US3097900A

US3097900A - Cryogenic storage apparatus

Info

Publication number: US3097900A
Application number: US109443A
Authority: US
Inventors: Remo J Berta; Haumann Wilfried
Original assignee: Union Carbide Corp
Current assignee: Union Carbide Corp
Priority date: 1961-05-11
Filing date: 1961-05-11
Publication date: 1963-07-16
Anticipated expiration: 1980-07-16
Also published as: GB943066A

Description

July 16, 1963 R. J. BERTA ETAL 3,097,900

CRYOGENIC STORAGE APPARATUS Filed May 11, 1961 INVENTORS B T REMO J ER A WILFRIED HAUMANN ATTOR/V V United States Patent i 7 3,097,900 CRYOGENIC STORAGE APPARATUS Remo J. Berta and Wilfried Haumann, Indianapolis, Ind, assignors to Union Carbide Corporation, a corporation of New York Filed May 11, 1961, Scr. No. 109,443 6 Claims. (Cl. 312-214) This invention relates to an apparatus for storing perishable products at low temperature and more particularly to an apparatus for driving a conveyor system that carries receptacles containing the perishable products.

Prior to this invention, practical low-temperature storage of perishable products, such as biological substances, was hindered by the apparatus employed to store and dispense the perishable products. One type of prior art container had the driving means for the conveyor apparatus located in the central portion of the container and a separate adjacent opening for filling the container with the liquid refrigerant and for inserting and removing the receptacles. This type of device had the serious disadvantage of having an excessive amount of heat leak to the container. Specifically, it was found that in containers having a single central opening, about 60% of the heat leak to the container was through the central opening. Obviously to have another opening increased the heat leak in orders of magnitude. Such heat leak substantially reduced the holding time of the container through excessive loss of refrigerant.

A device that utilizes the driving means in conjunction with a single central container outlet is disclosed in US. application Serial No. 26,218, filed May 2, 1960, in the name of W. Haumann, now US. Patent 3,034,845. This device was capable of positioning various receptacles beneath the container opening thereby simplifying the problem of storage space accessibility. The container had a centrally-located, elongated neck tube that extended into the upper region of the storage space. A plug, when inserted into the opening, engaged the actuating mechanism that was located about the periphery of the lower end of the neck tube. By rotating this plug, the mechanism was actuated and thereby moved the receptacles beneath the opening in sequence. Such arrangement had the disadvantage that the plug had to be removed each time a particular receptacle was to be placed in its proper position within the container so that it could be withdrawn from the container, and then reinserted and rotated to position another receptacle. Not only was this continual removing and reinserting the plug an inconvenience but it also tended to pump atmospheric air into the storage space which brought atmospheric air into contact with the refrigerant thereby creating a fog due to the condensation of the water vapor in the air. This fog clouded the receptacles from view.

It is therefore an object of this invention to minimize undesirable heat leak into the storage container by providing an externally operated receptacle conveyor driving apparatus positioned within a single access port.

Another object of this invention is to eliminate undesirable pumping action by providing an actuating mechanism that operates independently of the container opening plug. These and other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description and the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a vertical elevational view, shown partially in cross-section, of a; low-temperature storage container embodying the apparatus of this invention.

FIGURE 2 is a fragmentary view on an enlarged scale of the neck section of the container of FIGURE 1, with the access-port plug removed.

According to the invention a receptacle conveyor assembly located within a storage container is actuated from the exterior through the containers access port. A suitable conveyor assembly is dcscribed in the previously mentioned US. application Serial No. 26,218, filed May 2, 1960, in the name of W. Haumann, now US. Patent 3,034,845. It is to be understood, however, that the pres-- 'ent invention is not limited to employment with this particular conveying apparatus. The conveyor assembly described therein comprises a rotatable drive member positioned around the lower end of the containers access port which is separated from a receptacle conveying apparatus by several longitudinally positioned support rods. A journalled transmission shaft communicates with the rotatable drive member at its upper end and with the receptacle conveying apparatus at the shaft lower end. An endless chain, which is attached to the transmission shaft by a rotatable sprocket and comprises a major part of such conveying apparatus, is directed at one point in its traverse beneath the access port. At uniformly spaced intervals along the chain, receptacle holders are attached which are accessible from the exterior when positioned beneath the containers access port at the aforementioned point along the conveyor chains traverse.

