Galley Cart Door Cooling Chambers for Uniform Tray Temperatures
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional galley carts for airline in-flight food service face issues with uneven cooling due to stratification of cold air, requiring additional power for fans or precise dry ice placement, which is difficult to manage given various environmental factors.
Innovation Solution
A compartmented insulated door with distributed dry ice pucks and metering orifices that create cooling chambers within the cart, using insulating sealing members and adjustable orifices to ensure even convective cooling across all trays without an external power source.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If fans are added to circulate cool gas within the cart cavity, then cooling uniformity is improved, but power consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses passive convection driven by temperature differences and controlled gas flow through metering orifices to distribute cold air uniformly throughout the cart. The metering orifices automatically regulate flow based on pressure differential, eliminating the need for active fan-driven circulation while maintaining temperature uniformity across all trays.
2Temperature
If the amount of dry ice is adjusted to address cooling stratification, then temperature uniformity may be improved, but the amount is difficult to determine due to many factors impacting cooling
Solution Approach 1:
The total dry ice requirement is segmented into multiple smaller pucks distributed across different chambers. Each chamber's metering orifices are designed to work with standard-sized pucks, eliminating the need to calculate and adjust total dry ice amounts. The segmented approach with controlled flow paths makes the system robust to variations in individual puck sizes and environmental conditions.
Solution Approach 2:
The metering orifices are designed with specific flow characteristics that maintain optimal cooling performance across a range of dry ice amounts and environmental conditions. By designing the orifice parameters (size, shape, number) to match standard puck dimensions and typical flight conditions, the system eliminates the need for operators to adjust or optimize dry ice quantities.
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 provides uniform cooling across all trays, eliminating the need for external power and reducing the complexity of dry ice management, ensuring consistent temperatures throughout the cart.
Implementation Method 1
the dry ice sublimates and cools the housing cavity and surrounding environment
Implementation Method 2
If the sealing member is porous, the cold gas may convect through the sealing member to the trays
Data Source
AI summary
A case for a galley cart defines a cavity with at least two dividers positioned within the cavity, each having a first end edge and an opposing second end edge, with the dividers defining at least two chambers within the cavity. A door is movably attached to the case having a first position in which the cavity is accessible and a second position in which the cavity is substantially sealed. The door incorporates a housing having at least one cooling puck corresponding to at least a first one of the chambers and a second cooling puck corresponding to a second one of the chambers. At least one sealing member is coupled to the housing in the door and configured to compress against the first end edges of the dividers and to provide flow communication between the first cooling compartment and the first chamber and between the second cooling compartment and the second chamber when the door is in the second position.