Ice shelf product display unit

Abstract

An ice shelf product display unit has a vertical support wall, a plurality of shelves extending out from the support wall, and a housing extending from the lower end of the support wall. The housing encompasses refrigeration equipment and components. Each of the shelves and the top of the housing have sunken wells or reservoirs which contain a series of switch back coils. The coils contain refrigerant which flows to, through, and from the coils via the refrigeration components to freeze water into ice within each of the sunken wells. When ice is formed in the wells, bottles, cans, or other beverage containing products placed on the shelves and top section of the housing will be maintained in a cold state, allowing consumers to purchase cold beverages for immediate consumption.

1 . An ice shelf product display unit comprising:
 a vertical support wall having an upper end and a lower end;   a plurality of shelves extending out from and perpendicular to the support wall, each shelf containing embedded cooling coils through which refrigerant is configured to flow;   a housing extending from the lower end of the support wall, said housing containing refrigeration means for continuously cooling refrigerant; and   refrigeration transfer means for supplying cold refrigerant from the refrigeration means to each of the cooling coils embedded in the shelves, whereby each shelf is uniformly provided with cold refrigerant from the refrigeration means to maintain a constant cold surface on each of the shelves.   
     
     
         2 . The product display unit as in  claim 1  wherein each shelf comprises a sunken well housing the cooling coils. 
     
     
         3 . The product display unit as in  claim 2  wherein the said constant cold surface in each of the shelves comprises the top surface of a block of ice formed within the sunken wells of the shelves. 
     
     
         4 . The product display unit as in  claim 1  wherein the housing further comprises a top section containing cooling coils through which refrigerant configured to flow, whereby the sunken well of the housing is provided with cold refrigerant from the refrigeration means to maintain a constant cold surface on the top section. 
     
     
         5 . The product display unit as in  claim 1  wherein the refrigeration means comprises a compressor and a condenser. 
     
     
         6 . The product display unit as in  claim 1  wherein the refrigeration transfer means comprises piping extending from the refrigeration means to each of the shelves. 
     
     
         7 . The product display unit as in  claim 1  wherein the housing has an open back and a front comprising a vent which covers the refrigeration means. 
     
     
         8 . The product display unit as in  claim 6  wherein the refrigeration transfer means comprises piping extending from the refrigeration means to each of the shelves. 
     
     
         9 . The product display unit as in  claim 1  wherein the upper end of the support wall comprises signage.