Thermal management system and apparatus

Claim 1

Apparatus for controlling the temperature within a vehicular storage chamber comprising, in combination: (a) a normally closed vehicular storage chamber having a vertical bulkhead dividing said chamber into a relatively large storage compartment and a comparatively smaller heat exchange compartment, said heat exchange compartment being subdivided into a cooling section mounted between adjacent first and second heating sections; (b) at least one air inlet connection positioned at the bottom of each of said first and second heating and said cooling sections and communicating with the bottom of said storage compartment; (c) heating means mounted in at least one of said first and second heating sections and coupled in fluid flow communication with the heated engine coolant of a vehicle supporting said storage chamber for extracting heat therefrom; (d) refreezable cooling means including an eutectic material of sufficient mass having a freezing point below that of an intended storage temperature and mounted in said cooling section for being refrozen during non-use, off-peak times and maintaining said storage temperature as said eutectic material thaws during use; (e) a fan for discharging air into the top of said storage compartment; (f) separate ducts coupled to the tops of said first and second heating and said cooling sections and to said fan for supplying air to said storage compartment; (g) shutter means in said ducts having a first condition in which the ducts to said fan from said first and second heating sections is open and the duct to said fan from said cooling section is closed to prevent gravity flow of air in said cooling section and enable circulation of air between said storage compartment and said first and second heating sections, and having a second condition in which the duct to said fan from said cooling section is open and the ducts to said fan from said first and second heating sections is closed to enable forced circulation of air between said storage compartment and said cooling section and disable the flow of air from said storage compartment through said first and second heating sections; and (h) means responsive to the temperature of said storage compartment for controlling which of said ducts are open and closed and thereby maintaining a relatively constant ambient intended temperature in said storage compartment.