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

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/37306334/this-invention-by-a-british-student-could-save-millions-of-lives-across-the-world

by denzil_correa • 10 years ago

57 29 10 years ago

bbc.co.uk

tomohawk• 10 years ago

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.

orblivion• 10 years ago

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

erispoe• 10 years ago

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

oh_sigh• 10 years ago

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.

makomk2• 10 years ago

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.)

userbinator4• 10 years ago

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

contravariant• 10 years ago

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.

ekianjo• 10 years ago

You cant patent something that has prior art.

Dylan168072• 10 years ago

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

gcoda• 10 years ago

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

mschuster91• 10 years ago

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!

Dylan168072• 10 years ago

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.

kurthr• 10 years ago

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...

makomk2• 10 years ago

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...

pervycreeper• 10 years ago

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

userbinator4• 10 years ago

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.

j_koreth• 10 years ago

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...

maxerickson3• 10 years ago

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.

beambot• 10 years ago

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

nappy• 10 years ago

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)

BetterThanYou• 10 years ago

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

DenisM• 10 years ago

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

dogecoinbase• 10 years ago

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

maxerickson3• 10 years ago

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).

rascul• 10 years ago

Doesn't look like it would hold many beers.

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

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