The present invention relates to a refrigerated sales cabinet.

A refrigerated sales cabinet as it is known in the art comprises a cabinet body, side panels, a door frame and at least one door, wherein the side panels are installed on the sides of the cabinet body, the door frame is installed on the cabinet body, the door is installed on the door frame, and seaIing_strips-are_promded-between^

The door frame comprising a front surface, which is exposed to ambient conditions, is cooled when the refrigerated sales cabinet is operated. If the temperature of the front surface drops below the dew point, humid ambient air condensates at the front surface causing water droplets to appear, which is uncomfortable for the customers. Therefore, there is a desire to prevent the temperature of said front surface to fall below the dew point temperature.

A door frame according to the prior art comprises an electrical heating element, which serves to keep the temperature of the front surface above the dew point in order to prevent the condensation of water on the door frame. The electrical energy consumed by such an electrical heating element is high and considerably contributes to the total energy consumed by the operation of the refrigerated sales cabinet.

It therefore would be beneficial to reduce the electrical energy needed to reliably prevent condensation at the front surface of a door frame of a refrigerated sales cabinet.

A refrigerated sales cabinet according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention comprises a cabinet body providing a refrigerated sales space for supporting refrigerated goods to be sold therein, at least one door and a door frame having a top post, a bottom post, and at least two upright posts. At least one of the posts includes a material comprises nylon.

A method of manufacturing a refrigerated sales cabinet according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention comprising the steps of: providing a cabinet body having a refrigerated sales space for supporting refrigerated goods to be sold therein; forming a top post, a bottom post and at least two upright posts extending between the top post and the bottom post, wherein at least one of the posts has a main body comprising a rear portion, two side portions extending from the rear portion and a front portion extending between the two side portions, wherein at least one of the posts includes a material comprising nylon; attaching the posts to the cabinet body forming a door frame and attaching at least one door to the door frame.

Nylon has a very low thermal conductivity, which is by a factor of 10 ⁸ to 10 ¹⁰ lower than the thermal conductivity of aluminum, which usually has been used for forming the door frame. Nylon therefore provides excellent thermal insulating properties. These excellent thermal insulating properties considerably reduce the flow of heat (thermal energy) from the front portion of the post exposed to ambient conditions to the rear and side portions of the post, which are exposed to the low temperature of the refrigerated sales space.

A refrigerated sales cabinet comprising a door frame including a nylon material according to exemplary embodiments of the invention therefore considerably reduces the risk of condensation at the front side of the refrigerated sales cabinet and less or even no electrical heating at all is needed in order to avoid condensation. Nylon based materials further comprise the necessary mechanical strength and stiffness allowing to replace the aluminum frame as it is known in the prior art. The proposed nylon based materials are recyclable and may be produced at low costs.

The disclosure of the invention will become more easily understood with reference to the accompanying drawings. It is appreciated by those skilled in the art that the accompanying drawings are exemplary only and are not intended to limit the scope of protection of the invention. In the drawings:

Figure 1 shows an exploded view of a refrigerated sales cabinet of the front-access type with doors and a door frame according to an embodiment of the invention.

Figure 2 shows a horizontal cross section through one of the upright posts of the door frame and part of adjacent doors.

Figures 1 and 2 and the following discussion describe particular embodiments of the invention so as to teach those skilled in the art how to produce and use the best modes of the invention. In order to teach the principle of the invention, several conventional aspects have been simplified or omitted. Those skilled in the art should understand that variations originating from these embodiments also fall within the scope of the invention. Those skilled in the art should understand that the features to be described below can be combined in various ways so as to form numerous variations of the invention. Therefore, the invention is not limited to the following particular embodiments and is merely defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

An exploded view of a refrigerated sales cabinet 20 of the front-access type with doors 14 and a door frame 21 according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention is shown in Figure 1.

The refrigerated sales cabinet 20 as it is shown in Figure 1 comprises a cabinet body 22, a left side panel 30, a right side panel 31, a door frame 21 and a plurality of doors 14. The cabinet body 22 comprises a bottom part 26, a roof plate 24, a rear wall 27 and a plurality of shelves 28 arranged in between.

A complete refrigeration circuit comprising a compressor, a condenser, an expansion device and an evaporator may be installed in the cabinet body 22, in order to provide a standalone refrigerated cabinet which only needs to be connected to an electric power supply for operation.

