This invention relates, generally, to walk-in refrigeration compartments that include freezer sections and, more specifically, to walk-in refrigeration compartments having free-standing, molded enclosures with an entry door and including a wholly-contained freezer section within the walk-in refrigeration compartment.
Walk-in coolers are widely used to store perishable materials and food items under refrigeration conditions. The walk-in coolers are provided by manufacturers in assemblies in which the dimensions can be varied depending upon the space available and the quantity of items to be stored in the walk-in cooler. Walk-in coolers are typically assembled with flat wall panels joined in edge to edge relationship and panels are locked together by built-in edge locks. The panels are typically about 24 to 48 inches in width and vary in height from about 6 to 8 feet. These panels vary in thickness depending upon the temperature at which the refrigeration compartment operates. For example, refrigeration compartments intended to chill items at temperatures below ambient but above freezing typically have a thickness of about 3 to about 4.5 inches. The panels are oriented in an upright manner and joined edge to edge in alignment with each other so as to define a wall of the desired length. Multiple walls, a floor, and a ceiling are set up about a space to be enclosed and an access door is provided in one or more of the walls. Where two walls meet, an insulating corner panel is inserted at the corner location and is joined to end panels on each of the two walls.
In order to increase the utility of walk-in coolers, manufactures provide walk-in coolers with freezing compartments within the walk-in cooler. By including a freezer section within the walk-in cooler, items can be stored below freezing temperatures and kept in frozen condition within the freezer compartment. Typically, the freezer compartments are wholly-contained within the larger refrigeration space of the walk-in cooler. To maintain freezing temperatures within the freezer compartment and to reduce heat loss, the walls of the freezer compartment are typically thicker than the walls of the refrigeration compartment. Also, government regulations can require that walk-in coolers and freezer sections have a particular R-value in order to reduce the amount of energy consumed by the walk-in cooler to maintain the refrigeration and freezing temperatures within the walk-in cooler. To satisfy government requirements for low thermal conductivity, the walls of the freezer section must have a sufficient thickness to achieve the required R-value. The walls of the refrigeration section, however, do not need to be as thick as the walls of the freezer section to achieve required R-values. For example, if freezer and refrigerator panels have similar construction materials, where regulations require freezer panels to have an R-value of 36 and refrigeration panels to have an R-value of 28, the freezer panels need to have a thickness that is about 120 percent or more of the thickness of the refrigeration panels.
To facilitate ease of construction and to maintain efficient manufacturing, walk-in cooler manufacturers prefer to fabricate all panels of the walk-in cooler with the same materials. Further, to enable walk-in coolers to be easily assembled on site, standardized panel sizes and connection hardware are desirable. In addition to manufacturing and assembly concerns, it is desirable that the assembled walk-in cooler have a pleasing appearance that is achieved by cooler designs having uniformly smooth exterior wall surfaces and a generally symmetrical geometric appearance. While conventional wall panels and assembly hardware is designed to achieve a pleasing aesthetic exterior appearance, conventional systems do not readily accommodate compartment walls having variable thicknesses. Accordingly, a need existent for improved compartment panels that will accommodate substantial changes in panel thickness while providing a walk-in cooler having a pleasing aesthetic appearance.
In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, a refrigeration unit including a freezer section is provided. The refrigeration unit includes first compartment panels having a first thickness and second compartment panels having a second thickness. The second thickness is different from the first thickness. The refrigeration unit also includes panel conversion members with first and second sections that have the first thickness. The first and second sections are coupled to the first compartment panels, respectively. The panel conversion members also include a coupling surface corresponding to the second thickness and configured to couple with the second compartment panels.
In another embodiment, a walk-in cooler containing a freezer compartment is provided. The walk-in cooler includes exterior and interior freezer panels having a first thickness and exterior and interior cooler panels having a second thickness. The first thickness is greater than the second thickness. At least one exterior partition panel includes first and second sections of the first thickness and a coupling surface corresponding to the second thickness. The at least one exterior partition panel forms an exterior wall of the walk-in cooler and is coupled to an interior cooler panel and an exterior freezer panel.
In yet another embodiment, a walk-in refrigeration unit is provided that includes a freezer section. The refrigeration unit includes first compartment panels having a first thickness and second compartment panels having a second thickness. The second thickness is different from the first thickness. Panel conversion members are configured to join the first and second compartment panels. The panel conversion members include a first section having the first thickness and disposed at a substantially right angle to a second section having the first thickness. The first and second sections of the panel conversion members form a corner. A coupling surface resides in proximity to the corner and has a width corresponding to the second thickness.
In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, a refrigeration compartment having a wholly-contained freezer section is provided. A walk-in cooler arranged in accordance with the invention includes a refrigeration section and a freezing compartment within the cooling compartment. The wall panels defining the freezing compartment are substantially thicker than the wall panels defining the refrigeration section. To accommodate the substantial change in panel thickness, panel conversion members are provided that couple panels having a substantially different panel thickness, yet maintain a uniform exterior wall appearance.
A walk-in cooler 10 arranged in accordance with one embodiment of the invention is illustrated in
Those skilled in the art will recognize that walk-in cooler 10 can be arranged in a variety of geometric configurations and can include various door arrangements to provide access to interior compartments. Further, walk-in cooler 10 can have interior compartment configurations that differ from those illustrated in
In the illustrated embodiment, freezer compartment 16 includes three panel conversion member at the corners of the freezer compartment. A standard corner panel 36 is positioned at an outside exterior corner of walk-in cooler 10. Corner panel 36 connects exterior wall 22 and exterior wall 26. A first panel conversion member 38 connects exterior wall 22 with interior partition wall 24. A second panel conversion member 40 connects interior partition wall 28 with interior partition wall 24. A third panel conversion member 42 connects interior partition wall 28 with exterior wall 26.
