Dead Scientist Invents Green Fridge

Discussion in 'General Science & Technology' started by TruthSeeker, Oct 23, 2008.

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  1. TruthSeeker Fancy Virtual Reality Monkey Valued Senior Member

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    Einstein invented this fridge. Check it out:

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/sep/21/scienceofclimatechange.climatechange

    "
    Einstein fridge design can help global cooling
    Scientists relaunch a 1930 invention that uses no electricity and would reduce greenhouse gases

    An early invention by Albert Einstein has been rebuilt by scientists at Oxford University who are trying to develop an environmentally friendly refrigerator that runs without electricity.

    Modern fridges are notoriously damaging to the environment. They work by compressing and expanding man-made greenhouse gases called freons - far more damaging that carbon dioxide - and are being manufactured in increasing numbers. Sales of fridges around the world are rising as demand increases in developing countries.

    Now Malcolm McCulloch, an electrical engineer at Oxford who works on green technologies, is leading a three-year project to develop more robust appliances that can be used in places without electricity. "
     
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  3. Mr. Hamtastic whackawhackado! Registered Senior Member

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    Our Fridge was brown, so I got some spraypaint, now it's green! I'm not a huge fan of "going green" myself. I like dark blues better.
     
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  5. GeoffP Caput gerat lupinum Valued Senior Member

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    Nice idea. I want one.
     
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  7. Mr. Hamtastic whackawhackado! Registered Senior Member

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    It's easy. Get some green spray paint. Mine took two cans though.
     
  8. Read-Only Valued Senior Member

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    Both you and the writer of that article seem to be totally unaware that CFCs (freons) were banned in the U.S. over 30 years ago AND that in 1992 the U.S. got several other nations to agree to phasing them out as well.

    Unless you go into some third-world country or perhaps China and India, you'll have a VERY hard time finding any freon in refrigerators.

    As to that device itself, I'd like to see more technical detail - especially some efficency figures - before I'd start singing it's praises.
     
  9. Uno Hoo Registered Senior Member

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    Einstein Refrigerator used combustion to melt metal in instrumental part of refrigeration process.

    For further information go on internet to USPTO and search inventions by inventor name. When you get turned away then ask USPTO why you can't find out about inventions by inventor name.

    Efficiency figures? Melting metal with combustion didn't sound very efficient to me.
     
  10. one_raven God is a Chinese Whisper Valued Senior Member

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    What part would that be?
     
  11. Asguard Kiss my dark side Valued Senior Member

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    Read-Only

    as far as im awear CFC's have a world wide ban against them. They were what was causing the rise in skin cancer in Australia for one thing

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    The fact they are a green house gas was irrelivent to the damage they were causing the ozone layer

    Im not 100% sure on this but i belive they were replaced by hydrocarbons
     
  12. Read-Only Valued Senior Member

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    Nope, there's no world-wide ban on them - only in industrial nations that agreed to do so. The can still be found in third-word nations. And yes, they were replaced (where they've been replaced) by hydrocarbon refrigerants. And yes, it was because they were depleting the ozone at high altitudes in the presence of sunlight.

    So we're back where I started: neither the OP or the writer of that article have a clue about CFCs.
     
  13. Enmos Valued Senior Member

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    I think the writer does have a clue but just doesn't mention it so he can make more profit out of it.
     
  14. Tiassa Let us not launch the boat ... Valued Senior Member

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    Just a few seconds' worth of Googling

    Re: Freons/CFCs

    Look, I know Wikipedia isn't the best resource, but:

    And this, from The Fridge Doctor Book (4th ed.):

    So it would seem that The Observer's "green technology correspondent"—

    does, in fact, appear to have something of a clue. Perhaps Mr. Jha should have included a paragraph about HFCs, but if I was a newspaper editor, I probably would have struck it as extraneous.
    _____________________

    Notes:

    "Freon". Wikipedia.com. Updated September 23, 2008. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freon

    Yuzik, C. W. "Freon Facts". The Fridge Doctor Book, fourth ed. 2007. http://www.fridgedoctor.com/fridge-doctor-book/freon-facts.html

    Jha, Alok. "Einstein fridge design can help global cooling". The Observer. September 21, 2008. http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/sep/21/scienceofclimatechange.climatechange
     
  15. cosmictraveler Be kind to yourself always. Valued Senior Member

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    You could use a ice box where ice is placed on the top shelf and cools the rest of the box down. Of course you'll need a daily supply of ice.

