Abstract: A refrigerated food service counter includes a case having sidewalls that define an interior space. A refrigeration unit is in thermal communication with the sidewalls of the case. A bracket is disposed within the interior space, and a food service pan is supported by the bracket. A cooling bar is movably attached to the bracket. The cooling bar is positioned proximate the food service pan and in thermal communication with a select sidewall of the case. The refrigeration unit draws heat from the sidewalls. The select sidewall in turn draws heat from the cooling bar, and the cooling bar in turn draws heat from the food service pan.

Abstract: The present disclosure discloses an indoor unit of an air conditioner and an air conditioner. The indoor unit of the air conditioner includes an indoor unit housing, a heat exchanger, a conduit and one or more storage parts provided outside the indoor unit housing and/or inside the indoor unit housing, wherein one end of the conduit is connected to a liquid separator of the heat exchanger, the other end of the conduit is connected to a gas collecting pipe of the heat exchanger, and the conduit is used for heat exchange with the one or more storage parts.

Abstract: A refrigerator includes: a cabinet; a door rotatably connected to the cabinet by a hinge; and a door opening device for opening the door. The door opening device includes a driving motor and a push member configured to move in the forward/backward direction. The push member includes a first end portion positioned close to the front surface of the cabinet and a second end portion positioned on the opposite side of the first end portion. The cabinet includes a cabinet side wall positioned close to the hinge. The door includes a door side wall positioned close to the hinge. When the door is closed, the horizontal distance between the first end portion and the cabinet side wall or the door side wall is smaller than the horizontal distance between the second end portion and the cabinet side wall or the door side wall.

Abstract: Disclosed herein is a cooler of table-type, which can be easily kept in custody and reduce power consumption, and which can increase a cooling efficiency and provide a visual satisfaction to a user.

Abstract: Provided is a refrigerator. More functions can be added to a refrigerator door by coupling a home bar and a dispenser. Also, since the dispenser is disposed so that it is shielded from the outside, contamination of the dispenser can be prevented.

Abstract: A refrigerator includes a main body cabinet which includes an external cabinet, and an internal cabinet disposed inside the external cabinet and including a partition wall forming first and second storage compartments partitioned right and left, one of the first and second storage compartments being provided thereunder with a component compartment accommodating a compressor between the external cabinet and the internal cabinet but the other one being not provided thereunder with the component compartment; a bottom cabinet which is coupled to a bottom of the main body cabinet and accommodates a condenser for condensing a refrigerant received from the compressor accommodated in the component compartment. Thus, the capacity of the storage compartment increases, so that the inner space of the storage compartment can be efficiently used.

Abstract: A refrigerator having improved cooling and cooling recovery is provided. A main body of the refrigerator may include an outer casing that defines an external appearance of the refrigerator, and an inner casing with an open upper face installed in the outer casing to define a storage space therein. The open upper face of the main body may be opened and closed by a door. The inner casing may include a casing upper portion and a casing lower portion coupled to the bottom of the casing upper portion. The casing lower portion may be formed of a material different from that of the casing upper portion. The casing upper portion may be made of a material having a high thermal conductivity, and the casing lower portion may be made of a material having a lower thermal conductivity that that of the casing upper portion.

Abstract: A pan chiller system including a refrigeration package having a condensing unit, a heat exchanger and a pump for circulating a chilled liquid coolant, a pan chiller unit in communication with the refrigeration package and having an outer housing and a food well received within the outer housing and a plurality of hollow divider bars arranged within the food well and an opening is defined between adjacent divider bars, wherein each divider bar is configured for directly receiving the liquid coolant chilled and circulated by the refrigeration package.

Abstract: A machine for vending articles, the machine including a housing, a storage area disposed within the housing and having a thermal barrier which separates the storage area from the remainder of the interior of the housing, a dispensing area having an access port disposed within the housing which allows a user of the machine to retrieve a dispensed article, a vertically oriented opening in the thermal barrier of the storage area, the opening dimensioned for allowing articles stored in the storage area to pass from the storage area to the dispensing area, and an article retrieval device nominally located in the storage area for moving articles from the storage area to the dispensing area via said opening. A door aligned with the opening is displaceable in response to movement of articles toward the opening by the article retrieval device.

