GB2156059A - Refrigerated display unit with plural display chambers - Google Patents

Abstract

A refrigerated display cabinet provided with a transparent canopy and a plurality of storage or display chambers has at least three liners 121, 122, 123 disposed in a frame structure of the display cabinet aligned along the length of the cabinet. A plurality of evaporator coils 201, 202 of a refrigerating apparatus are disposed around the outer surface of at least two said liners to refrigerate the inner chambers of these liners and a heater 14b is disposed in the remaining liner. A displaying panel or plate 15, 16, 17 to hold the stored goods is placed on the upwardly opening portion of each inner chamber. Therefore, plural kinds of goods which have different melting points can be stored in a single display cabinet. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Refrigerated display unit with plural display chambers The invention relates to a refrigerated display unit, and more particuiarly, to a display unit provided with plural display chambers to store different goods which have different melting points.

Several types of refrigerated display units are well known in the prior art. As indicated in U.S. Patent No. 2,932,955 issued to Hargrave et al., the refrigerating apparatus for a refrigerated display cabinet is generally contained within the cabinet.

This prior art apparatus comprises a plurality of lower expansion coils associated with a display chamber defined within the cabinet.

This construction may be more fully described with reference to Fig. 1 on the accompanying drawings. A refrigerated display cabinet 1 comprises frame structure consisting of an outer shell 2a and an inner liner 2b. Outer shell 2a and inner liner 2b are connected together in spaced relation with insulation 4 therebetween. The upper open portion of inner liner 2b is covered by a glass canopy 5.

Thus, a refrigeration chamber R' is defined between the inner chamber of inner liner 2b and canopy 5. An open portion of glass canopy 5 is formed to put goods into or remove from chamber R'. This open portion is closed by a slidable cover 6 to prevent outflow of cooled air.

The refrigerating apparatus for refrigerating chamber R' of cabinet 1 comprises a plurality of lower expansion coils 7 which are connected with the compressor and condenser (not shown). Lower expansion coils 7 are in the nature of wrap-around coils secured to the front, back and ends of inner liner 2b in thermal transfer relationship on the outer surface thereof. Therefore, refrigerating chamber R' within inner liner 2b is cooled by operation of the refrigerating apparatus which serves to maintain a predetermined temperature in the chamber.

Since refrigerating chamber R' is cooled through lower expansion coils 7, the temperature in refrigerating chamber R' is normally kept at one predetermined temperature. Thus, different goods which have different melting points could not reasonably be stored or displayed in the single refrigerating chamber R'.

For example, if display and sale of ice cream and different kinds of syrups which are to be put on the ice cream having different melting temperatures than the ice cream is desired, display and storage of these goods in different cabinets must be undertaken with each different cabinet being maintained at the suitable temperature for the particular stored goods.

It is a primary object of this invention to provide an improved refrigerated display unit which has a plurality of chambers, each of which is maintained at a different temperature.

It is another object of this invention to provide a refrigerated display unit which enables display and storage of several kinds of goods having different melting temperatures within one cabinet.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a refrigerated display unit which is simple in construction and easy to manufacture.

It is still another object of this invention to provide a refrigerated display unit in which energy consumption by the unit is efficiently used to maintain the desired temperatures in the storage chambers.

According to the present invention there is provided a refrigerated display unit comprising a frame structure, a transparent canopy disposed across the upper portion of said frame structure to cover and visually display goods stored in said frame structure, and a refrigerating apparatus located within said unit, the improvement comprising said frame structure including three inner liners which are aligned along the length of said unit to form display spaces for goods and storage within said unit.

One embodiment of the invention comprises an upwardly opening frame construction and a glass canopy fixed over the upper portion of the frame construction. The frame construction includes three inner liners which are aligned with each other along the length of the unit. Each of the inner liners has an opening at its upper end to display the stored goods, and functions as one of (1) a freezing chamber, (2) a refrigerating chamber or (3) a heating chamber.

As one aspect of this invention, the one of the three inner liners which functions as a freezing chamber is disposed in the central portion of the frame construction and has a Lshaped cross-section. Another inner liner which functions as a refrigerating chamber is disposed on one side portion of the frame construction, overlying the base extension of the L-shaped inner liner. The remaining inner liner is placed on the other side of the frame construction and functions as a heating chamber. Lower expansion coils are disposed around the outer surfaces of L-shaped inner liner and refrigerating inner liner to cool down the chambers of each of these liners. At least one heater is disposed in the inner liner functioning as the heating chamber.Therefore, a plurality of goods which have different melting points can be displayed and stored within the same unit without expanding the size of the unit.

The invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a perspective sectional veiw illustrating the inner construction of a prior art refrigerated display unit.

Figure 2 is a perspective view of a refrigerated display unit according to this invention.

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken along line Ill-Ill of Fig. 2.

Figure 4 is a sectional view taken along line IV-IV of Fig. 2.

Figure 5 is a perspective sectional view illustrating an upper open portion of the three inner liners of the refrigerated display unit of Fig. 2.

Figure 6 is a partial sectional view of the upper opening portion of the freezing inner liner, illustrating another embodiment for supporting a display plate.

Figure 7 is a rear side view of the refrigerated display unit of Fig. 2.

Figure 8 is a schematic view of the refrigerating apparatus disposed in the refrigerated display unit of Fig. 2.

Figure 9 is a circuit view of temperature control means used in the refrigerated display unit of Fig. 2.

Figure 10 is a sectional view of a refrigerated display unit according to another embodiment of this invention.

Figure 11 is an enlarged sectional view of the encircled area A on Fig. 10.

Figures 12(a) and 12(b) are sectional views of refrigerated display units according to still another embodiment of this invention.

Figure 13 is a perspective sectional view of the heating chamber portion of the refrigerated display unit of Figs. 1 2(a) and 12(b).

Figure 14 is an enlarged sectional view illustrating a fastening construction for a connecting pipe.

Referring to Figs. 2 and 3, a refrigerated display unit is shown which forms one embodiment of this invention for commerical use as an ice cream dipping cabinet. The refrigerated display cabinet 10 is provided with a frame structure 11 and a glass canopy 21 which is disposed on the upper portion of frame strcture 11 to close its upwardly opening portion.

Frame structure 11 comprises an outer shell having front, rear and two side panels 111, 112, 11 3 and 114, respectively. Three inner liners 121, 122 and 123 are aligned with each other along the length of cabinet 10 within frame structure 11. insulation 1 3 fills the gap defined between the inner surfaces of panels 11, 112, 11 3 and 114, and the oute surfaces of each of the inner liners 121,122 and 123, and between the outer surfaces of adjacent inner liners.

One of the three inner liners, namely, 1 21 which is disposed in one side portion of frame structure 11, has a rectangular-shaped crosssection which defines a refrigerating chamber R. A plurality of expansion coils 201 which form a part of a refrigerating apparatus 20 are disposed around the outside surface of inner liner 1 21 to accomplish thermal transfer to maintain the desired temperature in refrigerating chamber R. An electric-heater 1 4a is disposed in refrigerating chamber R, located adjacent the bottom portion of inner liner 121, to control the temperature therein.

A displaying panel 1 5 which has a plurality of apertures 15a (Fig. 5) serves to hold storage cases B containing the syrups to be refrigerated. Panel 1 5 is disposed across the upwardly opening portion of inner liner 1 21.

Inner liner 1 22 which is disposed in the center portion of frame structure 11 has a Lshaped cross-section. The lower base portion of L-shaped inner liner 1 22 extends laterally beneath the bottom portion of refrigerating inner liner 121. The inner chamber of Lshaped inner liner 1 22 functions as a freezing chamber F. A plurality of lower expansion coils 202 which form part of the refrigerating apparatus 20 are in the nature of a wraparound coil secured to the back and both ends of L-shaped inner liner 1 22 to accomplish thermal transfer for cooling the freezing chamber F.

As best shown on Fig. 5, a display plate 1 6 having a plurality of apertures 1 6a to hold cone cups A for ice cream is placed in the upper portion of L-shaped inner liner 1 22.

Display plate 1 6 is supported on supporting members 1 9 fastened to the inner surfaces of L-shaped inner liner 1 22 by screws 1 8.

If a plurality of threaded holes 24 for screws 1 8 which fasten the supporting members 1 9 are formed on the inner surface of Lshaped inner liner 1 22 with these threaded holes being disposed in a plurality of spaced horizontal lines, the upper and lower positions of display plate 1 6 could be adjusted to correspond to the size of goods to be displayed merely by movement of the screws 1 8 fastening the supporting members 1 9 in position.

Alternatively, as shown on Fig. 6, projections 24a and recesses 24b are formed on both end surfaces of display plate 1 6a and the inner surfaces of inner liner 122a, respectively. Then plate 1 6a can be raised or lowered by engaging its projections 24a in one or the other of the opposed pairs of recesses 24b.

L-shaped inner liner 1 22 is also provided with a slidable cover 30 at its upwardly opening portion to close the upper opening portion thereof. Thereby, outflow of cooled air from freezing chamber F can be prevented.

