US2387622A

US2387622A - Refrigeration apparatus

Info

Publication number: US2387622A
Application number: US478341A
Authority: US
Inventors: Elo C Tanner
Original assignee: Westinghouse Electric Corp
Current assignee: CBS Corp
Priority date: 1943-03-08
Filing date: 1943-03-08
Publication date: 1945-10-23
Anticipated expiration: 1962-10-23

Description

0t 23, 1945. E. c. TANNER 2,387,622

' l REFRIGERATION APPARATUS l Filed March 8, 1943 l 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 w T Esz INVENTQR v EL@ c 7am/Eg caga( i BY Y l ATToR-Y OC- 23 1945- E. c. TANNER 2,387,622

REFRIGERATION APPARATUS INVENTOR A gcnm/Ee" M Jel( Y l Patented Oct. 23, 1945"" OFFICE 2,391,622 y BEFaIGEaAnoN APPARATUS El` c. Tanner, springfield, Mass.,-

`Westinghouse Electric Corporation,

assignor to East Pittsburgh, 2a.', a corporation of Pennsylvania Application March sf, 1943, serial No. 478,341 a claims. (ci. zz-1oz) This invention relates, to refrigeration appa- 'ratus, and more particularly to a refrigerator em-` ploying forced air circulation. y w

One object of the invention is'to provide a refrigerator employing novel air circulating and refrigerating apparatsiincorporated ina remov l able unit. y

1 Another object of theinvention is to provide a centrally located cooling and air circulating apparatus whichis removable from the cabinet as a unit.

A further object of the invention is .to provide refrigerating and air circulating apparatus for a refrigerator and an enclosing duct therefor ,which isidetachable therefrom Itoffacilitate the removal of the apparatus from the cabinet as a unit.

These and other objects are 'eiected by my invention as will be apparent from the following description and claims taken. in connection with the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this application, in which:

Mg. l is a longitudinal `vertic'al section ,of 'the apparatus of vthis invention applied to a bottle cooler, The section is taken on the lineV I-I- of Fig.

Fig. 2- is a vertical section Aon the line II-II f :Figil A Fig. 3 is a schematic drawing/oi. the thermostat ci the apparatus o this invention tig. t elevation showing the adaptation of the apparatus oi' this invention to a reach-in cooler g 5 is a vertical section on'the line IV--IV or ria t:

Eidg. t :is an elevation showing the adaptation of the apparatus of this invention to a display case; and,

i is a sectional view ci' Fig. t.

Referring now to Figs. l, 2, and 3 for a detailed description voi? the invention, the reference numeral I 4 represents an insulated cabinet comprising an outer shell Il, an inner liner I2, and heatinsulating material I3 packed therebetween. Ihe cabinet I 0 comprises two end walls I4, two side walls I6, 'a' bottom wall I1, and a top wall Il. The top wall I8 comprises a removable cover composed of two sections hinged together.l The )ottoni wall I1 4includes a removable portion I9 which extends substantially to the two side walls I8 `but is spaced from the twol end walls I4.

- The removable bottom portion I9 comprises an ipper plate 2|; a lower 'plate 22, and heatnsulating material between the plates 2| and l22. l'he upper plate 2| rests on a gasket 24 vsup- `on the line VI-VI on the cooling unit 29 by means of hook eleported onthe' inner liner I2of the bottom wall. The lower plate 22 rests on a gasket 26 secured to a support 21 which also supports,y the outer shell Il of the bottom wall I'I.

A cooling unit 29 rests on and is'secured by screws 3| to the removable portion I9 of the bottom wall I1. The cooling unit 29 comprises a plurality of parallel and spaced-apart metal plates 32 'through which a refrigerant-carrying tube 33 passes back and forth at right angles to the plates 32. A motor driven fan 34 is supported above the cooling unit 29 and isadapied to drawair upwardly through the lspaces between the plates 32 of the'cooling unit 29.

A removable shroud structure 31 is supported ments 38 whchengage the lower edges of the shroud structure 31. The shroud structure 31 extends sidewardly substantially to each Tof the two side walls iGlof the cabinet iB and extends verticallyfrom near the bottom wall i1'of the cooler to near-'the top wall I8 thereof. The

.l shroud structure 31 thus forms a partitionvin the center o1' the cabinet I0 which divides the same into twostorage chambers. shroud structure 3l above the ian 34 is reduced irs-area to provide a duct 39.` A curved plate il extends over the opening of the duct 39 and is spaced therefrom to provide two sidewardly facing air outlets i2. l

t removable shelf t3 is supported in each of the storage chambers on brackets secured to the side walls i6 of the cabinet i0. Each of the shelvesV d3 comprises an imperforate portion 4U located adjacent the shroud 3i and a short grille portion d located adjacent` an end wall i 4. 'I'he shelves i3 are spaced above'the bottom wall I1 of the cabinet lll to provide air ducts therewith and extend sidewardly to "the side walls I6 of the cabinet HU.