Alternatively, only one or more evaporators may be installed within the cabinet body 22, the evaporators being configured to be fluidly connected to an external refrigeration circuit provided in the building in which the refrigerated sales cabinet is to be installed.

The refrigerated sales cabinet 20 may be a cooling sales cabinet 20 which is configured to cool the goods presentation space to cooling temperatures above 0°C.

Alternatively or additionally, the refrigerated sales cabinet 20 may be a freezing sales cabinet 20, which is configured to cool the goods presentation space to freezing temperatures below 0 °C, in particular to temperatures below -15 °C in order to store and present frozen goods to potential customers.

The left side panel 30 and the right side panel 31 are respectively installed on the left and right hand side of the cabinet body 22. The door frame 21, which comprises a plurality of vertical extending upright posts 32, a horizontal top post 34 and a horizontal bottom post 36, respectively connecting the upright posts 32 to each other, is installed on a front side of the cabinet body 22.

A plurality of cabinet doors 14 is installed on the front side of the door frame 21. The cabinet body 22, the left side panel 30, the right side panel 31, the door frame 21 and the cabinet doors 14 are installed together to form a refrigerated goods storage and presentations space which is closed by and accessible through the doors 14. Figure 2 shows a schematic horizontal cross section through one of the upright posts 32 of the door frame 21 and portions of two adjacent doors 14.

The doors 14 are for example insulated glass doors 14 respectively comprising two glass panels 16 which are separated by an intermediate vacuum layer 16a. The glass panels 16 are supported by an outer main body 15, which may be an extruded element made of plastic or metal, for example aluminum.

In accordance with an embodiment of the invention the upright post 32 includes a rigid main body 4, which is cooled down to low temperatures, when the refrigerated sales cabinet 20 is operated, as it is exposed to the cooled goods presentation space._The_main-body-4- is basically C-shaped, when looked at in the cross-section, comprising a rear portion 4a and two side portions 4b. The side portions 4b are arranged basically parallel to each other and perpendicular to the rear portion 4a. A front portion 4c of the main body 4 extends basically parallel to the rear portion 4a between the two side portions 4b and provides an elongated first hollow space 5 within the main body 4, said first hollow space 5 being respectively defined by the rear portion 4a, the front portion 4c and the two side portions 4b.

The main body 4 including the rear portion 4a, the two side portions 4b and the front portion 4c is made of a material comprising nylon, in particular a material from the nylon 6 or nylon 6,6 family providing excellent thermal insulating properties. In order to enhance the mechanical properties of the main body 4, i.e. its tensile and ^; torsional stiffness, it may further comprise 15% to 35%, in particular 25% of a fiber material, which may be at least one of fiber glass, calcium carbonate or mica.

Although a main body 4 comprising the described combination of nylon and fiber material provides excellent thermal insulating properties, which may be good enough to avoid condensation at the outer front side of the post 32 under most circumstances, the thermally insulating properties of the main body 4 may be enhanced even further by filling the first hollow space 5 at least partially with an insulating material, e.g. a thermally insulating (ur- ethane) foam.

Alternatively or additionally, the thermally insulating properties of the post 32 may be enhanced by arranging a thermally insulating front element 9 in front of the main body 4.

For this purpose a front side of the front portion 4c facing the doors 14 is provided with two first bracket members 8 extending opposite to each other in a plane extending basically parallel to the plane of the doors 14 when they are arranged in the closed position par- allel to the door frame 21. The insulating front element 9 is mounted to the front portion 4c by means of corresponding second bracket members 13 provided at the rear side of the rear panel 10 engaging with the first bracket members 8 provided at the front portion 4c. The mutual engagement of the bracket members 8, 13 allows a convenient and secure installation of the insulating front element 9 at the main body 4 of the upright post 32.

The insulating front element 9 includes a rear panel 10 facing the front portion 4c of the main body 4 and comprising the second bracket members 13. The rear panel 10 comprises a basically planar central portion 10a and two side wall strips 10b extending basically rectangularly from the plane of the central portion 10a thereby forming a C-shape when looked at in the cross-section, and extends basically parallel to the rear portion 4a of the main body 4 spanning the distance between the two side portions 4b. Second and a third_elong^- ated hollow spaces 7a, 7b, are respectively defined by the rear panel 10 of the insulating front element 9, one of the side portions 4b of the main body 4 and the front portion 4c.

The insulating front element 9 further comprises a basically planar front panel 11, which is arranged facing the doors 14 opposite to the rear panel 10 on the front side of the insulating front element 9.

