GB2414540A

GB2414540A - Portable refrigerated container

Info

Publication number: GB2414540A
Application number: GB0510276A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Franck Alvarez; Francois Bleytou; Denis Paccaud
Original assignee: Application des Gaz SA
Current assignee: Application des Gaz SA
Priority date: 2004-05-25
Filing date: 2005-05-19
Publication date: 2005-11-30
Anticipated expiration: 2025-05-19
Also published as: FR2870929B1; ITTO20050353A1; DE102005024161A1; GB0510276D0; GB2414540B; FR2870929A1; NL1029120C2

Abstract

A portable refrigerated isothermal container comprising: a body (2) having a bottom wall (4) and a peripheral wall (5). A lid (3) fits hermetically onto the body, which defines, with the body, an isothermal cavity. A Peltier-effect thermoelectric module (6) housed in the body (2) of the container, has a refrigerated-air feed orifice (8) made in the upper part of the peripheral wall and an intake orifice (7) made in the lower part of the peripheral wall. A wall (9) separates the cavity into a compartment (10) supplied with refrigerated air and a compartment (11) not supplied with refrigerated air. The wall has at least one opening (12) that can be closed off in order to isolate the two compartments (10, 11) of the cavity from each other or that can be opened in order to bring the two compartments into communication with each other.

Description

24 1 4540 PORTABLE REFRIGERATED ISOTHERMAL CONTAINER.

The present invention relates to a portable refrigerated isothermal container.

In general, the purpose of a portable isothermal container, commonly called an "icebox", is to transport objects, and especially food, at a temperature below the ambient temperature.

A portable isothermal container comprises a generally parallelepidedal body having a bottom wall, a peripheral wall and a lid, which fits onto the body.

The body and the lid thus define a cavity in which objects, especially food, can be placed. The body and the lid are made of an isothermal material, which allows objects carried therein to be maintained at an approximately constant temperature. Thus, objects at a temperature below the ambient temperature carried in such a container maintain this temperature differential for a certain period.

To counter the temperature rise of the objects carried in the isothermal container due to losses through the structure of the latter, it is known to equip a portable isothermal container with a Peltier-effect thermoelectric module. Such a module operates by exploiting the physical effect that is manifested by the appearance of a temperature difference between two metal soldered joints through which a DC current flows.

The advantage of these thermoelectric modules is that they consume little energy and are compact; their disadvantage is that their temperaturelowering capability is relatively slight and this depends on the ambient temperature. It may be estimated that, for a 30 litre isothermal container suitably insulated (i.e. allowing... W of heat flux to penetrate) refrigerated by a standard thermoelectric module, the temperature -2 difference AT between the inside and the outside of the container is about 12 C. This means that, in the case of an ambient temperature of around 32 C, which is commonly reached in summer, even in a temperate climate zone, the temperature inside the container would be 20 C.

Now, in the case of an ambient temperature of 32 C, a drink maintained at 20 C may, for many users, seem insufficiently cool.

It is an object of the invention to propose a portable refrigerated isothermal container that can offer, at the choice of the user, overrefrigeration.

The invention therefore relates to a portable refrigerated isothermal container comprising: - a body having a bottom wall and a peripheral wall; - a lid fitting hermetically onto the body, which defines, with the body, an isothermal cavity; characterized in that it comprises: - a Peltier-effect thermoelectric module, housed in the body of the container, having a refrigerated-air feed orifice made in the upper part of the peripheral wall and an intake orifice made in the lower part of the peripheral wall; and - a wall that separates the cavity into what is called a "hyper- refrigeratedN compartment supplied with refrigerated air and what is called a "hypo-refrigeratedN compartment not supplied with refrigerated air, the wall having at least one opening that can be closed off in order to isolate the two compartments of the cavity from each other or that can be opened in order to bring the two compartments into communication with each other.

The basic idea of the invention is to provide a separating wall that makes it possible, depending on the choice of use, to provide a hyperrefrigerated compartment in a container and to optimize the flow of refrigerated air in this compartment.

