| 摘要 |
A cooling apparatus, which is suitable for use in a soft drinks machine or like liquid dispenser, and is compact and can cool the liquid fast enough to be acceptable in a demand-led arrangement and yet not cool it so much that it actually freezes, comprises a cooling system (11) that utilises a combination of a heat pump (17: typically a Peltier-effect device) coupled with a liquid/solid phase-change material (15) operating in the required temperature range (which will usually be from just above 0{C to around +5{C). A temperature-sensitive switching device, such as a thermistor (19) is thermally coupled to the liquid/solid phase-change material (15) and operatively linked to the heat pump (17) so as effectively to control the pump on or off as required. In one embodiment a series of copper pipes act to transfer heat between the heat pump (17) and the phase change material (15). In another embodiment, a heat exhanger containing liquid to be dispensed, contacts the outside of a thermally-conductive cone-shaped former. |
