Re:22-year British student invents a mobile fridge that coul...
by j_koreth on Saturday September 10, 2016 @08:52PM
(#12471574)
From the wikipedia link
> At the 2007 TED Conference, Adam Grosser presented his research of a new, very small, "intermittent absorption" vaccine refrigeration unit for use in third world countries. The refrigerator is a small unit placed over a campfire, that can later be used to cool 15 liters of water to just above freezing for 24 hours in a 30 °C environment.
The person that from the Ted Talk linked to has a very similar device to the one shown in the BBC Article and with the exact same goal to help transport vaccines and similar through developing countries.
Congrats to the kid but something seems a bit suspicious...
Re:22-year British student invents a mobile fridge that coul...
by maxerickson on Saturday September 10, 2016 @09:01PM
(#12471594)
I haven't watched the TED talk you link, so no idea if the water was needed for that design, but I guess the difference could be in having a valve that spends the cooling only as needed.
Having it be self contained is a big improvement over needing 15 kg water to buffer the cold.
Larry improved on the original design by adding a shut off valve in the connecting tube so after the Icyball was fully charged it could be shut off and the cooling cycle delayed till later, when you needed it.
Re:22-year British student invents a mobile fridge that coul...
by nappy on Sunday September 11, 2016 @04:51PM
(#12475659)
Miniaturization of existing technologies can be a major innovation in the same way cost reduction can be. Now this type of refrigerator is more mobile, deployable, etc. Is this a big deal? I have no idea. Seems cool though! (pun intended)
I guess the proposed novelty is that it can be carried in a backpack and would be designed specifically for cooling vaccines. My reading of it suggests that there isn't much in the way of a practical model just yet (they show pictures of a prototype, but I wonder how long it has sustained cooling).
Re:22-year British student invents a mobile fridge that coul...
by makomk on Saturday September 10, 2016 @07:30PM
(#12471378)
The new part is that the press likes stories about inventions that could supposedly save millions of lives. Someone proposed something very similar to store vaccines in the third world in a TED talk back in 2007, inspired by the same 1930s refrigeration device, and it also got a load of news coverage before vanishing without a trace: http://www.ted.com/talks/adam_grosser_and_his_sustainable_fr...
Re:22-year British student invents a mobile fridge that coul...
by mschuster91 on Saturday September 10, 2016 @07:26PM
(#12471363)
Propane is extremely flammable and explosive. In addition, propane tanks and (ambient) heat don't like to coexist... with this one, even when the ammonia gets vented, at least it doesn't create a fire/explosion risk - and thus can be transported by bush pilots!
Re:22-year British student invents a mobile fridge that coul...
by Dylan16807 on Saturday September 10, 2016 @07:33PM
(#12471389)
They all work the same way, and they can use any heat source. It's not new technology, unless they invented a better heater they decided not to mention.
Ammonia fertilizer tanks explode every year.
It's not a flammable as propane, and it works well for refrigeration, but it's also more toxic and corrosive...
Re:22-year British student invents a mobile fridge that coul...
by userbinator on Saturday September 10, 2016 @10:05PM
(#12471722)
Odour: Ammonia-like
I suppose they couldn't find a better way of describing it, but ammonia does have a pretty unique smell. The good thing about ammonia is that its smell is repugnant and detectable at concentrations far below when it starts becoming toxic that you'll be given plenty of warning.
Re:22-year British student invents a mobile fridge that coul...
by tomohawk on Saturday September 10, 2016 @07:15PM
(#12471324)
Foolish not to get a patent or control the intellectual property. Without that control, someone else will, possibly to the detriment of the intended purpose.
Re:22-year British student invents a mobile fridge that coul...
by makomk on Saturday September 10, 2016 @07:24PM
(#12471353)
It's possible he couldn't get one anyway depending on how exactly it works. Ammonia-based refrigeration is very old technology: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icyball (In some of the other coverage he even mentions being inspired by this.)
Re:22-year British student invents a mobile fridge that coul...
by oh_sigh on Saturday September 10, 2016 @08:04PM
(#12471452)
True, but manufacturers may be less than willing to tool up to produce them if anyone can jump in on it and under cut them. He may have a higher purpose in mind but almost certainly the manufacturer doesn't, and just wants to get paid.
Re:22-year British student invents a mobile fridge that coul...
by contravariant on Saturday September 10, 2016 @08:08PM
(#12471459)
Last time I checked you couldn't get a patent on something that already exists, and he already owns the copyright.
In fact he needs to make sure he explicitly grants other people permission to copy his design, otherwise it will be protected under copyright law, whether he wants it to or not.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absorption_refrigerator
This does not seem particularly novel, just a miniaturisation of a very old type of refrigerator.
http://www.ted.com/talks/adam_grosser_and_his_sustainable_fr...
The person that from the Ted Talk linked to has a very similar device to the one shown in the BBC Article and with the exact same goal to help transport vaccines and similar through developing countries.
Congrats to the kid but something seems a bit suspicious...
Having it be self contained is a big improvement over needing 15 kg water to buffer the cold.
That's not novel either --- amusingly enough, I saw your comment only after posting this link to someone else who actually made one of these units:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12471609
From that article:
Larry improved on the original design by adding a shut off valve in the connecting tube so after the Icyball was fully charged it could be shut off and the cooling cycle delayed till later, when you needed it.
Time will tell.
http://www.jamesdysonaward.org/projects/isobar/
I guess the proposed novelty is that it can be carried in a backpack and would be designed specifically for cooling vaccines. My reading of it suggests that there isn't much in the way of a practical model just yet (they show pictures of a prototype, but I wonder how long it has sustained cooling).
Still a good term, and an activity i fear is overwhelming certain FOSS projects these days.
Ammonia fertilizer tanks explode every year. It's not a flammable as propane, and it works well for refrigeration, but it's also more toxic and corrosive...
I suppose they couldn't find a better way of describing it, but ammonia does have a pretty unique smell. The good thing about ammonia is that its smell is repugnant and detectable at concentrations far below when it starts becoming toxic that you'll be given plenty of warning.
http://crosleyautoclub.com/IcyBall/HomeBuilt/HomeBuilt.html
In fact he needs to make sure he explicitly grants other people permission to copy his design, otherwise it will be protected under copyright law, whether he wants it to or not.