Abstract: A refrigerator having a controller and a method substantially allowing an independent cooling operation of a first compartment, e.g., cooling compartment and a second compartment, e.g., storing compartment. The storing compartment may be maintained at a cooling or preservation temperature which may be lower than a cooling or preservation temperature of the cooling compartment.

Abstract: A door opening device decreasing operational stages of a driving motor when opening a door and a refrigerator having the door opening device are disclosed. The door opening device selectively opens a first door and a second door and includes an operating member which selectively pressurizes the first door and the second door to be opened by rotation, a rotating cam including a plurality of protruding portions which contact the operating member to rotate the operating member and a plurality of depressed portions which are spaced apart from the operating member, the protruding portions and the depressed portions being formed alternately along a rotational direction of the rotating cam, a driving motor rotating the rotating cam in a forward direction and a reverse direction, and a return part returning the operating member to an initial position after at least one of the first door and the second door is opened.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for filtering and drying a product. In a preferred embodiment, the apparatus comprises a container having a plurality of porous walls and a plurality of solid walls that divide the container into a plurality of product chambers, a plurality of vacuum chambers, and, preferably, a plurality of heat transfer chambers. Each product chamber shares at least one porous wall with an adjacent vacuum chamber. Each product chamber preferably shares at least one solid wall with an adjacent heat transfer chamber. According to the method of the present invention, a product is introduced into the product chambers, where the product is held while a substance is filtered from the product through the porous walls and the product is dried by reducing the pressure in the vacuum chambers and the product chambers.

Abstract: A temperature controlled food serving bar having a cabinet with an elongate opening. At least one divider of thermally conductive material extends the length of the elongate cabinet opening and divides the interior cabinet space into a plurality of elongate, pan-receiving cavities. The divider comprises a side wall and a bottom wall and at least one of the bottom wall and the side wall having a wall thickness between about 0.1 inch and about 0.2 inch. At least one food-holding pan received in one of the pan-receiving cavities has a bottom wall and side walls. At least one of the side walls of the at least one food-holding pan is spaced from the side wall of the divider between about 0.03 inch and about 0.15 inch. A temperature control system controls the temperature of the at least one divider.

Abstract: A temperature controlled food serving bar. The food serving bar has a plurality of elongate, generally parallel, spaced apart dividers of thermally conductive material extending lengthwise of the serving bar. The dividers have side walls dividing the food serving bar into a plurality of elongate generally parallel cavities. A temperature control system controls the temperature of the side walls of the dividers. Upwardly facing surfaces on the dividers support food-holding pans in positions in which the pans extend down into the cavities adjacent the side walls of the dividers for being heated or cooled thereby. Thermal barriers below the upwardly facing surfaces inhibit the transfer of heat between the side walls of the dividers and the surfaces.

Abstract: A temperature controlled food serving bar. The food serving bar includes a cabinet having a bottom, opposite sides and opposite ends defining an interior-space. A top wall and an opening in the top wall are above the interior space. A plurality of elongate, generally parallel spaced apart dividers of thermally conductive material extend lengthwise of the cabinet in or below the opening. The dividers have side walls dividing the interior space into elongate generally parallel cavities. A temperature control system for controlling the temperature of the dividers has heat transfer lines extending along the side walls of the dividers. Upwardly facing surfaces on the dividers support food-holding pans such that the pans extend down into the cavities adjacent the side walls. Thermal barriers below the upwardly facing surfaces inhibit the transfer of heat between the side walls and the upwardly facing surfaces.

Abstract: Techniques are described for improved line and clarity of sight for a freezer bank having multiple individual freezers. By selective angling of walls of the freezers, individual doors and the products behind those doors for two or more freezers can be more clearly seen with reduced glare. With this arrangement, more freezer doors can be as clearly seen as typical for product doors at an end of a row or an end of an aisle thereby improving the overall merchantability of a store's freezer section. Applications to a warehousing store environment are described in detail.

