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Keeping Your Keg Cool Sans Ice
DrLudicrous writes "Case Western Reserve University is reporting that first year physics graduate student Adam Hunnell has come up with the idea for a Keg Wrap, a thermoelectric sheet that will be able to maintain a full keg at 32-35F by running off of wall current or even a car's cigarette lighter. The funding for this project is coming from the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance, which has provided Mr. Hunnell with a $20,000 grant. Serious stuff - I'd rather see this than another few million dumped into quantum computing."
i wonder how many kegs he bought for that 20g... for testing purposes of course
Anything that improves the quality of beer deserves the Nobel prize
This sounds like part of the plot for "Revenge of the Nerds 6"; something about the jocks having a party that blows because the beer is warm, but the nerds invent amazing keg-cooling gadgets and get the cheerleeders to go to the Lambda-Lambda-Lambda nerd frat party.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
I think it a fine invention. Beer has a greater impact on the world thus far than quantum computing.
Can they make clothing out of this? That'd be nice for the hot regions of the USA this summer.
And, I'm sure there will be people trying to figure out how to scale this to computers, particularly portable devices.
Give THIS guy the Nobel Price in Physics. Or Medicine. Or Peace - I don't care.
*cheers*
SIG: TAKE OFF EVERY 'CAPTAIN'!!
I wonder if it's feasible to add solar-powered refrigeration to a cooler? Now THAT'D be a really useful invention. This keg thing is nice too though.
He plans to begin design work on a prototype in the next several weeks.
Great. I hope he lets us know when he has a design for a prototype.. And then maybe when there is actually a prototype vs. a vague bong inspired idea..
At this rate it seems that it would be easy for someone to get a jump on any opportunity and beat him to the market and patent.
Speaking as a good Englishman, why not learn
to drink beer with some taste which doesn't need
to be frozen ?
Wake me up when it can be attached to a molex connector...
Business \Busi"ness\, n.;
A scam in which all people involved perceive as beneficial...
This kind of device is exactly what many homebrewers would need for fermenting. I'd probably pickup two or three as I don't have the space or money for more refrigerators. nk
> I'd rather see this than another few million dumped into quantum computing.
The cooler reduces the entropy of the beer, and then you drink it, causing your brain state to collapse on a solution that's guaranteed to seem like a good idea at the time.
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
Hmmmm, a keg wrap that runs off of 100-120VAC power == keg parties.
Can also run off of a car cigarette lighter == tailgaiting extraordinaire.
This kid is going to the wrong school. He'd be a god down at Ohio State....
Rule #1 -- Politics always trumps technology.
Happy Trails!
Erick
http://www.busyweather.com/
Hunnell's idea is to design a wrap, made of nylon or a similar material, using thermoelectrics...The main challenge to building a successful wrap, Hunnell says, is selecting the proper thermoelectric devices from the many types manufactured. He plans to begin design work on a prototype in the next several weeks.
Seems like they would wait until the guy did something before writing about it! All those grad students with real data and publications and they write about an idea that got a kid a grant? Not to mention losing any royalties to somebody with real money stealing his idea (especially if the hardest thing is choosing COTS parts) Oh well...
The article says "2,500 wholesalers in the United States. Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania between them have 3,200 wholesalers and distributors."
2500 wholesalers in US
3200 Wholesales and distributors in WV, PA an ohio
it's the distributors that is the larger number.
First, Koolio - the beer delivering robot, and now this!?
And this, Gentleman, is one of the most famous American Innovations of the early 21st century. Nowhere else in the world could they have come up with such a marvelous invention to keep frat boys drunk, in a car, or in a house.
(see next story on how outsourcing be a big deal, as it will not affect american innovation)
All bow to his Noodliness!! His Noodle Appendage has touched me!
Actually, I would like to pledge $20 dollars to the existing grant to make sure this gets the proper funding! Nothing like a project like this to spur the great minds of our generation to take action.
I have to think that the $20k will pale in comparison to the Home Shopping Network profits next year.
I dont remember my kegs sitting around long enough to see room temprature, of course, I dont remember.
"If you have done 6 impossible things this morning, why not round it off with breakfast at Milliways" -- hhgg
You mean "Guinness". Note the two Ns See their site
Trolling is a art,
Dear Dr. Stupid,
You may notice that most American beer is Pilsener-style lager (pils). Which is intended to be drunk cold. Ask a brewer of Pilsener-style lager in any country what temperature his beer should be drunk at, most will say between 2 and 5 degrees C (36-41 F).
I myself prefer ales and stouts to lagers, but there can be no doubt that (1) cold lager can be an ideal (and very tasty) beer in a hot environment; (2) people in many countries (including the U.S.) prefer lagers; (3) no amount of ignorant snobbery can make their preferences wrong; and (4) YAASA. STFU.
Folks, next time some snooty jackass looks down his nose at you because of your beer, remember the Latin phrase de gustibus not est disputandunum, so you can teach him a lesson as your fist squelches into the soft tissues around his nose. And also, like our friend the AC here, he's probably wrong anyway.
Please remember to FOAD. Thank you for your attention.
Yours sincerely,
tybalt44
Without the free flow of beer there would be no new inventions.
When this vaporware becomes reality, it will mark the dawn of a new Rennaisance - a bold new world where intergalactic keggers are the rule, rather than the exception...
Long live the electric keg cooling blanket!
Lodragan Draoidh
The more you explain it, the more I don't understand it. - Mark Twain
or even a car's cigarette lighter.
Thank God. Frankly, I think its pretty dangerous to have to lean over and pull beer out of the back seat ice cooler while driving. Now, we can just plug a cooler into the cigarette lighter and keep our eyes on the road.
Thank you, technology!
I cannot believe that the chap submitting this didn't think about the possibilities for this. Refrigeration in the third world is so important - if this thing can run off a cigarette lighter, then it must draw so much less current than a peltier device, making it a very good solar-power candidate. This thing could revolutionise healthcare in third world countries. It could wipe out subsistence farming - food would stay unspoilt for so much longer. I am surprised (well, considering he's a student, not THAT surprised) that it has been marketed solely for beer. Well, some of the best inventions have arisen during wartime, and the war against cold beer has been raging for as long as I can remember, anyway.
Nerd? Oh yes because his party will be so lame that no one will show up so he will have a lot of beer left over.
For the folks who have a British car - the suggestion is that it's due to our fridges being made by Lucas Electrics.
Sigs. We don't need no steenking sigs.