Refrigerated Display Case Night Cover Without Lateral Guides
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Solution Overview
Problem
Refrigerated shelf units with stair-like shelves face challenges in reducing convective and radiation losses while maintaining an unobstructed view and access during night time cover assembly closure, as existing solutions obstruct the view and access with lateral guides for insulating films.
Innovation Solution
A night time cover assembly featuring a shutter tube, flexible insulating film, horizontal tensioning rail, and pivot arms with inclined hinges allows the insulating film to be spanned inclinedly without lateral guides, reducing radiation and convective losses while maintaining an unobstructed view and access.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If lateral guides are used to guide the insulating film, then the insulating film can be properly positioned, but the view to the shelves and access to the shelves is blocked
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the lateral guides from the system entirely. Instead of using guides to position the insulating film, the film is held in place by the tensioning rail at the bottom and the rolling mechanism at the top, extracting the problematic lateral guide components that blocked access to the shelves.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the positioning mechanism from lateral guidance (horizontal dimension) to inclined spanning (diagonal dimension). The insulating film spans from the top edge to the bottom edge in an inclined manner, using the vertical and depth dimensions for positioning rather than lateral guides that would obstruct access.
2Loss of energy
If the access opening is closed during non-selling times, then convective heat losses and radiation losses are reduced, but the view and access to shelves are obstructed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a dynamic night time cover assembly that can transition between open and closed states. The insulating film can be rolled onto the shutter tube (closed state for insulation) or unrolled (open state for access), allowing the system to adapt between energy conservation and accessibility requirements.
Solution Approach 2:
The covering function is segmented into a movable insulating film that can be selectively deployed. Rather than a fixed closure that always obstructs access, the segmented film can be positioned only when needed for insulation, separating the insulation function from the access function.
3Illumination intensity
If the opening plane is inclined, then the shelves can be arranged in a stair-like manner for better visibility, but lateral guides are required which block the view
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the lateral guides from the system, eliminating the complexity they introduce. The inclined stair-like shelf arrangement is maintained for visibility, but the insulating film is positioned without lateral guides, using instead the rolling mechanism and tensioning rail approach.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution effectively reduces radiation and convective losses without obstructing the view or access, providing better insulation and visibility to the shelves, even when the assembly is closed.
Implementation Method 1
reduce convective heat losses and radiation losses
Implementation Method 2
reduce convective heat losses and radiation losses
Data Source
AI summary
A refrigerated shelf unit includes a housing, shelves arranged stair-like within the housing, an access opening arranged in the housing, and a night time cover assembly which closes the access opening. The night time cover assembly includes a shutter tube fastened to the housing, an insulating film with an upper end fixed to the shutter tube and a lower end, a tensioning rail arranged at the lower end of the insulating film, and a pivot arm. The insulating film is rolled on the shutter tube when the night time cover assembly is open and is rolled off the shutter tube to span the access opening when the night time cover assembly is closed. An upper and lower end of the pivot arm are hinged to hinges which are inclined so that a pivot plane of the pivot arm is inclined by 10° to 70° with respect to a vertical plane.