Disclosed is a vacuum container for transporting one or more articles in the vacuum atomsphere. To this end, the vacuum container comprises a container body which can be maintained in the air-tight state and which is formed with a hole through which one or more articles are inserted into or removed out of said container body, a gate valve for opening or closing the opening of the container body, vacuum maintaining pump means communicated with the container body in order to maintain the interior thereof at an extremely high degree of vacuum and retaining means disposed within the container body for releasably retaining at least one article. With the vacuum container with the above-described construction, one or more articles which cannot be exposed to the surrounding atmosphere because of various reasons can be transported in the vacuum state in a stable manner.

The present invention features a storage container having a lever-actuated rod and piston mechanism that extracts air from inside the interior chamber, thus creating a vacuum state. This vacuum state is desirable for the fresher storage of many air sensitive materials, including perishable food items and other goods. The opening to the chamber is sealed with an air-sealing cover in order to retain a state of vacuum in the chamber once the interior chamber has achieved a vacuum state.

A heat exchanger has a multiplicity of modules with an outer shell which is open at the top and the bottom and is joined with other modules in a stacked array. The heat exchanger has an insulating partition which is attached to the inside surface of the shell and divides the shell into two or more flow channels. The insulating partition has a hole which connects the flow channels defined by the shell and baffle. The hole is occupied by a heat-conductive heat storage reservoir, so that heat flow from one channel to another is through the heat storage reservoir. In this way, heat may pass from one flow channel into the storage reservoir and at a latter time be exchanged with a fluid flowing in another flow channel. Heat exchange modules have multiple flow channels and the flow channels preferably have heat conducting fins for increasing the heat transfer between the flow channels and the heat storage reservoir.

An air cargo container includes a relatively-rigid housing defining an air-tight interior space of nominal volume within which to receive cargo. The housing substantially maintains the nominal volume of the interior space upon pressurizing or evacuating the interior space relative to ambient pressure, whereby a differential interior pressure is achieved before loading the container aboard an aircraft. Where the differential interior pressure is achieved by pressurizing the interior space, air or another suitable gas is injected under pressure into the housing. Where the differential interior pressure is obtained by evacuating the housing's interior space, or where the process of pressurizing the interior space includes a prior evacuation step, the gases drawn from within the housing are preferably analyzed to detect the presence of contraband within the received cargo. Sensors on the housing confirm that an achieved interior pressure is substantially maintained over time.

A vacuum container comprises a body coupled with a bottom seat having an air sucking device mounted therein, the body having a micro switch electrically connected to the air sucking device, a fastener having a second lever slidably contacted with a lever of the micro switch, a first lever having a first end with a pin optionally coupled to a hole defined in the body and a second end slidably contacted with the second lever of the fastener, and a spring mounted between the second end of the first lever and a tab of the body; and a cover pivotally connected to the body and having tabs for being clamped with the fastener of the body. When the cover is closed, the air sucking device can automatically start operation to suck air from the container for keeping food fresh therein.