The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Aug. 06, 2002
Filed:
Feb. 16, 2000
Timothy W. James, Solana Beach, CA (US);
TES Technology, Inc., Ventura, CA (US);
Abstract
A method using controlled forced-convection to couple (or de-couple) a refrigerant-evaporator thermally to a refrigerated compartment, and a method to use heat from a fresh food compartment (or other compartment maintained above 0C) of a two or more temperature refrigeration appliance to defrost a freezer evaporator automatically without using a controller or heater. When thermally coupled to its compartment, an evaporator can provide efficient cooling to the compartment. The ability to de-couple the evaporator from its compartment enables refrigerant flow through the evaporator at significantly different temperatures than its compartment, but without significant heat transfer. This ability enables using a single refrigeration system (with one or no valves) to remove heat (sequentially) at two or more different temperatures from two or more refrigerated compartments.