22-year British student invents a mobile fridge that could save many lives | Hacker News Reader

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

bbc.co.uk

57 pointsdenzil_correa29 comments

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.

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...

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.

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.

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

Time will tell.

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

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)

The project page on the Dyson Awards site manages to admit that it's based on old technology that Einstein thought up:

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).

Nothing new about this. Only thing "new" is the attempt to virtue signal with old technology. No, wait, that's not new either.

"Virtue signal", huh. I didn't know this phenomenon has a name. Nice.

Be careful -- it's almost exclusively used by people attempting to do so themselves.

Well all do so all the time, some more consciously than others. We are pack animals after all.

Still a good term, and an activity i fear is overwhelming certain FOSS projects these days.

So what's the new part? We have portable propane fridges. Is it cheaper? More efficient?

It is portable ammonia fridge. We have those too, though

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!

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.

Well, I wouldn't say it doesn't produce an explosion risk: https://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/chemicals/chem_profiles/ammo...

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...

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.

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...

My guess would be that it self-regulates in some way.

Doesn't look like it would hold many beers.

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.

Wouldn't prior art prevent that? (I'm generally ignorant on this stuff)

If you publish, you effectively void the novelty condition of an invention and prevent patentability.

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.

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.)

It's also relatively easy to build one, if you're not put off by ammonia or the high pressures involved:

http://crosleyautoclub.com/IcyBall/HomeBuilt/HomeBuilt.html

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.

You cant patent something that has prior art.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com