'When the motor Ydriven fan 34 is in operation,

air from adjacent the bottom of the cooling unit 29 is drawn upwardly; therethrough, passes 45 through the duct 39,\ and issues from each of the .50 of the shelves 43.

circulating paths through the storage chamber andthe cooling unitis'relatively short. vThe l central location of the cooling4 unit 29 and of the The portion of the` 2. duct structure 81, furthermore, exposes them on two sides to the heatradiated from the articles chamber is empty, it is reiled with'botties and lwhile these bottlesare being cooled, the com bottles of the other chamber are` dispensed. The cold air from the cooling unit, furthermore,v rst passes over the upper bottles in the chambers so that these bottles are cooled first. The upper bottles are also the ones which will be [dispensed first from each chamber so Athat dis- `pensation'of the coldest bottles in each chamber results.

The cooling unit 28 is of the evaporative type and is supplied with refrigerant by a refrigerantcondensing unit l suspended from the removablewall portion is. This unit-l5 comprises a sealed casing 41 which encloses a compressor and amotor 46 (shown only in Fig. 3) for drivstored in the food-storage chamber so that these articles are cooled rapidly. o

The two storage chambers oi the cabinet I 0 may be used alternately so that when one tion. The condensate vapor is carried of! by the :air stream from the motor driven fan '88.

The removable wail portion i8, together with the cooling unit 28 'and the refrigerant condensing unit forms an integral structure which may be lifted from the cabinet iii when the shelves 43 and the hinsedcover |8 `are removed.

ing `the same. The compressor' withdraws vaporized refrigerant from the cooling unit 2c through .a suction tube 48. compresses it and passes the compressed vapor through aN tube i9 to a condenser 5| wherein the refrigerant and vapor is condensed. The condensed refrigerant is then returned through a capillary impedance tube 52 to theevaoorator 29. The condenser 5| is cooled by air circulated therethrough by means of a motor driven fan 83. The sealed casing 41 is /secured to the lower wall of the removable wall portion I9 by means of brackets 86. The motovdriven fanit is ,secured tn the removable portion I 8 by means of brackets B8 and the con Adenser, 8| is directly secured to the removable wall portion :Il'by screws 51. Y

The refrigerating condensing unit ll is controlled by a thermostat, the temperature-sensitive bulb 58 of whichis located in the return air stream below one of the shelves'lt. The' thermostat isshowndiagrammatlcally in Fig. 3 and commises a bulb B9 which connects with a bellows 8|. The bulb 59 contains a volatile fluid which vaporizes -when the temperature of the return air rises abovea predetermined degree.

The increased pressure of the vapor expands the 1 bellows 8| so that a contact arm 68, attached to the bellows 8|,^ bridges a gap $4 in the electrical supply lines .88 to the motor 8d in the sealed v casing 81. This energizes the motor 8B to actuate'the refrigerant condensing apparatus. The

motor driven fan `84 preferably runs continuously when thecooler is in use.

With this arrangement, the .bulb 59 is responsive to the temperature-or the an after it has passed .over the bottles to be cooled. IiQa large 'number of warm'bottles are placed in the chamber in which the bulb 59 is located, the air passing over. the bulb 59 will be relatively warm and will cause increased activity of the refrigerant-` supplying apparatus 65. Underthese conditions, the cooling` unit 28 will be operated at a lower temperature until the bottles. in the chamber containing the bulb 59 are cooled. thus cooling the bottles rapidly.

The upperplate 2| of the removable wall portion I9 is dished and provided with a trapped drainfwhich conducts thecondensate from the cooling unit 29 to a pan located below the refrigerant condensing unit.- Abortion of the tube ||8v passes through the interior of the pan to heat the condensate therein to facilitate its evaporaand the cooling apparatus isremoved in the same Y When removing the integral structure -82, the duct structure 81 is preferably taken oil to xeduce the bulkiness of the structure to be removed.

The modifications` shown in Figs. 4 and 5 repl resent a reach-in cooler in which the refrigerating unit of thisinvention is installed. The upper portion 1| of the reach-in cooler comprises anv insulated chamber provided with shelves 12 and doors 18,- The lower portion 'it oi the cabinet comprises a machine compartment 16 and two 'dry storage chambers 17. The cooling unit is similar as inthe vilrst describedl modidcation and like ports are provided with the .same reference numerals. The shroud structure comprises two

sections

18 and 19 removably secured together throughabell joint 8|.

