WO2016066150A1

WO2016066150A1 - Refrigeration unit

Info

Publication number: WO2016066150A1
Application number: PCT/DE2014/200602
Authority: WO
Inventors: Steffen Schwarz
Original assignee: Bonotos Kaeltetechnik Gmbh
Priority date: 2014-10-28
Filing date: 2014-10-28
Publication date: 2016-05-06
Also published as: US20170340141A1

Abstract

As far as effective and energy-saving cooling of articles using means of straightforward design is concerned, a refrigeration unit, in particular a refrigerated cabinet, freezer cabinet, refrigerated island or refrigerated counter, for storing and/or displaying articles, having a refrigeration chamber (1) for the articles, and having a channel (2), which is assigned to the refrigeration chamber (1) and is intended for supplying air, wherein two air flows can flow out of an outlet (3) of the channel (2) at different flow speeds and form a double protective air curtain in front of an access (6) to the refrigeration chamber (1), is configured such that the channel (2) has an element (8) which acts on the supplied air such that the supplied air is divided up into the two air flows with different flow speeds by the element (8).

Description

KÜHLMÖBEL

The invention relates to a refrigerated cabinet, in particular refrigerated shelves, freezer, cooling island or refrigerated display, for storage and / or presentation of refrigerated goods, with a cooling space for the refrigerated goods and a channel assigned to the cooling chamber for supplying air, wherein two air flows at different flow rates from an outlet can flow out of the channel, which form a double protective air curtain in front of an access to the refrigerator.

A refrigerator with a cooling space for the refrigerated goods and a channel associated with the cooling chamber for the supply of air is known for example from DE 34 14 033 A1. Specifically, the refrigeration unit shown here is a refrigerated shelf in which cooling air in a channel on the rear wall of the cabinet is directed upwardly into a front portion of the refrigerator shelf and is discharged from an outlet in front of the refrigerator compartment to form a protective air curtain. Through such a protective air curtain, a heat exchange between the cold room and a warmer environment is reduced so much that a safe storage and / or presentation of refrigerated goods in the cooling space is possible.

Furthermore, it is known to form such a protective air curtain of two suitable air flows with different flow velocities. As a result, a particularly effective insulation of the cooling space is realized by the usually warmer environment. To produce such a double protective air curtain, the duct for supplying air is formed with two separate air ducts, each supplying air flows at different flow velocities. In the case of such cooling furniture, it is problematic that the air flows flowing out of the outlet of the channel usually flow in a laminar manner only a short distance and in no way along the entire cooling space in the required manner. This has the consequence that the desired protective air curtain can not be formed safely along the entire refrigerator. Concretely, the air streams emerging from the duct tend to flow into the cold room rather than forming a protective air curtain in front of the cold room. This tendency is counteracted by the creation of additional supporting air vents, which are formed by air flows flowing out of the rear wall of the cooling space into the cooling space, which are intended to prevent the air flows forming the protective air curtain from penetrating into the cooling space. Care is taken to ensure that these supporting air curtains are generated from as laminar flows as possible in order to keep the air flows of the protective air veil as safe as possible out of the cold room. However, the disadvantage of these laminar flows is that their cooling effect, which is also desired and likewise desired, is not very good, since these laminar streams of support air show only a short interaction time with the material to be cooled. In other words, the supporting air curtain flows too fast and too straight past the refrigerated goods in order to exert an effective cooling effect on the refrigerated goods.

The known refrigeration unit is therefore disadvantageous in terms of energy, because additional as laminar flowing support air curtain must be generated by the cooling room and out of the refrigerator for the production of a safe and along the entire refrigerator reliably flowing protective air curtain, but due to their desired laminarity do not cause a particularly effective cooling of the refrigerated goods. As a result, a great deal of energy has to be applied for the safe cooling of the refrigerated goods.

