Amazing solar-powered fridge invented by British student in a potting shed helps poverty-stricken Af

reply to post by Desolate Cancer


Never heard of him before, but I have heard of this type of application. A hole in the ground also does the same thing, which is why cellars were invented. Sounds like this girl added a newer twist, with a metal inside container, and a looser fill to increase evaporation and thermal flow.

Maybe the auther made up her having introduced something new to help Africans, and maybe not. I don't see the reason to attack the woman for coming up with a new twist. Chances are, that like me, she had never heard of the zeerpot, and who knows who might have invented the first device to use natural water evaporation to cool things, as this has been used for centruies in various areas of the world. Ever hear of a swamp cooler?

why all this criticism? yes this is similar to what iranians (persians) were using to make ice through evaporative cooling many hundreds of years ago. but it's an improvement over that. the fact that a more primitive version already exists does not make this one an outrageous copy. it's like saying "yeah we have 286 CPUs why would we need dual core now??" because they are better! improved!

this brings back memories for i got on this board for the first time a few months ago while researching ancient technologies which we could use today for use in remote or poor areas with very little energy, materials cost or maintenance.

anyway i'll try to make one in the next few days/weeks since the air is quite dry inside during this time of the year when i have to turn up the heat. it should work with any warm dry air not just direct sunshine although the sunshine would make it more efficient since it speeds up evaporation.

Originally posted by DarkSecret
..although the sunshine would make it more efficient since it speeds up evaporation.

sunlight makes evaporation more efficient, that's true, but that's not the goal, is it? the reason the water evaporates more quickly is a greater amount of heat flow, which needs to be compensated for.

if you really wanted a decent cooler which utilised heat, you'd have to try an absorption cooler

www.gasairconditioning.org...

i find it mildly depressing that everyone jumped on the bandwagon, heck a bit of sponge, tinfoil and a bottle would do in a pinch and you could try it anytime at home (substitute towels for sponges if necessary..). btw, don't forget to put holes in the tinfoil.

deserving of a degree in engineering? no comment.


PS: don't you think the real issues exist much closer, at home? don't you find it stupid that we are venting the hot side of fridges into heated rooms, for example? heat pumps of all kinds are barely understood, unfortunately.

edit: better link

[edit on 2009.1.9 by Long Lance]

Originally posted by SkepticalSpectacle

Originally posted by Desolate Cancer

Actually the african guy did the same thing.... this invention is thousands of years old.... But then again who cares whos idea it is so long as its put to use.... The only thing that si disgusting is when people try to deny they took inspiration from anothers idea

So what? It's a bloody RIPOFF! They announced it to the world as THEIR invention!

And this is better than the pot in pot idea, how? Let me pull a drilled metal cylinder while I'm in the middle of Africa out of a mule's ass! What a stupid idea that they thought it would help Africans in the middle of nowhere.

So the idea is thoousands of year's old. AND NOW THEY'RE GOING TO PATENT IT? WTF?

OK let see another dumb bimbo try to patent the WHEEL.

I don't think you understand. Many investors are dumping money into these projects because that's the new BOOM.

It doesn't matter who came up with it. What matters is that this enterprising young lady will more than likely make a mint off of these SELLING them to people in Africa, probably via Micro-Loans.

All of us American Entrepreneurs are following this same example as we scramble to find small inexpensive items we can sell to the third world.

Originally posted by Long Lance

sunlight makes evaporation more efficient, that's true, but that's not the goal, is it? the reason the water evaporates more quickly is a greater amount of heat flow, which needs to be compensated for.

if you really wanted a decent cooler which utilised heat, you'd have to try an absorption cooler

www.gasairconditioning.org...

the point here is to make it easy to reproduce with cheap/non toxic materials in a poor country with hot & dry climate.

as a side note if you really want a cool fridge for use in cold weather (would work nicely in the nothern US or europe) go here:

fourmileisland.com...

the refrigerant is probably SO2 (not mentioned in the article probably because its quite toxic and forbidden to play with unless you have proper authorization) but it's truly zero energy

Originally posted by masonwatcher

Wow. If more clever people turned their mind to by-passing corporate manufactures, maybe consumers can overcome wasteful energy consumption.

While this particular invention is basic, further ingenious improvements can reduce the minimum temperature of the fridge to below freezing. We will no longer require wasteful quantities of fossil fuel based energy to power our homes. This of course, will require additional inventiveness.

Can any of the brainy members of ATS look into inventing a steam powered PC or some other kind of energy producing sources for our computers?

Many thanks.

www.dailymail.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)






[edit on 113131p://am3117 by masonwatcher]

I'm working on other things but if you want a heads up on steam power ideas try this thinking hat on for size dude. Using used car/truck radiators painted black and put up on the roof that create the steam you need to power more than a PC and gives you hot water. Need to store the energy like in a battery? Ever notice how even a small pool will contain most of the heat it collected during the day and it is open air. Look into geothermal "batteries", using the thermodynamic properties of water to make a veritable heat storage/water storage under your house underground, heat it during the day and store it at night so you start heating the water higher the next day (energy needed to start from 25 deg C compared to energy needed to start from 35 deg C).
Stop asking questions and start doing for yourself, lazy *bleep*! Wakey wakey, eggs and bacon.

