Electric refrigerator with rotating shelves

Abstract

 It is a trunk shaped refrigerator Fig. 1 (1) and it has a door which opens on top so as to avoid loss of heat during opening and closing to access food stuff and consequently to reduce the operating cost. The food stuff in this refrigerator are placed on shelves (9) which rotate at a rate of about 3 revolutions per minute. This results in having a uniform cooling throughout the compartment of the refrigerator. A stabilizer (11) acts as a deterrent to avoid tipping over of the food stuff during the rotation of the shelves. This refrigerator can be used either as a commercial fridge or a home appliance.

Description

[0001] The invention refers to a refrigerator which can be used either as a home appliance or as a commercial refrigerator for preserving food, products such as meats, fruit, beverages, dairy products, pastry products and can be used as a display refrigerator for the above mentioned products as well.

[0002] All refrigerators in use nowadays work approximately in the same way. This is, they have a compartment in which at its top an evaporator fan is located which draws out the heated air of the compartment coming in contact with. The air is cooled, becomes condensed and due to the gravity it descends downwards. While the heat that has been drawn out is led to the compressor located outside the compartment which, in turn distributes it to the surrounding space.
The current refrigerators vary in size and shape and are manufactured to accommodate the purpose they serve.

[0003] The home appliance refrigerators consist of a chamber 70 cm in depth and width and approximately up to 185 cm in height and they have a door which opens and closes just like the door to our house. The compartment has a number of shelves at various heights depending on the size and height of the food stuff to be placed on them. At the top there is an evaporating fan which cools the air in the compartment coming in contact with. The air becomes condensed and due to gravity it descends downwards or it is forced to descend faster with the aid of a fan.

[0004] These refrigerators have two major disadvantages. The first is that when we open the door the cool, condensed air of the compartment escapes outward from the bottom of the compartment and when we close it the door itself functions as a fan blade which forces the warm surrounding air into the compartment and the cool air of the compartment outward and thus, we have a loss of cooling and the food stuff doesn't cool properly. This problem gets even worse when the refrigerator is of commercial use having its door opening and closing constantly.

[0005] The second disadvantage is that the food stuff is placed at the top shelves hinders the cool air to descend downward. Consequently the inner space of the refrigerator does not cool uniformly and the food stuff placed at the lower shelves does not cool at the desired temperature. In fact, the more the shelves the more intense the problem becomes and it is aggravated even more when the food stuff is disorderly placed in the compartment.

[0006] The display refrigerators used commercially to preserve and simultaneously display the food stuff are approximately80 cm in width, 130 cm in height and their length varies according to the needs of these refrigerators is curbed abit because the doors are drawn open. Whereas the second disadvantage remains exactly the same.

[0007] The refrigerators which are shaped like a trunk don't have the first disadvantage because the door opens at the top and as we know the cool air is condensed and doesn't escape upwards. However, they have only one shelf used to display the food stuff and come in the form of freezers.

[0008] This present invention is intended to create a refrigerator which will be economical, of low energy consumption, to produce steady and uniform cooling throughout the compartment and to be functional. According to the invention, this is accomplished firstly because the food stuff to be cooled is not placed on fixed shelves but on rotating shelves, and secondly because the refrigerator is shaped like a trunk whose door opens up from the top and thus we avoid loss of cooling during the process of placing into and extracting food stuff from the compartment.

[0009] The advantage of the refrigerator with rotating shelves is that the shelves leave gaps in between them during their rotation which allows the cool air to descend downwards freely, while at the same time, the shelves act as fan blades which mix the cool air and distribute it throughout the compartment. This results in the uniform cooling of all the food stuff in the compartment. The way we place and extract food from the compartment is through a door which opens up from the top of the refrigerator and thus we have no energy loss. This makes it economical and it creates a steady uniform cooling throughout the compartment. Therefor all food stuff is cooled uniformly. Moreover, we believe that in the refrigerator with rotating shelves of the display type the food stuff are displayed better and are more attractive to a potential consumer.

