LU86935A1 - PROCESS FOR THE PRESERVATION OF FLOWERS AND / OR PLANTS ARRANGED IN A PREMISES AND DEVICE USED FOR THIS PROCESS - Google Patents

Description

* i> »\. ·? 1 Process for the conservation of flowers and / or plants arranged in a room and device used for this process.

The present invention relates to a method for the conservation of flowers and / or plants arranged in a room, as well as a device used for this purpose.

We know that the conservation and rational arrangement of flowers and / or plants in the premises is a relatively difficult task until now.

10 Indeed, the conservation of flowers and / or plants is subject to various conditions concerning, in particular, the temperature and the relative humidity of the ambient air as well as the sensitivity to drafts.

It is also known that the storage time of flowers and / or plants is adversely affected by a high temperature and / or by a low relative humidity of the ambient air.

It is also known that controlling temperature, on the one hand, and relative humidity, on the other hand, in a room is a very difficult task.

We have already tried to improve the conservation of flowers and / or plants by using air conditioning in these rooms.

This method has, however, serious drawbacks.

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1 Indeed, the use of air conditioning does not only create a draft, but air conditioning, with the exception of very expensive installations, has the effect of drying the air, this mistletoe is unfavorable for the conservation of flowers and / or plants.

On the other hand, air conditioning gives rise, in almost all cases, to a certain acoustic annoyance.

It has also already been proposed to store the flowers and / or the plants in refrigerated cells, which is in itself a very effective solution, provided that ideal climatological conditions can be ensured without causing drafts.

However, the great disadvantage of this solution is that the temperature difference between the refrigerated cell and the outside room is very large so that when the flowers and / or plants are removed from the cell, they are subjected to thermal shock. which greatly reduces their possibilities of conservation.

The object of the present invention is therefore to propose a method and a device for the conservation of flowers and / or plants which excludes the abovementioned drawbacks and others which were inherent in existing methods.

25 This process essentially consists in placing in the room in question, above the flowers and / or plants, a cooling device which creates, above said flowers and / or plants, a column of air colder than the ambient air and preferably having a relative humidity higher than that of ambient air.

A preferred embodiment of a device using the aforementioned method will be described below, in order to better describe the characteristics of the invention, this description being given by way of example and without any limiting character, and with reference to the figures in anne- '4 3 J t 1 xe, mistletoe represent respectively:

Figure 1, a schematic representation of a room for the sale of flowers, in which is used a device specific to the present invention; FIG. 2, an enlarged view and in partial section of a device according to the present invention;

Figures 3 and 4, sections respectively along lines III-III and IV-IV of Figure 2.

FIG. 1 represents a room 1, in which flowers' and / or plants 2 are arranged and where, according to the invention, a refrigeration device 3 is arranged above these flowers and / or plants.

This device 3 consists, mainly, of a heat exchanger 4, known per se, and consists of a supply line 5 and a discharge line .6 for, for example, freon, these pipes being connected in a known manner to a compressor and to a condenser for, respectively, compressing and cooling and liquefying the freon. These pipes 5 and 6 are respectively connected to the distribution pipes 7, 8, from which loops 9 in turn leave, in order to complete the circuit.

On each of these loops 9 are fixed, as shown diagrammatically in the figures, heat transfer fins arranged over their entire length.

The loops 9 are fixed, in this case, by three supports, respectively 11, 12 and 13, which are fixed to the ceiling 14 while respecting a well-determined distance.

In accordance with the invention, the lower ends of these supports 11 to 13 are further connected together by parallel plates 15 arranged obliquely which, seen from above, overlap each other and whose lower ends constitute a sort of gutter 16. These plates, sloping in a longitudinal direction, are arranged with a common collecting tank 17, comprising a discharge pipe 18 provided at their lowest end.

Finally, an envelope 19, in the form of a tank, is arranged around the aforementioned device and has an opening 20 under the actual heat changer 4.

