Passively cooled fluid storage apparatus

Claim 1

An improved food storage assembly and the likE comprising a housing defining a cavity therein opening from the housing along one side thereof, door means engageable with the housing across the one side of the cavity for closing the cavity opening, thermal insulation material carried by the housing and the door means for essentially fully enclosing the cavity in the closed position of the door means, a receptacle in the housing in an upper portion of the cavity for receiving a predetermined quantity of latent heat of fusion cooling medium which is other than water ice, a thermally insulated partition disposed horizontally in the cavity immediately below the receptacle subdividing the cavity into a first upper chamber above the partition and a second lower chamber below the partition, and means intimately and thermally conductively associated with the receptacle for thermally coupling the receptacle essentially only by thermal conduction with selected portions of the cavity and including a metal member forming at least the floor of the receptacle for contact directly by cooling medium disposed in the receptacle, the metal member further forming fin means disposed vertically in both the first and second chambers and forming an uninsulated wall common to the receptacle and to the first chamber, the predetermined quantity of cooling medium and the dimensions of the metal member being defined with relation to the type and quantity of the insulation material, to the geometry of the cavity and to the thermal conductivity of the metal member for maintaining the selected portions of the cavity and contents thereof at substantially predetermined temperatures throughout a predetermined period under predetermined ambient temperature conditions.