Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to refrigerated display cabinets, and more specifically to a flat tube microchannel heat exchanger configuration for refrigerated merchandisers.
In practice, grocery stores and supermarkets use refrigerated merchandisers of different types, which may be open or with doors, for displaying and presenting fresh food and beverages to the customers, while maintaining a desired temperature of the products below a predefined threshold. In order to maintain the low temperature, cold air is circulated to the product display area of the cabinet by passing airflow over a heat exchanger surface of an evaporator. Refrigerant is pumped through the internal passages of the tubes which absorbs the heat from the air via fins and tube surfaces and the refrigerant changes from a liquid phase to a vapor phase in the process. As a result, the temperature of the air passing through the evaporator is lowered. One or more fans are typically included in the base of the refrigerated display cabinet and drive cold air through the heat exchanger, and deliver the cold air to the product display area of the merchandiser. Optimally designed refrigerated merchandisers are configured to maximize the display space without increasing the required footprint of the refrigerated merchandiser.
According to an embodiment, a refrigerated display cabinet includes a housing surrounding a plurality of shelves, a cabinet tank arranged beneath the plurality of shelves and a backwall channel positioned behind the plurality of shelves. The cabinet tank and the backwall channel cooperate to define an air passage. A micro-channel heat exchanger and a fan are arranged within the air passage. The fan being operable to move a flow of air through the heat exchanger. The fan is one of a cross-flow fan and a mixed-flow fan. The heat exchanger is arranged within the air passage at an angle between about 20 degrees and about 80 degrees or between about 100 degrees and about 160 degrees relative to the flow of air.
In addition to one or more of the features described herein, or as an alternative, in further embodiments the fan is arranged within the cabinet tank.
In addition to one or more of the features described herein, or as an alternative, in further embodiments the heat exchanger is arranged within the cabinet tank.
In addition to one or more of the features described herein, or as an alternative, in further embodiments the heat exchanger is arranged in a forward mounting configuration.
In addition to one or more of the features described herein, or as an alternative, in further embodiments an angle of the heat exchanger is between about 20 degrees and about 80 degrees.
In addition to one or more of the features described herein, or as an alternative, in further embodiments the heat exchanger is arranged in a backward mounting configuration.
In addition to one or more of the features described herein, or as an alternative, in further embodiments an angle of the heat exchanger is between about 100 degrees and about 160 degrees.
In addition to one or more of the features described herein, or as an alternative, in further embodiments the fan is a mixed-flow fan arranged at an non-perpendicular angle relative to the flow of air through the air passage and the heat exchanger is arranged downstream from the fan.
In addition to one or more of the features described herein, or as an alternative, in further embodiments the heat exchanger axially overlaps an edge of the fan.
In addition to one or more of the features described herein, or as an alternative, in further embodiments the heat exchanger is arranged within the backwall channel.
In addition to one or more of the features described herein, or as an alternative, in further embodiments the fan is at least partially arranged within the backwall channel.
In addition to one or more of the features described herein, or as an alternative, in further embodiments the fan is a mixed-flow fan, the fan being mounted at an angle between −20 degrees and about 20 degrees.
In addition to one or more of the features described herein, or as an alternative, in further embodiments the heat exchanger is arranged downstream from the fan, the heat exchanger being arranged at an angle relative to a flow through the air passage.
In addition to one or more of the features described herein, or as an alternative, in further embodiments the heat exchanger is arranged within the cabinet tank and the fan is arranged within the backwall channel.
In addition to one or more of the features described herein, or as an alternative, in further embodiments a width of a fan inlet is between about 25% and about 75% of the width of the cabinet tank.
In addition to one or more of the features described herein, or as an alternative, in further embodiments a width of the heat exchanger is between about 50% and about 95% of the width of the cabinet tank.
Also disclosed is a refrigerated display cabinet includes a housing surrounding a plurality of shelves, a cabinet tank arranged beneath the plurality of shelves and a backwall channel positioned behind the plurality of shelves. The cabinet tank and the backwall channel cooperate to define an air passage. A micro-channel heat exchanger and a fan are arranged within the air passage. The fan being operable to move a flow of air through the heat exchanger. At least one of the fan and the heat exchanger is positioned within the cabinet tank, and a height of the cabinet tank is less than or equal to about 180 mm.
In addition to one or more of the features described herein, or as an alternative, in further embodiments the fan is a cross-flow fan.
In addition to one or more of the features described herein, or as an alternative, in further embodiments the fan is a mixed-flow fan.
In addition to one or more of the features described herein, or as an alternative, in further embodiments the heat exchanger is arranged at a non-perpendicular angle relative to a flow through the air passage.
The following descriptions should not be considered limiting in any way. With reference to the accompanying drawings, like elements are numbered alike:
A detailed description of one or more embodiments of the disclosed apparatus and method are presented herein by way of exemplification and not limitation with reference to the Figures.
With reference now to
The at least one door 40 movable between a closed position (
The refrigerated space 34 typically includes a plurality of shelves 44 for supporting the goods displayed therein. As best shown in
A heat exchanger 52 for cooling the air being provided to the shelves 44 may also be arranged within the backwall channel 48, such as between the backwall panel 46 and the rear wall 26 of the cabinet body 22. As shown in
A width of the fan inlet 160 may be less than or equal to a width of the return cavity 156. In an embodiment, a width of the fan inlet 160 is between about 25% and about 75% of the width of the cabinet tank 156. However, embodiments where the width is of the fan inlet 160 is less than 25% of the width of the cabinet tank 156, and embodiments where the width of the fan inlet 160 is greater than 75% of the cabinet tank 156 are also contemplated herein.