The present invention is therefore the object of a cooling cabinet of the type mentioned in such a way and further, that an effective and energy-saving cooling of the cooling material is made possible with structurally simple means.

The above object is achieved by a refrigerated cabinet with the features of claim 1. Thereafter, the refrigerated cabinet is configured and developed such that the channel has an element acting on the supplied air in this way. indicates that a split of the supplied air is realized in the two air flows with different flow velocities through the element.

In accordance with the invention, it has first been recognized that the above object is achieved in a surprisingly simple manner by skillfully producing and guiding two cooling air flows at different flow velocities, which form the protective air curtain. For this purpose, in a further inventive manner, the channel has such an effect on the supplied cooling air element that by this element on the one hand a division of the supplied air into two air flows and beyond also the different flow velocities of the two air flows are generated. It is in a structurally simple way on the one hand no longer necessary to realize a channel with two separate air ducts to perform the two required for a double protective air curtain air flows. It suffices in a structurally simple way a channel with a single air duct and a placed at a suitable location element. This design of the channel with only one air duct also has advantages in terms of hygienic requirements, since an easier cleaning of the channel is made possible with only one air duct. Furthermore, it has been shown that this design of the channel with a division into the two air flows only at the element leads to a safer and quieter air flow. Finally, it has been shown that the inventive design of the channel with the element acting on the supplied air leads to a laminar over a relatively long distance flow of the protective air curtain, so that in previous cooling furniture required support air curtain to a much lesser extent or almost no longer necessary to maintain the protective air curtain in the required manner. In other words, supporting air curtains no longer have to be conducted as tightly laminar as is required with conventional refrigerated cabinets. This allows the use of a more turbulent support air flow than before, so that an improved cooling effect can be exerted on the refrigerated goods. This results in significant energy savings in the required refrigeration. Consequently, a cooling furniture is realized with the cooling furniture according to the invention, in which an effective and energy-saving cooling of the cooling material is made possible with structurally simple means. In order to safely generate the air flows at different flow velocities in a safe and structurally simple manner, the element can be arranged in the channel or in the region of the outlet of the channel. The arrangement in the channel provides an externally protected and effective arrangement of the element. Depending on the requirements, this arrangement may be made in the area of the outlet. It is also conceivable to position the element substantially in front of the outlet of the channel in order to ensure good accessibility to the element with regard to cleaning and / or maintenance. In a particularly effective and elegant manner, the element can be designed like a wing using the Bernoulli effect. Such a wing-like design of the element ensures, on the one hand, a reliable division of the air flowing past the element into two air flows and, on the other hand, a reliable generation of different flow velocities of the air flows on the two sides of the wing-like element. Due to the air pressure differences generated by the wing-like element on the different sides of the wing-like element resulting from the individual design of the element conditional differences in the flow velocities of the two air currents. Depending on the configuration of the wing-like element, different flow velocities of the two air flows can therefore be realized, depending on the desired application. In that regard, the wing-like element can be virtually like a wing - for example, an aircraft - be formed and act. In view of a particularly versatile use and with regard to individual adaptation possibilities of the generated air flows to individually present requirements, the element can be arranged relative to the channel adjustable and / or relative to the channel pivotable about an axis and / or displaceable relative to the channel. Depending on the adjustment, pivoting or shifting Position different flow velocities and a different flow behavior of the two air flows can be realized. The axis about which the element can be pivoted can be arranged substantially perpendicular to the flow directions of the air flows.

With regard to an alternative or additional individual generation of the air flows and the respective flow velocities, the element can have a plurality of sections which can be set and / or pivoted relative to one another. In this embodiment, the element can be designed or shaped in an advantageous manner within the scope of the adjustability of the sections - individually. An adaptation to a wide variety of applications is possible.

