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- Nachgewiesen in: USPTO Patent Grants
- Sprachen: English
- Patent Number: 8,336,321
- Publication Date: December 25, 2012
- Appl. No: 11/769811
- Application Filed: June 28, 2007
- Assignees: Whirlpool Corporation (Benton Harbor, MI, US)
- Claim: 1. A distributed refrigeration appliance system constructed and arranged for use in a residential kitchen and other locations associated with a dwelling comprising: a plurality of separate refrigeration appliance modules each having a separate insulated cabinet and at least one insulated door for covering and uncovering an opening in the insulated cabinet; a plurality of separate satellite stations each comprising an evaporator and an expansion device; at least one of the satellite stations further comprising a separate combined satellite station/refrigeration appliance module having a separate insulated cabinet and at least one insulated door for covering and uncovering an opening in the insulated cabinet; a single central cooling unit for chilling refrigerant comprising a compressor and a condenser; refrigerant lines connecting the plurality of separate satellite stations to the central cooling unit for supplying refrigerant to the plurality of separate satellite stations; and insulated supply and return ducts connecting at least one of the separate refrigeration appliance modules to the at least one separate combined satellite station/refrigeration appliance module for supplying chilled air to the at least one of the refrigeration appliance modules.
- Claim: 2. The distributed refrigeration appliance system of claim 1 , wherein at least two of the separate refrigeration appliance modules are connected to at least one of the plurality of separate satellite stations.
- Claim: 3. The distributed refrigeration appliance system of claim 2 , wherein the separate refrigeration appliance modules connected to the at least one of the plurality of separate satellite stations can be operated at different temperatures.
- Claim: 4. The distributed refrigeration appliance system of claim 3 , wherein one of the separate refrigeration appliance modules can be operated as an above freezing refrigerator module and the other separate refrigeration appliance module can be operated as a below freezing freezer module.
- Claim: 5. The distributed refrigeration appliance system of claim 1 , wherein each of the separate refrigeration appliance modules and the at least one separate combined satellite station/refrigeration appliance module further comprise a temperature sensor, the central cooling unit comprises a variable capacity compressor to provide variable capacity cooling, and wherein the refrigeration appliance system further includes: a temperature selector for the separate refrigeration appliance modules and for the at least one separate combined satellite station/refrigeration appliance module arranged to allow the user to independently select the operating temperature in the respective refrigeration appliance modules; a controller; and a control circuit connecting the temperature sensors, the temperature selector, the plurality of separate satellite stations, the at least one separate combined satellite station/ refrigeration appliance module and the central cooling unit to the controller, the controller including: a first portion to adjust the capacity of the central cooling unit in response to the aggregate cooling load of the plurality of refrigeration appliance modules in order to supply sufficient refrigerant to cool the plurality of separate refrigeration appliance modules and the at least one separate combined satellite station/refrigeration appliance module; and a second portion to maintain the selected operating temperature in the respective separate refrigeration appliance modules.
- Claim: 6. The distributed refrigeration appliance system of claim 5 , wherein central cooling unit includes a variable speed condenser fan and the at least one separate combined satellite station/refrigeration appliance module includes an evaporator fan, and wherein the control circuit connects the variable speed condenser fan and the evaporator fan with the controller.
- Claim: 7. The distributed refrigeration appliance system of claim 6 , wherein the at least one separate refrigeration appliance module further includes an adjustable baffle for controlling the amount of chilled air flowing from the at least one separate combined satellite station/refrigeration appliance module to the at least one separate refrigeration appliance module.
- Claim: 8. The distributed refrigeration appliance system of claim 7 , wherein the adjustable baffle is manually adjustable by a user.
- Claim: 9. The distributed refrigeration appliance system of claim 7 , wherein the adjustable baffle is variably movable between open and closed positions to permit, block and vary the flow of chilled air into the at least one refrigeration appliance module.
- Claim: 10. The distributed refrigeration appliance system of claim 7 , wherein the evaporator fan in the at least one separate combined satellite station/refrigeration appliance module is a variable speed evaporator fan and the expansion device is an adjustable expansion device with feedback based on load connected through the control circuit to the controller.
- Claim: 11. The distributed refrigeration appliance system of claim 10 , wherein the adjustable baffle is controllable to vary the flow of chilled air into the at least one refrigeration appliance module and is connected through the control circuit to the controller, whereby the second portion of the controller controls the operating temperature in the at least one refrigeration appliance module by controlling the at least one adjustable expansion device; the speed of the evaporator fan; and the position of the adjustable baffle.
- Claim: 12. The distributed refrigeration appliance system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one separate combined satellite station/refrigeration appliance module comprises two compartments having air flow passages between the two compartments and at least one damper to control air flow between the two compartments to operate the two compartments at different temperatures.
- Claim: 13. The distributed refrigeration appliance system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one separate combined satellite station/refrigeration appliance module comprises a direct contact evaporator and the supply and return ducts communicate with the interior of the insulated cabinet.
