WO2008110180A1

WO2008110180A1 - Refrigerated sales furniture and refrigerated sales system comprising the same

Info

Publication number: WO2008110180A1
Application number: PCT/EP2007/002095
Authority: WO
Inventors: Klaus Baehr
Original assignee: Carrier Corporation
Priority date: 2007-03-09
Filing date: 2007-03-09
Publication date: 2008-09-18

Abstract

A refrigerated sales furniture (2) according to the invention has a refrigerated sales space and comprises a cold pressurized air inlet (16) for feeding cold pressurized air to the refrigerated sales furniture (2); at least one refrigerating air outlet (20, 22) feeding refrigerating air to the refrigerated sales space; and a conduit (18) connecting the cold pressurized air inlet (16) to the refrigerating air outlet(s) (20, 22).

Description

REFRIGERATED SALES FURNITURE AND REFRIGERATED SALES SYSTEM COMPRISING THE SAME

The invention relates to a refrigerated sales furniture and a refrigerated sales system comprising at least one such refrigerated sales furniture.

Conventional refrigerated sales furnitures often utilize a vapor compression cycle in which a refrigerant such as Freon circulates through a compressor, a condenser, an expansion valve, an evaporator and suitable refrigerant conduits therebetween. Such refrigerants, in particular haloalkanes, have negative effects on the environment such as a zone depletion. In case of leakage the refrigerant badly affects the environment. Furthermore such vapor compression cycles require a number of expensive and voluminous parts, like e.g. an evaporator, making such refrigerated sales furnitures expensive and limiting their configuration.

The efficiency of such conventional refrigerated sales furnitures is in many cases unsatisfactory and a significant amount of cold air is lost to the corridors and the sales room.

Accordingly, it would be beneficial to provide an environment-friendly, more efficient and less expensive refrigerated sales furniture.

Exemplary embodiments of the invention include a refrigerated sales furniture having a refrigerated sales space and comprising a cold pressurized air inlet for feeding cold pressurized air to the refrigerated sales furniture, at least one refrigerating air outlet feeding refrigerating air to the refrigerated sales space, and a conduit connecting the cold pressurized air inlet to the refrigerating air outlet(s). Exemplary embodiments of the invention further include a refrigerated sales system comprising at least one refrigerated sales furniture as described above, a cold pressurized air source separate from the refrigerated sales furniture(s), and at least one conduit connecting the cold pressurized air source to the air conduit(s) in the at least one refrigerated sales furniture.

Embodiments of the invention are described in greater detail below with reference to the Figures, wherein:

Fig. 1 shows a schematic side view of a first embodiment of the invention comprising a first refrigerated sales furniture as well as a source and conduit for cold pressurized air disposed thereunder;

Fig. 2 shows a schematic side view of a second embodiment of the invention comprising a second refrigerated sales furniture as well as the source and the conduit for cold pressurized air of Fig. 1 disposed thereunder; and

Fig. 3 shows a schematic side view of a third embodiment of the invention comprising a third refrigerated sales furniture as well as the source and the conduit for cold pressurized air of Fig. 1 disposed thereunder.

In the schematic side views of Figures 1 , 2, and 3 the sidewalls of the refrigerated sales furnitures are omitted for the sake of representation.

Fig. 1 shows a schematic side view of a first refrigerated sales furniture 2, a cold pressurized air source 28 and a cold pressurized air conduit 30.

The first refrigerated sales furniture 2 comprises a vertical rear wall 4, a rounded top portion 6 and a bottom portion 8. Four shelves 10 are fixed to the vertical rear wall 4 and to the side walls, and they are spaced apart equidistantly in the vertical direction in the refrigerated sales space between the upper side of the bottom portion 8 and the lower side of the top portion 6. A machinery space 12 is disposed in the bottom portion 6.

In Fig. 1 , the four shelves 10 each have a different length, wherein the uppermost shelf 10 is the longest and the lowest shelf 10 is the shortest one. This arrange- ment provides for an improved cooling air curtain flow. In an alternative embodiment, the shelves could also have equal dimensions.

