GB2179728A - Display cabinet - Google Patents

Abstract

An air-conditioned display cabinet comprises a plurality of horizontal shelves for displaying commodities which are sensitive to heat, e.g. vegetables, fruit, chocolate. A horizontal stream of cooled air flows over the upperside of each shelf, so that the displayed commodities are cooled by it. All of the horizontal air streams merge into a vertical stream of cooled air, which flows from a slot 7 and between the top of the cabinet and a fan 4 disposed near the base of the cabinet, and which passes in front of the free ends of all of the shelves. A part 2 of a refrigerating equipment for cooling the flowing air is housed near the top of the cabinet, and another part, e.g. an evaporator 3, is disposed near the base of the cabinet, each such part being in a separate compartment. The refrigerating equipment is switched on and off respectively by a temperature detector 20, which is disposed outside the display cabinet in the sales room in which the cabinet is located, in response to the sales room temperature rising and falling respectively about a threshold temperature which is adjustable between 12 and 18 degrees Centigrade. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Air-conditioned shelf for the purpose of sales The invention relates to a shelf for the purpose of sales with means for lowering the temperature of the air circulating in the airconditioned system.

A cooling shelf is known from the European Patent Application no. 0,089,556, particularly for selling cooled food. For presenting the articles of commodity it comprises a plurality of substantially horizontal bottoms arranged one upon the other before a back wall, and is closed by a cover on its top. For cooling the articles on exhibition a screen of cooled air is produced, which flows down before the front ends of the bottoms and is going to cool the articles on the one hand, and serves as a barrier against the intrusion of the warm air from the environment on the other hand. In the zone of the back wall the shelf comprises a channel for leading a stream of cool air upwards, which is produced by a device for cooling and circulating the air.Finally this channel terminates in an output opening of the air near the front end of the cover, from which the cool air falls downwards as the screen before the bottoms.

In one of several illustrated embodiments a substantially horizontal baffle is provided beneath the cover, the cool air passes along the underside of which baffle as a horizontal screen from the channel guided along the back wall upwards. This screen of the cool air is then delivered through a slit near the front end of said baffle downwards.

Consequently a nearly uncooled space remains above the baffle for additional articles, and can be closed by a door towards the front. The lowest bottom of this cooling shelf is defined by a bar grate, through which condensed water can flow or drop down into a trough, which forms a low conclusion of the cooling shelf at the same time. An evaporator of the cooling equipment and a blower of the system circulating the air, screened against the water, are housed within the trough. Near the front end of the bar grate the falling screen of cool air strikes on the input opening of a channel extending to the evaporator, the screen of the air is sucked in by the blower through which channel, and is driven back into the channel arising along the back wall upwards after the cooling process being continued on the evaporator.

In a further embodiment it is known, to provide an additional channel extending along the back wall for a partial stream of the cool air.

This channel comprises lateral openings in the form of slits, through which the cooled air can flow as a partial screen of cool air in horizontal along the upperside of the respective bottom and the articles of commodity lying upon it. Before the front end of the respective bottom such a substantially horizontal partial screen of the air merges in the vertical main screen of the air falling from the top downwards.

In all these known embodiments of the cooling shelves the refrigerating plant comprising the compressor, the collector of the refrigerant and more devices have been installed outside the cooling shelf, so that separate, heat-insulated lines for the refrigerant must be brought forward from the exterior.

To avoid such spacing, which causes the installation of the cooling shelves to become expensive, a piece of a cooling furniture is known from the German Utility Model no.

8,134,154 for baker's ware particularly, and established of three or more compartments to be fastened to each other in an easy way; the compartments scarcely differ from the exterior. Each compartment comprises a large useful interior, which is closed forward by both doors arranged one upon the other. An available free space is yet situated above the upper door between the covering of the useful interior and the covering of the whole piece of cooling furniture, and is only utilized in one of the compartments. For there is housed the refrigerating plant of the entire piece of cooling furniture with the fan, which continues to transport the cool air produced by the refrigerating plant.

Both the cooling shelf explained at first and this piece of cooling furniture are maintained in operation independent of the air-temperature of the ambient room for sales. A plurality of articles of commodity, such as chocolate, chocolate-creams, vegetable, fruit, however require a cooling process, only if the air-temperature of the room of sales exceeds a predetermined value, for instance on hot days.

Accordingly an object of the present invention is to provide means for adapting the operation of a shelf of the type designated previously to the temperature of the room around the shelf.

In accordance with the present invention, the refrigerating plant of said shelf is suitable to be switched by a feeler of the temperature arranged in the room of sales at an ambient temperature which exceeds a value adjustable between 12 and 18 degrees centigrade (above zero).