The actuating apparatus of the present invention, hereinafter designated as a drive tube, communicates with the rotatable drive member through the containers access port in a manner such that its operation will not interfere with the accessibility of the contain-ers interior storage space. Thus, the actuating apparatus of the present invention need not be removed from the access port to remove a particular receptacle. The access port of the container is provided with a neck tube, such as is found in most storage containers of this type. The actuating member of the present invention, comprising a tube of slightly smaller diameter than the above noted neck tube, is capable of being connected to the rotatable drive member located around the circumference of the lower end of such smaller diameter tube. The indexing part of the drive tube which is rigidly attached to the upper end of the tube, fitted within the neck tube of the container, is positioned on top of the container. As the drive tube is rotated, the rotatable drive member is turned thereby actuating the transmission shaft and the conveyor chain.

The particular embodiment of the invention as shown in FIGURES 1 and 2 is employed in a double-walled storage container 10 which comprises an outer shell 12, an inner storage vessel 14, which defines an insulated space 16 therebetween. The insulated space is preferably evacuated to less than about 25 microns of mercury and filled with an opacified insulation such as is described in copending US. application Serial No. 597,947, filed July 16, 1956, in the name of L. C. Matsch, now US. Patent 3,007,596 and US. Patent No. 2,967,150. issued January 3, 1961 to L. C. Matsch et al. The access port 18 of the container is formed by neck tube 20 which is attached at its upper end to outer shell 12 and at its lower end to inner storage vessel 14. The access port 18 is preferably centrally located as depicted in FIGURE 1.

The receptacle conveyor chain (not shown), positioned in the bottom of the storage vessel 14, is actuated by rotating a rotatable drive member 22, which latter member is connected to drive transmission shaft sprocket 24 through a chain 26. Member 22 and sprocket 24 are supported on a support plate 28 which is separated from the conveyor chain by longitudinal support rods 30. Transmission shaft 32 connects with the conveyor chain at the shaft lower end by means of a sprocket at its lower end, similar to sprocket 24.

The preferred embodiment of the invention as shown in" FIGURE 2, comprises a tube 34 fitted within neck tube 20, the former being reinforced by upper ring 36 and lower ring 36a. As shown in FIG. 1, a dish-shaped disk 38 is integrally attached to tube 34 and together comprise the previously mentioned drive tube. An indexing pointer 40 is integrally attached to the top of container so as to remain fixed with relation to the rotatable drive tube. Returning to- FIG. 2, pin 42 engages L-shaped slot 44 in ring 36a and is integrally attached to rotatable drive member 22 such that tube 34 is engaged with the receptacle conveying apparatus. Container access port plug 46 of FIG. 1, while not shown in FIGURE 2, snugly fits into tube 34.

To engage the conveying apparatus, tab 44a, is first bent back so that pin 42 of the conveying apparatus can be engaged with L-shaped slot 44. The tab 44a is then bent back to its original position to lock pin 42 in place.

Tube 34 is preferably constructed from a thermosetting plastic such as a phenolformaldehyde resin reinforced with paper or fabric. Reinforcing

rings

36 and 36a may be constructed of stainless steel and may be bonded to tube 34 with a suit-able epoxy resin. Dish-shaped disk 38, if made of a suitable metal, may be welded to upper support ring 36.

Referring to FIGURE I, plug 46 is constructed of a low heat conducting material such as, for example, one of the various foam plastics, or corks. The closeness of the fit between the inner wall of tube 34 and plug 46 outer surface, forces the refrigerant vapors to exit to the atmosphere through the annular space 48 defined by the adjacent walls of the neck tube 20 and tube 34 rather than through the space between the plug and the tube. Tube 34, in order to be rotatable within neck tube 20, must have a slightly smaller diameter. Therefore, space 48 between tube 34 and neck tube 20 acts as a refrigerant vapor path inasmuch as this path offers the least resistance to the exiting vapors. A substantial portion of the refrigeration of the escaping vapors is thereby recovered because of the extended heat transfer path which encompasses not only space 48 but also the path between the dish-shaped disk 38 and the top of the container 10.

The disk 38 is calibrated such that indexing pointer 40 indicates the position of the conveyor chain within the container. Consequently, any desired receptacle or receptacle holder which is carried by the conveyor can be brought into alignment with the containers access port 13 by rotating disk 38 until the proper index marking on disk 38 is aligned with pointer 40. If a receptacle is to be removed or put into .a holder on the conveyor chain, plug 46 is removed first. If another receptacle is to be removed or placed into position at that time, the conveyor is again indexed as described above but with the plug removed. When all the receptacles are removed or placed within the container as are desired at that time, the plug is reinserted. Thus, the plug need only be removed once, thereby eliminating excessive pumping action caused by additional plug movement. Consequently, the heat leak into the container is reduced. Elimination of this pumping aotion also prevents the influx of moisture laden air into the container which would cause the formation of fog and ice deposits.

