US2489009A - Refrigerating apparatus including a cabinet having means for suspending it from the wall of a space to be cooled - Google Patents

Description

Nov. 22,1949 5. s. CORHANIDIS 2,489,009

REFRIGERATING APPARATUS INCLUDING A CABINET HAVING MEANS FOR SUSPENDING IT FROM THE WALL OF A SPACE TO BE COOLED Filed June 11, 1948 3 Sheets-Sheet .l.

INVENTOR.

1949 s. CORHANIDIS 89,009

5. REFRIGERATING APPARATUS INCLUDING A CABINET HAVING MEANS FOR SUSPENDING IT FROM THE WALL OF A SPACE TO BE COOLED Filed June 11, 1948 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 as 5 9'6 JNVENTOR.

w iw Nov. 22, 1949 s. s. CORHANIDIS REFRIGERATING APPARATUS INCLUDING A CABINET HAVING MEANS FOR SUSZENDING IT FROM THE WALL OF A SPACE TO BE COOLED 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed June 11, 1948 INVENTOR. 5. Corfian zdL s,

- freezer unit.

Patented Nov, 22, 1949 CABINET HAVING ME ING IT FROM THE BE COOLED ANS FOR SUSPEND- WALL OF A SPACE TO Sbastien S. Corhanidis, Athens, Greece Application June 11, 1948, Serial No. 32,480

12 Claims.

1 This invention relates to refrigerating systems in which one or more refrigerator chambers may be maintained within a predetermined range of low temperatures by a single detachable refrigeratin unit. More particularly it relates to a refrigerating unit which is readily adaptable to provide regulated freezing or cooling temperatures in any insulated box or chamber without taking up any space within said box or chamber, and which may be instantly detached without having any opening in the insulation enclosing said chamber. It may serve as the sole supply of cooling means for the box or chamber, or as an auxiliary for supplying additional cooling means to an overloaded box or chamber or when additional quick freezing or cooling is desired.

The object of this invention is to build a compact and complete freezing unit and means for quickly and easily adapting it for detachable attachment to any insulated compartment for reducing its temperature to any desired degree and maintaining said low temperature automatically in a most economical manner.

A further object is to arrange the parts of the above unit so as to form a compact, rugged, but smooth box-like assembly having adjacent inlet and outlet ports in one side, and to provide corresponding inlet and outlet grids and hinge pins for installation in a suitable portion of the wall of the insulated compartment, and complementary hinge hangers on said assembly to hang it instantly and to enable it to be swung against the compartment wall so that the inlet and outlet ports and grids register and form continuous corresponding ducts for withdrawing the air from the compartment and returning it thereto after it had been cooled in the cooling chamber of the A further object is to provide a door for the grid openings in the compartment wall which is swingable out of the way of the refrigerating unit when mounted in place.

A further object is to provide a lock on the compartment wall for holding the refrigerating unit firmly in place when it is swung into operating position:

A further object is to insulate the cooling chamber in the above unit from the rest of the assembly, and providing a blower in said chamber for causing the fiow of air above referred to, driving said blower through a shaft passing through the insulation by a motor in said assembly outside said chamber.

A further object is to arrange a conventional type in a space in-said assembly below said cooling chamber, with a collector pan at the bottom along one side of said space, and a drain pipe from a drip pan under the cooling coils in the cooling chamber, emptying into said collector: pan, to leave said side of the space open, place a dust screen across said opening, an air moistening means dipping into said collector pan behind said dust screen, and a cooling coil for the refrigerant behind said air moistenin means, and to provide an outlet opening in another side of said space and a fan driven by a separate motor, mounted behind said opening for drawing ambient air into said space through said dust screen, air moistening means and cooling coil,

and exhausting it through said outlet opening.

A further object is to provide an adjustable temperature control switch on the outside of said cooling chamber having a sensitive element extending through the chamber insulation, into the airstream therein.

A further object is to provide in the above as sembly a switch operated in response to swinging the unit into operating position against the insulated compartment to turn on the motorcompressor combination, so as to automatically turn it off when the assembly is swung out and to permit quick defrosting of the refrigerating unit by blowing the ambient air through the cooling chamber.

Other and more specific objects of this invention will become apparent in the following demotor compressor combination of the sealed unit tailed description of one embodiment illustrating the present invention, having referenceto the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a perspective view showing the device applied to an insulated compartment or refrigerator,

Figure 2 is an enlarged partial detail perspective view of the inlet and outlet parts and grids, hingepins and hangers, and a portion of the door for the grid opening, a

Figure 3 is a detailed sectional view taken on the lines 33 of Figures 1 and 4, and

Figure 4 is a sectional view taken on the lines 4-4 of Figures 1 and 3.