In an development of the invention by obviating an expensive installation, the refigerating plant is installed above the top-most bottom of the shelf and connected by refrigerant lines with a wet-type evaporator being above an evaporating trough which defines the low con clusion of the shelf.

One embodiment of the invention is shown in the drawing and will subsequently be ex plained in detail.

Figure 1 shows a frontview of a double shelf, whereby the invention is utilized; Figure 2 shows a sectional view along the lines B-B of Fig. 1, and Figure 3 shows a detail cut from a side and back wall, resp.

In Fig. 1 a view of the front of a doubleshelf is shown, which is composed of a socalled "air-conditioned" shelf 1 and a normal shelf 10 with the insertion of an illuminating unit 9. The two shelves 1 and 10 comprise a plurality of horizontal bottoms, on which the articles of commodity have been deposited for accessing from the customer. Near the upper end of the shelf 1 and 10, resp., an exhibiting face 8 and 11, resp., is mounted and limited by a baffle parallel to the bottoms below and by the cover of the entire double-shelf overhead.

In Fig. 2 a sectional view is represented along a line B-B of Fig. 1 cutting the airconditioned shelf 1, for illustrating the system of the air-circulation contained in it. Its drive is realized by a fan 4, which is immediately under a bar grate representing an extension of the lowest bottom. This bar grate elongated in vertical to the plane of the drawing enables the air to stream towards the fan 4 continuously, which drives the stream to the low end of a channel 6 leading the air through the space beneath the lowest bottom, from which the channel 6 extends to the top along the back wall of the air-conditioned shelf 1. Horizontal slits are formed along the channel 6 leading the air towards each bottom, whereby a partial air stream leaves each slit and passes in horizontal along the articles of commodity above the respective bottom.The main stream of the air leaves the-channel 6 in the space behind the exhibiting face 8 above the baffle. This baffle comprises an air output slot 7 on its other side, through which the main stream will leave the space mentioned before, and is fed-back to the bar grate in the extension of the lowest bottom along a vertical direction before the front ends of the bottoms with merging from the horizontal partial air streams.

In accordance with Fig. 2 a refrigerating plant 2 is mounted on the baffle behind the exhibiting face 8, and is communicated by tubes (not shown) with a wet-type evaporator 3 beneath the lowest bottom. An evaporating trough 5 is provided under the wet-type evaporator 3 for wetting the air stream driven by the fan 4, and forms the termination of the air-conditioned shelf.

In Fig. 3 a detail Y of the rear or side wall of the air-conditioned shelf 1 comprising the associated heat-insulation is exactly represented on an enlarged scale.

Means 20 detecting a threshold of the temperature is connected with the refrigerating plant 2 and feels the temperature of the air in the ambient room of the sales outside the airconditioned shelf 1. As soon as this temperature exceeds a value which is adjustable between 12 and 18 degrees centigrade (above zero), the refrigerating plant 2 is put in operation, and its feeds the wet-type evapoator 3 with the refrigerant, so that it cools the stream of air passing. along it. In this way the described streams of air and-the articles of commodity touched by them will be maintained at a temperature below that of the room of sales. In case the temperature of the room of sales would return below the preadjusted value after some time period, means 20 detecting the temperature switches-off the refrigerating plant 2. Consequently the air-conditioned shelf 1 can be operated with saving the energy extremely.

Claims (4)

1. Air-conditioned shelf for the purpose of sales comprising a plurality of horizontal bottoms arranged before a heat-insulating rear wall, and freely available from their fronts, further domprising an air-circulating system suitable to establish a continuous main stream of air before the free ends of the bottoms and continuous partial streams of air substantially horizontal above each bottom near the articles of commodity lying thereon, whereby the partial streams merging in the main stream before the free ends of each bottom, and comprising means for decreasing the temperature of the air circulated by the air-circulation system, wherein means for detecting a threshold of the temperature being arranged outside the shelf in the chamber of sales, and suitable to switch on the refrigerating plant at an ambient temperature, which exceeds a threshold adjustable between 12 and 18 degrees centigrade (above zero).

2. Air-conditioned shelf according to the claim 1, wher.ein a refrigerating aggregate being arranged above the top-most bottom and connected by refrigerant lines with a wet-type evaporator situated above an evaporating trough defining the low termination of the shelf.

3. Any and every aspect and/or combination of features specifically claimed of the device hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated by the accompanying diagrammatic drawings.

4. Device substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated by the accompanying diagrammatic drawings.