Refrigerated container
AssigneeThe Boeing Company
InventorsJames P. Schalla, Karen L. Hills, Nino Senoadi, William Quan
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A cold tray for a container may have an interior. The cold tray may include a cold tray housing mountable within the container interior. A refrigerant may be mounted to the cold tray housing. An air flow source may be fluidly connectable to the cold tray housing and may draw air from the container interior into the cold tray housing such that the air passes over the refrigerant and is discharged back into the container interior.
Claims14
A cold tray for a container having an interior, comprising:
- a cold tray housing removably positionable within the container interior such that the cold tray divides the container interior into an upper portion and a lower portion;
- a refrigerant mounted to the cold tray housing;
- the cold tray including a fan module having a pair of circulation fans drawing air from the container interior into the cold tray housing such that the air passes over the refrigerant and is discharged back into the container interior;
- one of the circulation fans directing air upwardly through an upper fan duct into the upper portion;
- the remaining one of the circulation fans directing air downwardly through a lower fan duct into the lower portion;
- and
- whereby the cold tray cools the container interior above and below the cold tray.
A container system, comprising:
- a container having an interior;
- a cold tray removably positionable within the container interior such that the cold tray divides the container interior into an upper portion and a lower portion, the cold tray including a refrigerant;
- and
- the cold tray including a fan module having a pair of circulation fans drawing air from the container interior into the cold tray housing such that the air passes over the refrigerant and is directed back into the container interior;
- one of the circulation fans directing air upwardly through an upper fan duct and into the upper portion;
- the remaining one of the circulation fans directing air downwardly through a lower fan duct into the lower portion;
- and
- cools the container interior above and below the cold tray.
A method of refrigerating an interior of a container, comprising the steps of:
- removably mounting a cold tray within the container interior such that the container interior is divided into an upper portion and a lower portion, the cold tray containing a refrigerant;
- drawing air from the container interior into the cold tray such that the air passes over the refrigerant;
- and
- discharging the air from the cold tray back into the container interior using a pair of circulation fans mounted to a fan module included with the cold tray;
- directing the air from the cold tray upwardly into the upper portion using one of the circulation fans to form an upper airflow circuit within the container interior;
- directing the air from the cold tray downwardly into the lower portion using a remaining one of the circulation fans to form a lower airflow circuit within the container interior;
- and
- whereby the cold tray cools the container interior above and below the cold tray.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.