The present application relates to a refrigerated merchandiser and, more particularly, to an adjustable airflow discharge to condition a product display area of the refrigerated merchandiser.
In conventional practice, supermarkets and convenience stores are equipped with refrigerated merchandisers, some of which may include doors that enclose a product display area that supports fresh or frozen product. Typically, refrigerated air is provided to the product display area via heat exchange in an evaporator and one or more air passageways in the merchandiser. In some existing merchandisers (e.g., service cases with rear doors and multiple shelves) have fixed air discharge grills that are located at the rear of the case and in a low position so as not to compromise product visibility and rear door usability. The location of this discharge grill creates a significant air feeding and control problem because the airflow must be distributed to condition the lower deck and the shelves. Standard discharge grills (e.g., moiré style) do not adequately address the airflow issues because they create concentrated air streams that cannot evenly distribute the discharge air over the shelves. As a result, product temperatures on the middle shelves suffer. Also, reducing mass flow with a moiré grill pattern demonstrates little to no improvement in airflow over the shelves. The very top shelf and the deck level are adequately conditioned, but the bottom and middle shelves have stagnant air above the product. And existing grills are inadequate for optimizing the airflow for different case configurations.
In some existing merchandisers, a deflector can be attached to the rear of the shelf to direct a portion of the airflow over and/or around product on the shelf. Deflectors improve mass flow distribution, but they create additional issues. For example, deflectors tend to impede the service ergonomics of the case by forming obstructions in areas that service personnel find inconvenient when retrieving merchandise. Each deflector also needs to be balanced relative to how much air is directed away from the primary airflow and relative to other deflectors to avoid deteriorating performance in other zones. When a shelf is added, removed, or repositioned, the deflectors need to be rebalanced.
According to an exemplary embodiment, the invention includes a merchandiser including a case that defines a shelf configuration and that has a base and a rear wall cooperating to at least partially define a product display area. The merchandiser also includes an air passageway that extends through base and at least partially along the rear wall, and a fan that is in communication with the air passageway and that generates an airflow through the air passageway. The merchandiser further includes a discharge grill and a vane control. The discharge grill is positioned in the air passageway and has one or more vanes with a discharge angle to direct the airflow through the case. The vane control is coupled to the one or more vanes and has a mechanism that adjusts the discharge angle of the one or more vanes to control the airflow through the merchandiser based at least in part on the shelf configuration.
According to another exemplary embodiment, the merchandiser includes a case that has a first case configuration and that defines a product display area, and an air passageway that extends through the case. The merchandiser also includes a fan that is in communication with the air passageway and that is configured to generate an airflow through the air passageway. The merchandiser further includes a discharge grill that is positioned in the air passageway and that has one or more vanes with a first discharge angle to direct the airflow through the case. A vane control is coupled to the one or more vanes and has a mechanism that is configured to adjust the discharge angle of the one or more vanes to control the airflow through the merchandiser.
The aspects and features of various exemplary embodiments will be more apparent from the description of those exemplary embodiments taken with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Before any embodiments of the invention are explained in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and the arrangement of components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the following drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or of being carried out in various ways.
One or more first glass panels 60 are coupled to a rear of the case 15 between the uprights 55 to enclose the rear side of the merchandiser 10. The first glass panels 60 can be fixed to the uprights 55, or the glass panels 60 may move relative to the uprights 55 to selectively provide access to the product display area 20 from the rear of the merchandiser 10. As shown in
With reference to
The grill body 90 is designed to house and support components of the discharge grill assembly 80. With reference to
The vane control 100 is coupled to the vanes 95 to selectively adjust or tune the angular position of the vanes 95 (e.g., selectively change the discharge angle of the vanes 95 relative to a horizontal plane 130) to vary how the airflow is directed generally upward along the rear wall 40 and generally horizontal along the shelves 75 (if any are present) based on the configuration of the case 15. With reference to
The actuator 145 has a central cavity 155 or hole that defines a keyway 160, and a helical extrusion 165 that extends circumferentially and longitudinally along an exterior surface of the actuator 145. The pitch of the helical extrusion 165 may be pre-calibrated to facilitate desired movement of the vane block 150. Pre-calibration provides an effective range and ease of adjustment of the vane block 150 and, as a result, the vane(s) 95. In some embodiments, the actuator 145 may take the form of circular gears with a reduction box, or another mechanism to facilitate translational movement based on rotational movement.
