Refrigeration – Display type – With air controlling or directing means
Reexamination Certificate
2000-03-22
2001-08-14
Tapolcal, William E. (Department: 3744)
Refrigeration
Display type
With air controlling or directing means
C062S256000, C454S193000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06272876
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to display freezers, and more particularly to evaporator units for display freezers.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Display freezers are commonly used in retail outlets such as supermarkets, restaurants, convenience stores and other establishment that sell frozen or refrigerated foods. The display freezers typically include a display case having shelves for displaying various products such as food. Glass doors allow the consumer to survey the selection of products without having to open each of the doors. When a selection is made, the consumer can quickly open the appropriate door, remove the desired item and close the door. Display freezers also include an evaporator unit that keeps the interior of the display case cold. Often the evaporator unit is housed beneath the display case. Air circulates from the interior of the display case, through the evaporator unit, and back into the display case.
One objective in designing display freezers is to maximize the available volume of the interior display case, thereby maximizing the food storage capacity. A constraint on achieving this objective is the footprint, i.e., the width and depth of the display freezer, is often limited by the size constraints of the retail outlet in which the freezer will be placed. Similarly, the useable height of a display freezer's interior is limited both by the available retail space and by the height of the average consumer.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
One approach to maximizing the volume of the display area is to reduce the size of the remaining components of the display freezer, including the evaporator. This approach is also constrained by operational requirements of the evaporator. Specifically, the evaporator must have sufficient cooling capacity not only to maintain below-freezing temperatures, but also to “pull down” the display temperature from relatively high temperatures to a steady below-freezing temperature. Such pull down capacity is needed, for example, when the freezer is restocked or turned off for maintenance.
Consequently, the structural size of the evaporator should be as small as possible while retaining sufficient cooling capacity available to cool the display case.
The present invention provides a display freezer having a relatively small, highly efficient, evaporator unit. The reduced size of the evaporator unit increases the available space for the display case. In addition, the improved efficiency of the evaporator unit provides sufficient cooling capacity required to properly maintain the larger display case. More specifically, the evaporator unit of the present invention includes a unique configuration of air flow baffles and refrigerant coils to optimize heat transfer.
In one embodiment, the invention provides a display freezer including a display case defining an interior space and an evaporator cover assembly located in the interior space and separating the interior space into a display portion and an evaporator portion. The display freezer also includes a fan plenum having therein an inlet communicating with the display portion of the interior space and an outlet spaced from the inlet and communicating between the evaporator portion and the display portion of the interior space. The display freezer also includes a fan operable to create a flow of air through the inlet and the outlet, a first baffle located adjacent the inlet, and a second baffle defining a serpentine path extending from the inlet for conducting the flow of air in the evaporator portion. The display freezer also includes an evaporator coil assembly located in the evaporator portion between the inlet and the outlet and including a plurality of sheet-like fins extending in the direction of the air flow and having a sinusoidal cross section in a plane perpendicular to fins, and a plurality of evaporator coil circuits extending through the plurality of fins, the evaporator coil circuits being adapted to conduct therethrough a supply of refrigerant.
Other features and advantages of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon review of the following detailed description, claims, and drawings.
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Mickelson Keith R.
Roberts Carl C.
Ali Mohammad M.
Michael & Best & Friedrich LLP
Tapolcal William E.
Zero Zone, Inc.
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