Researchers Pave Way For Compressor-Free Refrigeration

Hugh Pickens brings news that scientists from Penn State have developed a new method for heat-transfer that may replace the common compressor-based system used in household appliances. Quoting: "Zhang's approach uses the change from disorganized to organized that occurs in some polarpolymers when placed in an electric field. The natural state of these materials is disorganized with the various molecules randomly positioned. When electricity is applied, the molecules become highly ordered and the material gives off heat and becomes colder. When the electricity is turned off, the material reverts to its disordered state and absorbs heat. The researchers report a change in temperature for the material of about 22.6 degrees Fahrenheit... Repeated randomizing and ordering of the material combined with an appropriate heat exchanger could provide a wide range of heating and cooling temperatures."

Re:Efficiency

[RuBLed]

and if it isn't capable of totally drying my clothes during sunless days, it won't become commercially viable. ^^

Re:Efficiency

[frito_x]

well... i can see benefits in areas like this method being quieter, also it sounds like it won't produce as much heat as the conventional gas compression method.

but then it doesn't sound like arranging these molecules into a crystal-like structure won't require considerable amounts of electric power.

only time will tell. and even then, remember that new technologies' worst rivals are the ones they're trying to replace. even in a best case scenario, it'll probably need many years to become mainstream. gas compression refrigeration's been around almost as long as refrigeration has... it's gonna be a tough one IMO.

Re:Efficiency

[kesuki]

and since it uses PVC (plus a few more elements) it's quite toxic should it catch on fire.

ahh the smell of chlorine gas in the morning... i can see a couple problems with this material 1. it can only change 21 degrees a cycle, this means you need multiple separate units of the stuff to cycle on and off to cool more, and since it's toxic when burned, it can't do high temperature heating. it also can't do refrigeration in an environment where it might reach it's melting point. yeah you can use heat sinks on the hot side, do you really think heat sinks are cheaper than reliable, safe, CHEAP compressor technology? if there is a significant savings on energy usage (not discussed) then yeah it's great, it's also since it's a polymer easily made into clothing articles, but they seemed to add a number of ideas that don't make sense like 'fire fighter equipment' if it's highly flammable, and creates toxic chlorine gas, it's not suitable for firefighting! and basic electric heating of gloves* is already possible, what advantage does this device have? that it can't raise the temp of your gloves by more than 21 degrees F of the temp outside? um yeah... neat, cool, new way to cool or heat stuff, doesn't mean it has any commercial value, unless it's properties are better than what we're using now.

* = or perhaps of whole snow mobile suits, as i've seen for some modern snow mobiles...

Adsorption

[quenda]

Or Adsorption! Those fridges are very common where silent operation is needed: hotel mini-bars, offices. They're just not efficient.
    The article is useless without mentioning efficiency. Inefficient alternatives are nothing new.

Re:Already been done?

[Anonymous Coward]

How is a incandescent light bulb different from a light emitting diode? They turn electricity into light and heat. Aren't they the same?

Buy a new fridge...

[Firethorn]

If your current fridge is too loud, then I suggest shopping for a new one. Many of the newer units feature far quieter compressors.

While you're at it, I'd suggest looking for an energy star one.

Depends

[EmbeddedJanitor]

You can freeze and melt water quite a few times before it wears out.

Re:Possible practical implementation

[Locke2005]

Sort of my thought too... you need some sort of heat "valve" to enforce one-directional heat transfer with this technology (Maxwell's daemon, anyone?), otherwise the heat just flow back in the same direction with you reverse the electric field. I can't think of any way of doing this without moving parts, so I feel the "solid state refrigerator" claim is a bit of a misnomer.

Re:Possible practical implementation

[infolib]

Then flip their states again; the outer one will dump most of that absorbed heat to the outside, since the inner one is currently rejecting heat.

I'm sorry, but there's no such thing as "rejecting heat". If the inner one is colder, it will take heat from the outer period. Your system will be nicely wasting electricity while moving heat from inner to outer and back again.

You need to set up some kind of touch/non-touch configuration, which means moving parts.