A conduit 18 runs through the vertical rear wall 4 and through the top portion 6. A cold pressurized air inlet 16 is arranged at the back of the bottom portion 8.

The machinery space 12 accommodates a fan 24, a return air valve 26, a conduit connecting the refrigerated sales space via a cold return air passage 14 to the fan 24, a conduit connecting the fan 24 to the return air valve 26 and a conduit connecting the return air valve 26 to the conduit 18.

In an upper region of the bottom portion 8, the cold pressurized air inlet 16 and the conduit from the return air valve 26 flow together into the conduit 18. At the front side of the vertical rear wall 4 and above the uppermost shelf 10 and the second but lowest shelf 10 there are arranged horizontal refrigerating air outlet valves 20 that in operation feed refrigerating air to the refrigerated sales space and at the same time expand the air from the conduit 18 providing additional refrigeration. Below the front region of the top portion 6 there is arranged a refrigerating air outlet head/expansion head 22. The refrigerating air outlet head 22 comprises one or more valves (not shown) that feed refrigerating air from the conduit 18 to the refrigerated sales space and at the same time expand the air thereby providing additional refrigeration.

In a further embodiment that is not shown in the Figures, the conduit 18 extends partly into the shelves 10, and refrigerating air outlets are arranged in at least one of the upper and the lower sides of the shelves 10 that feed refrigerating air from the conduit 18 directly to the products on the shelves 10 and at the same time expand the air thereby providing additional refrigeration. This feeding of refrigerating air directly onto the goods on the shelves 10 can be called ..contact refrigeration". The valves in the refrigerating air outlet head 22 are arranged such that the refrigerating air is directed towards the refrigerated sales space, as is depicted via the two air flow direction arrows in Fig. 1.

The cold return air passage 14 can be formed as e.g. a grid or lettice in the upper side of the bottom portion 8.

The cold pressurized air source 28 is connected to the cold pressurized air inlet 16 by the cold pressurized air conduit 30. Both the cold pressurized air source 28 and the cold pressurized air conduit 30 are disposed below the floor of the sales room.

In the embodiment of Fig. 1 , the cold pressurized air source 28 is depicted as one unit, e.g. a refrigerated or cooled pressure bottle containing cold pressurized air. In an alternative embodiment, the cold pressurized air source 28 can be formed as a compressor generating compressed air and a cooling unit of arbitrary kind, like e.g. a heat exchanger or a noncyclic, cyclic or thermoelectric (Peltier) refrigeration unit.

In the embodiment of Fig. 1 , the cold pressurized air source 28 is arranged separately from the first refrigerated sales furniture 2. Such a separate cold pressurized air source 28 can supply two or more refrigerated sales furnitures with cold pressurized air via suitable cold pressurized air conduits.

In an alternative embodiment, the cold pressurized air source 28 can be part of the refrigerated sales furniture itself, e.g. it can be disposed in the bottom portion 8/ machinery space 12 thereof. In this case no external conduits 30 are required.

The operation of the first refrigerated sales furniture 2 is described as follows: From the cold pressurized air source 28, cold pressurized air is fed via the cold pressurized air conduits 30 to the cold pressurized air inlet 16 of the first refrigerated sales furniture 2 (see the two arrows in the cold pressurized air conduit 30). Then, the cold pressurized air is led through the conduit 18 to the refrigerating air outlet valves 20 and to the refrigerating air outlet head 22 (see the arrows in the conduit 18). There, the air is fed to the refrigerated sales space (see horizontal arrows at the refrigerating air outlet valves 20 and downwardly directed arrows at the refrigerating air outlet head 22) and at the same time expanded thereby providing additional refrigeration. In the refrigerated sales space, the cold air sinks to the bottom portion 8 (see downwardly directed arrows in the sales space). From this bottom portion 8 of the refrigerated sales space and from the horizontally adjacent region in front of the refrigerated sales space, cold return air is extracted by the fan 24. This cold return air passes to the conduit 18 through the cold return air passage 14, through the conduit between the cold return air passage 14 and the fan 24 (see arrow in this conduit), through the fan 24, through the conduit connecting the fan 24 to the return air valve 26, through the return air valve 26 and through the conduit connecting the return air valve 26 to the conduit 18. In the conduit 18, the flow of the cold return air is mixed with the flow of the cold pressurized air from the cold pressurized air inlet 16. This mixed cold pressurized air is again fed to the refrigerated sales space to the refrigerating air outlet valves 20 and through the refrigerating air outlet head 22.

