Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
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refrig-i-bottle

Person powered vapor compression refrigeration system in a bottle
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I'm not sure the pressure or temperature differentials required here but here goes.

The idea is for a triple walled bottle containing a pump, some refrigerant and a straw. What I'm envisioning is similar to a small thermos where the bottom telescopes out as the pump. The pump will compress the refrigerant inside the outer hollow part of the bottle while the inner hollow part will be a (near) vacuum. The pressurized vapor (now potentially liquid) will be stored until the cap is removed from the straw, at which point the cooled vapor will circulate in a spiral fashion inside a tube built into the straw, thus cooling the beverage in question as it is drunk.

The outer hollow part of the thermos should be divided into two sections. This way the hot[er] vapor can be held on one side, then compressed by the pump to the other side, run through the straw, and returned to the hot[er] side. The inner hollow part is a vacuum to prevent heating of the beverage you are trying to cool.

I’m sure I’ve explained this poorly so please elaborate on any bones.

Edit: 01/26/07: I've decided to change the telescoping pump described above in exchange for a fold-away crank style pump hidden in the bottom of said bottle. Also I've decided to add a shaft that allows the pump to be driven by a power drill for use at a construction site or the like.

Edit: 02/07/07: I think having the condenser coil with a very small diameter spiral in the outer vacuum chamber and feed through a controlled expansion valve into the evaporator coil which spirals around inside the straw. I have an illistration if someone can tell me where to post it.

Images finally added. _________________________

[marked-for-engineering]-- any refrigeration techs out there have any input on this?

bleh, Jan 25 2007

Vapor compression refrigeraton http://en.wikipedia...ssion_refrigeration
[bleh, Jan 25 2007]

here's a crude drawing http://www.deartonl.../images/bottle1.tif
[bleh, Sep 25 2007]

here's another crude drawing, this one is powered by an external charging station http://www.deartonl.../images/bottle2.tif
[bleh, Sep 25 2007]

[link]






       The general idea sounds good, but I wonder if it possible to make much change to, say, a half litre? I'll work in metric - sorry about that- but if you managed to generate at 20W, and 3 times that is heat effectively pumped, then I think that it would take about 12 mins to cool it by 20C. I think after that, you'll need a well earned cold drink.
Ling, Jan 25 2007
  

       thats why I ran the coolant through the straw. I figure (based on nearly nothing) that cooling the small ammounts of liquid as they run through the straw would be more effective that trying to cool the whole thing.
bleh, Jan 25 2007
  

       Perfectly possible. At the Science Museum in london they have a hand-cranked heat exchanger system to demonstrate this effect. If you wind the handle for a while the cold coil can get down to freezing or below. However, you still need to disipate the heat without burning yourself.
webfishrune, Jan 25 2007
  

       anyone out there have any idea what kind of pressures this would need? I have no idea.   

       think there would be a problem having a pressurized section next to one that is negatively pressurized?
bleh, Jan 25 2007
  

       see edit in body of idea..
bleh, Jan 26 2007
  

       the research i've done on this says home refrigerators typically have maximum pressure of about 7.6 ATM in the condenser coil.   

       engineers out there...   

       does that seem safe to be carrying around in a bottle? what kind of work would be required to generate that kind of pressure? if someone can provide the formulas i'll gladly crunch the numbers.   

       thanks
bleh, Feb 07 2007
  
      
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