Cooling room
OwnerFrederic R. Weethinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The invention provides a mobile container for cooling produce. The container includes a box-like housing and a plenum wall creating a plenum chamber and a treatment zone. Within the treatment zone, produce can be placed. A plurality of openings are located within the plenum wall to allow conditioning air flow to pass between the plenum chamber and the treatment zone. The openings are of a non-uniform size such that the conditioning air passes from the plenum chamber into the treatment zone through the openings in a substantially uniform manner, allowing the produce to be cooled in a substantially uniform manner.
Claims9
An apparatus for cooling produce comprising:
- a box like housing having a ceiling, a floor, a first side wall, a second side wall being opposite said first side wall, a first end wall, a second end wall being opposite said first end wall, said box-like housing is dimensioned to accommodate two spaced apart rows of pallets, wherein space exists between each row of pallets and the side and end walls of the box-like housing and space exists between each row of pallets;
- a plenum wall being located between said ceiling and said floor proximate to said ceiling, and creating a plenum chamber between said plenum wall and said ceiling, and defining a treatment zone between said plenum wall and said floor;
- a conditioning air apparatus in communication with said plenum chamber and said treatment zone, said conditioning air apparatus providing conditioning air into said plenum chamber;
- said plenum wall having a plurality of plenum wall openings to allow said conditioning air to pass between said plenum chamber and said treatment zone, said plenum wall openings being of non-uniform size to allow said conditioning air to substantially uniformly pass between said plenum chamber and said treatment zone,
- wherein said conditioning air apparatus removes said conditioning air from said treatment zone.
A method of cooling fruits and vegetables, said method comprising the steps of:
- providing a box like housing having a ceiling, a floor, a first side wall, a second side wall being opposite said first side wall, a first end wall, a second end wall being opposite said first end wall, said box-like housing being dimensioned to accommodate at least one row of pallets;
- providing a common plenum wall being located between said ceiling and said floor proximate to said ceiling, and creating a plenum chamber between said common plenum wall and said ceiling, and defining a treatment zone between said common plenum wall and said floor,
- providing a conditioning air apparatus in communication with said plenum chamber and said treatment zone, said conditioning air apparatus providing conditioning air into said plenum chamber;
- providing a plurality of plenum wall openings in said plenum wall to allow said conditioning air to pass between said plenum chamber and said treatment zone, said plurality of plenum wall openings being of non-uniform size to allow said conditioning air to substantially uniformly pass between said first plenum chamber and said treatment zone;
- and
- removing said conditioning air from said treatment zone.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.