A thermally insulating layer 12 may be provided on the front side of the C-shaped rear panel 10 of the insulating front element 9 facing the doors 14. The thermally insulating layer 12 may be enclosed within the insulating front element 9 in between the rear panel 10 and the front panel 11. Such an enclosure within the insulating front element 9 protects the thermally insulating layer 12 from being damaged, e.g. by the doors 14 or clumsy customers hitting the upright post 32, and further allows an easy installation of the thermally insulating layer 12 at the main body 4 of the upright post 32.

The thermally insulating layer 12 may include a thermally insulating foam, a nanopourous aerogel and/or a vacuum panel providing thermal insulation.

The first and second panels 10, 11 of the insulating front element 9 may be made of any suitable plastic or metallic material, e.g. aluminum or PVC, or a combination thereof.

Sealing elements 18, which may be made of an elastic material such as rubber, are mounted to front panel 11 of the insulating front element 9 about the periphery of the door openings for defining a sealing and stop surface for the doors 14 in order to provide an air seal between the doors 14 and the upright post 32 of the door frame 21, when the doors 14 are in their respective closed positions. Alternatively or additionally sealing elements 18 may be mounted to the doors 14. The sealing elements 18 are configured to prevent the ex- change of cool air from the refrigerated goods storage and presentation space of the refrigerated sales cabinet 20 with warm ambient air.

A magnet 19 may be provided in, on or below the sealing element 18 in order to attract the metallic outer frame member 15 locking the door 14 securely in the closed position in order to avoid an undesired opening of the door 14. If the outer frame member 15 is made of plastic or a non magnetic metal, a further magnet 17 or an element 17 comprising a magnetic metal may be provided in or on the outer frame member 15 in order to be attracted by the magnet 19 provided in on or below the sealing element 18.

Alternatively or additionally a mechanical lock, which is not shown in the figures, may be provided in order to securely _^ lock the doors 14,,

An exemplary embodiment of the invention has been described with reference to an upright post 32 of the door frame 21. The skilled person, however, will easily understand that the idea of the invention may be analogously applied to the top and bottom posts 34, 36, which extend horizontally between the upright posts 32, as well, in order to avoid the generation of condensation water on the complete front surface of the door frame 21.

In an embodiment the nylon material comprises or consists of at least one of nylon 6 and nylon 6,6 material. Nylon 6 and nylon 6,6 materials respectively provide excellent mechanical and thermal insulating properties and are therefore well suited for the intended purpose of providing a thermally insulating mechanical rigid door frame.

Posts with walls having a thickness in the range of 1 mm to 12,5 mm for forming the door frame may be produced from nylon materials by means of injection molding or extrusion. The proposed nylon materials have a melt-flow index in the range of 10 to 15g / lOmin.

In an embodiment the posts additionally include a fiber material, which in particular comprises fiber glass, calcium carbonate or mica, in order to enhance the mechanical properties, in particular the tensile and torsional loading strength and stiffness, of the posts. In an embodiment the material which is used for forming the posts comprises 15% to 35%, in particular 25%, of fiber material, which results in posts which are well suited for the intended purpose.

In an embodiment the posts respectively comprise a main body with constant cross-section having a rear portion, two side portions, respectively extending forward from the rear portion, and a front portion extending between the two side portions. In operation the rear por- tion and the two side portions are exposed to the low temperatures of the refrigerated sales space, while the front portion is exposed to ambient conditions.

Such a structure, which may be produced easily by injection molding or an extrusion process, has proven to provide well suited posts with high mechanical strength and good thermal insulation.

In an embodiment a cavity is formed in at least one of the posts and a thermally insulating material, in particular a thermally insulating foam, e.g. a urethane foam, at least partially fills out said cavity in order to enhance the thermally insulating properties of the post even further.

In an embodiment the refrigerated sales cabinet further comprises an insulating front element including, from back to front, a rear panel, a front panel forming the front surface of the post, and a thermally insulating layer, which is arranged between the rear panel and the front panel. The insulating front element provides additional thermal insulation reducing the risk of condensation at the front of the post even further.

In an embodiment the insulating front element comprises a nylon material, in particular at least one of a nylon 6 and nylon 6,6 material. A nylon material, in particular one of a nylon 6 and a nylon 6,6 material is well suited for providing a thermal insulating front element. In an embodiment the insulating front element further comprises a fiber material in order to enhance the mechanical strength of the insulating front element with respect to tensile and torsional stress.