This operation is continued, wherein the flow ratio between the cold pressurized air supplied by the cold pressurized air source 28 and the cold return air from the fan 24 is appropriately controlled and the temperature and the pressure of the cold pressurized air supplied by the cold pressurized air source 28 is appropriately adjusted in order to obtain a desired cooling temperature in the refrigerated sales space.

Fig. 2 shows a schematic side view of a second refrigerated sales furniture 32, the cold pressurized air source 28 and the cold pressurized air conduit 30. The second refrigerated sales furniture 32 corresponds to the first refrigerated sales furniture 2 with the exception that the return air valve 26 of Fig. 1 is replaced by a compressor 34 in the second refrigerator sales furniture 32. Like elements are designated with like reference numerals.

The compressor 34 in operation compresses the extracted cold return air feeded to the compressor 34 by the fan 24 and feeds the compressed air to the conduit 18, where the compressed return air flow is mixed with the cold pressurized air flow from the cold pressurized air inlet 16.

The operation of the second refrigerated sales furniture 32 corresponds to that of the first refrigerated sales furniture 2 of Fig. 1 , wherein the cold return air extracted by the fan 24 is additionally compressed by the compressor 34 prior to entering the conduit 18 thereby increasing the pressure of the mixed air in the conduit 18. The cold return air is warmed up by the compressor 34 to a certain extent, however this effect can be compensated by selecting a compressor 34 having a performance that only causes a negligible warming of the return air and by appropriately controlling the flow ratio between the cold pressurized air from the cold pressurized air inlet 16 and the compressed return air supplied by the compressor 34. Consequently, mixed air having a desired temperature and a desired pressure can be obtained in the conduit 18.

Fig. 3 shows a schematic side view of a third refrigerated sales furniture 36, the cold pressurized air source 28 and the cold pressurized air conduit 30.

The third refrigerated sales furniture 36 corresponds to the second refrigerated sales furniture 32 with the exception that there is additionally disposed a heat exchanger 38 in the air flow downstream of the compressor 34 in the machinery space 12. Like elements are designated with like reference numerals. The heat exchanger 38 cools the compressed return air received from the compressor 34 before feeding it to the conduit 18.

In an alternative embodiment the element 38 can be a suitable refrigeration element like e.g. a thermoelectric Peltier cooling unit or any other conventional refrigeration element.

The operation of the third refrigerated sales furniture 36 corresponds to that of the second refrigerated sales furniture 33, wherein the compressed return air fed to the conduit 18 is additionally cooled by the heat exchanger 38. Thus less cold pressurized air from the cold pressurized air source 28 is needed for obtaining air in the conduit 18 having a desired cold temperature and a desired low pressure. With the third refrigerated sales furniture 36, a highly effective cooling and refrigeration of the refrigerated sales space is attained. By the third refrigerated sales furniture 36 high flow rates of cold pressurized air can be attained and thus highly effective refrigeration both in the cooling temperature region of above 0⁰C and in the freezing temperature region of below 0⁰C can be realized.

All the refrigerated sales furnitures 2, 32, and 36 can be operated both at cooling temperatures above 0⁰C and with freezing temperatures below 0⁰C.

A suitable pressure to be maintained in the conduit 18 is approximately 3 to 4 bars. As a matter of course, the conduits 18 and 30 should provide sufficient isolation for the air transported therein. For example the conduits 18 and 30 can be formed of a suitable plastic material, in particular having an isolation shell.

