A horizontal plate freezer (1) for freezing articles inside said horizontal freezer during a freezing process comprising: a plurality of freezer plates (2) forming a stack of freezer plates, where said plurality of freezer plates are arranged substantially horizontal, defining a distance between the freezer plates, where in use articles to be frozen are arranged on one or more freezer plates, where said in stack of freezer plates are arranged between a top frame (3) and a bottom frame (4), where said top frame is arranged at a horizontal level above the stack of freezer plates, and said bottom frame is arranged at a horizontal level underneath the stack of freezer plates, at least one intervention unit (8) with at least one engaging device (10), where the engaging device is arranged moveable in a longitudinal direction along said intervention unit(s), whereby the engaging device is lifted and lowered along said stack of freezer plates, at least one device (6) comprising a first end positioned above a topmost freezer plate and a second end connected to said bottom frame.

There is disclosed a plate freezer apparatus. The plate freezer apparatus comprises a first frame member configured to support a plurality of vertically disposed freezing plate members arranged to define a freezing cavity therebetween and a flooring system configured to extend below the freezing plate members to form a base for the freezing cavities, wherein the flooring system is configured to be raised so as to lift any frozen material present in freezing cavities out of the freezing cavities so that the frozen material extends from the freezing cavities to project above an upper edge of the freezing plate members. A second frame member is mounted above said first frame member so as to extend substantially a length of the first frame member, the second frame member having a plurality of paddle members mounted therein that are individually actuable to extend between a horizontal axis where the paddle members extend substantially parallel with the second frame member, and a vertical axis where the paddle members extend from the second frame member to be received between the frozen material raised from the freezing cavities. The first frame member further comprises a lifting mechanism adjacent a proximal end thereof, the lifting mechanism being actuable to raise the proximal end of the first frame member so as to tilt the first frame member towards a distal end and wherein the paddle members are actuable to facilitate controlled release of the frozen material such that upon release the frozen material is able to slide along the upper edges of the plates and off the distal end of the first frame member for collection.

A system for manufacturing clear ice products is provided. The system includes a freezing module, a demolding module, and a converting station. The freezing module includes a frame comprising a plurality of levels, a plate freezer provided at each level, and at least one mold provided for placement on each plate freezer and suitable for receiving water. A control frame is provided associated with each plate freezer and is movable from an elevated position to fill position. In the fill position, the control frame is at least partially disposed within the mold. One or more circulation pumps are associated with each control frame for circulating water in the mold to release air bubbles as the water freezes. The demolding module removes the mold from the freezing module and removes formed ice from the mold. The converting station converts the formed ice into a clear ice product.

Standalone and self-contained cooling systems using compressed liquid and/or gas CO.sub.2 containers positioned in an insulated or non-insulated vessel and consisting of a specially designed unit where the containers are vertically positioned in an upright or upside-down position. The liquid and/or gas CO.sub.2 coolant is then released into capillary tube(s) embedded into a heat transfer plate or heat exchanger thus leveraging the CO.sub.2 coolant properties. The temperature is controlled by a metering CO.sub.2 releasing system encompassing an electronic control device which can be operated remotely and/or via a touch screen and which sends alerts when pre-defined thresholds are exceeded. The invention's metering CO.sub.2 releasing system may be triggered by an electronic or a thermostatic valve or may be triggered manually or by an electronic solenoid. The invention's cooling system also encompasses check valves, which avoid liquid and/or gas CO.sub.2 from escaping when removing or replacing CO.sub.2 containers individually.

A beverage dispensing apparatus comprises a container containing a beverage and further comprises a dispensing tube composed of three sections: (A) A cartridge formed by a frame defining a perimeter of an inner area and supporting in said inner area a channel forming a serpentine; (B) An upstream dispensing tube section fluidly connecting the interior of the container to an inlet of the channel; (C) A downstream dispensing tube section fluidly connecting an outlet of the channel to a tapping valve; and (D) A beverage dispensing appliance provided with a cooling unit comprising a first and second cooling plates separated from one another by a distance defining an insertion slot, wherein the distance separating the first from the second cooling plates can be varied, from a loading distance, d0, allowing the introduction of the cartridge into the slot, to a cooling distance, dc<d0, wherein the first and second surfaces cooling plates contact the channel and apply a pressure thereon deforming the channel.

An apparatus for emptying and filling horizontal freezers, which includes a first and a second chain actuator, the chain actuators being arranged parallel to each other and parallel to an y axis, the chain actuators having first and second ends, a sliding beam arranged between the first and second chain actuators nearby, or at, the first end of the first and second chain actuators, and a feeding arrangement for retracting the first and second chain actuators from an extended configuration to a collapsed configuration and for extending the chain actuators from a collapsed configuration to an extended configuration.

Freezing installation for freezing food articles in blocks, particularly seafood, where the food articles prior to being introduced into the freezing installation is arranged in trays, said freezing installation comprising a pre-pressing apparatus and one or more horizontal plate freezers (2, 3, 4, 5, 6), said horizontal plate freezer (2, 3, 4, 5, 6) having one or more horizontal freezing plates (31): means for introducing trays into the pre-pressing apparatus the pre-pressing apparatus comprises a plurality of horizontal shelves onto which in use the trays are placed, and a top plate (21), said shelves (22) and top plate (21) are stacked on top of each other, where each horizontal shelf and the top plate (21) are connected to at least one actuator such that each shelf and top plate (21) is able to be moved vertically, and the at least one actuator can provide a downwards force in use urging the horizontal shelves and the top plate (21) into contact with the trays positioned on the shelves; means for transferring the trays from the shelves of the pre-pressing apparatus to the horizontal freezing plates (31) of the one or more horizontal plate freezers (2, 3, 4, 5, 6); one or more plate freezers (2, 3, 4, 5, 6), each having a plurality of freezing plates (31) stacked on top of each other means for emptying the plate freezer (2, 3, 4, 5, 6), and transferring the tray for further processing.

A movable platen cooling apparatus includes: a compressor; a cold head that includes a cooling part; a refrigerator gas supply line that supplies a refrigerant gas from the compressor to the cold head; a refrigerator gas exhaust line that exhausts the refrigerant gas from the cold head to the compressor; a first gas inflow line that is connected to a first movable platen flow path and includes a heat exchange part thermally coupled to the cooling part; a first gas outflow line connected to the first movable platen flow path and merged with the refrigerator gas exhaust line; a second gas inflow line connected to a second movable platen flow path and disposed to be thermally non-coupled with the cooling part; and a second gas outflow line connected to the second movable platen flow path and merged with the refrigerator gas exhaust line.

The blood bank comprises a cooled storage area with a plurality of stationary storage racks. Further, it comprises a buffer storage, which holds a number of movable storage racks. A robot is provided for moving blood products between the stationary storage racks and the movable storage racks. A product access door is arranged close to the buffer storage for manual access to the blood products within the movable storage racks.

A heat transfer enclosure for receiving articles to be processed or stored under conditions of reduced temperature, comprising one or more members of thermally conductive material having a thermal conductivity of at least 10 Wm.sup.1 K.sup.1, the one or more members having a contact surface for contacting articles located in the enclosure and including projections extending generally away from the surface; wherein in use heat is conducted between an article contacting the contact surface with an upper surface of the article and a heat exchange fluid in the heat transfer enclosure via an articlecontact surfaceprojectionsheat exchange fluid heat transfer path.