- Claim: 14. A distributed refrigeration appliance system constructed and arranged for use in a residential kitchen and other locations associated with a dwelling comprising: a plurality of separate refrigeration appliance modules each having: a separate insulated cabinet having at least one compartment and an opening for access to the interior of the cabinet and the at least one compartment; at least one insulated door for covering and uncovering an opening in the separate insulated cabinet; at least one temperature sensor for sensing the temperature in the refrigeration appliance module; and at least one temperature selector for selecting an operating temperature for the refrigeration appliance module; a single, continuously operating variable capacity central cooling unit for chilling refrigerant comprising a variable speed compressor, a condenser, a variable speed condenser fan and a controller; a plurality of separate satellite stations each comprising a separate module having an evaporator, a variable speed evaporator fan, an adjustable expansion device with feedback based on load for adjusting the flow of refrigerant to the evaporator and an insulated cabinet; a combined satellite station/refrigeration appliance module having: an evaporator, a variable speed evaporator fan, an adjustable expansion device with feedback based on load for adjusting the flow of refrigerant to the evaporator; a separate insulated cabinet having at least one compartment and an opening for access to the interior of the cabinet and the at least one compartment; at least one insulated door for covering and uncovering an opening in the insulated cabinet; at least one temperature sensor for sensing the temperature in the refrigeration appliance module; and at least one temperature selector for selecting an operating temperature for the refrigeration appliance module; insulated supply and return ducts connecting each of the separate refrigeration appliance modules to one of the separate satellite stations with at least one of the separate refrigeration appliance modules being connected to the combined satellite station/refrigeration appliance module; refrigerant lines connecting the central cooling unit and the plurality of separate satellite stations and the combined satellite station/refrigeration appliance module to supply refrigerant from the central cooling unit to the plurality of separate satellite stations and to the combined satellite station/refrigeration appliance module, and to return refrigerant to the central cooling unit from the separate satellite stations and the combined satellite station/refrigeration appliance module; a controller and a control circuit connecting the temperature sensors and temperature selectors for the plurality of separate refrigeration appliance modules, the evaporator fans and expansion devices for the plurality of separate satellite stations and the combined satellite station/refrigeration appliance module with the controller, the controller including: a first portion to adjust the capacity of the central cooling unit in response to the aggregate cooling load of the plurality of separate refrigeration appliance modules and the combined satellite station/refrigeration appliance module in order to supply sufficient refrigerant to the respective separate satellite stations and the combined satellite station/refrigeration appliance module to cool the plurality of separate refrigeration appliance modules and the combined satellite station/refrigeration appliance module to the respective selected operating temperatures, and a second portion to adjust the volume of refrigerant directed to respective ones of the separate satellite stations and the combined satellite station/refrigeration appliance module and the speed of the respective evaporator fans to maintain the selected operating temperature in the respective refrigerating modules.
- Claim: 15. The distributed refrigeration appliance system of claim 14 , wherein the separate refrigeration appliance modules further include an adjustable baffle for controlling the amount of chilled air flowing from a satellite station to the refrigeration appliance module.
- Claim: 16. The distributed refrigeration appliance system of claim 15 , wherein the adjustable baffles are controllable to vary the flow of chilled air into the separate refrigeration appliance modules and are connected through the control circuit to the controller, whereby the second portion of the controller controls the operating temperature in the separate refrigeration appliance modules by controlling at least one of the adjustable expansion device; the speed of the evaporator fan; and the position of the adjustable baffle.
- Claim: 17. The distributed refrigeration appliance system of claim 16 , wherein first and second separate refrigeration appliance modules are connected to at least one of the separate satellite stations, and the first separate refrigeration appliance modules can be operated at as an above freezing refrigerator module and the second separate refrigeration appliance module can be operated as a below freezing freezer module.
- Claim: 18. The distributed refrigeration appliance system of claim 14 , wherein the refrigerant lines are quick connect refrigerant lines, and wherein the central cooling unit is arranged to allow expansion of the refrigeration appliance system by adding one or more additional satellite stations to support a plurality of additional refrigeration appliance modules.
- Claim: 19. The distributed refrigeration appliance system of claim 14 , wherein the central cooling unit is located remotely from the residential kitchen.
- Claim: 20. The distributed refrigeration appliance system of claim 14 , wherein the separate refrigeration appliance modules are positioned in close proximity to one of the plurality of separate satellite stations and the at least one separate refrigeration appliance module is positioned in close proximity to the combined satellite station/refrigeration appliance module.
- Claim: 21. The distributed refrigeration appliance system of claim 14 , wherein at least one of the separate satellite stations includes a plurality of expansion devices connected to operate the evaporator at a plurality of temperatures.
- Claim: 22. The distributed refrigeration appliance system of claim 14 , wherein at least one of the plurality of separate refrigeration appliance modules comprises an insulated cabinet having two compartments having air flow passages between the two compartments and at least one of a fan or a damper to control air flow between the compartments to operate the two compartments at different temperatures, and two insulated doors for separately covering and uncovering the two compartments.
- Current U.S. Class: 62/175
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- Assistant Examiner: Ruby, Travis
- Primary Examiner: Tyler, Cheryl J
- Attorney, Agent or Firm: Goodwin, Kirk W. ; Judd, Robert L.
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