According to one embodiment of the invention particularly suitable for the refrigerated transport of a drinks can, the container includes a basket that can be fastened in the hyper-refrigerated compartment directly opposite the refrigerated-air feed orifice.

According to one option, the separating wall is provided with a plurality of openings and houses a secondary wall that also has a plurality of openings separated into opaque regions, the secondary wall being able to slide relative to the separating wall between a position in which the openings in the separating wall coincide with the openings in the secondary wall and a position in which the openings in the separating wall coincide with the opaque regions of the secondary wall.

In addition, the separating wall is removable.

So as to avoid losses when accessing one of the compartments, the lid has a hatch providing access to the hyper-refrigerated compartment.

According to one option, the body and the lid have enhanced insulation around the hyper-refrigerated compartment.

Preferably, the thickness of the body and of the lid around the hyperrefrigerated compartment is greater than their thicknesses around the hypo-refrigerated compartment.

In one embodiment for accentuating the temperature difference between the hyper-refrigerated compartment and the hypo-refrigerated compartment, the hyper-refrigerated compartment has a smaller volume than the hyporefrigerated compartment.

To make the invention clearly understood, it will be described with reference to the drawing appended hereto, which shows, by way of nonlimiting example, one embodiment of a portable refrigerated isothermal container according to the invention.

Figures 1 and 2 show a container in longitudinal section in two modes of use.

The figures show a container which, usually, consists of an approximately parallelepidedal body 1 and a lid 2 that hermetically seals the body 1. The body 1, comprising a bottom wall 4 and a peripheral wall 5, is thermally insulating. This thermal insulation is obtained by the fact that the body and likewise the lid are made up of plastic shells between which an insulating foam is placed, generally polyurethane foam.

Means for carrying the container may be added to it.

These are not shown in the drawing.

As is apparent in the drawing, the body of the container incorporates, within the peripheral wall, a refrigerating Peltier-effect thermoelectric module 6.

One particular feature of this container is that cold air is admitted, into the cavity bounded by the body 2 and the lid 3, via an orifice 8 located on the upper side of the peripheral wall (the terms "lower" or "upper'' are given relative to a reference frame associated with the container, the latter being placed horizontally on its end wall). As regards the intake orifice 7 of the thermoelectric module, this is placed in a lower region of the peripheral wall, i.e. the region located near the bottom wall 4.

The second particular feature of the container according to the invention is the presence of a separating wall 9 in the cavity bounded by the body 2 and the lid 3. This separating wall 9 separates a hyper-refrigerated compartment 10, into which the refrigerated air flows, from a hyporefrigerated compartment 11 that is not supplied with cold air.

One point that it is important to note relating to the separating wall 9 is that the latter is provided with a plurality of openings 12 which, in the embodiment shown in the drawing, are horizontal.

The separating wall 9 is also provided with a secondary wall 14, which also has openings 16. These openings 16 are separated by opaque regions. The secondary wall 14 slides relative to the separating wall between two positions, namely one position in which the openings 12 in the separating wall coincide with the openings in the secondary wall 16 and a second position in which the openings 12 in the separating wall face the opaque regions 17 of the secondary wall.

It should also be noted that the lid includes a hatch 19 respectively opposite the hyper-refrigerated compartment 10.

The operation of this container is therefore as follows.

When a user wishes to have available an object, especially an item of food and more especially a drink, at an over-refrigerated temperature, he places the separating wall 9 in a configuration in which its openings 12 are closed off. The hyper-refrigerated compartment 10 is therefore hermetically separated from the hypo-refrigerated compartment 11.

When the thermoelectric module 6 is in operation, it therefore has a volume to be cooled that is only a fraction of the overall volume of the internal cavity of the container.

The second point, which is conducive to optimum cooling of the object carried in the hyper-refrigerated compartment, is that the flow of cold air undergoes optimum diffusion. This is because the introduction of the refrigerated air into the upper part of the hyper-refrigerated compartment means that, by natural convection, since the cold air is introduced into the upper part, it sinks towards the lower part of this compartment. It therefore results in a natural flow of cold air in this compartment.

