Heat exchange – With timer – programmer – time delay – or condition responsive... – Having heating and cooling capability
Reexamination Certificate
1999-11-09
2001-11-13
Lazarus, Ira S. (Department: 3743)
Heat exchange
With timer, programmer, time delay, or condition responsive...
Having heating and cooling capability
C165S042000, C165S919000, C062S457100, C099S332000, C219S387000, C219S521000, C312S236000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06315039
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to refrigerated storage and rethermalization of food. More particularly, it relates to an apparatus for the cold storage and rethermalization of a day's worth of prepared meals for an individual and is sized to be conveniently placed at the bedside of, for example, a hospital patient to whom the meals are to be served.
BACKGROUND
Meal preparation and serving in institutional settings such as hospitals is a labor-intensive effort, requiring a tremendous amount of time and resources to prepare the meals at a remote food preparation area, such as a hospital kitchen, assemble the meals on trays, and then transport the meal trays to the patients' rooms for consumption. Since meals typically include both hot and cold food items, food temperature maintenance presents a significant challenge when large numbers of meals are to be prepared, transported, and served. To assist in this effort, various types of food storage and rethermalization carts have been developed. The carts are typically loaded with prepared meal trays and then transported to a remote site in the general vicinity of where the meals are to be served. At meal serving time, servers remove the trays from the cart and carry the trays to individuals in their rooms where the meals are consumed. After the meals are eaten, the soiled trays, dishes, and leftover food items are collected, placed back in the cart, and the cart is taken back to the hospital kitchen where the soiled trays are removed for cleaning. This labor intensive process is then repeated for the next meal of the day.
SUMMARY
What is needed, therefore, is a meal storage and rethermalization unit which is sufficiently large to hold a day's worth of meals yet sufficiently small to be placed in the immediate vicinity of a patient so that each meal of the day can be efficiently served to the patient by institutional workers. The rethermalization unit should include provision for isolated storage of soiled trays in a refrigerated state to inhibit spoilage of leftover food items, to inhibit contamination of unserved meals by soiled food items, and to enable institutional workers to collect all of the soiled trays at the end of the day, thereby further enhancing efficiency.
With regard to the foregoing and other objects, the present invention provides a refrigeration and rethermalization apparatus for maintaining food items placed on meal serving trays, including hot food items to be served at an elevated temperature, in a refrigerated state and rethermalizing the hot food items at a desired time prior to meal serving. The apparatus includes a cabinet having a front, a back, a top, and a bottom. The cabinet further includes an upper tray storage compartment for storing meal serving trays containing hot and cold food items in a refrigerated state, and a lower tray storage compartment for storing soiled meal serving trays in a refrigerated state to inhibit spoilage of soiled food items left thereon. A divider physically and atmospherically isolates the upper tray storage compartment from the lower tray storage compartment and inhibits contamination of food items stored in the upper compartment by soiled trays stored in the lower compartment. One or more doors adjacent the front of the cabinet provide access to the upper and lower tray storage compartments. A refrigerator provides refrigeration to the upper and lower compartments. The apparatus also provides means for heating or rethermalizing a hot food item positioned on a tray in the upper tray storage compartment.
The upper tray storage compartment may be further divided into a rethermalization compartment for heating hot food items. The rethermalization compartment is defined by a fixed thermal barrier. If desired, a plurality of rethermalization compartments may be provided in the upper compartment by use of multiple thermal barriers.
In combination with use of a rethermalization compartment as described above, the refrigerator includes a compressor-condensing unit for producing compressed refrigerant. A first cold plate receives and expands the compressed refrigerant to maintain the rethermalization compartment in a refrigerated state. A second cold plate also receives and expands compressed refrigerant to maintain the upper and lower compartments in a refrigerated state. During rethermalization, operation of the first cold plate is disabled and the means for heating is turned on to enable rethermalization of a hot food item positioned in the rethermalization compartment. If desired, one or more blowers may be employed to circulate refrigerated air within the tray storage compartments.
Various means for heating hot food items may be employed in accordance with the invention, including conduction heating, convection heating, radiant heating, induction heating, and any combination thereof. For example, heating of hot food items may be achieved by positioning resistive heating elements above and below hot food items in the rethermalization compartment. As another example, a heater shelf having one or more heaters for selectively heating one or more hot food items may also be employed in accordance with the invention.
A tray docking sensor may be included to sense the presence or absence of a meal serving tray in the upper compartment. The tray docking sensor outputs a signal corresponding to the position of the tray. A microcomputer control system receives the tray docking signal and prevents operation of the means for heating when the signal indicates that a tray is not present.
Other features which may be employed in accordance with the invention include a user interface for controlling operation of the apparatus, a communications port connected to the microcomputer control system to enable the apparatus to communicate with a peripheral device (such as a computer for use in networking a plurality of like apparatuses), a movable tray support shelf positioned on the outside of the apparatus to support a meal serving tray during consumption of a meal contained thereon, a removable tray handling cassette for supporting meal serving trays in the lower tray storage compartment, and a plurality of rollers for enhancing transport of the apparatus.
The present invention also provides an apparatus for the cold storage and rethermalization of a day's worth of meals (i.e., breakfast, lunch, and dinner) for an individual with each meal including hot and cold food items and being placed on a meal serving tray as described above. In this manner, the apparatus is particularly useful as a bedside appliance which can be conveniently placed, for example, in the room of a hospital patient. The apparatus includes a refrigeration-rethermalization cart having upper and lower tray storage compartments for storing no more than three meal serving trays. The apparatus also includes a barrier for physically and atmospherically isolating the two compartments, at least one door for accessing the compartments, a refrigerator for refrigerating the compartments, means for heating a hot food item in the upper compartment, and a microcomputer control system for controlling operation of the apparatus, all as described above.
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Hurt Sara C.
Westbrooks, Jr. John W.
Ciric Ljiljana V.
Lazarus Ira S.
Luedeka Neely & Graham P.C.
Standex International Corporation
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