Exemplary embodiments of the the invention as described above provide an environmentally compatible refrigerated sales furniture, since - instead of refrigerants like Freon - harmless air is used for the refrigeration, namely cold pressurized air and/or cold return air from the sales space, thus avoiding any risks related to leakage of refrigerant having negative effects on man and environment. Furthermore, the refrigerated sales furniture of the present invention does no longer require some expensive parts of the vapour compression cycle, e.g. an evaporator. Moreover, the utilization of air does not require special expensive materials for the conduits, like e.g. copper, as is the case with some refrigerants (Fre- on). Rather, a number of less expensive materials like plastic materials can be used for the conduits, thus leading to a highly cost effective refrigerated sales furniture.

Since no voluminous parts like evaporators are required in the refrigerated sales furniture according to the invention, a variety of different configurations of the refrigerated sales furniture is possible, e.g. the rear wall and the sidewalls can be made thinner and can be made transparent. Furthermore the size of the refrigerated sales furniture according to the invention can be reduced.

By the refrigerated sales furnitures of the invention the effect of cold, refrigerated air flowing from the refrigerated sales space into the corridors or the sales room of the supermarket, which often makes up 50% of the total refrigerated air, meaning a significant loss of energy and leading to an unwanted cooling of the corridors in the supermarket, is considerably reduced. A significant amount of cold refrigerated air is extracted by the fan from a bottom portion of the refrigerated sales space and from the adjacent region in the corridors or the sales room of the supermarket to where the cold refrigerated air sinks. The existing cold refrigerated air is efficiently recycled and utilized for further cooling and refrigeration, therefore leading to a considerable saving of energy.

Recapitulating, the refrigerated sales furniture of the present invention safe, economically compatible, highly efficient and less expensive.

According to an embodiment of the invention, a valve is provided in at least one of the conduits and the refrigerating air outlet. When air passes through such a valve, it is expanded and at the same time further cooled down therefore providing additional refrigeration. In particular, such a valve is arranged at the refrigerating air outlet or, alternatively, forms the refrigerating air outlet.

According to a further embodiment of the invention, at least one refrigerating air outlet is arranged at the top of the refrigerated sales space providing cooling and refrigeration from above. By such a refrigerating air outlet at the top of the refrigerated sales space, it is ensured that the whole sales space is refrigerated, since the cool air sinks to the bottom of the sales space passing through the whole height thereof.

According to a further embodiment of the invention, at least one refrigerating air outlet is arranged at the rear wall of the refrigerated sales furniture providing cooling and refrigeration from behind.

According to a further embodiment of the invention, at least one refrigerating air outlet is arranged in a shelf of the refrigerated sales furniture thereby providing direct contact refrigeration of the goods on the shelves.

According to a further embodiment of the invention, the conduit extends from the bottom to the top of the refrigerated sales furniture.

According to a further embodiment of the invention, the conduit is disposed in at least one of the rear wall and the side walls of the refrigerated sales furniture.

By this arrangement of the conduit, a compact configuration of the sales furniture can be attained.

According to a further embodiment of the invention, the refrigerated sales furniture further comprises a fan which is in particular arranged at the bottom of the refrigerated sales furniture. This fan extracts return air from the bottom of the refrigerated sales space and feeds the return air to the conduit for mixing the return air with the cold pressurized air from the cold pressurized air inlet. In particular, a return air valve can be disposed in the airflow between the fan and the conduit for adjusting the pressure of the return air and for preventing backward flow of the return air.

For this purpose, a return air passage is arranged at the bottom of the refrigerated sales space allowing for off-take of cold return air from the refrigerated sales space via a fan.

According to a further embodiment of the invention, the refrigerated sales furniture further comprises a compressor which compresses air and feeds the compressed air to the conduit for mixing the compressed return air with the cold pressurized air from the cold pressurized air inlet. By providing such a compressor, the pressure of the air in the conduit can be raised making a refrigerated sales furniture particularly effective. A possible warming of the return air by the compressor can be compensated e.g. by an appropriate selection of the compressor to only warm up the air to a certain extent and by controlling the flow ratio between the compressed return air and the cold pressurized air appropriately.

