Abstract: Methods and apparatus are directed to positioning proximate cooling units in novel ways in refrigerated food service and display units. Preferred embodiments include one or more of the following: (1) positioning the top of a side-pan cooling element above the top of an adjacent food pan; (2) positioning at least a portion of a side-pan cooling element above a portion of the opening of a food pan; (3) positioning multiple side-pan cooling elements between adjacent food pans; (4) movably positioning a side-pan cooling element relative to an adjacent food pan; (5) positioning a plate type side-pan cooling element as a non-linear divider among adjacent food pans, and (6) providing a pan cooler with a low capacity fan which allows cooled air to be recirculated about the food pans substantially independently of air circulation within any storage area of the refrigeration unit. In most preferred embodiments, the pan cooler has a finless sub-pan cooling element.

Abstract: Disclosed is a pan cooler for a refrigeration unit which has a plurality of pans 22 which hold food removably mounted in the refrigeration unit. There is an opening 20 in the top wall 18 of the unit's cabinet 12 designed to enable the pans to be seated in the opening. Location means seat an individual pan 22 in one of a plurality of predetermined pan positions in the opening, and an individual pan, when in a predetermined pan position, is seated in the opening 20 so that substantially the entire lower body of the pan is disposed within the cooling chamber 16 of cabinet 12. The location means allows an individual pan 22 to be removed from the opening 20 and then reseated in the opening. A plurality of cooling elements 54 are disposed at the opening 20 in close proximity to the pan positions and mounted so that substantially the entire cooling element is disposed within the cooling chamber 16.