMIOLOGY, vol. 37, 2008, pages I56 - I61

Cited By (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
CN102401536A (zh) * 2010-09-09 2012-04-04 Lg电子株式会社 用于滑动式门的导轨附接结构和具有导轨附接结构的冰箱
CN102401536B (zh) * 2010-09-09 2014-11-12 Lg电子株式会社 用于滑动式门的导轨附接结构和具有导轨附接结构的冰箱
CN109373672A (zh) * 2018-11-06 2019-02-22 青岛海尔股份有限公司 冰箱
CN109373673A (zh) * 2018-11-06 2019-02-22 青岛海尔股份有限公司 冰箱

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
US20100031685A1 (en) 2010-02-11
EP2154456A1 (fr) 2010-02-17

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