The box I of Fig. 1 may be any type of insulated compartment or refrigerator, and may be only one of a number of similar or difierent types of insulated compartments to be supplied with refrigeration by the same demountable refrigerating unit 2. It will be understood that the box I of Fig. 1 is only illustrative and may comprise a room, chamber, cell or any single or multiple enclosure that may or may not be insulated.

n 3 In this illustrated e bodiment the refrigerating unit is applied on one side of the compartment near the top. but it may be applied at any other suitable location on any side of the compartq ment. n

The application of this unit to any insulated compartment is made by simply cutting out the wall of the compartment at a suitable location, to the size of the grid port frame 3 to be installed therein by means of the frame fastening screws 4. This frame has two adjacent port openings 5 and i with grids l and 8 respectively therein for guiding the direction of the air flowing therethrough.

The frame 3 is provided with hinge pins 9 for the hinge hangers ID on the refrigerating unit 2. On the other side the frame" has a'hinged door 'H mounted on spring loaded hinges Ila closing the port openings 5 and 6, but swingable to open position out of the way of the refrigerating unit when it is swinging on its hinges into operating position with its inlet and outlet ports 12 and II respectively registering with the ports 5 and 8. .The refrigerating unit is held firmly in this position by any suitable means such as the trip lock II, the resilient insulating gasket l5 which is fixed to the frame 3 providing a good seal for the ports.

- It may be seen from the above description that the installation of the unit on any given insulated compartment is a simple matter requiring no special skill and may be performed by any one having a few necessary tools. The unit has an ordinary electric cord l6 and plug I! which may be connected to any electrical, outlet after the unit is installed. 7

The refrigerating unit 2 comprises a box-like outer casing 18 which has the cooling chamber IS in its upper part enclosed by an insulating wall 20, except for the ports l2 and I3 which communicate with ports 5 and 5 respectively. A centrifugal blower 2i is mounted in chamber IQ for drawing air from the compartment I through the grids I in port opening 5, the inlet port l2 and duct 22, and discharging it through the cooling coils 23, port [3, port opening 6 and grids 8 back into the compartment. The grids 8 may be turned to any angle desired to provide a most effective circulation of the cooled air in the particular compartment to which the unit is applied. The blower is driven by a motor 24 on the outside of the insulating wall of chamber 19 through a shaft 25 passing through this wall. Also on the outside of the chamber l 9 in a space above the motor is an electrically insulated panel 26 on which are mounted the relay 2'], capacitor 28, a thermal overload protector 29 and control switch 30, which has its thermo-sensitive element 3| extended through the wall 20 of chamber l9 into the path of the air flowing from the blower to the cooling coils.' The casing 18 has an inspection opening opposite the panel 26, closed by a hinge plate 32 hung over it. The switch has contacts 33 connected by spring terminals 34 into the control circuit in a conventional manner. The circuit connections between the several electrical elements are omitted for the sake of simplicity of illustration.

The space in the lower part of the refrigerating unit is occupied by a condensing unit which includes a sealed unit type motor compressor combination 4|. One side of this space is left open, a dust screen 35 being hung back of this opening. A drain collector pan 36 is mounted at the bottom moistening ribbon 31 threaded over a frame 30 stretched .across the opening back of the dust screen and dipping into the collector pan to soak up any accumulation of water therein. Back of this frame 38 is the cooling coil 39 for the refrigerant. The condenser unit further includes a motor 40 which operates the fan 42, that draws ambient air through the dust screen, air moistening ribbon and cooling coils and pushes it out the duct 43 in another side of said space. The compressed refrigerant reservoir 44 may be mounted under the motor 40. 1

A drip pan 4.: is mounted under the coolin coils 23. This drip pan has a drain pipe 46 with a liquid trap formed by a vertical loop 41, emptying into the collector pan 36. Any condensate or melted frost which drips down from the cooling coils into the drip pan drains down through the drain pipe into the collector pan, where it is soaked up by the ribbon 31 which gives it up to the air drawn through the dust screen in vapor form, thus cooling the air by extracting from it the heat of vaporization and assisting in cooling the refrigerant in the cooling coils 39 to a lower temperature. This increases the efficiency of the cooling means, while at the same time it automatically disposes of any collected condensate in the collecting pan. It will be noted that conventional connections between the various parts of the unit shown are omitted for the sake of clarity.

The-frame 3 has a lug 48 fixed to it at the bottom for cooperation with a switch 49 mounted on the refrigerating unit 2 to close the switch when the unit 2 is swung into locked operative position to complete the power supply circuit to both the motor-compressor combination 4| and fan motor 40 and to automatically disconnect this circuit when the unit is swung out, for stopping refrigeration while continuing the intake of air from the outside atmosphere by the motor operated blower 21 instead of from the insulated compartment and passing it through the cooling coils to hasten defrosting.