To produce a protective air curtain, which has a laminar flow over the greatest possible distance, a guide device for parallel guidance of the supplied air can be arranged in the channel in the direction of flow in front of the element. By means of this preliminary parallel guidance of the supplied air, a laminar flow with the longest possible range in the area of the protective air curtain is generated. In this case, there is virtually a pre-alignment of the supplied air, so that after the division of the supplied air into the two air flows, a particularly far-reaching laminar flow is generated.

As an alternative or in addition to this, a guide device can be arranged in the channel or at the outlet or after the outlet of the channel, for the parallel guidance of the two air flows, viewed downstream of the element. As a result, the already divided into two air currents air is guided in parallel after their division, so that also an extension of the laminar flow is achieved in the protective air curtain.

At least one of the guide devices arranged in front of and / or behind the element can have a plurality of planar guide elements arranged parallel to one another. Such planar guide elements offer a particularly simple and secure parallel guidance of the air flowing past them. At least one of the two guide devices arranged in front of and / or behind the element can be constructed from a plurality of individual sections. In that regard, a modular structure of the guide devices can be realized to accommodate a wide variety of requirements and application situations.

In a further advantageous manner, the channel can have at least one further outlet for the supplied air which opens into the cooling space, the at least one further outlet being designed such that air flowing into the cooling space is essentially turbulent and preferably a supporting air curtain for the air Forms protective air curtain. In this case - thanks to the inventive advantage of a particularly far-reaching laminar flow in the protective air curtain through the use of the element - with the turbulent flow in the supporting air curtain, a particularly effective cooling of the cooling material can be achieved. Due to the turbulent flow, a longer-lasting and therefore safer interaction between the air and the refrigerated goods for cooling the refrigerated goods is achieved. This can save considerable amounts of energy for cooling the chilled goods. With the cooling furniture according to the invention, a combination of turbulent flow in the cooling space and laminar flow in the protective air curtain in energetically particularly favorable manner can be realized. This combination, in addition to a very effective heat exchange in the refrigerator a protective air curtain with different flow velocities, which acts extremely stable against external disturbances such as heat flows to the refrigerator. This results in a particularly high energy efficiency in the cooling furniture according to the invention.

The refrigerated cabinet according to the invention can be both a refrigerated cabinet with its own liquefaction unit - a so-called plug-in refrigerated cabinet - and a refrigerated cabinet with a connection to a central refrigeration unit with, for example, a composite tube network. There are now various possibilities for designing and developing the teaching of the present invention in an advantageous manner. For this purpose, on the one hand to the subordinate claims, on the other hand, to refer to the following explanation of embodiments of the teaching of the invention with reference to the drawings. In connection with the explanation of the preferred embodiments of the teaching according to the invention with reference to the drawing, generally preferred embodiments and further developments of the teaching are explained. In the drawing show

Fig. 1 is a schematic side view of a conventional refrigerator in the form of a cooling rack

2 is a schematic side view, partially, a channel of a first embodiment of a cooling cabinet according to the invention,

3 is a schematic side view, partially, a channel of a second embodiment of a cooling cabinet according to the invention,

4 is a schematic side view, partially, a channel of a third embodiment of a cooling cabinet according to the invention,

5 is a schematic side view, partially, a channel of a fourth embodiment of a cooling cabinet according to the invention,

Fig. 6-9 advantageous in schematic representations

Design possibilities of outlets for generating turbulent flows in the cooling space of exemplary embodiments of refrigerated furniture according to the invention,

10 is a schematic side view of a refrigerated cabinet in the form of a

Refrigerated display, Fig. 1 1 in a schematic side view of a refrigerated cabinet in the form of a cabinet and

12 is a schematic side view of a refrigerated cabinet in the form of a

Combi sets of refrigerated shelves and freezer.