The refrigerated sales furniture can be operated in a so-called interval operation, where cold pressurized air is only supplied in intervals and where the cold return air is fed to the conduit either constantly or also in intervals.

Alternatively, the refrigerated sales furniture can be operated in a continuous operation, wherein cold pressurized air is constantly supplied and the return air is constantly fed to the conduit. The activation can e.g. be effected by a temperature sensor that detects the temperature in the refrigerated sales space and activates the operation of the refrigerated sales furniture if the temperature in the refrigerated sales space falls under a predetermined value. In this regard, it is stressed that a refrigerated sales furniture having both a cold pressurized air inlet and a fan for extracting return air and for feeding it to the conduit can be operated temporarily with only one of both air flows.

According to a further embodiment of the invention, a heat exchanger or a refrigeration element is disposed after the compressor for cooling the compressed return air received from the compressor before feeding it to the conduit. By providing such a heat exchanger or a refrigeration element, the temperature of the air in the conduit can be further lowered, thereby providing a refrigerated sales furniture that is even more effective.

According to a further embodiment, at least one of the fans, the valve, the compressor, the heat exchanger, and the refrigeration element is disposed in a machinery space at the bottom of the refrigerated sales furniture. According to this embodiment, a particularly compact configuration is attained and the cold air is extracted and processed at the bottom portion of the refrigerated sales furniture to where the cold air sinks.

According to a further embodiment of the invention, the refrigerated sales furniture further comprises an air dehumidifier in order to prevent condensing of the air.

According to a further embodiment of the invention, the refrigerated sales furniture is movable, e.g. comprises wheels at its bottom.

According to a further embodiment of the invention, the cold pressurized air inlet is disposed at the bottom portion of the refrigerated sales furniture. This provides a fast and reliable connection to a cold pressurized air conduit in the floor of the sales room requiring only short connection conduits.

According to a further embodiment of the invention, the refrigerated sales furniture further comprises a cold pressurized air source arranged within the refrigerated sales furniture itself, thus providing a compact, plug-in, ready-to-use refrigerated sales furniture.

Exemplary embodiments of the invention, as described above, allow for a highly effective refrigerated sales system in the sales room utilizing one cold pressurized air source for at least one refrigerated sales furniture as described above, in particular for a number of refrigerated sales furnitures. Such a refrigerated sales system is inexpensive compared to other refrigerated sales systems having a complete refrigeration cycle for each refrigerated sales furniture. Further, such a refrigerated sales system can be operated at relatively low costs.

According to a further embodiment of the invention, the at least one conduit runs at least partly below the floor of the salesroom. The conduit must be thermally isolated appropriately from the floor of the salesroom. By integrating the conduit(s) into the floor of the salesroom, space can be saved and the conduits are reliably installed.

In this regard it is stressed that the cold pressurized air inlet is to be understood as the interface between the cold pressurized air source and the cold pressurized air conduits, respectively, on the one hand and the internal conduit on the other hand. In case the cold pressurized air source is disposed externally from the refrigerated sales furniture, as is the case with the refrigerated sales system, the cold pressurized air inlet forms the interface between the internal conduit and the external cold pressurized air conduit. In case the cold pressurized air source is situated in the refrigerated sales furniture itself, the cold pressurized air inlet is formed by the interface between the internal conduit and the cold pressurized air source.

The invention also relates to a method for refrigerating a sales furniture comprising the above described features in terms of the respective corresponding method steps. In order to avoid redundancy, it is referenced to the features and advantages as described above that apply accordingly for the method as well. While the invention has been described with reference to exemplary embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted for elements thereof without departing from the scope of the invention. In addition, many modifications may be made to adapt the particular situation or material to the teachings of the invention without departing from the essential scope thereof. Therefore it is intended that the invention not be limited to the particular embodiments disclosed, but that the invention will include all embodiments falling within the scope of the appended claims.