Due to the placement above the flowers and / or plants of a cooling device 3 and, more particularly, of a heat exchanger 4 and thanks to the determination of the decrease in temperature of the heat exchanger 10 of so that it is at least 6 and at most 12 degrees, the result is that the air, at the location of flowers and / or plants 2, is at least three degrees colder than the surrounding air.

Thanks to this minimal cooling with respect to room temperature, the aforementioned risk of thermal shock is avoided when the flowers and / or plants are removed from the place where they are arranged to be brought to another place.

On the other hand, this refrigeration device operates absolutely without drafts, this being essential for the good conservation of flowers and / or plants. The flowers and / or plants are actually in a column of cooler air, below the heat exchanger 4.

On the other hand, the use of such a heat exchanger over flowers and / or plants has the effect that the relative humidity is increased. In fact, the ambient air has a well-determined absolute humidity level, so that, when the air is cooled while nevertheless remaining above the dew point, the relative humidity must increase.

Since the cooling takes place locally only, that is to say only above the flowers and / or plants, the relative humidity is increased only above these flowers and / or plants.

· H «5 1 On the other hand, the use of this heat exchanger allows absolutely silent cooling.

Finally, the heat exchanger is dimensioned so that icing is impossible and that the condensation-5 sation occurs only when we reach the dew point in the room where it is arranged.

The condensation which would possibly occur is taken up however by the aforementioned plates 5, comprising gutters 16, and the possible condensation water 10 is evacuated as a result of the oblique arrangement of these plates 15 in the direction of the collecting gutter 17, which evacuates condensation water from the pipe. Dripping of condensed water in the aforementioned room is therefore excluded.

15 Thanks to the use of this technique, very favorable climatological conditions can be created for flowers and / or plants, namely a cool temperature, which however constantly follows the variations in ambient temperature in the room in question and a humidity level which is, at all times, higher at the location of the flowers and / or plants 2 than in the ambient air.

Finally, it has been found that the use of a heat exchanger of this kind above the flowers and / or plants makes it possible to increase the shelf life of flowers and / or plants by a factor of 1.5. to 2 compared to a normal arrangement with the ambient temperature and the air humidity of a normal room.

The flowers and / or plants are not only salable for a longer period of time, but their conservation after sale is further improved.

It is obvious that the present invention is in no way limited to the heat exchanger described here by way of example, but that this refrigeration device 35 can have various shapes and dimensions without departing from the scope of the invention. .

Claims (7)

1. Method for the conservation of flowers and / or plants arranged in a room, characterized in that it includes the placement in the room in question, above the flowers and / or plants, of a cooling device which creates, above said flowers and / or plants, a column of air colder than the surrounding air. 1 Claims 2. Method for the conservation of flowers and / or plants arranged in a room, characterized in that this refrigeration device is constituted by a heat exchanger. 3. Method for the conservation of flowers and / or plants arranged in a room according to claim 15. or 2, characterized in that the air above the flowers and / or plants has a temperature which is at least minimum three degrees lower than that of ambient air. 4. Method for the conservation of flowers and / or plants arranged in a room according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the air above the flowers and / or plants has a relative humidity more higher than that of ambient air. 5. Device for applying the method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the refrigeration device (3) consists of a heat exchanger (4) known per se, which is suspended from. an appropriate distance from the ceiling of a room (1). 6. Device according to claim 5, characterized in that, under the actual heat exchanger 30 (4), are fixed plates (15) arranged obliquely and overlapping each other when viewed from above and with an inclination in their longitudinal direction and the lower end 16 of which is in the form of a gutter, while a collecting tank (17) with an evacuation pipe 35 (18) is provided under the lower end of these plates. »1 * * t 7 7. Device according to claim 6, characterized in that a shell (19) in the form of a tank is disposed around the heat exchanger with, in the bottom, an opening (20) over the entire surface of the 5 heat exchanger.