22-year British student invents a mobile fridge that could save many lives

Re:22-year British student invents a mobile fridge that coul... by userbinator on Saturday September 10, 2016 @08:03PM (#12471449)

It works by heating ammonia and water to create ammonia vapours, which are then released into its main chamber when cooling is needed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absorption_refrigerator

This does not seem particularly novel, just a miniaturisation of a very old type of refrigerator.

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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.

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...

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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.

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Re:22-year British student invents a mobile fridge that coul... by userbinator on Saturday September 10, 2016 @09:11PM (#12471618)

but I guess the difference could be in having a valve that spends the cooling only as needed.

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.

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Re:22-year British student invents a mobile fridge that coul... by maxerickson on Saturday September 10, 2016 @09:22PM (#12471645)

Sure, a valve itself isn't any big deal. A good self regulating system makes it a practical portable cooler though.

Time will tell.

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Re:22-year British student invents a mobile fridge that coul... by beambot on Sunday September 11, 2016 @01:00AM (#12472072)

So... It's a more-advanced Icy Ball: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icyball

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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)

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