Material Handlers Of Diverse Types Patents (Class 62/336)
  • Patent number: 9909799
    Abstract: Some embodiments of the present invention provide an apparatus (1) comprising at least one receptacle (42) within which an article (44) can be placed for temperature-controlled storage. The apparatus (1) has a reservoir (10) within which fluid is contained, the reservoir (10) having a cooling region in thermal communication with the at least one receptacle (42). The reservoir (10) includes a headspace containing fluid that is, in use, higher than the at least one receptacle (42). The apparatus (1) has cooling means (30) for cooling fluid within the headspace. The or each receptacle (42) comprises a tube or pouch having an opening defined by an aperture (40) disposed in a wall of the reservoir (10) and extending inwardly into the cooling region so as to be submerged therein.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 28, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 6, 2018
    Assignee: The Sure Chill Company Limited
    Inventor: Ian Tansley
  • Patent number: 9080809
    Abstract: A cooling device of the present invention, includes: a cooler provided on at least one side-wall side of a chamber formed with a thermal insulating box; a cooling chamber in front of the cooler; and a fan that allows air in the cooling chamber to flow. The cooler and the cooling chamber are partitioned by a partition so as to allow cold air to be accumulated in the cooler, the fan is disposed on a side of the cooler relative to the partition, the partition in front of the fan has an aperture, and cold air accumulated in a space inside the partition and hot air in the cooling chamber are exchanged by the fan through the aperture. Thereby, a cooling device with a simple configuration and excellent cooling performance can be provided, by which the amount of frost deposited on a cooling coil can be reduced and the miniaturization of the device can be realized.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 18, 2004
    Date of Patent: July 14, 2015
    Assignee: KOGASANGYO CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Yoshihisa Umeno
  • Patent number: 8800313
    Abstract: A water circulation system associated with a refrigerant cycle that includes an intermediate heat exchanger having a triple-pipe shape in which three independent flow passages are formed by three pipes having a concentric axis and different diameters. Accordingly, three fluids flowing through the three independent flow passages can exchange heat with each other at the same time through the intermediate heat exchanger and heat exchange capacity of the intermediate heat exchanger can selectively be varied.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 23, 2010
    Date of Patent: August 12, 2014
    Assignee: LG Electronics Inc.
    Inventors: Hyoung Suk Woo, Jae Sun Song
  • Publication number: 20140033740
    Abstract: An apparatus and method for distributing articles is arranged to deliver articles to selected stacking positions in two or more storage units. An article is dispensed to a first article transport and distribution section in a main storage unit, and then either delivered to a stacking position in the main unit or transported through a connecting window onto a second transport and distribution section in a satellite storage unit for delivery to a stacking position in that unit. The procedure is repeated to distribute subsequent bags of ice to selected stacking positions in each unit. Additional satellite storage units may be provided and included in the delivery sequence for distributing bags of ice throughout the units. The storage units may be refrigerated, merchandizing units for bagged ice, with the main storage unit associated with an ice bagged ice supply unit which dispenses bags of ice into the unit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 19, 2013
    Publication date: February 6, 2014
    Applicant: SCHUR TECHNOLOGY A/S
    Inventor: Henrik Pape
  • Patent number: 8313007
    Abstract: The portable multipurpose food and beverage insulated container and water dispensing alternative consists of the cooler body, a press fit top lid, a content support assemblage, a cup support assemblage, a nozzle access door and rubber skid strips. The cooler body is a rigid plastic multilayer housing with thermal insulator foam deposited between the general plainer outer shell and inner shell for reducing heat transfer through the cooler body. The press fit lid covers the top of the cooler body. The plastic content support assemblage supports the weight of the unit's contents in one of two possible orientations and collects condensate from the ice pack and or content defrosting. The cup support assemblage seats cups on a level surface and captures spills during water dispensing. The nozzle access door positioned on the frontal face of the cooler body opens to allow access to the water container's nozzle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2009
    Date of Patent: November 20, 2012
    Inventor: Thomas Kolaco Kpabar
  • Publication number: 20120060539
    Abstract: A cassette puller for an automated storage and retrieval system that stores biological or chemical samples in freezers maintained at ultra-low temperature (e.g., ?80° C.) or cryogenic temperatures includes a vertical sleeve into which the selected cassette is lifted. The cassette puller is mounted to a traveling gantry and transports cassettes from one freezer location to another and to the system input/output module, and also includes an ejection mechanism that inserts and retrieves tube storage racks or plates from a selected shelf on the cassette. Other components such as a rack robot, a tube picking mechanism, a sample identification station, etc. are mounted on the traveling gantry as well.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 9, 2011
    Publication date: March 15, 2012
    Applicant: HAMILTON STORAGE TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
    Inventors: Frank Hunt, Bruce Zandi, Julian Warhurst, Robert Cloutier
  • Patent number: 8109115