The vane block 150 has a lower side 170 and an upper, sloped face 175, and lateral extrusions or shoulders 180 that are disposed between the lower side and the upper face 175. The lower side 170 has a toothed pattern 178 that conforms to and is engaged with the helical extrusion 165 to facilitate translational movement of the vane block 150 (i.e. movement forward or backward between the forward and rearward sides of the grill body 90) in response to rotation of the actuator 145. The upper face 175 has pockets or recesses 185 that capture and engage the bottom side of the vanes 95. The quantity of pockets 185 may correspond to the quantity of vanes 95 in the assembly, or there may be more pockets 185 than vanes 95. The lateral shoulders 180 contact an underside of the vane control support 120 on the grill body 90 to stabilize the vane block 150 relative to the grill body 90 (i.e. to prevent rotation of the vane block 150) while permitting translational movement of the vane block 150 relative to the grill body 90 when the vane block 150 is assembled on or coupled to the actuator 145.
With reference to
The axle 190 also has an adjustment key 205 (e.g., a hex cutout engageable by a hex tool) to facilitate adjustment or tuning of the angular orientation of the vane(s) 95. The illustrated axle 140 is rotatable to different preset positions 210A-D to facilitate angular adjustment of the vanes 95 to preset angles relative to the horizontal plane 130. Each preset position is labeled on the grill body 90 (shown as position “A”, position “B”, position “C”, position “D”, respectively) for ease of identification and selection via the vane position indicator 195 and the adjustment key 205. The illustrated axle 140 is movable to each of the preset positions 210A-D, although the axle 140 may be continuously movable between the preset positions 210A-D to facilitate minute adjustment of the angular position of the vane(s) 95. Also, while the invention is described and illustrated with regard to four preset positions for the axle 140 (corresponding to four angular positions of the vanes 95), it will be appreciated that the invention may include fewer or more than four preset positions for the axle 140.
The vane control 100 facilitates adjustment of the angular orientation of the vanes 95 to direct airflow through the merchandiser 10 to condition the product in the case 15 based on the way that product 23 is supported in the merchandiser 10. The angular orientation or discharge angle of the vanes 95 is determined based on a configuration of the case. The case configuration may encompass the quantity of shelves 75, if any are provided, the location(s) of the shelves relative to the discharge grill assembly 80, and a configuration of product that is supported in the case 15. In some constructions, the case configuration may take into account only the quantity of the shelves 75 and a location of the shelves 75 relative to the discharge grill assembly 80 (e.g., without regard to product configuration in the case 15).
For example, and with reference to
In operation, the axle 140 is turned to rotate the actuator 145, which translates the vane block 150 forward and backward along the actuator 145. Movement of the vane block 150 pulls the lower end of the vane(s) 95 in the same direction, which changes the discharge angle of the vanes 95. The angular position(s) of the vanes 95 are determined based on desired airflow characteristics within the merchandiser 10. In some constructions, one or more of the vanes 95 may be adjustable or tunable relative to the remaining vane(s) 95 to generate an airflow that is tailored to a specific setup of the shelves 75 and the deck plate 70 within the merchandiser 10, or to accommodate other factors that impact airflow and adequate conditioning of the product display area 20. In these constructions, one or more vanes 95 has a first discharge angle, and at least one other vane 95 has a second discharge angle. The vane control 100 may be designed so that the vanes 95 are simultaneously adjustable to the first discharge angle and the second discharge angle.
With reference to
The foregoing detailed description of the certain exemplary embodiments has been provided for the purpose of explaining the general principles and practical application, thereby enabling others skilled in the art to understand the disclosure for various embodiments and with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. This description is not necessarily intended to be exhaustive or to limit the disclosure to the exemplary embodiments disclosed. For example, although the invention is described and illustrated herein with reference to a deli-style merchandiser, other types of merchandisers or display cases can utilize aspects of the invention described, illustrated, and recited herein. Also, any of the embodiments and/or elements disclosed herein may be combined with one another to form various additional embodiments not specifically disclosed. Accordingly, additional embodiments are possible and are intended to be encompassed within this specification and the scope of the appended claims. The specification describes specific examples to accomplish a more general goal that may be accomplished in another way.
As used in this application, the terms “front,” “rear,” “upper,” “lower,” “upwardly,” “downwardly,” and other orientational descriptors are intended to facilitate the description of the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, and are not intended to limit the structure of the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure to any particular position or orientation. Terms of degree, such as “substantially” or “approximately” are understood by those of ordinary skill to refer to reasonable ranges outside of the given value, for example, general tolerances associated with manufacturing, assembly, and use of the described embodiments.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
PCT/US22/36895 | 7/13/2022 | WO |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
63221257 | Jul 2021 | US |