Although the preferred embodiment of the invention has been described in detail, it is contemplated that modifications of the apparatus may be made and that some features may be employed without others, all within the spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. In an apparatus for storing and dispensing low-temperature materials comprising a double-walled vacuuminsulated storage container having an access port in the top wall thereof communicating with the container interior, a conveyor means positioned in such interior, transmission means located within said interior and rotatably communicating with said conveyor means, a rotatable drive member positioned in said interior and oper-ably attached to said transmission means, and a removable lowheat conductive means for closing said access port thereby substantially completely sealing said interior from the effects of ambient heat, the improvement comprising a rotatable transmission actuating means fitted within said access port such that operation of such actuating means does not effect the accessibility of said interior; said actuating means comprising a tube which is connected to said transmission means by said rotatable drive member, and a rotatable disk integrally attached to the upper portion of said actuating means such that upon rotating such disk, said actuating means actuates said transmission means thereby operating said conveyor means.

2. In an apparatus for storing and dispensing lowtemperature materials comprising a double-walled vacuum insulated storage container having an access port in the top wall thereof communicating with the container interior, a conveyor means positioned in the lower portion of such interior, transmission means extending from the upper portion of said interior to the lower portion thereof and rotatably communicating with said conveyor means through a gearing arrangement, a rotatable drive member positioned in the upper portion of said interior and operably attached to the upper portion of said transmission means, and a removable low-heat conductive means for closing said access port thereby substantially completely sealing said interior from the effects of ambient heat, the improvement comprising a rotatable transmission actuating means fitted within said access port such that operation of such actuating means does not effect the accessibility to said interior; said actuating means comprising a tube which is connected to the upper portion of said transmission means by said rotatable drive member, and a rotatable disk integrally attached to the upper portion of said actuating means such that upon rotating such disk, said actuating means actuates said transmission means thereby operating said conveyor means.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said rotatable drive member includes a pin and said tube includes a L-shaped slot positioned in the lower portion of such tube, said tube being connected to said rotatable drive member by said pin which extends into said L- shaped slot.

4. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said tube is constructed of a thermosetting plastic material which is reinforced by two annular reinforcing rings which are integrally attached to the outer periphery of said tube, one of said rings near the upper end of such tube and the other near the lower end; and wherein said rotatable annular disk is integrally attached to the upper reinforcing ring.

5. Apparatus according to claim 4 wherein said rotatable drive member includes a pin and the lower support ring includes a L-shaped slot positioned in the lower portion of such ring, said hollow tube being connected to said rotatable drive member by said pin which extends into said L-shaped slot.

6. Apparatus according to claim 1 including an indexing pointer wherein said rotatable annular disk is calibrated to indicate the relative position of said conveyor means, such indication being given by the position of the calibrated disk relative to said indexing pointer.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,505,441 Smith Aug. 19, 1924 2,695,729 Hornish Nov. 30, 1954 2,967,152 Matsch Jan. 3, 1961

Claims

1. IN AN APPARATUS FOR STORING AND DISPENSING LOW-TEMPERATURE MATERIALS COMPRISING A DOUBLE-WALLED VACUUMINSULATED STORAGE CONTAINER HAVING AN ACCESS PORT IN THE TOP WALL THEREOF COMMUNICATING WITH THE CONTAINER INTERIOR, A COVEYOR MEANS POSITIONED IN SUCH INTERIOR, TRANSMISSION MEANS LOCATED WITHIN SAID INTERIOR AND ROTATABLY COMMUNICATING WITH SAID CONVEYOR MEANS, A ROTATABLE DRIVE MEMBER POSITIONED IN SAID INTERIOR AND OPERABLY ATTACHED TO SAID TRANSMISSION MEANS, AND A REMOVABLE LOWHEAT CONDUCTIVE MEANS FOR CLOSING SAID ACCESS PORT THEREBY SUBSTANTIALLY COMPLETELY SEALING SAID INTERIOR FROM THE EFFECTS OF AMBINET HEAT, THE IMPROVEMENT COMPRISING A ROTATABLE TRANSMISSION ACTUATING MEANS FITTED WITHIN SAID ACCESS PORT SUCH THAT OPERATION OF SUCH ACTUATING MEANS DOES NOT EFFECT THE ACCESSIBLITY OF SAID INTERIOR; SAID ACTUATING MEANS COMPRISING A TUBE WHICH IS CONNECTED TO SAID TRANSMISSION MEANS BY SAID ROTATABLE DRIVE MEMBER, AND A ROTATABLE DISK INTEGRALLY ATTACHED TO THE UPPER PORTION OF SAID ACTUATING MEANS SUCH THAT UPON ROTATING SUCH DISK, SAID ACUTATING MEANS ACTUATES SAID TRANSMISSION MEANS THEREBY OPERATING SAID CONVEYOR MEANS.