List of Reference Numerals

2 first refrigerated sales furniture

4 rear wall

6 top portion

8 bottom portion

10 shelves

12 machinery space

14 cold return air passage

16 cold pressurized air inlet

18 conduit

20 refrigerating air outlet valves

22 refrigerating air outlet head

24 fan

26 return air valve

28 cold pressurized air source

30 cold pressurized air conduit

32 second refrigerated sales furniture

34 compressor

36 third refrigerated sales furniture

38 heat exchanger

Claims

1. Refrigerated sales furniture (2) having a refrigerated sales space, the refrigerated sales furniture (2) comprising a cold pressurized air inlet (16) for feeding cold pressurized air to the refrigerated sales furniture (2); at least one refrigerating air outlet (20, 22) feeding refrigerating air to the refrigerated sales space; and a conduit (18) connecting the cold pressurized air inlet (16) to the refrigerating air outlet(s) (20, 22).

2. Refrigerated sales furniture (2) of claim 1 , further comprising a valve provided in at least one of the conduit (18) and the refrigerating air outlet (20, 22).

3. Refrigerated sales furniture (2) of claim 1 or 2, wherein at least one refrigerating air outlet (22) is arranged at the top (6) of the refrigerated sales space.

4. Refrigerated sales furniture (2) of any of claims 1 to 3, wherein at least one refrigerating air outlet (20) is arranged at the rear wall (4) of the refrigerated sales furniture (2).

5. Refrigerated sales furniture (2) of any of claims 1 to 4, wherein at least one refrigerating air outlet is arranged in a shelf of the refrigerated sales furniture (2).

6. Refrigerated sales furniture (2) of any of claims 1 to 5, wherein the conduit (18) extends from the bottom (8) to the top (6) of the refrigerated sales furniture (2).

7. Refrigerated sales furniture (2) of any of claims 1 to 6, wherein the conduit (18) is disposed in at least one of the rear wall (4) and the side walls of the refrigerated sales furniture (2).

8. Refrigerated sales furniture (2) of any of claims 1 to 7, further comprising a fan (24), wherein the fan (24) in operation extracts return air from the bottom of the refrigerated sales space and feeds the return air to the conduit (18) for mixing the return air with the cold pressurized air from the cold pressurized air inlet (16).

9. Refrigerated sales furniture (2) of any of claims 1 to 8, further comprising a compressor (34), wherein the compressor (34) in operation compresses air and feeds the compressed air to the conduit (18) for mixing the compressed return air with the cold pressurized air from the cold pressurized air inlet (16).

10. Refrigerated sales furniture (2) of claim 9, further comprising a heat exchanger (38) or a refrigeration element disposed after the compressor (34) for cooling the compressed return air received from the compressor (34) before feeding it to the conduit (18).

11. Refrigerated sales furniture (2) of any of claims 8 to 10, wherein at least one of the fan (24), the compressor (34), the heat exchanger (38) and the refrigeration element is disposed in a machinery space at the bottom (8) of the refrigerated sales furniture (2).

12. Refrigerated sales furniture (2) of any of claims 1 to 11 , further comprising an air dehumidifier.

13. Refrigerated sales furniture (2) of any of claims 1 to 12, wherein the refrigerated sales furniture (2) is movable.

14. Refrigerated sales furniture (2) of any of claims 1 to 13, wherein the cold pressurized air inlet (16) is disposed at the bottom portion of the refrigerated sales furniture (2).

15. Refrigerated sales furniture (2) of any of claims 1 to 14, further comprising a cold pressurized air source arranged in the refrigerated sales furniture (2).

16. Refrigerated sales system comprising at least one refrigerated sales furniture (2) of any of claims 1 to 14, a cold pressurized air source (28) separate from the refrigerated sales fumiture(s) (2), and at least one conduit (30) connecting the cold pressurized air source (28) to the air conduit(s) (18) in the at least one refrigerated sales furniture (2).

17. Refrigerated sales system of claim 16, wherein the at least one conduit (30) runs at least partly below the floor of the sales room.