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  16. Asguard Kiss my dark side Valued Senior Member

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    there is another cheeper and more enviromentally friendly way (assuming you live in an area where it isnt humid and there is enough sunlight). You set up a box wraped in newspaper and put your food in it and the put the whole thing in a hesen sack and pour water over it so that the whole thing is saturated. Rigg up a water bag over it driping so that as the water evaporates it is replenished and hang the whole thing on the cloths line or somewhere else in the sun. As long as you make sure there is always water it will keep the items inside WAY below the air temp
     
  17. ElectricFetus Sanity going, going, gone Valued Senior Member

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    Absorption refrigerators have been around for years, long before Einstein even, Einsteins variation on it is not to radical at all.

    Both Absorption refrigeration (which is commonly used at an industrial scale) and compressor driven refrigeration need driving gases/fluids. Each fluid has its advantages and disadvantages:

    Ammonia: Most widely used industrial refrigerant, because it is the most efficient heat carrying fluid for refrigeration, but it is toxic.

    Butane (or low-weight hydrocarbons): Cheap, flammable

    CFC (Freon, HCFCs, etc): Not flammable, not toxic, expensive only used at home scale level refrigeration.

    CO2: experimental, requires much higher operating temperatures than the others.

    There has been a lot of research into making home and car scale ammonia/butane/CO2 fluid refrigerators and air conditioners, the problem has been making sure these system are as safe and cheap as CFC base ones.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cool_War
     
    Last edited: Oct 25, 2008
  18. Read-Only Valued Senior Member

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    Yes, evaporative cooling has been around for a VERY long time. It certainly has some practical uses but keeping food cool isn't one of them. The problem is that they don't produce enough cooling to keep foods from spoiling rather quickly.

    At one time (back in the 1940s and 50s, primarily) they were used to some extent here in the U.S. People called them "swamp coolers." They did cool just a little - when the humidity was low enough - but gave you a bit of an uncomfortable feeling, like being in a dark, damp basement. Their populartiy was never very wide and didn't last very long. Single-room airconditioners came on the scene and the evap coolers went the way of the dodo bird.

    They still have some pretty common usage in two particular settings, though. Many office buildings employ chillers and use them to discharge heat to the atmosphere and they can also be found in some industrial plants as well. The most common usage in the U.S. is on poultry farms in the summer to help keep the birds from overheating.
     
  19. Read-Only Valued Senior Member

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    10,296
    Correct. Absorption refigerators are still pretty common in the U.S. You'll find them in remote cabins and in practically all larger RVs. They're powered by the butane/propane tanks that those vehicles are equipped with anyway.

    Prior to rural electrification in the 1930s and 40s, you could find one in practially every farm house in the country.
     
  20. MetaKron Registered Senior Member

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    5,502
    They can shove their butane and ammonia refrigerators up their asses. Both gases are deadly. Freon was invented as a safe replacement.

    When did anyone compare the absorption spectra of oxygen and ozone? Also important, did anyone take into account the fact that there is thousands of times as much oxygen in the so-called ozone layer? Or the fact that the compounds that chlorine makes with oxygen also absorb UV?

    If they don't have this information how could they have proven that there is any danger from total loss of the ozone in the ozone layer? I've seen how they prove things. They shout people down and call them dirty names. They engage in childish and despicable behavior and blame the people who they mistreat for that behavior. The only reason that we have an ozone layer scare is because bullying exists in the scientific community.
     
  21. ElectricFetus Sanity going, going, gone Valued Senior Member

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    If I drop a pile of evidence would you be willing to concede your view or would you continue not matter what?
     
  22. MetaKron Registered Senior Member

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    Shouldn't that depend on the quality of your "evidence"?
     
  23. MetaKron Registered Senior Member

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    5,502
    Discredit an ozone layer believer or a global warming believer and they will recycle exactly the same discredited crap that you just debunked and then accuse you of not being able to change your mind when presented with "evidence." These people are worse than the craziest of the 911 conspiracy theorists.

    Ammonia and butane refrigeration were discarded for obvious reasons. Now they want to warm that over instead of using substances that were already proven safe and that are being withheld because of raving paranoid fantasies that our own shit is going to kill us.
     
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