U-line Corporation

Andrew J Doberstein

Thomas W Rand

Joseph H Zyduck

Jack L Vaughn

Jennifer U Straszewski

Joseph E Braun

William A Reed

Kevin D Kinch

Ami Marie Verhalen

Daniel R Bullis, Jr

Lawrence D Moye

Philip J Uihlein

Jeffrey A Ziminski

Jennifer U Strazewski

Dean G Byczynski

Richard A Abegglen

Matthew K Wenninger

Michael D Gilioli

A monitoring, control and feedback system for a refrigeration unit is provided that includes a wireless transceiver operably connected to the control circuitry of a refrigeration unit. The transceiver is operably connected to the central processing unit (CPU) of the refrigeration unit and receives signals from the CPU regarding the operation of the refrigeration unit. The transceiver wireless communicates these signals to a program or application stored and operating on a suitable user device that displays the signals illustrating the current operational parameters of the refrigeration unit on the user device while also enabling the user to control the operation of refrigeration unit remotely.

Refrigeration unit monitoring, control and feedback system

Beverage rack

Control display

Cooler front

A cooling unit includes a cabinet with a cooling chamber, a refrigeration system including an evaporator mounted, a compressor, a condenser, and a controller for controlling the cooling unit. The controller has a memory, a processor and an output interface. The controller monitors at least one parameter of the cooling unit, logs in the memory data corresponding to the at least one parameter, and outputs the logged data via the output interface. The cooling unit can include a sensor that monitors a parameter that is logged in memory. The sensor can be a temperature sensor. The logged data can be compared to stored error conditions to detect whether an error condition has occurred. If an error condition has occurred, an error code is logged in memory and can be outputted via the output interface.

Cooling unit with data logging control

A drawer refrigerator has a partitioned cabinet with one or more pull-out drawers. The pull-out drawer(s) can have an adjustable divider fence for dividing the storage space of the drawer. The divider fence can have two dividers each defined by two spaced apart elongated rods that are coupled together at a hub and have end pieces with flat surfaces that abut inside surfaces of the drawer walls. A hand operated screw knob mounted to the hub can be used to lock the position of the divider fence.

Drawer refrigerator with divider and divider for refrigerator drawer

A control assembly for a compact refrigeration unit and the like includes a display panel, a control board having an LED and a switch pad, a flexible extension extending between the switch and the display panel, and a mount supporting the display panel and control board and having a switch support laterally restraining the flexible extension and an open ended light guide directing light from the LED to the display panel. The mount can be a monolithic structure having a switch support and light guide for each of multiple switches and LEDs. The mount includes a removable back cover that clamps the control board in place.

Electronic control mount with switch support and light guide

Handle

A cooler unit has a control housing that is mounted to a floor of a cabinet liner that is sloped in a downward direction toward the opening of the cooler unit. The control housing retains consumable items that are stored on the floor of the cabinet liner so that the items do not fall out of the cooler unit. Particularly, the control housing can retain wine bottles. The control housing houses a controller that controls the operation of the cooler unit. The control housing can include a display and user inputs so that a user can easily manage the cooler unit.

Cooler unit with retaining control housing

Control

A refrigeration unit with improved storage and accessibility features has a thermally insulated cabinet and door defining a storage space with a plurality of support elements. The support elements include easily removable door shelves and horizontal cabinet shelves that can be removed or repositioned without the door being fully opened due to dished regions adjacent the shelf supports that allow the shelves to be pivoted and removed rather than slid straight out of the cabinet. Indicia on one of the shelves follows the contour of one of the door shelves to indicate approximately the shelf space occupied by an adjacent door shelf and thus where items can be set without interfering with the closure of the door. The refrigeration unit also includes a cam assembly at the lower door hinge which biases the door closed when open approximately 35 degrees or less. The refrigeration unit also includes features for attaching an overlay panel to the door easily.

Refrigeration unit

A wine cooler unit has a refrigerated cabinet housing two pull-out assemblies, each having a door panel and one or more wine racks. One rack can be mounted to the door panel, and one or more follower racks can be extended and retracted by movement of the door panel mounted rack, or by independent manual movement thereof. Two or more racks can be pulled out from the cabinet in a staggered or cascading fashion in which an upper rack extends from the cabinet to a lesser extent than a next lower rack to provide access to the bottles on each rack. The door panels can be made of a glass thermopane allowing visual inspection of the contents inside the cabinet. The cabinet can be cooled by a refrigeration system having two evaporators, which provide two independent cooling zones, one for each pull-out assembly. A capacitance-operated control can be provided under the glass front of one door panel for controlling the temperature zones inside the cabinet.

Pull-out access cooler unit

Growing community of inventors

Hartford, WI, United States of America

Andrew J Doberstein