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
  • F25D23/023—Air curtain 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
  • F25D23/00—General constructional features
  • F25D23/02—Doors; Covers
  • F25D23/028—Details
• • 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
• • 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
  • F25D3/00—Devices using other cold materials; Devices using cold-storage bodies
  • F25D3/10—Devices using other cold materials; Devices using cold-storage bodies using liquefied gases, e.g. liquid air
  • F25D3/11—Devices using other cold materials; Devices using cold-storage bodies using liquefied gases, e.g. liquid air with conveyors carrying articles to be cooled through the cooling space

Definitions

• the present invention relates to an apparatus for freezing and storage of organic material, said apparatus comprising an internal conveyor system for transporting stored portions of material inside the apparatus, an insulated shell, a primary door in the shell facing the exterior of the apparatus and a secondary door in the shell facing the interior of the apparatus, where the secondary door opens to a limited number of the stored portions, and where the primary door and the secondary door are arranged so that portions of material can be deposited into or removed from the apparatus only when the primary door and the secondary door are open at the same time.
• the invention also relates to a door module for such an apparatus and to the use thereof.
• Freezers operating at such low temperatures are generally known as cryogenic freezers, and the material stored therein is said to be cryo- preserved.
• the American National Institute of Standards and Technology has suggested an upper limit of -150C°, while some scientists regard the boiling point of oxygen (-183C 0 ) as the upper limit.
• a freezer refers to a storage device that operates from about -5C° to -20C°
• an ultra low freezer operates from about - 50C° to -90C°
• a cryogenic freezer operates from about -140C° to - 196C°.
• freezer Whenever the term "freezer" is used in the following it is to be understood that reference is made to an apparatus capable of operating as a cryogenic freezer. Hospitals, laboratories and research institutes all over the world experience an ever increasing need to be able to cryo- preserve, store and handle different types of organic material, and many hospitals have storage systems for frozen and cryo- preserved material spread around in many different departments. Such use of a number of relatively small storage systems is not very efficient, neither when it comes to the space occupied by the many systems, nor when regarding the energy consumed to keep the stored material at sufficiently low temperatures.
• a cryogenic freezer where the use of liquid nitrogen and the warming of stored material, have been minimized, is known from WO2008/083685.
• a series of boxes for housing stored material is arranged in a paternoster system, and the insulating shell is provided with double doors, which open to only one or a few boxes at a time.
• the paternoster When having to deposit or remove material from the freezer the paternoster is simple turned until the relevant box is op- posite the doors and the doors are then opened only for as long as it takes to handle the relevant portions of material. This works very well in terms of achieving good insulating properties when the doors are closed, but there is still a considerable thermal loss when the doors are opened and the system can only be operated by a human operator.
• This object is achieved with an apparatus, where the primary door and the secondary door are coupled such that the when the primary door is opened or closed, the secondary door is also opened or closed in a substantially synchronous manner.
• the synchronous movement of the doors minimizes the time, where an opening is present in the insulating shell, since the primary door does no longer has to be left open, while the secondary door is being opened or closed.
• the coupling of the doors allows them to be operated by an automated system or robot, which, on average, works faster and more focused than a human operator.
• Still another advantage is that the risk of forgetting to close one of the doors is minimized since one will always follow the other. All of these factors contribute to a reduced thermal loss and hence to the temperature inside the apparatus being less affected. This not only means that the material inside deteriorates more slowly; it also means a reduction of the energy needed for running the apparatus.
• the skilled person will be able to device several ways of achiev- ing the actual synchronous operation of the doors, including the use of electronically controlled activators.
• the primary and secondary doors are interconnected by a mechanical system, which transmits a force applied to the primary door to the secondary door in the form of a push or pull thereon.
• a mechanical system which transmits a force applied to the primary door to the secondary door in the form of a push or pull thereon.
• Such a system is relatively insensitive to the low temperatures encountered in the apparatus according to the invention and may be easily maintained and repaired when needed.
• Examples of organic material that may be stored in the apparatus according to the invention could be tissue samples, such as biopsies or scraps of skin stored for later analysis, or half-litre portions of human blood stored for use in connection with a surgical operation or the like.
• the apparatus may, however, be used for freezing and storage of any portions of blood or tissue of human or animal origin as well as any other material, which is to be cryo- preserved.
• the insulated shell preferably comprises an inner wall and an outer wall with a shell space between them (not shown), insulating foam, preferably polyurethane, preferably being provided in the shell space.
• the walls may each comprise one or more layers of fibreglass and one or more layers of vacuum panels and both walls may be divided in an upper part and a bottom part (not shown), which are bolted together. In this way each wall may be formed from two bowl-shaped shells and if the apparatus needs to be disassembled, for example for maintenance purposes, the two upper shells may be simply lifted off.

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• 2011
  • 2011-09-06 DK DKPA201170493A patent/DK177376B1/en active
• 2012
  • 2012-08-30 EP EP12756081.1A patent/EP2748545B8/de active Active
  • 2012-08-30 WO PCT/DK2012/050323 patent/WO2013034156A2/en unknown

Non-Patent Citations (2)

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