Originally posted by Nirgal
reply to post by Skyfloating

 

Does it not require water as an essential part of the refrigeration process?

If African water is at a premium then this device might become a luxury.

Need to desalinate water and raise it 20 meters off the ground? Convert it to steam and you kill many birds with one stone:
1. Potential energy (steam is lighter than air and you can collect the hot water by-product up in a storage tank giving it potential energy, no pumps needed.)
2. Steam carries very few volatiles and definitely leaves salt behind.
3. The steam water is sterile this got you down? Throw in some rocks and clay deposits, heck even mineral salts if you got the money, the steam will dissolve the minerals it needs for healthy african families!
4. Stop talking and start changing the world B****atches!!! Stop thinking and start making MOVES!!!

Solar powered refrigerators aren't new. They've been around since the 1920's...

This must be some type of green-earth propaganda. Probably has something to do with fake global warming. It's funny to see how all the people on ATS clutch to the story like hookers on peanut butter.

reply to post by Suckatash

Even just desalinating water will be enough to survive.

Here's a quick diagram I drew up of a solar desalination device, I forget where I've seen it before but it is a damn good idea.

It's comprised of either glass or clear plastic with 3 chambers and a pitched roof:




Fairly self explanatory and cheap to make.



[edit on 9-1-2009 by Chadwickus]

www.emilycummins.co.uk...
this young girl, who my wife met by chance in london, pasionatly cares about helping people in africa, look at her website
to all the critics what had you done by the time you were 21 and was it helping mankind in a careing way
i think the british tabloids may sensationalise but when most of the uk are only concerned about who is being evicted from big brother or who is winning on x factor maybe we get the press we deserve
as for the mention from one poster about racism, how can miss cummins be racist when she is trying to help people from africa whilst she is british???
give people like her support and we will all live in a better world i think!

Originally posted by logician magician
Solar powered refrigerators aren't new. They've been around since the 1920's...

This must be some type of green-earth propaganda. Probably has something to do with fake global warming. It's funny to see how all the people on ATS clutch to the story like hookers on peanut butter.

everything is "propaganda" if you look at it that way. it doesn't make the energy saving devices less useful. i would assume that any "unconventional" device is useful if it can help in an emergency when power is cut off or simply when you want to save on your bills.

Originally posted by Suckatash
I'm working on other things but if you want a heads up on steam power ideas try this thinking hat on for size dude. Using used car/truck radiators painted black and put up on the roof that create the steam you need to power more than a PC and gives you hot water. Need to store the energy like in a battery? Ever notice how even a small pool will contain most of the heat it collected during the day and it is open air. Look into geothermal "batteries", using the thermodynamic properties of water to make a veritable heat storage/water storage under your house underground, heat it during the day and store it at night so you start heating the water higher the next day (energy needed to start from 25 deg C compared to energy needed to start from 35 deg C).

a steam engine generator even to power your PC is very expensive if it's done safely especially due to the high pressures involved. i remember looking into it and it's not worth the savings. use the solar panels for heating water or underfloor heating - that's the cheapest investment which will save you most money.

pre-heating water is very useful if you have one of those "instant heaters" which are very popular in europe instead of the traditional water heater which keeps water hot all the time. however these heaters and their installation can be very expensive in the US and so will adding the extra pre-heater tank with solar panels (and being up to building codes with all the safety valves, double walls etc). trying to be "handy" and not respecting the codes will be costly in the long run when your system blows up and floods your basement with hot water or you get burned at the faucet or worse...

just a followup of my practical application of this thing. in a simple experiment using the round filter of my humidifier i obtained about 63 F (17C) with a room temp of 78F (26C). humidity was less than 25%.

then i started the humidifier fan and the temp first dropped to 58F (14C) but then stabilized around 60F (16C). paradoxically increasing the fan speed increased the temperature.

I measured it all by sticking the thermometer probe directly into the paper filter of the humidifier.

I'd assume the next step would be to put a water pitcher into the filter so that it's in direct contact and measure the water temp but i don't think I'll bother considering i already know the minimum that can be obtained. i assume a higher environment temperature with even lower humidity would trigger faster evaporation which would lower the temperature some more. of course i'm already sweating so i wont try to increase room temps above 80!!

was fun to play with for the weekend

Mohammed Bah Abba did it ten years ago.

see www.treehugger.com...

It was one of Time Magazine's inventions of the year in 2001 and won a Rolex award. It is made locally and sells for forty cents.

I commend and applaud her idea.
However, in some third world country's, they don't even have enough water to drink.
Let alone soak some material or even have a bath.