When the unit 2 is swung out sufllciently, the door I l is automatically closed on the ports 5 and 6 without interference, so as to retain complete insulation for the insulated compartment, and the unit 2 may remain on its hinge pins or be removed therefrom, as may be desired.

Obviously, a refrigerating unit of this type may also be used for maintaining room temperatures within comfortable limits on hot summer days with a properly set temperature control switch.

Thus it will be seen that the present device provides not only for various systems of servicing more than one refrigerator or cooler with a single detachable refrigerating unit, but also supplies a real need as a separable unit which takes up no space inside the refrigerator compartment, which is compact and yet has those parts which need maintenance readily accessible for servicing, adjustment or inspection, and may be'quickly replaced by a spare without the necessity of laying up the whole refrigerator while repairs are being made on its refrigerating apparatus, as is now normally necessary.

It is furthermore now possible to use an existing model ice box, and by the application of the present device, convert it into an ieeless refrigerator in short order at small expense, and simultaneously increas its cubic capacity by making use of the ice space.

New refrigerators built with the present realong the back of this screen and has an air frigerating unit applied thereto, have the advantage of having a quick defrosting unit without the necessity of opening and warming the refrigerator space.

As already mentioned, the present unit may be applied as a booster to refrigerators or quick freeze units, where needed. This. device has many other obvious advantages.

Modifications in the details of this refrigerating unit may obviously be made without departing from the spirit and scope of this invention, as defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A refrigerating system comprising a closed compartment with an opening in a vertical wall thereof, a refrigerator including a cabinet detachably mounted on said wall and positioned entirely externally of the compartment, a refrigerating circuit in said cabinet, the cabinet having two chambers, one of said chambers in register with said compartment through said wall opening, said refrigerating circuit including an evaporator structure in the chamber communi eating with said compartment and a refrigerant llquifying apparatus in the other chamber and connected to said evaporator and an air impeller, means for directing air discharged from the impeller through said opening into said compartment and means for directing air from said compartment to the intake of said impeller, said evaporator being located in the path of the air.

2. A refrigerating system as defined in claim 1, wherein a frame having two adjacent ports therein is mounted in the opening in said compartment wall, a door hinged at one side of said frame for closing said ports, and said refrigerator cabinet being detachably hinged at the other side of said frame and having corresponding ports in the chamber housing the evaporator structure registering with said two adjacent ports when the door is swung out of the way and the refrigerator cabinet swung against said wall.

3. The combination defined in claim 2, including a resilient gasket of insulating material fixed on said frame around said ports to form an airtight seal for the door or the refrigerating cabinet,'whichever is swung over said ports, and latch means on the wall of said compartment for holding said cabinet tightly in operative position against said gasket.

4. The combination defined in claim 3, wherein said refrigerating cabinet is a sturdy, compact, box-like assembly with the ports therein being the inlet and outlet ports to the cooling chamber housing the evaporator structure and thermally insulated from the other chamber, said air impeller being driven by a motor outside of said chamber through a shaft passing through said insulation, an air passageway from the inlet port to the air impeller for drawing air therethrou'gh,

and blowing it out through the outlet port, and

a cooling coil in the path of air travel through the cooling chamber.

5. The combination defined in claim 4, including flow directing grids in said pair of frame ports turned in suitable directions for getting the 7. The combination defined in claim 6, wherein the refrigerant liquifying apparatus includes a motor-compressor combination in the other chamber of the cabinet which is partially open on one side, a dust screen mounted in said opening, a cooling coil for the refrigerant back of said screen, an opening in another side of said chamber, and a fan in said chamber driven by a motor for drawing ambient air through said dust screen over said cooling coil and discharging it through said last named opening.

. 8. The combination defined in claim 7, including a refrigerant reservoir mounted under the motor in said last named chamber.

9. The combination defined in claim '8, including a collector pan at the bottom of the last named cooling coils, a drip pan in said cooling chamber under said first named cooling coils for catching the condensate or melted frost during defrosting from the first named cooling coils, and a drain pipe. from said drip pan emptying into said collector pan.

10. The combination defined in claim 9, wherein said drain pipe has a liquid trap in the form of a vertical loop therein.

11. The combination defined in claim 10, including a frame back of said dust screen dipping down into said collector pan, and an absorbent ribbon threaded over said frame for soaking up any water that might be in said collector pan and exposing it to the air flow past the screen to improve the cooling effect on said refrigerant cooling coils and to dispose of said water accumulation automatically.

12. The combination defined in claim 4, wherein said blower is of the squirrel cage centrifugal impeller type. and said air passageway leading into the center of the squirrel cage and being directed radially thereof.

SEBASTIEN S. CORHANIDIS.

REFERENCES orrEn The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS DiZoppola Dec. 30, 1947

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