When the refrigerating unit is to be removed. the upper section 18 is first removed. Thereupon the lower portion 18can`lbe lifted iromthe cooling unit so that theremovable wall portion i8 together with ythe refrigerant condensing unit 5 and the cooling unit can be removed Lfrom the cabinet in substantially the same manner as in .the previously described modification. f

The circulation of air in this modification is preferably reversed from that shown previously so` that the air hows upwardly througlrthe 'insulated chamber 1I. 'I'his direction of circulation causesless dehydration of foods when stored in open dishes because the air strikes the bottom of the dish..

A further modiilcation of the invention is shown in Figs. 6 and 7, which show the cooling unit of this invention applied to a display case.

4The display case comprises a, long, horizontally.

extending cabinet 84 having almultiple glazed window- 85 in the front wall thereof and sliding doors 86 in the rear. wall. The cooling unit is generally similar to the last described medidos-- tion of -the invention and like parts are provided with the same referencenumerals. In this modiw' iication, a periorate elevated platform 81 pro vides a duct similar to the one shown in theiirst described modification. A .perforate wall 85, spaced slightly below 'the upper wall of the display case, provides a similar air duct which com-v municates with the upper end of upper portion '19 of the shroud structure. The air passessubmanner as in the last described modification.

It will be yapparent from the above that this l invention provides a unitary retrigerating and air circulating apparatus which is removable as a unit from the refrigerator cabinet with which it is associated. It will be further| apparent that placed thereupon 'as are speciilcally set forth in the appended claims.,l u

What I claim is: 1. In a refrigerator, the combination of an inl sulated cabinet having two sidewalls, two end walls, a top wall, and a bottom.wa1l, said bottom wall including a removable portionl spaced from both of said end walls, a, cooling unit on said removable portion, said cooling unit having vertical air passages therein communicating at their lower ends with the air in the cabinet adjacent rsaid bottom wall, a lvertical duct structure en- 'i closing said cooling unit and extending from near the bottom wall to near the top wall of the cabinet, said duct .structure and cooling unit |being spaced from each of `said end walls and extendl ing to substantially e'ach of said side walls to form a. partition dividing said cabinet into two storage chambers, an imperiorate platform in each of said storage chambers, each of said platforms being near but spaced from the bottom wall of said chamber and extending from adjacent the duct structure to within a short distance of the i nearest end wallof the cabinet, each of said platforms also extending substantially from one side wall to the other side wall bf said cabinet, said platforms forming air passages with the bottom of saidcabinet, a Ian in said duct structure and above said cooling unit for forcibly moving air through the duct structure, whereby said air is circulated through the storage chamber and through said air passages, refrigerant-supplying apparatus below saidremovablewall portion and connected in operative relationship with said 40 stituting an airlnlet and cooling unit, and means unitingsaid removable wall portion, cooling unit, and refrigerant-supplying apparatus into a unitaryv structure, said structure being removable as a unit from the i cabinet.

2. In a refrigerator, the combination of a cabinet having aninsulated top, bottom, and side walls, a portion of `said bottom wall being removable, a condensing unit suspended beneath and supported from said removable wall portion, an evaporator and a fan lo'cated one above the other, both said evaporator and fan being located in the bottom portion of the cabinet immediately adjacent to the removable wall portion and supported thereon, said evaporator, fan, condensing unit, and removable wall portion being removable from the cabinet as a single structure entity, and a vertical air duct encompassing the evaporator and fan and extending upwardly to adjacent the top wall of the cabinet, one end orsaid duct constituting an air inlet and the other end-constituting an air outlet, said duct being separately removable from the cabinet. Y

3. In a refrigerator, the combination of a cabi'- net having an insulated top, bottom, side and end walls, a portion of said bottom wall spaced from one of said side walls being removable, a condensing unit suspended beneath and support-v ed from said removable Wall portion, an evapoV rator and a fan located one above the other, both said evaporator and fan being located in the bottom portion of the cabinet immediately adjacent to the removable wall portion and supported thereon, said evaporator, ian, condensing unit, and removable wall portion being removable from lthe cabinet as a single structure entity, and a vertical air duct encompassing the evaporator and. fan andextending upwardly to adjacent the top wall of thmcabinet, one end of said duct conthe other end constituting an air outlet. i ELO C; TANNER.