A front opening freezer chest for easy storage and access includes a chest housing having a bottom side, a top side, a left side, a right side, a back side, and a front side. A median wall divides an inside of the chest housing into a left compartment and a right compartment. A pair of doors is swingably coupled to the chest housing and covers the front side in a closed position and alternatively exposes the front side in an open position. A plurality of basket systems is slidably coupled within each of the left compartment and the right compartment. A plurality of supports coupled is coupled to the bottom side of the chest housing and is configured to elevate the chest housing from the floor. A refrigeration system is coupled within the inside of the chest housing and has a power cord extending through the back side.

A front opening freezer chest for easy storage and access includes a chest housing having a bottom side, a top side, a left side, a right side, a back side, and a front side. A median wall divides an inside of the chest housing into a left compartment and a right compartment. A pair of doors is swingably coupled to the chest housing and covers the front side in a closed position and alternatively exposes the front side in an open position. A plurality of basket systems is slidably coupled within each of the left compartment and the right compartment. A plurality of supports coupled is coupled to the bottom side of the chest housing and is configured to elevate the chest housing from the floor. A refrigeration system is coupled within the inside of the chest housing and has a power cord extending through the back side.

A refrigerator of the present invention includes a refrigeration system having a water-cooled condenser and a liquid line heat exchanger for additional cooling with the water, at a position upstream in the direction of flow of water from the cooling that occurs at the condenser. The use of water cooling at these two portions of the refrigeration system improves the energy efficiency of the refrigerator, while also significantly improving temperature responsiveness (e.g., reducing an amount of time necessary to pull down the temperature of a cooled space in the refrigerator to a desired set point temperature). The refrigerator may include one or a plurality of refrigeration stages, in various embodiments, and an additional sub-cooling heat exchanger may be provided in the refrigeration system downstream from the liquid line heat exchanger when the refrigerator includes multiple cascaded circuits.

A refrigerator of the present invention includes a refrigeration system having a water-cooled condenser and a liquid line heat exchanger for additional cooling with the water, at a position upstream in the direction of flow of water from the cooling that occurs at the condenser. The use of water cooling at these two portions of the refrigeration system improves the energy efficiency of the refrigerator, while also significantly improving temperature responsiveness (e.g., reducing an amount of time necessary to pull down the temperature of a cooled space in the refrigerator to a desired set point temperature). The refrigerator may include one or a plurality of refrigeration stages, in various embodiments, and an additional sub-cooling heat exchanger may be provided in the refrigeration system downstream from the liquid line heat exchanger when the refrigerator includes multiple cascaded circuits.

Disclosed is an ultra-low temperature freezer comprising a seal. The seal member has: hollow first and second air layer forming portions which are aligned in a row in a second direction between a first and second peripheral edges when a door is closed; and a first connection portion which is connected between the first and second air layer forming portions so as to form an air layer. The first connection portion has a shape that would overlap part of the first and second air layer forming portions if moved in parallel to the second direction. The outer peripheral surface of the first connection portion and the outer peripheral surfaces of the first and second air layer forming portions form first and second recessed portions extending in a first direction.

Disclosed is an ultra-low temperature freezer comprising a seal. The seal member has: hollow first and second air layer forming portions which are aligned in a row in a second direction between a first and second peripheral edges when a door is closed; and a first connection portion which is connected between the first and second air layer forming portions so as to form an air layer. The first connection portion has a shape that would overlap part of the first and second air layer forming portions if moved in parallel to the second direction. The outer peripheral surface of the first connection portion and the outer peripheral surfaces of the first and second air layer forming portions form first and second recessed portions extending in a first direction.

A front opening freezer chest for easy storage and access includes a chest housing having a bottom side, a top side, a left side, a right side, a back side, and a front side. A median wall divides an inside of the chest housing into a left compartment and a right compartment. A pair of doors is swingably coupled to the chest housing and covers the front side in a closed position and alternatively exposes the front side in an open position. A plurality of basket systems is slidably coupled within each of the left compartment and the right compartment. A plurality of supports coupled is coupled to the bottom side of the chest housing and is configured to elevate the chest housing from the floor. A refrigeration system is coupled within the inside of the chest housing and has a power cord extending through the back side.

In one embodiment, a freezer system has one or more shelves, each shelf has shelf electronics and can receive one or more racks, each rack has rack electronics and one or more cells for receiving one or more boxes of samples, each box has one or more RFID tags. Freezer electronics communicate with the outside world and with each set of shelf electronics. Each set of rack electronics communicates wirelessly with the corresponding set of shelf electronics and with the corresponding box RFID tags. Power for the rack electronics is derived from wireless signals from the shelf electronics. The freezer system can detect the presence of racks on shelves and boxes on racks to track the location and the orientation of each received box.

An automated, ultra-low temperature freezer having multiple structural features that reduce heat transfer into the freezer, protect its internal mechanical devices against low temperature mechanical binding of their movements, allow defrosting and autoclaving as a result of only minimal changes to the conventional CO.sub.2 emergency backup system. A group of freezers are arranged so they can simultaneously provide an HVAC function. A vial management system allows biological samples or vials to be automatically placed in and recovered from the freezer and associates the temperature history with each sample or vial that it was subjected to during its storage.

An automated, ultra-low temperature freezer having multiple structural features that reduce heat transfer into the freezer, protect its internal mechanical devices against low temperature mechanical binding of their movements, allow defrosting and autoclaving as a result of only minimal changes to the conventional CO.sub.2 emergency backup system. A group of freezers are arranged so they can simultaneously provide an HVAC function. A vial management system allows biological samples or vials to be automatically placed in and recovered from the freezer and associates the temperature history with each sample or vial that it was subjected to during its storage.