Patent Application
20100242514
This invention is associated with a refrigerator for commercial products and particularly, products such as drinks. Specifically, this invention is associated with a refrigerator having a design that allows displaying products in radial arrangements. These arrangements are fixed to a rotator axis and both the shape of the refrigerator, which promotes efficient air circulation, and the rotator axis provide a homogenous cooling in this piece of furniture.
For a long time, commercial establishments have needed refrigerators to display drinks, given the significant change in flavour of said drinks due to temperature at which drinks are stored.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,755,108, granted to Kysor Industrial Corporation, is an example of a display refrigerator to display drinks in trays or racks shaped in a certain shape, either circular or polygon-shaped cylinders. The object of this invention is to provide cooling trays or racks of an unusual shape, with a particular air flow to provide for an efficient refrigerator performance. These refrigerators are not practical, since these refrigerators require considerable room in commercial establishments, tray arrays do not allow for product arrangement in a way such as to maximize the use of these refrigerators internal volume, which interferes with providing a better product display, and finally, the cubical outer shape of these refrigerators restricts the level of product display for consumers.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,458,407, granted to L&P Property Management Company and U.S. Pat. No. 5,567,026, granted to Master-Bilt, are clear examples of cooling devices with one or two circular tray systems for product display. These patents provide a device with circular rotator trays which allow for a free access to a wide range of products, preventing the outflow of cooling air. This provides a commercial arrangement having an air flow which is more efficient than in the previous art. However, these refrigerators are not very useful given the ample room these refrigerators required in commercial establishments, the circular rotational tray array does not allow a product arrangement in way such as to maximize the use of these refrigerators internal volume, which would provide a better display of products, and finally, the outer shape of these refrigerators restricts, to some extent, the level of product display for consumers.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,883,887, granted to Timothy Mogensen, reveals a food storage system, wherein said system is constituted by a number of circular trays rotating around a central axis at 360° turns. The central axis whereto trays are fixed is constituted by a line, which allows for tray repositioning at different heights such as user may desire. These refrigerators are not very useful, given the ample room they require in commercial establishments, the circular rotational tray array does not allow for product arrangement in a way such as to maximize the use of these refrigerators internal volume, which would allow for a better product display, and finally, the outer shape of these refrigerators restricts product display capabilities for consumers.
Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 4,314,458, granted to Dalcon Marketing Inc., is a clear example of a cooling device used to display food and drinks in trays or racks. This device provides circular trays or racks for which air flow flows successively from the upper part of the refrigerator to the inferior part of the refrigerator, and the air flow flows in the internal and external part of each tray. The refrigerator does not have any solid barrier, such as glass doors, which facilitates access by the consumer to the product being sold. This refrigerator provides a free-access multi-tray array and an outer design which allows of a 360° display, keeping internal temperature of the refrigerator at less than 40° F. (−4.44° C.). This patent is not very useful, since the circular tray array does not allow for a product arrangement in a way such as to maximize the use of the internal volume of the refrigerator, which would allow a better product display, and the outer shape of the refrigerator, deprived of any kind of solid barrier which would isolate the refrigerator from room temperature, causes some of the cold air to flow away.
As can be seen from the above, the state of the art demands a display refrigerator offering a larger display area per refrigerator volume. Furthermore, the need exists for a refrigerator which may allow dividing trays and consumer selection at each tray height. Finally, the need exists to provide homogenous cooling for all the products displayed in the display refrigerator. The multi-tray radial display refrigerator of this invention resolves all the aforementioned issues by providing a new display refrigerator which will be detailed in the following description.
To easily understand this invention, reference numbers, component parts and characteristics mentioned in the drawings are shown in Table 1.
The preferred embodiment of this invention is shown in
Top frame (30) and bottom frame (40) support the cooling translucent body (50) and back body and said frames keep inside the performance mechanisms of the display refrigerator. A multi-tray radial arrangement (20) on which products (15) are arranged and displayed is housed inside the translucent body (50) and the back body.
Notwithstanding the foregoing paragraph, the door may have several opening and closing means which may be, without limitation, a slide door opening towards the inside part of the back body, a slide door activated by any automatic or semi-automatic means, a pivoted door in both ends and divided into two centrally-opening doors, a folding door towards any of the door ends.
In accordance with
It should be noted that, in this invention, the rail profile (22) may vary in shape or number of rails, and the tray support (24) adapted to each profile may also vary, but the performance remains the same.
Finally,
Furthermore, in order to connect the radial arrangement (120) to the turning mechanism, cylindrical couplings (121) are provided in the center of the top cover (128) and the base (129). These cylindrical couplings (121) are connected to the turning mechanism, allowing for an appropriate performance of the display refrigerator.
The advantages of the above display refrigerators (10 and 110) are homogenous cooling evenly spread into all the products (15) inside the radial arrangements (20 and 120), respectively. A further advantage of this invention is providing a 360° display area, in contrast with display refrigerators where the display area is equal to the front face of those refrigerators. One last advantage of this invention is versatility and maximized use of room available, which allows using multiple trays arranged in sections and adjusted to a desired height. The multi-tray radial display refrigerator may be compared to a bunch of grapes where each product finds its place in a harmonic and natural arrangement.
Based on the above description, a number of embodiments and details have been described as an illustration of this invention, and it will be evident for those skilled in the art that a plurality of variations and modifications may be made to this invention within the scope of this invention.
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/IB2007/003234 | 10/25/2007 | WO | 00 | 4/26/2010 |
