Automated blast cell loading and unloading
AssigneeLineage Logistics, LLC
InventorsDaniël Walet, Alexander Ming Zhang, Claire O'Connor, Ben Philipsen
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system for blast-freezing items includes a plurality of cells arranged side-by-side, each cell including a housing with a bay space, a plenum, a front air passage, a rear air passage, and a fan. The fan is positioned in the plenum and configured to circulate air through the bay space. Each cell also includes a plurality of channels to separate pathways of air to segments of the bay space. The system also includes a plurality of crane rails extending between rows of cells and at least one crane capable of traveling along the plurality of crane rails to load or unload each of the plurality of cells.
Claims20
A system for cooling items, the system comprising:
- a plurality of blast cells, wherein each of the plurality of blast cells is configured to hold pallets to be cooled,
- an automated pallet handler configured to perform operations to automatically load and unload the pallets in each of the plurality of blast cells;
- a designated pathway adjacent the plurality of blast cells along which the automated pallet handler moves;
- and
- a blast cell control system in network communication with the automated pallet handler, the blast cell control system comprising one or more processors and memory storing instructions that, when executed, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
- automatically opening a blast cell door when the automated pallet handler is detected as arriving at the blast cell door, and
- automatically closing the blast cell door when the automated pallet handler is detected as departing the blast cell door.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.