A Cambridge startup is betting on plastic crystals to transform refrigeration by replacing gases with solid materials that change temperature under pressure, in a technology still under development and initially aimed at commercial systems. A startup affiliated with the University of Cambridge is working on a refrigeration technology that exchanges gases for solid materials capable […]
Squeezing (pressurizing) certain gases are basically how air conditioners work. Under pressure, the gases can absorb more heat (think pressure cooker - those get hotter because they raise the boiling point of water with the higher pressure). Shuffle that pressurized gas somewhere else with lower pressure, and it can no longer hold all that heat and needs to release it. Tada: heat has been moved from one location to another.
It kind of works exactly the other way around. The high pressure section is where the heat gets released and the low pressure section where it absorbs the heat (cools down the surroundings).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vapor-compression_refrigeration#Description
Similar to a Refrigerator:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refrigerator#Compressor_refrigerators
Alec Watson (Technology Connections) would be disappointed in me
I don’t know him. But learning something is never a bad thing. I guess he also thinks that way.
You’re missing out! He basically picks out random technologies and stuff that interests him and explains how they work in an easy to digest way. Even if you’re familiar with the subject he still manages to make it interesting. And he looooves heat pumps and anything remotely related to it.
https://youtu.be/7J52mDjZzto