Each of the exterior walls and interior partition walls are assembled from individual wall panels that are coupled together to form the exterior walls and partition walls. As illustrated in
In contrast to the uniformly-thick exterior walls 18 and 20, exterior walls 22 and 26 include compartments panels that do not have the same thickness, such that walls 22 and 26 have a variation in wall thickness. In particular, exterior wall 22 includes first compartment panels 48 having a first thickness and second compartment panels 50 having a second thickness. Similarly, exterior wall 26 includes first compartment panels 52 having a first thickness and second compartment panels 54 having a second thickness. Also, partition wall 24 includes compartment panels 56 having the first thickness and compartment panel 58 having the second thickness. To avoid excessive heat loss and maintain freezing conditions within freezer compartment 16, second compartment panels 50 and 54 are substantially thicker than compartment panels 48 and 52.
In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, walk-in cooler 10 is configured to provide thermal insulation capability, such that freezer compartment 16 has an R-value of about 36 or more, and first and second refrigeration sections 12 and 14 have an R-value of about 28 or greater. To achieve these thermal insulation characteristics, compartment panels 44 and 46, and first compartment panels 48, 52 and 56 have a thickness of about 4-inches, while second compartment panels 50, 54, 58 and 60 have a thickness of about 5-inches. In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, panel conversion members 38, 40, and 42 are configured to connect the compartment panels having a 4-inch thickness to the compartment panels having a 5-inch thickness, while maintaining uniform exterior and interior wall surfaces.
Those skilled in the art will recognize that walk-in coolers can be provided that have different R values and, hence, different wall thicknesses that those described above. The present invention contemplates the provision of walk-in coolers having a range of R values and a range of differences in R values between the freezer compartment and the refrigeration sections.
A floor plan of walk-in cooler 10 is illustrated in
Doors 30, 32, and 34 are standard 34-inch by 78-inch swing-type doors having magnetic gaskets and Posi-Seal® (manufactured by Kason Industries) door closure and latches. The doors are self-closing with two strap-type, cam-lift hinges. The door jams are fabricated with fiberglass reinforced plastic and include a heater strip covered by magnetically attracting stainless steel that is fitted into the door jam of freezer door 34. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that various additional or different construction materials can be used to fabricate the panels and doors described herein.
A plain view of panel conversion member 38 is illustrated in
Panel conversion member 38 also includes a coupling surface 68. Coupling surface 68 enables panel conversion member 38 to couple with adjacent compartment panel 48. Compartment panel 48 is part of exterior wall 22, which in turn, defines first refrigeration section 12. Accordingly, compartment panel 48 has a thickness that is substantially less than the thicknesses of first and second sections 64 and 66. Importantly, panel conversion member 38 is configured such that compartment panel 48 can be coupled to panel conversion member 38 in such a way that a uniform exterior wall surface 70 is realized on exterior wall 22. Further, panel conversion member 38 is configured to provide flat interior compartment surface 72 facing freezer compartment 16. The inventive configuration of panel conversion member 38 enables walk-in cooler 10 to be constructed with panels having substantially different thicknesses, yet provides exterior wall surfaces that are substantially smooth and uniform, and that lack any interruption in the flatness of the wall surface.
In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, panel conversion member 38 includes a male tongue-and-groove coupling surface 74 at the terminal end of first section 64 and a female tongue-and-groove coupling surface 76 at the terminal end of second section 66. Depending upon the particular geometry of the compartment walls, coupling surfaces 74 and 76 can have either a male or female configuration as necessary. Further, the length of first and second sections 64 and 66 can vary depending upon the particular application. For example, as illustrated in
An elevational view of panel conversion member 38 is illustrated in
In addition to providing structure for accommodating a variation in wall panel thicknesses, the walk-in cooler of the present invention further provides structure for accommodating a change in thickness of ceiling panels. To achieve the needed thermal insulation for the freezer section, the ceiling panels must also have a greater thickness over the freezer section as compared to ceiling panels spanning the cooler sections.
The top surface of wall sections of the freezer compartment and adjoining cooler section are illustrated in
One exemplary embodiment of a ceiling conversion panel 82 is illustrated in
Correspondingly, second section 86 has a thickness substantially the same as second compartment panels 50, 54 and 58.
Ceiling conversion panel 82 is configured to couple to the upper surfaces of the wall sections illustrated in
A partial perspective view of a ceiling section is illustrated in
Another arrangement of a walk-in cooler 100 containing a freezing compartment is illustrated in
In the embodiment illustrated in
As in the previously-described embodiment, each of the exterior walls and the interior partition wall are assembled from individual wall panels that are coupled together to form the exterior walls and the partition wall. As illustrated in
Panel conversion members 126 and 128 are similar to panel conversion member 38 illustrated in
A ceiling conversion panel 132 is also illustrated in
Thus, it is apparent that there has been provided, in accordance with the invention, a refrigeration department including a freezer section that fully provides the advantages set forth above. Although the invention has been described and illustrated with reference to specific illustrative embodiments thereof, it is not intended that the invention be limited to those illustrative embodiments. Those skilled in the art will recognize that variations of modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. For example, numerous different types of doors, built in ramps, architectural lighting, air shields, and the like can be included in the walk-in cooler described above. Further, crown moldings, kick plates, heated air vents, door jams, digital thermometers, and the like can also readily be provided with the walk-in cooler. It is therefore intended to include within the invention all such variations and modifications as fall within the scope of the appended claims and equivalence thereof.