In an embodiment the insulating front element is attached to the main body by means of at least one connection element located in a central area of the front portion of the main body spaced apart laterally from the two side portions in order to reduce the flow of heat from the insulating front element to the main body.

In an embodiment the insulating front element is attached to the front portion of the main body by means of a snap-on connection comprising a first fastening bracket formed at the front portion of the main body that engages with a corresponding second fastening bracket formed at the rear side of the rear panel facing the main body.

A snap-on connection comprising a first fastening bracket formed at the main body that engages with a corresponding second fastening bracket formed at the rear side of the rear panel provides a convenient way of attaching the insulating front element to the support member with only a small area of contact, thereby reducing the transfer of heat from the insulating front element to the support member.

In an embodiment the fasting brackets respectively comprise at least one hook, wherein the hooks of the first and second fasting brackets mutually hook into each other in order to attach the insulating front element to the main body. In an embodiment the at least one hook of the front element is provided with an inclined surface facing away from the front element and the at least one hook of the main body is provided with an inclined surface facing away from the main body. Hooks comprising such inclined surfaces allow an easy engagement of the hooks/fasting brackets.

In an embodiment the fasting brackets are formed as extruded elements_extending_along- the length of the post. Extrusion provides a cheap and convenient method of forming the fasting brackets.

In an embodiment the snap-on connection is symmetrical with respect to a symmetry plane extending along the length of the post and being oriented perpendicular to the plane of the insulating front element. A symmetric snap-on connection is easy to produce and provides a good thermal insulation, as the distance to the cold parts of the main body may be maximized.

In an embodiment the thermally insulating layer is sandwiched between said rear panel and said front panel. The combination of the rear panel and the front panel together with two respective side wall strips may completely enclose said thermally insulating layer. Such a configuration, in which the thermally insulating layer is completely enclosed, securely fixes the thermally insulating material and protects it from being damaged. It further allows an easy and convenient installation of the thermally insulating material.

In an embodiment the rear panel and/or the front panel comprise a plastic material, particularly PVC. A plastic material, such as PVC, provides a cheap and lightweight material with good thermal insulating properties.

In an embodiment the front panel does not contact the main body and there is no contact between the rear panel and the main body other than the contact provided by the at least one connection element. In an embodiment there is a gap of at least 3 mm between the insulating front element and the main body. Such a gap minimizes the flow of heat from the insulating element to the cold main body. In an embodiment the insulating front element comprises, from back to front, a rear panel, a front panel forming the front surface of the post, and a thermally insulating layer, which is arranged between the rear panel and the front panel and comprises a thermally insulating nanoporous aerogel, foam and/or a vacuum panel. Providing a thermally insulating layer within the insulating front element enhances the thermal insulating properties of the insulating front element and contributes to reduce the risk of condensation.

In an embodiment the rear panel and the front panel are attached to each other by means of a second snap-on connection. A snap-on connection provides a convenient means for attaching the rear panel to the front panel.

The refrigerated sales cabinet may be configured to cool the refrigerated sales space down, to freezing temperatures below 0 °C, in particular to temperatures below -15 °C in order to store and present frozen goods to potential customers.

The posts may be formed by an injection molding or extrusion process. According to one embodiment a cavity is formed in at least one of the posts during the injection molding or extrusion process. In the following, the posts are combined in order to form the door frame. After the injection molding or extrusion process is completed, the cavity may be at least partially filled with a thermally insulating material, e.g. a urethane foam, in order to enhance the thermally insulating properties of the foam.

While the invention has been described with reference to an exemplary embodiment, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted for elements thereof without departing from the scope of the invention. In addition, modifications may be made to adapt a particular situation or material to the teachings of the invention without departing from the essential scope thereof. Therefore, it is intended that the invention is not limited to the particular embodiment disclosed, but that the invention will include all embodiments falling within the scope of the appended claims.

List of Reference Numerals main body of a post

a rear portion

b side portions

c front portion

first hollow space

a second hollow space

b third hollow space

first fastening bracket

insulating front element

0 rear panel

0a central portion

0b side wall strip

1 front panel

2 layer of insulating material

3 second fastening bracket

4 door

5 outer frame member

6 door panel

6a vacuum layer

7 magnet or element comprising magnetic metal8 sealing strip

9 magnet

0 refrigerating sales cabinet

2 cabinet body

1 door frame

roof plate

bottom part

rear wall

shelves

left side panel

right side panel

upright post

top post

bottom post