Abstract: A refrigerator which may allow vegetables kept more fresh by minimizing temperature fluctuations in a vegetable compartment. The refrigerator minimizes dehydration in food stored in the vegetable compartment, so that vegetables are kept fresh longer. The vegetable compartment is arranged so as to be surrounded by freezing temperatures, and cooled through radiation cooling without receiving blowing cool air thereto to minimize temperature fluctuations, so that vegetables may be keep more fresh. At the same time, the vegetable compartment is sealed so that convection does not occur thereby minimizing dehydration in food, so that food is allowed to be kept fresh longer. Furthermore, the refrigerator is provided with compartments whose temperatures may be set to freezing temperatures. The vegetable compartment is arranged so as to be surrounded by compartments whose temperatures are freezing temperatures via partition parts.

Abstract: A cooling air blowing apparatus of a refrigerator includes: a driving motor fixed at a motor mount formed at a rear side of a freezing chamber; a blowing fan mounted on a rotational shaft of the driving motor and configured to blow cooling air in both an axial and a radial direction as the driving motor is driven; and a shroud positioned in a circumferential direction of the blowing fan. The blowing fan includes turbo blades for blowing cooling air in a radial direction in addition to the axial flow blade for blowing cooling air in an axial direction. The cooling air blown in the axial direction is sent to a freezing chamber, while the cooling air blown in the radial direction is sent to the cooling chamber. Thus, the blowing fan with the turbo blades ensures that in a refrigerator having a complicated and long cooling air passage structure, cooling air can be circulated smoothly and quickly.

Abstract: A refrigerated food pan assembly is disclosed which includes food pans which rest within an inner channel through a mounting lip. The assembly includes an outer channel separated from the inner channel by insulation. Refrigeration coils are in thermal conduction with the inner channel to cool food kept within the food pans. A cold air plenum with outlet vents extends along the inner channel to blow cold air toward and between the food pans. Fan arrangements draw cold air through louvers from within the inner channel and direct the cold air into the plenum. An upper refrigeration coil provides additional cooling to the top surface of food in the food pans, and a warming coil may also be provided to prevent the rim or lip of the outer channel from accumulating frost.

Abstract: A refrigerated food pan assembly is disclosed which includes food pans which rest within an inner channel through a mounting lip. The assembly includes an outer channel separated from the inner channel by insulation. Refrigeration coils are in thermal conduction with the inner channel to cool food kept within the food pans. A cold air plenum with outlet vents extends along the inner channel to blow cold air between the food pans. Fan arrangements draw cold air through louvers from within the inner channel and direct the cold air into the plenum. An upper refrigeration coil provides additional cooling to the top surface of food in the food pans, and a warming coil prevents the rim or lip of the outer channel from accumulating frost.

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: Equipment for cooling or maintaining the temperature of food or other products is disclosed. The cooling equipment uses turbulent rather than laminar (or no) airflow to promote and enhance product cooling and contemplates refrigeration tubing contacting the interior sides rather than exterior surfaces of an associated liner. Isolating the airflow system from the ambient environment reduces the possibility of product warming or contamination caused by contact with warmer, debris-laden ambient air.

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.

Abstract: A cryogenic storage system affords dense packing and easy access to individually identified storage packets of frozen fluid, such as blood, by storing the storage packets in an array of individually identified vertically movable racks, each containing a stack of individually identified storage packets, within a grid beneath the opening of a cryogenic tank. Preferably, the storage packets are substantially flat and the racks hold the storage packets in vertical edge-to-edge relationship.

Abstract: A system for cooling fluid stored in a generally cylindrical container is disclosed. The system includes a generally cylindrical hollow coil element having an engaged orientation for engaging the container and at least one disengaged orientation in which the container is disengaged. The hollow coil element is configured to provide thermal engagement between a refrigerant fluid located interiorly thereof and the container when the hollow coil element is in the engaged orientation. The hollow coil element includes at least one elongate hollow element with a nonuniform generally spiral configuration, wherein the spiral defines a plurality of turns of the elongate hollow element. There is also disclosed a system for cooling gaseous fluid stored in a selectably disengageable container.

Abstract: A refrigerator incorporates an insulated cabinet having an access opening and a door normally closing said opening with at least one dry ice carrier removably disposed in said cabinet in alignment with said access opening. Said dry ice carrier takes the form of a container having a solid side and a perforated side and of a size and shape enabling the dry ice carrier to be positioned at one side of said insulated cabinet or transversely thereof as desired.