Medical dispensing drawer and thermoelectric device for cooling the

Abstract

A refrigerated, medical dispensing drawer for use in a computerized medicine-dispensing station, the station of the type having a cabinet that houses a plurality of openable drawers in stacked arrangement containing pharmaceutical items in locked storage therein for retrieval following instructions inputted into a computer integrated the station, a drawer including a base plate, spaced-apart side walls, and spaced-apart front and rear walls, all attached together along their respective mating marginal edges to define an interior compartment of a size and shape available for reciprocal movement on a pair of side rails into and out of the cabinet, a tub reposed in the drawer covered by a tub lid hingedly attached to the drawer to form an air-tight chamber interior thereof and moveable with the drawer into and out of the cabinet, a plurality of individual baskets, each formed of fenestrated side walls and a bottom plate joined along their respective mating marginal edges, arranged in the tub with their open tops aligned below like-sized openings formed in the tub lid and covered over with openable basket lids held in locked engagement with the tub lid, and a cooling system powered by a thermoelectric device for cooling the interior and contents of the chamber and maintaining a cool temperature therein, the system completely moveable with the drawer as it is inserted and withdrawn from the cabinet.