    Abstract: Refrigeration apparatus comprising a cold storage compartment, accessible from the outside, and provided internally with a sealed container adapted to accommodate a flexible and compressible receptacle holding a beverage; there are provided pneumatic or air-compression means to generate a selectively controllable pneumatic pressure inside said container, but outside said flexible receptacle, and said sealed container is capable of being opened from the outside by means of a closure applied on a face thereof, wherein said closure is provided with a through-aperture, through which there extends a drawing-off conduit. Whenever a need arises for beverage to be drawn off the receptacle, a pressure increase is triggered inside the sealed container, and said pressure increase will act upon the walls of the internal receptacle so that the latter is caused to collapse and reduce its volume, thereby causing the beverage to be ejected therefrom and, therefore, drawn off.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 27, 2006
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2012
    Assignee: Electrolux Professional SpA
    Inventors: Ennio Pippia, Deny Longo
  • Publication number: 20110132018
    Abstract: Used in a refrigerant recovery machine having a refrigerant input pipe and a refrigerant output pipe, an electronic instrument is disclosed to include a control unit, a LCD device controllable by the control unit to display the operation status of the refrigerant recovery machine, and a pressure sensor unit having an input pipe pressure sensor and an output pipe pressure sensor for detecting the pressure in the input pipe and the pressure in the output pipe and transmitting the respective detected pressure values to the control unit for comparison with a pre-set pressure threshold limit value so that the control unit controls the operation of the refrigerant recovery machine subject to the comparison results.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 8, 2009
    Publication date: June 9, 2011
    Applicant: SUN-WONDER INDUSTRIAL CO., LTD.
    Inventor: An-Chao CHANG
  • Publication number: 20110036744
    Abstract: An embodiment of the present invention is a decorative tray for serving chilled produce. The decorative tray comprises (a) a portable housing containing one or more sockets; (b) one or more removable inserts adapted to fit the sockets each having a hollow interior; and (c) a freezable substance disposed within the hollow interior of each removable insert.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 11, 2009
    Publication date: February 17, 2011
    Applicant: ABRAHAM JOSHUA HESCHEL SCHOOL
    Inventors: Aaron Rubin, Zev Dov Hurwich, Samuel Ross Kupferberg, Benjamin Martin Katzenstein, Zachary Levine
  • Publication number: 20090255288
    Abstract: A unique device for facilitating insertion and retrieval of biological specimens into and from a liquid nitrogen storage tank and a method of using the device is disclosed. The device basically has one U-shaped mainframe body, two handles, one semi-circular switch, four hooks, one rack rod locker, and one cross-shaped sample box holder.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 8, 2008
    Publication date: October 15, 2009
    Inventor: Yu Jia
  • Publication number: 20090007586
    Abstract: An underwater-cooling water-temperature maintaining apparatus of a food includes: a water tank where a cooled stuff and cooling treated water of which a freezing point is not more than zero Celsius degree; a treated water cooler configured to cool the cooling treated water; a water temperature detection sensor configured to detect a water temperature of the cooling treated water; an agitator pump configured to equalize the water temperature of the cooling treated water in the water tank; ultrasonic vibrators configured to oscillate ultrasound toward an inside of the water tank in order to prevent the cooled stuff from being frozen; and a controller configured to control the ultrasonic vibrators, the water temperature detection sensor, the treated water cooler, and the agitator pump so as to maintain the water temperature of the cooling treated water at a temperature at which the cooled stuff is not frozen.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 1, 2008
    Publication date: January 8, 2009
    Applicant: SHINYO Industries, Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Shintaro Takenaka
  • Publication number: 20080256963
    Abstract: A performance enhancement device is disclosed comprising a chimney that is secured to an upward-facing air exhaust of the condenser unit of an air conditioning system for directing the hot air discharged from the condenser away from the air conditioning system. A sun screened enclosure may also be utilized for at least partially surrounding the condenser unit and protecting it from solar radiation. When used in conjunction with the chimney, the chimney extends above the uppermost extent of the sun screened enclosure. One or more misting nozzles may be disposed within the sun screened enclosure for dispersing a water mist within the enclosure. The misting nozzles may be controlled individually, or in groups.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 27, 2008
    Publication date: October 23, 2008
    Inventor: Theodore William Mettier
  • Publication number: 20080173027
    Abstract: A refrigerator includes a dispenser including a moving chute configured to move from a stored position in which an outlet of the moving chute is positioned in a space defined in a refrigerator door to an operable position in which the outlet of the moving chute is positioned outside of the refrigerator door.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 18, 2008
    Publication date: July 24, 2008
    Applicant: LG ELECTRONICS INC.
    Inventors: Dong Jeong KIM, Seong Jae KIM, Kyung Han JEONG
  • Patent number: 6960236
    Abstract: A clean room has a cleaned air feeding apparatus 1 having a rotor 2 adsorbing gaseous chemical substances to an adsorbing part 16 and desorbing the adsorbed gaseous chemical substances at the regenerating part 17. Drive 4 drives the rotor 2 to the adsorbing part 16 and the regenerating part 17. The gaseous chemical substances contained in the air are adsorbed, for removal, to the adsorbing part 16, and cleaned air is fed into a clean room main body 32. Heated regenerated air is fed to the regenerating part 17 so as to desorb the adsorbed gaseous chemical substances from the air.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 6, 2000
    Date of Patent: November 1, 2005
    Assignee: Daikin Industries, Ltd.
