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Thermoacoustic Cooler Means Green-Friendly Icecream

Posted by simoniker on from the not-green-colored dept.

MuddyRiverDoc writes "National Public Radio aired a story describing ice cream manufacturer Ben & Jerry's sponsored development of a thermoacoustic refrigeration technology, which uses helium gas subjected to ultra-loud 173 db sound to chill an ice cream cooler. The NPR interview and pictures of the Penn State researchers who did the development is available. There is also a brief description of the technique at the Penn State Live site and at the BBC, and an over-cute Ben & Jerry's broadband presentation, Sounds Cool!, that does however provide a useful diagram. Thermoacoustic refrigeration has been a focus of research for more than a decade at Purdue and elsewhere, and has reportedly flown on the Space Shuttle, but this prototype is reportedly the first that demonstrates the size, efficiency, and quiet operation that promises successful commercial introduction. Cool Sound Industries, Inc. is reportedly exclusively licensed for this thermoacoustic technology."

3 of 318 comments (clear)

  1. Re:noisy by br0ck · · Score: 5, Informative

    Well, here's yet another link that says..

    But from the outside, it's no noisier than your typical icebox. The noise generated by the Penn State fridge can only be reached when the gas is under tremendous amounts of pressure -- 10 atmospheres worth. If the gas escapes, the pressure dissipates and the sound dies down.

  2. Not at all... by cnelzie · · Score: 5, Informative

    ...the system works with the 'woofer' producing the single note within a sealed container. From what I heard on NPR, the sound is no more loud then walking into a large server room and hearing the fans run. It's just a bit deeper of a sound.

    Inside the canister there's 198 Decibels going on... That would shatter your ear drums and make your eyes bleed (possibly) pretty quick I understand...

    Outside the container all your hear is a regular humming noise at one frequency...

    --
    If you ignore the other uses of a tool, does that make the tool less useful, or you less useful?
  3. Re:Peltier cooler? by Geiger581 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Peltier coolers are very inefficient in terms of heat shift. Right now, the best known materials aren't much more than ~10% of Carnot (thermodynamically limited) efficiency. This means that they produce a lot of heat to move just a little. This is why your Peltier block will get pretty chilly on one side but scalding hot on the other and why CPU Peltier rigs virtually require a water block to operate. Standard phase-change coolers are much better, and these new devices (haven't read the article yet) may be even better.