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AssigneeDaimler-Benz Aerospace Airbus GmbH
InventorsHarald Kull, Thomas Scherer, Siegfried Seidler
Estimating the term…
Food stuffs transported in trolleys are cooled on board of an aircraft directly in the trolley which has a heat exchange surface connected to a secondary coolant flow circuit in the trolley. When the trolley is parked in a parking space for example in an aircraft galley, the heat exchange surface of the trolley is in heat exchange contact with a heat exchanger connected to a central primary refrigerant circuit including a refrigerating unit (4). The heat exchange surface of the trolley and a heat exchange surface of the heat exchanger are connected to separate refrigerant circulating circuit, whereby leaks are avoided while the direct surface contact between the two heat exchange surfaces assures a substantially improved efficiency in the heat exchange.
An apparatus for cooling food stuffs in a transport trolley, comprising at least one parking space (7) for said transport trolley (8), a heat exchanger (9) positioned for cooperation with said transport trolley in said parking space, a first heat exchange surface (10, 10A, A, B, . . . ) as part of said heat exchanger (9), a second heat exchange surface (14, 14A, . . .) as part of said transport trolley positioned for heat exchange between said first and second heat exchange surfaces when said transport trolley is in said parking space, a primary coolant or refrigerant circulating circuit for cooling said second heat exchange surface through said first heat exchange surface a secondary coolant circulating circuit in said transport trolley cooperating with said second heat exchange surface for cooling said food stuffs in said transport trolley, a refrigerating unit (4) and coolant or pipes (5, 6) interconnecting said refrigerating unit (4) with said heat exchanger (9) for cooling said first and second heat exchange surfaces when said transport trolley is in said parking space.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.