The remaining inner liner 1 23 is located on the other side of frame structure 11 and has a rectangular shaped cross-section. The inner chamber of inner liner 1 23 functions as a heating chamber H. Thus, electric heater 1 4b is disposed in the bottom portion of inner liner 1 23. As shown on Fig. 5, a display panel 1 7 has a plurality of apertures 1 7a to hold storage cases C appropriately containing some kind of syrup. Panel 1 7 is disposed in the upper portion of the heating inner liner 1 23 to cover the upwardly facing open portion thereof.

Beneath the heating inner liner 123 a machine chamber M is disposed containing the main parts of refrigerating apparatus 20. The small gap between the bottom of liner 1 23 and chamber M is filled with part of the insulation 1 3.

As may be seen from Fig. 7, the rear portion of each of the inner liners 121, 122 and 1 23 has an open portion which is closed by movable doors 121a, 122a, and 123a, respectively, to provide easy access to the inner space of each of inner liners 121, 122 and 1 23 for cleaning.

Glass canopy 21 is permanently secured on frame structure 11 and is of a suitable size and design to permit easy customer viewing of the ice cream and syrups displayed therein.

Canopy 21 is provided with an opening at its rear side which extends the entire width of frame structure 11 between the side panels 113, 114. A glass door 22, acting a s a closure for the opening of canopy 21, is slidably carried on curveline rails 23 fastened on the side glass of canopy 21. The door 22 can be slidably moved forwardly to open cabinet 10, or moved rearwardly to close cabinet 10.

Referring to Fig. 8, the refrigerating apparatus 20 for display cabinet 10 comprises a compressor 203, a condenser 204 cooled by condensing fan 205 which is driven by fan motor 205a, capillary tube 206, (all of which are disposed in machine chamber M) and the above mentioned two expansion coils 201 and 202. Each of these parts is connected with one another in series by connecting pipes.

In the above mentioned refrigerating apparatus 20, refrigerating gas is compressed by compressor 203 and the compressed gas is cooled within condenser 204. After passing the condenser 204, refrigerating gas is decompressed by passing through capillary tube 206 and thereafter expanded within the two expansion coils 201 and 202. Due to the expanding operation of the compressed refrigerating gas, heat surrounding the coils is absorbed. Thus, refrigerating chamber R and freezing chamber F are cooled down through thermal transfer between coils 201 and 202, and inner liners 121 and 122, respectively.

On the other hand, the operation of compressor 203 and fan motor 205a (Fig. 9) are controlled by temperature responsive switch 301 which is actuated by the detecting signal from temperature sensor 302 disposed in freezing chamber F. Also, electric heater 1 4a in refrigerating chamber R and further electric heater 14b in heating chamber H are controlled by temperature responsive switches 303 and 306 each of which is acted upon by the detecting signal of temperature sensors 304 and 305 disposed in refrigerating chamber R and heating chamber H, respectively.

Therefore, each chamber is maintained at the predetermined temperature to control the operation of refrigerating apparatus 20 and heaters 14a and 14b.

In the embodiment of this invention shown, freezing chamber F serves to display and store ice cream, so that the temperature in freezing chamber F is maintained at minus 20"C, and refrigerating chamber R is maintained at a temperature of 0 C to store some kinds of syrups. Heating chamber H is maintained at 60"C to store chocolate syrup under the operation of heater 14b.

In the above construction, the capacity of the refrigerating apparatus 20 for the display unit is determined to accomplish maintaining the desired temperature in freezing chamber F. Otherwise, the refrigerating capacity of cooled refrigerating chamber R might be exceeded. So, fewer expansion coils 201 are secured on refrigerating inner liner 121, these being only fitted against the outer surface of a partial portion of one side surface of inner liner 121.

The amount of heat exchange Q is determined by the following formula; Q=T K A wherein K is the heat transfer rate, A is the surface area and T is the thermal differential.

Therefore, if K and T remain constant, the amount of heat exchange Q is dependant on the surface area A which is defined by the area of contact between the refrigerating expansion coils and the inner liner. Thus, temperature in refrigerating chamber R can be maintained by reducing the contact surface between inner liner 121 and lower expansion coils 201, even though only one refrigerating apparatus for the entire display unit is employed. Furthermore, if the temperature in the refrigerating chamber R has reached some thermal balance with the outer environment of the display unit or freezing chamber F, or refrigerating chamber R is over cooled by the refrigerating apparatus, the temperature in the refrigerating chamber R can be maintained at the predetermined level by operation of heater 14a.

With respect to the temperature control method in refrigerating chamber R, a further embodiment is disclosed with reference to Fig. 10. In this embodiment, lower expansion coils 201 are secured around metal plates 31 which are spaced around the refrigerating inner liner 121. This space is filled with insulation to form an insulating layer 33 (Fig.