If the user wishes to cool a drink contained in a small metal can, a basket 22 is provided that can be hooked onto the separating wall at a level such that it is facing the cold-air feed orifice.

Thanks to this arrangement, it has been found that, for a container with suitable insulation, the temperature difference AT in the hyperrefrigerated compartment is 23 C, whereas the temperature difference AT in the hypo-refrigerated compartment is only 17 C.

This constitutes a very significant result and therefore makes available a portable refrigerated isothermal container that has a compartment able to contain objects, especially drinks, whose temperature can be significantly lowered.

It should be noted that, because the lid has a hatch 19, this allows access to the hyper-refrigerated compartment without thereby causing a rise in the temperature of the hypo-refrigerated compartment, this being the compartment that is the one which takes longer to cool down owing to its remoteness from the source of refrigerated air. Nevertheless, it is possible to use the container in a conventional manner, that is to say as a container offering a cavity for storing objects, especially food, at a uniform temperature.

To do this, all that is required is to place the secondary wall 14 of the separating wall in such a way that the openings in each of its walls 9, 14 coincide.

This therefore results in exchange between the two compartments 10, 11 until uniformity of the respective temperatures of each of them. This uniformity is promoted by the flow of cold air created by introducing the latter via an orifice located in the upper part of the peripheral wall.

The container according to the invention therefore has many advantages, indicated above. In particular, it allows its user to have, at will, a compartment that can cool objects, especially food products, that are contained in the container more rapidly and with a significant temperature difference.

Of course, the invention is not limited to the embodiment described above, but on the contrary it embraces all embodiments thereof. - 8 -

Claims

1. Portable refrigerated isothermal container comprising: - a body (2) having a bottom wall (4) and a peripheral wall (5); - a lid (3) fitting hermetically onto the body, which defines, with the body, an isothermal cavity; characterized in that it comprises: - a Peltier-effect thermoelectric module (6), housed in the body (2) of the container, having a refrigerated-air feed orifice (8) made in the upper part of the peripheral wall and an intake orifice (7) made in the lower part of the peripheral wall; and - a wall (9) that separates the cavity into what is called a "hyper- refrigeratedN compartment (10) supplied with refrigerated air and what is called a "hypo-refrigeratedi' compartment (11) not supplied with refrigerated air, the wall having at least one opening (12) that can be closed off in order to isolate the two compartments (10, 11) of the cavity from each other or that can be opened in order to bring the two compartments (10, 11) into communication with each other.

2. Container according to Claim 1, characterized in that it includes a basket (22) that can be fastened in the hyper-refrigerated compartment directly opposite the refrigerated-air feed orifice.

3. Container according to Claim 1 or Claim 2, characterized in that the separating wall (9) is provided with a plurality of openings (12) and houses a secondary wall (14) that also has a plurality of openings (16) separated into opaque regions (17), the secondary wall (14) being able to slide relative to the separating wall (9) between a position in which the openings (9) in the separating wall coincide with the openings (16) in the secondary wall (14) and a position - 9 - in which the openings (12) in the separating wall (9) coincide with the opaque regions (17) of the secondary wall.

4. Container according to one of Claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the separating wall (9) is removable.

5. Container according to one of Claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the lid (3) has a hatch (19) providing respectively access to the hyperrefrigerated compartment (10).

6. Container according to one of Claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the body (2) and the lid (3) have enhanced insulation around the hyperrefrigerated compartment (10).

7. Container according to Claim 6, characterized in that the thickness of the body (2) and of the lid (3) around the hyper-refrigerated compartment (10) is greater than their thicknesses around the hypo-refrigerated compartment (11).

8. Container according to one of Claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the hyper-refrigerated compartment (10) has a smaller volume than the hyporefrige--ated compartment (11).

9. A portable refrigerated isothermal container substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figures 1 and 2 of the accompanying drawings.