[0010] The invention is described as follows with the aid of drawings attached. In the first drawing, number (1) shows the compartment of the fridge, (2) shows the opening door, (3) shows the evaporator of the refrigerator. Number (7) shows the center axle on which two identical metal discs (4) and (4') are fixed on either end. The discs bear four holes each on the perimeter equally spaced from each other. In each hole there is a roller bearing fixed in it (5). the centers of the bearings of the disc (4) are connected with the opposite bearings of the disc (4') with small axles (8) which can rotate within the bearing. On the axles the shelves are fastened (9) and at the back of the disc (4) on the axles the arms are fastened (10) and on the arms the stabilizers are fastened (11). number (14) is a groove which is fixed on the inner side of the metallic surface ABCD. This groove is the same with the rotation drawn by the stabilizer (11) when the disc (4) does a complete circular movement.
The stabilizer (11) during its rotation moves within the groove (14) and the maximum width within which it can oscillate is equal to the width of the groove (14). Number (15) shows the thermostat of the refrigerator. (6) is a simple ON/OFF electrical switch which turns on and off either manually or by the opening and closing of the refrigerator door (2).

[0011] Number (16) is a power adjusted ON/OFF timer by coordinating the two switches (6) and (16) we adjust the rotation time and the ending of the rotation of the motor (18). Number (18) is an electric motor and revolution reducer which rotates the discs (4) and (4') at a rate of about three (3) revolutions per minute. Number (13) is the compressor, (19) is the condenser, (20) is the fan which cools the condenser.

[0012] The second drawing shows a cross section of the compartment of the refrigerator which shows how the four 4 shelves are placed.

[0013] In drawing 3, number (12) shows the trace of the stabilizer (11) when the disc (4) does a complete revolution. In the drawing we can see that the track of the stabilizer (11) is a circle whose center is on the same perpendicular axis with the center of the disc (4) transposed downward at a distance L equal to the length of the arm (10). (14) shows the groove within which the stabilizer moves.

[0014] In drawing 4 we can see how the shelf stabilizing system is built, so as to avoid oscillation of the shelves during their rotation. (5) are the bearings, (10) are the arms and (L) is the length of the arm. (11) are the stabilizers.

[0015] In drawing 5, (21) is a small bearing which facilitates the movement of the stabilizer (11) within the groove.

[0016] In conclusion, in order for us to operate the refrigerator with rotating shelves we should follow the procedure: With the switch (6) of Fig. 1 we start the motor (18) and we bring the shelf (9) below the door (2) and we stop the rotation, we open the door and we place the food stuff on the shelf (9). this procedure is repeated until we have filled all the shelves (9) and then we start the motor.
The stability of the shelves so as not to tip over during the placing of the food stuff or during the rotation of the shelves is secured with the stabilizer (11) which is located at the back of the disc (4) and which moves within the groove (14). the groove is fastened to the inner metallic surface of the side ABCD of the refrigerator in drawing 1. the groove is circular and identical to the track of the stabilizer (11) when the disc (4) does a complete revolution. It is a circle whose center is on the same perpendicular axis with the center of the disc (4) but transposed downward at a distance equal to the length L of the arm (10).

Claims

1. The refrigerator with rotating shelves is a trunk shaped refrigerator. It has a compartment (1) on the upper side it has a door (2) so as to avoid loss of cooling when placing food stuff within the compartment. It has the compressor (13), the condenser (19), the fan (20), the evaporator (3) and the thermostat (15) with which we adjust the desired temperature of the compartment. It is featured by the fact that the food stuff is placed on the shelves (9) which rotate and it is a part of a mechanism which rotates them. The mechanism is comprised of the electric motor and the revolution reducer (18), of the central axle (7) on whose ends two identical metallic discs are fastened (4) and (4'). The discs each bear on their perimeters and at equal distance from each other four holes in which an equal number of roller bearing is fixed. The centers of the bearings of the discs (4) are connected with the opposite centers of the bearings of the discs (4') with the small axles (8). These axles can rotate within the bearings. On the axles the shelves (9) are fastened. Moreover, the refrigerator with rotating shelves has features to avoid tipping over of the shelves during the placing of food stuff on them and also during their rotation, it has a stabilizing mechanism comprising of an arm (10) on which the stabilizer is fastened (11) which moves during its rotation within the groove (14) which is fastened to the inner metallic surface of side ABCD of the refrigerator and which is similar to the track drawn by the stabilizer (11) when disc (4) does a complete revolution. Furthermore, the refrigerator with rotating shelves is characterized by the fact that it has an adjustable electric timer (16) and a manual switch (6) which depending on their connection, control the time the motor rotates or stops the shelves from rotating. The type of connection depends on whether the refrigerator is a home appliance, display or of commercial use. (21) is a small bearing which facilitates the movement of the stabilizer within the groove.

2. The refrigerator with rotating shelves can be used as a home appliance.

3. The refrigerator with rotating shelves can be used as a display fridge.

4. The refrigerator with rotating shelves can be used as a commercial fridge.

Drawing