A floating beverage holder designed to chill and maintain a cold beverage container in an upright position on water. The beverage holder includes an open cavity sized and shaped to accommodate a desired beverage container, or multiple beverage containers. A first sealed compartment substantially surrounds the cavity and includes a freezable material, such as water, refrigerant or a gel. A second compartment filled with a buoyant and insulative material, such as a polyurethane, substantially surrounds the first compartment. A hard outer shell protects the insulative material of the second compartment. The body of the holder is shaped to provide stability on the water surface.

In examples, a refrigeration system includes one or more cameras that are positioned to capture images of items before the items are positioned inside the cabinet. The refrigeration system can include one or more moveable racks on which items can be placed. When the rack is moved out, items can be placed on the rack, and the set of cameras can image the rack to determine information about the items placed on the rack.

Systems and methods have demonstrated the capability of rapidly cooling the contents of pods containing the ingredients for food and drinks.

A container insulating and cooling assembly includes an inner sleeve having an inner surface, an outer surface, a top edge and a bottom edge. The top and bottom edges each define openings extending into the inner sleeve. A dividing wall is attached to the inner sleeve and fluidly separates an upper portion from a lower portion of the inner sleeve. A cap is removably attached to the inner sleeve to close the bottom edge and define an ice receiving chamber between the dividing wall and a bottom wall of the cap. An outer covering is attached to the outer surface of the sleeve and covers the outer surface. The outer covering comprises a resiliently compressible material adhesively coupled to the outer surface. The resiliently compressible material is a thermally insulating material. The inner sleeve receives a beverage container such that the beverage container abuts the dividing wall.

The present disclosure discloses a liquid cooler having separable and portable components. The liquid cooler has a liquid cooling section and a refrigerating system section. In an operative liquid cooling configuration, the components present in the liquid cooling section and the refrigerating system section are connected with each other with a first and second releasing coupler. In an operative defrosting configuration, the components of present in the liquid cooling section and the refrigerating system section are separated with each other by releasing the first and second releasing coupler and hence are easily portable. The separated liquid cooling section and the refrigerating system section enables easy periodic maintenance or replacement of faulty components in less time, labor and cost. Further, the liquid cooler is powered by power received from power mains or by power storage device such as battery.

A portable cooler container is provided. The temperature control system cools a chamber of the container to transport temperature sensitive contents via the container. An electronic display screen on one of the lid and the container body selectively displays an electronic shipping label for the portable cooler container.

A cooling system comprises a container that is conductively coupled or convectively coupled to a thermoelectric device to selectively cool and/or heat the container. A climate controlled container system for a vehicle includes a container or cavity and a conduction element configured to cool the cavity. In some embodiments, the cooling system comprises a housing, a housing inlet, a fluid passage and one or more thermoelectric devices and fluid transfer devices positioned within the housing.

A portable cooler container is provided. The temperature control system cools a chamber of the container to transport temperature sensitive contents via the container. An electronic display screen on one of the lid and the container body selectively displays an electronic shipping label for the portable cooler container.

The present invention provides a vending machine having a compartment whose preset internal temperature is lower than those of compartments in conventional commonly-used beverage vending machines, and yet being capable of limiting energy required for cooling the interiors of its compartments. A vending machine 1 for cooling and dispensing products has at least three compartments (right compartment 4, center compartment 5, and left compartment 6) which are defined by heat-insulated walls (partition walls) 3 and which are for cooling products contained therein. The right, center and left compartments 4, 5, 6 are disposed side by side in a row. The preset internal temperature for the center compartment 5, which lies between the right and left compartments 4, 6, is lower than those for the right and left compartments 4, 6.

A controller, when a normal cooling operation is being performed, forward-drives a lower-side and an upper-side in-box blower fans, thereby causing internal air cooled by an evaporator to circulate within a commodity storage box in such a way that it enters a rear face duct through a lower-side opening and is discharged from an upper-side opening, and when a cold-maintaining operation is being performed, stops driving the lower-side and the upper-side in-box blower fans, and when a cooling recovery operation is being performed, forward-drives the lower-side in-box blower fan and reverse-drives the upper-side in-box blower fan, thereby causing internal air cooled by the evaporator to enter the rear face duct through the lower-side opening and causing internal air to enter the rear face duct through the upper-side opening, and also causing internal air entered the rear face duct to be discharged from the intermediate opening.