11). Therefore, this insulating layer 33 controls the thermal transfer between lower expansion coils 201 and inner liner 121.

Thereby, temperature in the refrigerating chamber R will be controlled by a heat trans fer rate and thickness of the insulating layer 33, even if coils 201 are fully disposed around the inner liner 1 21.

Figs. 12(a), 12(b), 1 3 and 14 show a further embodiment of this invention to improve the energy consumption of heater 1 4b for maintaining the temperature in heating chamber H. In this embodiment, connecting pipe 207 which is connected between compressor 203 and condensor 204 is disposed on the bottom portion of heating inner liner 123, preferably being bent into a meandering shape. Compressed and high temperature gas which passes through connecting pipe 207 undergoes heat exchange with the inner liner 1 23 to thereby assure maintenance of the temperature in heating chamber H by the operation of both heater 1 4b and heat transfer from connecting pipe 207.

In summary, a plurality of inner liners in which different temperatures are maintained for differing functioning conditions are disposed in the refrigerated display unit aligned longitudinally within the unit. Each chamber of the inner liners is controlled by at least one loop of expansion coils of the refrigerating apparatus and/or by electric heaters. Therefore, different kinds of goods having different melting points can be displayed and stored in one display unit without extending the unit's size.

This invention has been described in detail in connection with preferred embodiments, but these are examples only and the invention is not restricted thereto. It will be easily understood by those skilled in the art that other variations and modifications can be easily made within the scope of this invention, which is defined by the following claims.

Claims (11)

1. A refrigerated display unit comprising a frame structure, a transparent canopy disposed across the upper portion of said frame structure to cover and visually display goods stored in said frame structure, and a refrigerating apparatus located within said unit, the improvement comprising said frame structure including three inner liners which are aligned along the length of said unit to form display spaces for goods and storage within said unit.

2. The refrigerated display unit of claim 1 wherein one of said three inner liners functions as a freezing chamber, another inner liner functions as a refrigerating chamber and the remaining inner liner functions as a heating chamber.

3. The refrigerated display unit of claim 2 wherein said freezing inner liner is positioned in a central place within said unit and has a shaped cross-section, said refrigerating inner liner is disposed above the base extension of said L-shaped inner liner, and said heating inner liner is placed on the other side of said freezing inner liner from refrigerating inner liner.

4. The refrigerated display unit of claim 3 further comprising within said frame structure a machine chamber containing the main parts of said refrigerating apparatus, said machine chamber being spaced below said heating chamber.

5. The refrigerated display unit of claim 2 further comprising a display plate for each said inner liner having a plurality of apertures to hold stored goods, said display plate being disposed over the upwardly opening portion of each of said inner liners.

6. The refrigerated display unit of claim 5 wherein said display plate which is disposed over said freezing inner liner is mounted to be capable of being located in upper and lower positions.

7. The refrigerated display unit of claim 6 wherein said display plate mounted over said freezing inner liner is supprted by a supporting member fastened on an inner surface of said freezing inner liner.

8. The refrigerated display unit of claim 6 wherein an axial projection is formed on both end surfaces of said display plate mounted over said freezing inner liner and the inner surfaces of said freezing inner liner are recessed for receiving said projections.

9. The refrigerated display unit of claim 2 wherein a plurality of lower expansion coils of said refrigerating apparatus are disposed on the outer surface of said freezing inner liner and the outer surface of said refrigerating inner liner, respectively, in thermal transfer relationship on said outer surfaces.

1 0. The refrigerated display unit of claim 9 wherein said lower expansion coils disposed relative to said refrigerating inner liner are only contacted against a portion of said outer surface of said refrigerating inner liner.

11. The refrigerated display unit of claim 9 further comprising a steel plate spaced from said outer surface of said refrigerating inner liner and said lower expansion coils are secured on an outer surface of said steel plate.

1 2. The refrigerated display unit of one of claims 9, 10 or 11 further comprising a heater disposed within each of said refrigerating inner liner and said heating inner liner, respectively, to control the temperature in said refrigerating and heating chambers.

1 3. The refrigerated display unit of claim 9 further comprising a hot gas line connected between the compressor and the condenser of said refrigerating apparatus, said line being mounted on the outer bottom surface of said heating inner liner in thermal transfer relation therewith.

1 4. The refrigerated display unit of claim 1 2 wherein said refrigerating apparatus and said heaters are controlled by detecting signals from thermo sensors disposed in each of said chambers.

1 5. A refrigerated display unit con structed, arranged and adapted to operate substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to, and as illustrated in, the accom paning drawings.