Thermally insulated transport container
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing thermally insulated transport containers for vaccines or frozen goods experience a significant reduction in storage capacity when individual containers are removed at intervals, as warmer ambient air enters the refrigerated compartment, necessitating complex rotary mechanisms that complicate cleaning and insulation.
Innovation Solution
A thermally insulated transport container with a central cooling compartment surrounded by decentralized compartments, utilizing a tubular access channel and a ring slide assembly for controlled access, allowing containers to slide into the central compartment without opening the container, and featuring a modular design for adjustable cooling capacity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the transport container is opened and resealed for each removal of a refrigerated container, then individual access to refrigerated containers is enabled, but warmer ambient air enters the refrigerated compartment causing storage capacity to decrease rapidly
Solution Approach 1:
The refrigerated compartment is divided into a central chamber and multiple decentralized chambers. Each decentralized chamber can be accessed independently through its own transfer gate, allowing individual removal of refrigerated containers without opening the main container lid. This segmentation enables selective access while maintaining thermal isolation of the central compartment.
Solution Approach 2:
Transfer gates serve as intermediary elements between the central refrigerated compartment and decentralized chambers. These gates allow controlled access to individual refrigerated containers through the cooling chamber without requiring opening of the outer container, thus preventing ambient air from entering the main refrigerated space.
2Ease of operation
If a rotatable magazine with cooling material receptacles is installed, then cooling material can be removed without opening the container, but the mechanism requires considerable technical effort to ensure reliable rotation at low temperatures and complicates cleaning
Solution Approach 1:
The complex rotary magazine mechanism is completely removed from the system. Instead, simple transfer gates are installed that can be opened independently to access decentralized cooling chambers. This extraction of the problematic mechanism eliminates the technical challenges of reliable rotation at low temperatures while maintaining the ability to access cooling materials without opening the main container.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of using a complex rotating mechanism to bring cooling materials to an access point, the design inverts the approach by providing direct access to multiple decentralized chambers through simple transfer gates. This eliminates the need for mechanical rotation while achieving the same functional goal of accessible cooling materials.
3Ease of operation
If an eccentric arrangement of the tubular access element is used, then cooling material receptacles can be accessed, but the arrangement is disadvantageous from an insulation perspective
Solution Approach 1:
The design uses symmetric radial arrangement of decentralized cooling chambers around the central compartment, eliminating the need for eccentric positioning of access elements. Each chamber is equidistantly positioned, creating a balanced thermal distribution and eliminating the insulation disadvantages associated with asymmetric, eccentric arrangements.
4Ease of operation
If a permanently installed removal mechanism is provided, then cooling material can be accessed, but it makes it more difficult to clean the transport container
Solution Approach 1:
Complex permanently installed removal mechanisms are extracted and replaced with simple transfer gates. These gates can be easily opened and closed without requiring disassembly or complex operations, making the entire container surface accessible for thorough cleaning while maintaining the functionality of cooling material access.
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
Maintains maximum holding time for refrigerated goods by minimizing thermal impact from ambient air, facilitates easy cleaning, and ensures effective insulation without complex rotary mechanisms.
Implementation Method 1
The refrigerant chambers thus cool the cold storage niches from their respective long sides
Implementation Method 2
The inner refrigerant chamber is formed by an annular space surrounding the cooling chamber housing
Implementation Method 3
an outer casing surrounding an outer insulation chamber, an inner casing arranged within the outer casing surrounding an inner refrigerant chamber
Data Source
Figure 1
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Figure 3
AI summary
The invention relates to a thermally insulated transport container (1) with an outer housing (2) which surrounds an outer insulating chamber (28), an inner housing (3) which is arranged within the outer housing (2), and a cooling chamber housing (47) which surrounds a cooling chamber (4), said cooling chamber housing (47) being connected to a closable tubular access channel element (5), the interior (52) of which opens into the cooling chamber (4). The cooling chamber (4) has a plurality of chambers (40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46) for receiving goods (7) to be refrigerated, wherein the cooling chamber (4) has a central refrigerated goods chamber (40), and the tubular access channel element (5) is arranged centrally in the outer housing (2) and in the inner housing (3) and is flush with the central refrigerated goods chamber (40). The invention is characterized in that the central refrigerated goods chamber (40) is surrounded by a plurality of decentralized refrigerated goods chambers (41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46); the decentralized refrigerated goods chambers (41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46) are connected or can be connected to the central refrigerated goods chamber (40) via a respective transfer gate (41', 42', 43', 44', 45', 46'); and the central refrigerated goods chamber (40) is equipped with a tubular ring slide device (6, 6') that can be rotated about a central axis (X) and has at least one transfer opening (65), which can be brought into register with a respective transfer gate (41', 42', 43', 44', 45', 46') by rotating the ring slide device (6, 6'), in the peripheral wall (62) of the ring slide device, thereby forming a passage from a paired decentralized refrigerated goods chamber (41, 42, 43, 44, 45) to the central refrigerated goods chamber (40).