Fig. 1 shows a schematic side view of a conventional refrigerator in the form of a cooling rack. Such refrigerated cabinets are used for storage and / or presentation of refrigerated goods. The refrigerator has a cooling space 1 for the refrigerated goods, wherein in the refrigerator 1 more shelves 7 are arranged for refrigerated goods. The refrigerator 1 is associated with a channel 2 for supplying air. The air is substantially flowed from below into the channel 2 and can be discharged in the form of two air flows at different flow rates from an outlet 3 of the channel 2. The air flows form a double protective air curtain in a region 4 in front of the cooling space 1. The flow direction is indicated by an arrow 5. The protective air curtain extends in front of an access 6 to the cooling chamber 1 in order to suppress heat exchange with the warmer surroundings of the cooling cabinet. During operation of the refrigerated cabinet, the airflows flow permanently from the top of the refrigerated shelf to the lower portion of the refrigerator shelf and are collected there to be recirculated to the channel 2. After collecting, the air flows are cooled, so that the air flows with a lower temperature flow out of the channel 2 than they are recovered at the bottom.

With regard to a particularly effective and energy-saving cooling of the refrigerated goods with structurally simple means, according to a first embodiment of the invention, the duct 2 according to the enlarged illustration of FIG. 2 is equipped with an element 8 acting on the supplied air in such a way that a division the supplied air is realized in the two air flows with different flow velocities through the element 8 itself. The supplied through the channel 2 air is divided only at the element 8 in the two air currents, due to the special design of the Elements 8 have different flow velocities. The element 8 has a substantially convexly curved upper side and a substantially concavely curved lower side. The flow rate is higher at the top than at the bottom. The element 8 extends transversely to the channel 2 along its entire width. The channel 2 is formed with a substantially rectangular cross section, so that a protective air curtain along the entire width of the channel 2 can be generated. These two air flows emerge from the outlet 3 and then form the double protective air curtain in front of the access 6 to the refrigerator 1.

In the embodiment shown here, the element 8 is arranged in the channel 2. In addition, the element 8 is wing-like, taking advantage of the Bernoulli effect. The element 8 is arranged pivotable about an axis 9. As a result, the position of the generated air flows can be changed in a simple manner. The axis 9 is arranged perpendicular to the flow direction of the supplied air. Furthermore, in the exemplary embodiment shown here, the axis 9 extends in a horizontal direction and perpendicular to the image plane of FIG. 2, which shows a side view of the upper region of the channel 2.

In the embodiment shown, seen in the flow direction in front of the element 8 in the channel 2, a guide means 10 for parallel guidance of the supplied air is arranged. The parallel guidance of the supplied air makes it possible to produce a laminar flow from the two air flows which reaches far beyond the outlet 3. The guide device 10 has three individual sections 10 in the embodiment shown here. In addition to the guide device 10 is - for parallel guidance of the two air flows generated - seen in the flow direction after the element 8, a guide device 1 1 in the channel 2 in the region of the outlet 3 is arranged. As a result, a further extension of the laminar flowing region is achieved after the outlet 3. The guide devices 10 and 1 1 have a plurality of planar guide elements 12 arranged parallel to one another. As a result, a particularly secure guidance of the air is achieved. 3 to 5 each show in a schematic and enlarged side view a channel 2 of a second, third and fourth embodiment of a cooling cabinet according to the invention with an arranged in the channel 2 element 8. In these embodiments, the element 8 is fixedly arranged in the channel 2 and not pivotable about an axis. Furthermore, the exemplary embodiments shown in FIGS. 3 to 5 differ from the exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 2 by the different configuration of the guide device 10, which leads the air supplied in front of the element 8 in the direction of flow. In this case, the second embodiment according to FIG. 3 has a guide device 10 formed from a single section 10. The guide devices 10 according to the third and fourth embodiment in FIGS. 4 and 5 have three or five individual sections 10. When selecting the number of individual sections 10 is to be based on the particular application. Basically, more individual sections 10 mean a more secure parallel guidance of the supplied air, wherein the flow resistance increases due to the greater number of individual sections 10 in the channel 2.

