The invention relates to a method for preventing dehydration of goods in a closed, refrigerated gas atmosphere. An example of such a closed, refrigerated gas atmosphere may be the inside of a refrigerator, cold room or the like.

In the past it was most common to increase the keeping quality of food products such as fish, meat, and the like by preserving the goods by means of salt, sugar, etc. Preserva¬ tion causes the product to assume a different character, so that it by no means can be described as fresh goods. Another common method of storing fish and meat, as well as vegetables and other foods, is to retard the spoilage and ripening process by decreasing the temperature in the product, thus impeding the vital conditions for the microor¬ ganisms that are the cause of spoilage and damage.

In country/rural residences this was done by building ground cellars where it was possible to maintain a very stable temperature, thus providing a favorable storage place for food products throughout the year. Technical advancements and social developments have increased the standard of living, one effect of this being an increase in more densely populated areas where there are fewer opportunities to have ground cellars. Also, modern cellars in homes are so well insulated that they make a poor long-term storage place for food products. Technical progress in this area has also made it possible for us to store foods of various types in fresh state either in refrigerators/cold rooms at tempera¬ tures just above 0°C or far below this temperature in freezer units. Refrigerators and freezers have gradually become common possessions and a necessary and inevitable part of our daily life.

These apparatuses are constructed to cool down a closed chamber that contains food products. The air in the cooling unit to begin with has a high relative humidity. Because the technical device that cools down the air in the chamber— the evaporator — maintains a temperature substantially lower than that of the air, the moisture will be drawn there. This effect means that the evaporator will gradually reduce the moisture in the air, causing increased dehydration of the goods, and the quality of the goods will deteriorate.

It is common today to remove the condensed water from the refrigerator via tubes to outside surroundings," e.g. , to an evaporation dish on the motor where the heat from the motor assists in the evaporation. Hence, the water is drawn away from the closed room and the goods therein. Our modern refrigerators have a very inferior climate with respect to the moisture required for achieving an optimal storage and keeping quality for the oods.

In refrigerators subject to conventional usage, where the door is opened and closed several times during the course of the day, average humidity will be in the range of 40-60 . This is much too low, and it should be possible to increase it considerably. In comparison, in professional storage chambers for long-term storage, one strives to maintain a relative air humidity of over 0$, and with about 99$ humidity near the goods.

The purpose of the present invention is to increase the average humidity by at least 50$. In this way dehydration of the goods is substantially reduced, keeping quality is increased, and the sensory qualities such as appearance and taste are preserved more effectively than can usually be done in a refrigerator.

To achieve this, the water that is drawn out of the foo products and the air is not conducted out of the refrigera tor, but is conserved and fed back into the air within th refrigerator cabinet.

Further details of the present invention will be apparen from the following description of the embodiment example o the invention.

Figure 1 is a sectional view of a refrigerator where a absorbent cassette for water is to be used.

Figure 2a-c is a composite illustration of the absorben cassette for placement within a refrigerator.

Figure 2d is a complete, assembled absorbent cassette as it would appear when placed in a refrigerator.

A vertical section of a refrigerator is shown in Figure 1. The outer wall of the refrigerator consists of a cabinet top 1, a rear wall 2, a cabinet base 3 and a door 4. Inside and on the upper part of the rear wall 2 is situated a coolin element, the evaporator 5, shown here as a flat vertical plate. Somewhat lower vertically, e.g., in the center of the cabinet, is situated an absorbent cassette 6. This is shown here as a horizontal cassette or plate, or it may be combined with a shelf. Figure 2 shows further details in the design of this cassette.

The absorbent cassette 6 consists, at the top, of a top plate 6.1 which is heavily perforated. This is provided at the rear edge 2 thereof with a break in the plane along a line parallel with the rear wall 2, forming a tongue-like spring 7 that lies against and presses in an absorption mat 6.2 toward the rear wall 2, which mat then picks up the melt water running down from evaporator 5.

Figure 2b shows a flat, mat-shaped plate of a water-absorbent material, the absorption mat 6.2. This has at its rear edge toward rear wall 2 a contact fold 8 that provides contact between rear wall 2 and spring 7 and catches the melt water that runs down along the rear wall from evaporator 5. The front of absorption mat 6.2 is provided at the front edge thereof with a slight downward bend of insignificant length forming a drip lip 9. The absorption mat 6.2 is capable of absorption in a direction between two side walls, meaning in the present example that it conducts water from evaporator 5 to its own forward edge at door 4.

Figure 2c shows a base plate 6.3 in the absorbent cassette 6. It is provided on the sides thereof coinciding with the side walls of the refrigerator with cassette edges 10 rising vertically straight up from base plate 6.3, and along the entire front facing the door with a groove or gutter 11, the bottom of which is lower than the main plane of base plate 6.3, into which the drip lip 9 is placed when absorption mat 6.2 lies in absorbent cassette 6. Looking at gutter 11 from the front, one will see that it slopes slightly downward toward one side wall of the refrigerator in order to allow excess melt water from absortion mat 6.2 to run into a return conduit, not shown in the figures, at the lower edge of base plate 6.3, back toward rear wall 2 of the refrigerator and out of the cabinet. This pertains to any surplus water. Base plate 6.3 is heavily perforated in the same manner as top plate 6.1.

Figure 2d shows a complete absorbent cassette 6 with top plate 6.1, absorption mat 6.2 and base plate 6.3 in assembled state.

Due to the perforation of top plate 6.1 and the base plate, and to the fact that absorption mat 6.2 consists of an air permeable material, the air within the refrigerator will be able to circulate through the mat and pick up water. This

is apparent from Figure 1, where the air circulation around the cabinet due to its being cooled down by evaporator 5 descends, passes through absorbent cassette 6, and picks up moisture.

With the aid of this example of the embodiment, it is possible to attain a humidity within a refrigerator 50-100$ higher than what is possible with current solutions.

The present solution is designed for refrigerators where the evaporator is defrosted automatically.

If the invention is to be used for a refrigerator with an evaporator 5 having a configuration different from that mentioned in the present example, the melt water therefrom may be conducted to the side edge of absorption mat 6.2, which is arranged to function as a suction end with, e.g. , grooves/gutters.

An essential aspect of the terminating edge of absorption mats 6.2 down in gutter 11 is that the edge must be long enough to provide a drip lip 9, but not so long to cause the water running out to attain a fall down into gutter 11, thereby drawing all of the water therefrom. It is only the excess water in absorption mats 6.2 that is to be conducted to gutter 11.