In the illustrated, non-limiting embodiment, the heat exchanger 152 is arranged within the cabinet tank 156, upstream from the cross-flow fan 154. The heat exchanger 154 within the cabinet tank 156 may be used in place of, or alternatively, in addition to a heat exchanger positioned within the backwall channel 148 as previously described. In an embodiment, the heat exchanger is a flat tube heat exchanger, also referred to herein as a “microchannel heat exchanger.” A flat tube heat exchanger includes an inlet manifold and an outlet manifold fluidly connected by a plurality of flat tubes. The flat tubes may be formed to include a plurality of channels, or internal passageways that are much smaller than the internal passageways of the tubes in a conventional round-tube plate-fin heat exchanger, such as the heat exchanger 52 of
A width of the heat exchanger 152 may be less than or equal to a width of the cabinet tank 156. In an embodiment, a width of the heat exchanger 152 is between about 50% and about 95% of the width of the cabinet tank 156. However, embodiments where the width of the heat exchanger 152 is less than 50% of the width of the cabinet tank 156, and embodiments where the width of the heat exchanger 152 is greater than 95% of the cabinet tank 156 are also contemplated herein. Further, the width of the heat exchanger 152 may be the same or may be different than the width of the fan inlet 160. Although the width of the fan inlet 160 and the heat exchanger 152 are illustrated and described with respect to
In an embodiment, such as shown in
In both the forward mounting configuration and the backward mounting configuration, the heat exchanger 152 is arranged at an angle relative to the horizontal air flow. In an embodiment, an angle of the heat exchanger 152 in the forward mounting configuration is between about 20 degrees and about 80 degrees, such as between about 25 degrees and about 75 degrees, or between about 35 degrees and about 55 degrees. In an embodiment, the angle of the heat exchanger 152 when in the backward mounting configuration is between about 100 degrees and about 160 degrees, such as between about 105 degrees and about 155 degrees, or between about 125 degrees and about 145 degrees.
In embodiments where the heat exchanger 152 is used in combination with a cross flow fan 154, a heat exchanger 152 having a forward mounting configuration may be best suited for use in applications where the cabinet tank 156 has a uniform or almost uniform internal height and a heat exchanger 152 having a backward mounting configuration may be most suitable for use in a cabinet tank 156 having a stepped configuration. However, it should be understood that a heat exchanger 152 may be mounted in either configuration in a cabinet tank 156 having any configuration.
With reference now to
As shown, the mixed-flow fan 254 may be mounted at a non-perpendicular angle relative to horizontal flow of air A through the cabinet tank 256. In an embodiment, best shown in
Alternatively, the fan 254 may be mounted in a backward mounting configuration, as shown in
In the illustrated, non-limiting embodiments, the heat exchanger 252 is mounted in a forward mounting configuration regardless of how the fan 254 is oriented within the cabinet tank 256. The angle of the heat exchanger 252 relative to the horizontal air flow A when in the forward mounting configuration is between about 20 degrees and about 80 degrees, such as between about 25 degrees and about 75 degrees, or between about 35 degrees and about 55 degrees. In embodiments where both the heat exchanger 252 and the mixed-flow fan 254 have a forward mounting configuration, the forward end 264 of the heat exchanger 252 may axially overlap with the downstream edge 270 of the mixed-flow fan 254. However, it should be understood that embodiments where the heat exchanger 252 has a backward mounting configuration, regardless of whether the mixed-flow fan 254 is in a forward or backward mounting configuration are also within the scope of the disclosure.
With reference now to
With continued reference to
With reference now to the portion of a modified refrigerated display cabinet 320 shown in
With reference to
In another embodiment, as shown in
The fan and heat exchanger arrangements as described herein are uniquely selected to minimize the in-situ aerodynamic duty losses and maximize the air management system efficiency. A modified refrigerated display cabinet as described herein may have a reduced height of the cabinet tank of less than or equal to about 180 mm, such as less than or equal to about 160 mm, or even less than or equal to about 135 mm. Further, several benefits are achieved by integrating a mixed-flow fan and/or a cross flow fan into the air flow channel upstream or downstream from one or more heat exchangers including low noise, substantial higher flow/duty point, and substantial higher efficiency fan operation. In addition, better heat exchanger coil face air velocity distribution, and thus better air to refrigerant heat transfer is achieved, resulting in better air flow distribution inside the cabinet and thus more stable product temperatures, slowing down the deterioration of food quality and lower cabinet energy consumption.
The term “about” is intended to include the degree of error associated with measurement of the particular quantity based upon the equipment available at the time of filing the application.
The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the present disclosure. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises” and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, element components, and/or groups thereof.
While the present disclosure has been described with reference to an exemplary embodiment or embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted for elements thereof without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. In addition, many modifications may be made to adapt a particular situation or material to the teachings of the present disclosure without departing from the essential scope thereof. Therefore, it is intended that the present disclosure not be limited to the particular embodiment disclosed as the best mode contemplated for carrying out this present disclosure, but that the present disclosure will include all embodiments falling within the scope of the claims.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Patent Application No. 63/313,524, filed Feb. 24, 2022, the contents of which are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.
Number | Date | Country | |
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63313524 | Feb 2022 | US |