In the described embodiments, the channel 2 - in addition to the outlet 3 - have at least one further opening 13 opening into the cooling chamber 1 outlet for the supplied air. This outlet 13 is designed such that air flowing into the cooling chamber 1 is substantially turbulent and preferably forms a supporting air curtain for the protective air curtain. According to FIGS. 6 to 9, different configurations of such outlets 13 are shown, which lead to turbulent flows into the cooling space 1. 6 shows an arrangement of crescent-shaped outlets 13, FIG. 7 shows an arrangement of circular outlets 13 with diameters of different sizes, FIG. 8 shows an arrangement of rod-shaped outlets 13, and FIG. 9 shows an arrangement of star-shaped outlets 13. Such outlets 13 can be formed for example in the rear wall of a cooling room 1. 10 shows a schematic side view of a conventional refrigerated display counter, which could have a channel 2 with an element 8 according to the invention, in order to achieve effective and energy-saving cooling of the refrigerated product with structurally simple means.

In the same way, Fig. 1 1 shows a schematic side view of a conventional refrigerator 1 1 in the form of a freezer. Again, an element 8 may be arranged in the channel 2. Finally, in the same way Fig. 12 shows a schematic side view of a conventional refrigerator in the form of a combination set of refrigerated shelves and freezer. Again, an element 8 may be arranged in the channel 2.

Basically, it should be noted that the inventive idea of the formation of the channel 2 with a suitable element 8 in all conventional types of refrigeration furniture can be realized in an advantageous manner.

With regard to further advantageous embodiments of the invention, the refrigeration appliance reference is made to avoid repetition to the general part of the specification and to the appended claims.

Finally, it should be expressly understood that the above-described embodiment of the invention cooling cabinet only serve to discuss the claimed teaching, but not limit these to the exemplary embodiments.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

1 refrigerator

2 channel

3 outlet

4 area

5 arrow

6 access

7 shelf

8 element

9 axis

10 guide device

11 guide device

12 guide element

13 outlet

Claims

1. refrigerated cabinets, in particular refrigerated shelves, freezer, cooling island or refrigerated counter, for storage and / or presentation of refrigerated goods, with a cooling space (1) for the refrigerated goods and a cooling chamber (1) associated channel (2) for supplying air, wherein two Air flows with different flow velocities from an outlet (3) of the channel (2) can be flowed out, forming a double protective air curtain in front of an access (6) to the cooling space (1), characterized in that the channel (2) in such a way to the supplied air acting element (8), that a division of the supplied air is realized in the two air flows at different flow velocities through the element (8).

2. Refrigerator according to claim 1, characterized in that the element

(8) in the channel (2) or in the region of the outlet (3) of the channel (2) is arranged.

3. The refrigerator according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the element (8) is formed wing-like taking advantage of the Bernoulli effect.

4. Refrigerator according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the element (8) relative to the channel (2) adjustable and / or about an axis

(9) is arranged pivotable and / or displaceable.

5. Refrigerator according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the element (8) has a plurality of relatively adjustable and / or pivotable sections.

6. The refrigerator according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that - seen in the flow direction in front of the element (8) - in the channel (2) a guide means (10) for parallel guidance of the supplied air is arranged.

7. The refrigerator according to one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that - for the parallel guidance of the two air flows - seen in the flow direction after the element (8) a guide device (1 1) in the channel (2) or at the outlet (3) or after the outlet (3) of the channel (2) is arranged.

8. The refrigerator according to claim 6 or 7, characterized in that the guide device (10, 1 1) has a plurality of parallel guide elements arranged parallel to one another.

9. Refrigerator according to one of claims 6 to 8, characterized in that the guide device (10, 1 1) of a plurality of individual sections (10) is constructed.

10. The refrigerator according to one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that the channel (2) has at least one further in the refrigerator compartment (1) opening outlet (13) for the supplied air and that the at least one further outlet (13). is formed such that in the cooling space (1) incoming air is substantially turbulent and preferably forms a supporting air curtain for the protective air curtain.