Oxygen-Extracting Freshness Storage Device for Low-Cost Home Use
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing freshness-keeping storage devices, such as vacuum refrigerators, are cumbersome, energy-intensive, and costly due to high requirements for vacuum maintenance and rigidity, making them unsuitable for home or individual use, and conventional nitrogen-generating devices are large and expensive, limiting their application to large-scale professional settings.
Innovation Solution
An air-conditioning freshness-keeping storage device that extracts oxygen from the air to create a nitrogen-rich, oxygen-poor atmosphere using an air-conditioning membrane assembly and gas extracting device, reducing aerobic respiration in fruits and vegetables while ensuring basic respiration, thus achieving long-term freshness without the need for rigid structures or high energy consumption.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If vacuum storage space is adopted for freshness keeping, then freshness keeping effect is improved, but device complexity and cost increase due to high requirements on vacuumizing system and sealing performance
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the oxygen component from the air in the storage space using an oxygen removing device, rather than removing all air to create a vacuum. This selective extraction simplifies the system by eliminating the need for complex vacuum pumps and high-performance sealing mechanisms, while still achieving the freshness keeping effect by reducing oxygen concentration to inhibit microbial growth and food respiration.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the approach from maintaining a vacuum state (complete air removal) to controlling the oxygen concentration parameter within the storage space. By using an oxygen removing device that selectively reduces oxygen levels, the system achieves freshness keeping through parameter control rather than extreme vacuum conditions, thereby reducing device complexity and cost.
2Reliability
If vacuum storage space is adopted for freshness keeping, then freshness keeping effect is improved, but energy consumption increases due to air leakage when articles are taken or placed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes only oxygen from the storage space atmosphere rather than maintaining a complete vacuum. This selective extraction creates an oxygen-poor environment that preserves freshness without requiring the energy-intensive vacuum pumping systems needed to maintain full vacuum conditions, especially during frequent door openings and article retrieval.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies partial action by removing only the harmful oxygen component from the air rather than removing all air to create a vacuum. This partial oxygen removal achieves the freshness keeping effect while consuming significantly less energy, as the system does not need to continuously pump out all air to compensate for leaks during normal operation.
3Reliability
If vacuum environment is created for freshness keeping, then freshness keeping effect is improved, but food receives cold poorly and user operation becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only oxygen from the storage space, leaving the atmospheric pressure and air composition otherwise intact. This approach maintains normal breathing conditions for users and allows for easy door opening and closing, while still achieving freshness keeping. The system avoids the operational difficulties of vacuum environments where users must overcome pressure differentials to open doors or retrieve items.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the approach from creating a vacuum environment to controlling oxygen concentration levels. This parameter change maintains atmospheric pressure conditions that are comfortable for users to operate, while still achieving the freshness keeping effect through reduced oxygen levels that inhibit spoilage organisms and slow food respiration.
4Reliability
If conventional nitrogen-generating devices are used for air-conditioning freshness keeping, then freshness keeping effect is improved, but device size and cost increase making them suitable only for large-scale professional use
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces conventional mechanical nitrogen-generating devices with an oxygen removing device that uses alternative mechanisms (such as membrane separation, adsorption, or electrochemical methods) to selectively remove oxygen from air. This substitution enables the system to achieve nitrogen-rich atmosphere for freshness keeping in a much more compact form factor suitable for home or small-scale commercial applications.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the approach from generating nitrogen gas to removing oxygen from existing air. This parameter change in the chemical composition approach allows for significantly smaller and less expensive device configurations, as oxygen removal can be achieved through compact membrane modules, adsorption beds, or electrochemical cells rather than large-scale nitrogen generation equipment.
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 device provides effective freshness keeping with low structural and cost requirements, making it suitable for small-scale, family, or individual use, while being compact and low-noise, addressing the limitations of existing technologies by creating a favorable atmosphere for food preservation without the need for extensive vacuum systems.
Implementation Method 1
an air-conditioning membrane assembly and a gas extracting device, wherein the air-conditioning membrane assembly has an oxygen-rich gas collecting cavity, and more oxygen in air flows through the air-conditioning membrane assembly to enter the oxygen-rich gas collecting cavity relative to nitrogen
Data Source
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AI summary
The present invention discloses an air-conditioning freshness-keeping storage device, comprising a case body in which a first storage space is defined, and an oxygen removing device, configured to extract a part or all of the oxygen in the air in the first storage space to obtain a nitrogen-rich oxygen-poor atmosphere favorable for food freshness keeping.