Merchandiser with Concentric Storage Wheels for Energy-Efficient Cooling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional open front coolers consume significantly more energy than glass door merchandisers due to the lack of insulation, which may not be justified by the increased sales revenue from impulse purchases, despite providing easier accessibility to chilled products.
Innovation Solution
A merchandiser design featuring a temperature-controlled compartment with concentric storage wheels, an input system, a dispensing system, and an output pusher system, which includes a rotary internal transport system with quick chill and constant cool sections, allowing for efficient temperature control and product dispensing while maintaining energy efficiency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If an open front cooler design is used to provide easy accessibility and promote impulse purchases, then consumer accessibility and sales volume are improved, but energy consumption increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The cooler is divided into multiple zones: an open front display section for consumer accessibility and a closed refrigerated section for energy-efficient cooling. This segmentation allows the cooling system to only condition the necessary volume while maintaining product accessibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The open front display area is nested within or adjacent to the closed refrigerated compartment, allowing the display section to benefit from the cooling of the enclosed space without requiring its own separate cooling system, thus reducing overall energy consumption.
2Use of energy by moving object
If a glass door merchandiser is used to reduce energy consumption, then energy efficiency is improved, but consumer accessibility and impulse purchase promotion are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The merchandiser is segmented into a closed refrigerated section for energy efficiency and an open front display section for accessibility. This allows the system to maintain low energy consumption while providing easy consumer access to products.
Solution Approach 2:
The open front display section acts as an intermediary between the closed refrigerated space and the consumer environment, allowing products to be displayed and accessed easily while the closed section maintains energy efficiency through insulation.
3Volume of stationary object
If the temperature controlled compartment volume is increased to store more products, then product storage capacity is improved, but energy consumption and cooling load increase
Solution Approach 1:
Storage capacity is increased by adding multiple concentric storage wheels that can be configured in different arrangements. These wheels are positioned to maximize storage within the available space without significantly increasing the volume of the temperature-controlled compartment, thus avoiding proportional increases in energy consumption.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of increasing storage capacity by expanding the compartment volume in all directions, the patent uses concentric storage wheels that utilize radial and vertical space efficiently. This multi-dimensional arrangement increases storage capacity while minimizing the increase in cooled volume.
Data Source
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AI summary
ABSTRACT The present application provides a merchandiser for dispensing a number of products. The merchandiser may include an a temperature controlled compartment with a number of concentric storage wheels for storing the number of products therein, an input system positioned about the temperature controlled compartment, and a vending system positioned about the temperature controlled compartment.