초록 ▼

An icebank system is provided for refrigerating produce areas and providing air conditioning in supermarkets. The system is adapted to handle all refrigerating and cooling requirements of supermarkets including produce cases, beverage coolers, food preparation areas, and air conditioning. The iceban

An icebank system is provided for refrigerating produce areas and providing air conditioning in supermarkets. The system is adapted to handle all refrigerating and cooling requirements of supermarkets including produce cases, beverage coolers, food preparation areas, and air conditioning. The icebank system allows a supply of ice to be built up in an icebank storage tank in off-peak hours when the cost of electrical power is lowest. Cold water is circulated from the icebank storage tank to the various produce areas where cooling is required. Each produce area is provided with a heat exchanger which receives cold water from the icebank storage tank to maintain a low refrigeration temperature in the produce area. Each produce area is tapped into a main water conduit extending from the icebank storage tank. The spent water from each produce area is returned to the icebank storage tank via a return conduit. The spent water is still sufficiently cold to be used to maintain a low condensing temperature in a conventional refrigeration unit. The cold water from the icebank storage tank is also supplied to an air conditioning unit to cool the ambient air in the supermarket.

대표청구항 ▼

An icebank refrigerating and air conditioning system for use in a commercial establishment having a display area containing a plurality of refrigerated storage and display cases for storing and displaying produce, said establishment having a forced air circulating system for circulating air into and

An icebank refrigerating and air conditioning system for use in a commercial establishment having a display area containing a plurality of refrigerated storage and display cases for storing and displaying produce, said establishment having a forced air circulating system for circulating air into and through the display area by means of ducts, said icebank refrigerating and air conditioning system comprising the combination of: means for producing a supply of ice; an icebank storage tank for storing said ice; means, including a main conduit, for circulating cold water from said icebank storage tank to said display area and said forced air circulating system and for returning said water to said icebank storage tank; display case heat exchange means associated with said produce display cases for cooling said cases; means, including first branch conduit means and first pump means, for selectively coupling said heat exchange means to said main conduit means for selectively circulating cold water from said icebank storage tank through said display case heat exchange means and for returning said water to said storage tank downstream of said display case heat exchange means; circulation system heat exchange means associated with said forced air circulating system for cooling ambient air flowing through said ducts into said display area; and means, including further branch conduit means and further pump means, for selectively coupling said circulation system heat exchange means to said main conduit means for circulating cold water from said icebank storage tank through said circulation system heat exchange means and for returning said water to said storage tank downstream of said circulation system heat exchange means.