Cooler box with temperature control function and temperature control method thereof

Abstract

A cooler box with a temperature control function, the cooler box comprises a box body and a cryogenic medium container installed outside the cooler box for storing liquid carbon dioxide or other liquefied gas. The box body is equipped with a controller, a monitoring device, a controllable valve, and a chamber to reduce the speed of gas released and thus prevent sudden freezing and overcooling of temperature-sensitive cargo such as fresh food. The controllable valve is connected to the cryogenic medium container through a tube. The monitoring device measures the temperature inside the cooler box, and the controller controls the valve opening state and the duration time of maintaining the open state of the controllable valve according to the temperature measured by the monitoring device and the size of the cooler box. A temperature control method for the cooler box is also provided.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A cooler box with a temperature control function, the cooler box comprising:
 a box body comprising two shells arranged with a space between the two shells, the space being a component installation cavity and an air inlet opening in an inner shell of the two shells;   a cryogenic medium container containing liquid gas;   a monitoring device installed in the component installation cavity, the monitoring device being adapted to periodically measure an internal temperature inside the box body;   a controllable valve installed in the component installation cavity, wherein one end of the controllable valve is connected to the cryogenic medium container through a tube, and another end of the controllable valve is connected to the air inlet through another tube; and   a controller installed in the component installation cavity, connected by wireless communication with each of the monitoring device and the controllable valve, wherein the monitoring device is further adapted to periodically upload a measured temperature value to the controller, upon receiving the measured temperature value, the controller performs the following actions:
 determining whether the measured temperature value is greater than a temperature upper limit value; 
 calculating an emission volume of the liquid gas based on a difference value between the measured temperature value and a temperature lower limit value and a volume of a cooling space of the cooler box when it is determined that the measured temperature value is greater than the temperature upper limit value; 
 converting the emission volume of liquid gas to a set of operating parameters (Vs, Vt) of the controllable valve, where Vs represents a valve opening state and Vt represents a duration time of maintaining Vs; and 
 transmitting the set of operating parameters to the controllable valve to notify the controllable valve to execute the set of operating parameters. 
   
     
     
         2 . The cooler box of  claim 1 , wherein the controllable valve closes the valve after executing the set of operating parameters. 
     
     
         3 . The cooler box of  claim 1 , wherein the controller, after transmitting the set of operating parameters to the controllable valve to notify the controllable valve to execute the set of operating parameters, the controller is further configured to perform:
 waiting for a predetermined cooling time until a required decrease of temperature inside the box body has reached.   
     
     
         4 . The cooler box of  claim 1 , wherein the valve opening state comprises closed, half open, and fully open. 
     
     
         5 . The cooler box of  claim 1 , wherein converting the emission volume of liquid gas to a set of operating parameters (Vs, Vt) of the controllable valve further comprises:
 determining the valve opening state of the valve according a category of the food product in the cooler box.   
     
     
         6 . A temperature control method for a cooler box, the cooler box comprising: a box body comprising two shells arranged with a space between the two shells, the space being a component installation cavity, and an inner shells of the two shells is configured with an air inlet; a cryogenic medium container containing liquid gas; a monitoring device, a controllable valve and a controller installed in the component installation cavity and connected to each other by wireless communications, the controllable valve is connected to the cryogenic medium container by a tube at one end and to the air inlet by another tube at another end, wherein:
 the monitoring device is adapted to periodically measure an internal temperature inside the box body and transmit the measured temperature value to the controller; and   the controller is adapted to perform the following actions after receiving measured temperature value:
 determining whether the measured temperature value is greater than a temperature upper limit value; 
 calculating an emission volume of the liquid gas based on a difference value between the measured temperature value and a temperature lower limit value and a volume of a cooling space of the cooler box when it is determined that the measured temperature value is greater than the temperature upper limit value; 
 converting the emission volume of liquid gas to a set of operating parameters (Vs, Vt) of the controllable valve, where Vs represents a valve opening state and Vt represents a duration time of maintaining Vs; and 
 transmitting the set of operating parameters to the controllable valve to notify the controllable valve to execute the set of operating parameters. 
   
     
     
         7 . The temperature control method of  claim 6 , wherein the controllable valve closes the valve after executing the set of operating parameters. 
     
     
         8 . The temperature control method of  claim 6 , wherein the valve opening state comprises closed, half open, and fully open. 
     
     
         9 . The temperature control method of  claim 6 , wherein the action of converting the emission volume of liquid gas to a set of operating parameters (Vs, Vt) of the controllable valve further comprises:
 determining the valve opening state of the valve according a category of the food product insulated in the cooler box.   
     
     
         10 . A cooler box with a temperature control function, the cooler box comprising:
 a box body comprising two shells comprising a component installation cavity between the two shells and an air inlet opening in an inner shell of the two shells;   a cryogenic medium container containing liquid gas; and   a controllable valve installed in the component installation cavity, one end of the controllable valve is connected to the cryogenic medium container through a tube, and another end of the controllable valve is connected to the air inlet through another tube, the controllable valve is configured with a plurality of sets of operating parameters, each of the plurality of sets of operating parameters comprising a valve opening size and a predetermined duration time of maintaining the valve opening size, the controllable valve, after commencing operation, performing the following action:   executing each of the plurality of sets of operating parameters in cycled sequentially until the controllable valve stops operating or a new set of operating parameters is configured.