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View Full Version : Amazing solar-powered fridge invented by Brit student helps poverty-stricken Africans



astrid
11th July 2011, 11:24
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1108343/Amazing-solar-powered-fridge-invented-British-student-potting-shed-helps-poverty-stricken-Africans.html

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/01/07/article-1108343-02F85484000005DC-666_468x348.jpg

"It's the kind of simple yet brilliant invention that would have the tycoons of Dragons' Den salivating with excitement.

Not only is the fridge solar powered, it can also be built from household materials - making it ideal for the Third World.

Emily Cummins, 21, came up with the idea while working on a school project in her grandfather's potting shed. The fridge is now improving the lives of thousands of poverty-stricken Africans.

And Miss Cummins hopes to patent a more sophisticated portable model for use in transporting medical supplies around hot countries.

From the age of four, when she was given a hammer as a gift, Miss Cummins has spent much of her spare time making things out of ordinary materials.

She has won awards for a toothpaste squeezer for arthritis sufferers and for a water-carrying device, again for Third World use.

Her 'sustainable' fridge works through evaporation and can be used to keep perishable goods such as milk and meat cool for days.

Without using any power, temperatures stay at around 6c.

The fridge comprises two cylinders - one inside the other. The inner cylinder is made from metal but the outer cylinder can be made from anything to hand, including wood and plastic.

Miss Cummins, from Keighley, West Yorkshire, said: 'A fridge is something that people can't seem to live without.

'I wanted to keep it really simple and so I set about researching how we cooled things years ago. The simplest method of cooling something could be seen when you look at how we cool biologically - through sweating or evaporation.

'That idea led me to the design and the fridge was born.' "

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/01/07/article-1108343-02F9F1BD000005DC-409_468x516.jpg

Very cool.....

fractal being
11th July 2011, 11:51
Great,

Also a really simple method, if you want to have cool water, is to cover the bottle with a wet towel. Then the sun will do the rest :)

HURRITT ENYETO
11th July 2011, 12:04
I'm not putting a dampener on this, i think its awesome that a young female is inventing things etc but you can hardly say she invented this Solar Fridge as i saw the same article last year of a man who had invented the EXACT same thing and that one was also helping poor Africans!
Its actually a bit of an insult to Africans as they have been using this technique for thousands of years already!!

Hurritt

p.s no offense to the young enterprising lady, i still think shes ace:)

http://www.treehugger.com/pot-in-pot.jpg

phillipbbg
11th July 2011, 12:56
Agree great for the young lady and 10 points to her... but for instance they grow beans in Africa and the farms have sheds made from thatched roof and stick and straw walls , but the African trick is to have an insulated layer between the inner and outer wall filled with charcoal, then when they harvest the beans and have to wait for the refrigerated truck to pick the harvest up they store the harvest in the shed. When in store they poor water from the top down through the charcoal, just drip fed..... the temp of the shed drops to lower than the truck that is on it way......

So simple and effective.... and before we all say it wastes water.... to keep the shed cool for a full day takes less than an English bath full of water....