    Inventors: Yoshio Tamura, Yasuyoshi Shinoda
  • Patent number: 6250095
    Abstract: A low-humidity working apparatus comprising a housing (8) forming a working chamber (9), a dehumidifying apparatus (18), and air supply means. The metal housing (8) forming the working chamber (9) is provided with a laterally elongated operating hole (30), a plurality of strip flexible sealing members are arranged adjacent to each other and suspended in this operating hole (30), and a laterally elongated window hole (31) is disposed in the vicinity of and above the operating hole (30) and closed by a light-transmitting window plate. The dehumidifying apparatus (18) circulates the air in the working chamber (9) by sucking the air therefrom, cooling the sucked air by an evaporator (48) of a compression refrigerating machine (41), dehumidifying the cooled air by a dehumidifying rotor (61) carrying a dehumidifying agent, and returning the low-humidity air from the dehumidifying rotor (61) to the working chamber (9).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 1, 2000
    Date of Patent: June 26, 2001
    Assignee: Daikin Industries, Ltd.
    Inventors: Keiichiro Kametani, Shigehito Ota
  • Patent number: 5966961
    Abstract: A heating or refrigeration apparatus comprising a refrigeration circuit which includes an evaporator, a condenser, a compressor, and a valve or capillary duct for expansion between the condenser and the evaporator. It also includes a seat or space for material to be temperature-conditioned at the evaporator and at the condenser, each seat being arranged in a heat-exchange relationship with at least one portion of duct of the evaporator or of the condenser of the refrigeration circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 19, 1997
    Date of Patent: October 19, 1999
    Inventor: Paolo Ziggiotto
  • Patent number: 5237835
    Abstract: Installation permitting the rapid chilling of products stored, in particular, inside a bottle (5), consisting of a tank (1) arranged within an insulating chamber, and which contains a liquid (3) maintained at very low temperature by means of a chilling circuit (2), the products (5) to be cooled being held in the chilling medium by means of pockets (4) which descend into the chilling fluid and inside which are arranged the products to be cooled. It is defined in that the pocket or pockets (4) is or are in the form of an envelope open at its upper part (6) with a base consisting of a flexible, leaktight plastic film, and retained along their open zone at the upper part (7) of the chamber (1), and the closed base (8) of which is associated with means enabling it to be displaced from the open upper part (6) to a position near the bottom (9) of the chamber, and vice versa.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 2, 1991
    Date of Patent: August 24, 1993
    Assignee: Construction Metalliques Ardechoices C.M.A.
    Inventor: Yves Brochier
  • Patent number: 5156020
    Abstract: An apparatus for freezing foodstuffs includes a drum 1 mounted for rotary movement at an angle to the horizontal such that individual compartments 12 in the drum 1 successively descend into and rise from a vessel 11 containing cryogenic fluid. Frozen products tumble under gravity towards a central outlet 5 in one surface 4 of the drum, guided by the curved partitions 14 defining individual compartments 12.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 27, 1990
    Date of Patent: October 20, 1992
    Assignee: The BOC Group plc
    Inventors: Michael J. G. Baggs, Andrew A. Brownjohn
  • Patent number: 5125240
    Abstract: A cryogenic storage apparatus comprises a housing with an automatically operated access door. A holder device disposed in the housing supports a plurality of specimen-containing ampules, while a conveyor moves the holder device, together with the plurality of ampules, through cooling fluid in the housing along a path preferably including a snaking portion with vertically extending folds. An inverted L-shaped cooling component with an opened upper side is disposed in the housing for maintaining the cooling fluid at a predetermined low temperature. An extraction mechanism disposed outside of the housing at the access door serves to remove a selectable ampule positioned in the housing in juxtaposition to the door.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 22, 1991
    Date of Patent: June 30, 1992
    Assignee: Cryo-Cell International, Inc.
    Inventors: Hermann Knippscheer, Daniel D. Richard
  • Patent number: 4174722
    Abstract: Apparatus for emptying successive sample containers, by inverting the containers, one at a time, draining the contents of each container, washing, again draining each container and restoring each container to its initial position. Each container is held in a holder mounted for rotation in a vertical plane about a hinge near the bottom of the holder. A hook is adapted to engage a holder and pivot about a separate hinge bringing the holder and its container to an inverted position where a nozzle sprays washing fluid into the inverted sample container. After draining, the sample container is restored to an upright position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 23, 1978
    Date of Patent: November 20, 1979
    Assignee: Manning Environmental Corp.
    Inventors: Richard P. Fleenor, Henry W. Cassady, Jr.