Atmosphere controlling method and apparatus for food storage

The method of controlling the atmosphere in a substantially sealed food storage chamber which comprises effecting the following numbered steps in sequence:

• (1) connecting the inlet and outlet of an adsorber to the food storage chamber and circulating air from such chamber through the adsorber and back to such chamber for scrubbing carbon dioxide from such storage chamber air;
• (2) disconnecting the adsorber inlet and outlet from the food storage chamber, connecting such inlet and outlet, respectively, to an external atmosphere inlet and an external atmosphere outlet and circulating external atmospheric air through the adsorber for purging carbon dioxide from the adsorber;
• (3) disconnecting the adsorber inlet from the external atmosphere inlet, connecting the adsorber inlet to the food storage chamber and introducing air from the food storage chamber into the adsorber;
• and
• (4) disconnecting the adsorber outlet from the external atmosphere outlet, connecting the adsorber outlet to the food storage chamber and again circulating air from such chamber through the adsorber and back to such chamber for scrubbing carbon dioxide from such storage chamber air.

The method of controlling the atmosphere in a substantially sealed food storage chamber which comprises effecting the following numbered steps in sequence:

• (1) connecting the inlet and outlet of an adsorber to the food storage chamber and circulating air from such chamber through the adsorber and back to such chamber from scrubbing carbon dioxide from such storage chamber air;
• (2) disconnecting the adsorber inlet from such chamber, connecting such inlet to an external atmosphere inlet and introducing external atmospheric air into the adsorber for displacing scrubbed storage chamber air from the adsorber and returning such scrubbed storage chamber air to the food storage chamber;
• (3) disconnecting the adsorber outlet from the food storage chamber, connecting such outlet to an external atmosphere outlet and circulating external atmospheric air through the adsorber for purging carbon dioxide from the adsorber;
• and
• (4) disconnecting the adsorber inlet and outlet, respectively, from the external atmosphere inlet and the external atmosphere outlet, connecting the adsorber inlet and outlet to the food storage chamber and again circulating air from such chamber through the adsorber and back to such chamber for scrubbing carbon dioxide from such storage chamber air.

The method of controlling the atmosphere in a substantially sealed food storage chamber which comprises, in sequence:

• (1) for a first predetermined period, removing air from the food storage chamber, passing such air through an adsorber for scrubbing carbon dioxide from such air and returning such scrubbed air to the food storage chamber;
• (2) for a second predetermined period, circulating external atmospheric air through the adsorber for purging carbon dioxide from the adsorber;
• (3) for a third predetermined period, introducing air from the food storage chamber into the purged adsorber for displacing external atmospheric air therefrom, without introducing external atmospheric air into the food storage chamber;
• and
• (4) for the first predetermined period, again removing air from the food storage chamber, passing such air through the adsorber for scrubbing carbon dioxide from such air and returning such scrubbed air to the food storage chamber.

The method of controlling the atmosphere in a substantially sealed food storage chamber which comprises, in sequence:

• (1) circulating air from the food storage chamber through a first adsorber and back to the food storage chamber for scrubbing carbon dioxide from the food storage chamber air while circulating external atmospheric air through a second adsorber for purging carbon dioxide from the second adsorber;
• (2) transferring air from the first adsorber to the second adsorber for introducing scrubbed storage chamber air from the first adsorber into the second adsorber and for displacing external atmospheric air from the second adsorber with scrubbed storage chamber air from the first adsorber without introducing such external atmospheric air into the food storage chamber;
• and
• (3) circulating air from the food storage chamber through the second adsorber and back to the food storage chamber for scrubbing carbon dioxide from the food storage chamber air while circulating external atmospheric air through the first adsorber for purging carbon dioxide from the first adsorber.

In atmosphere controlling apparatus for a food storage system including:

• a substantially sealed storage chamber for storing food;
• first adsorber means for scrubbing carbon dioxide from air passed therethrough;
• second adsorber means for scrubbing carbon dioxide from air passed therethrough;
• an external atmosphere inlet;
• an external atmosphere outlet;
• and
• conduit means interconnecting the storage chamber, the first and second adsorber means, the external atmosphere inlet and the external atmosphere outlet;
• the improvement comprising circulating means for automatically and sequentially effecting at least the following three circulations of air through the conduit means:
• (1) a first circulation in which purging atmospheric air passes from the external atmosphere inlet through the first adsorber means and out the external atmosphere outlet for purging carbon dioxide from the first adsorber means and storage chamber air is circulated from the storage chamber through the second adsorber means and back to the storage chamber for scrubbing carbon dioxide from such storage chamber air;
• (2) a second circulation in which air is transferred from the second adsorber means to the first adsorber means such that scrubbed storage chamber air from the second adsorber means is introduced into the first adsorber means and purging atmospheric air in the first adsorber means is displaced from the first adsorber means without being introduced into the storage chamber;
• and
• (3) a third circulation in which purging air passes from the external atmosphere inlet through the second adsorber means and out the external atmosphere outlet for purging carbon dioxide from the second adsorber means and storage chamber air is circulated from the storage chamber through the first adsorber means and back to the storage chamber for scrubbing carbon dioxide from such storage chamber air.

In atmosphere-controlling apparatus including a substantially sealed food storage chamber, an adsorber for scrubbing carbon dioxide from air passed therethrough and control means for alternately performing the following two specified functions:

• (1) circulating air from the food storage chamber through the adsorber and back to the food storage chamber for scrubbing carbon dioxide from the food storage chamber air;
• and
• (2) circulating external atmospheric air through the adsorber for purging carbon dioxide from the adsorber;
• the improvement comprising the control means including means for automatically performing the following specified function after performing function (2) but before performing function (1):
• (3) displacing external atmospheric air in the adsorber with air from the food storage chamber without introducing such external atmospheric air into the food storage chamber.