A fridge that works without electricity, learning from Nature with biomimicry to help fight food waste and malnutrition in developing countries. It is called Windchill and is the fruit of the work of a group of students at the Schulich Engineering School of the University of Calgary
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves him
Un fridge that works without electricity, which learns from Nature with the biomimetics to help fight food waste and malnutrition in developing countries. Is called Windchill and it is the fruit of the work of a group of students University of Calgary Schulich School of Engineering.
The new refrigerator prototype came directly inspired by the animal kingdom, imitating bees, termites, corals, elephants and kangaroos. Windchill requires almost no electricity and is much less expensive than modern refrigeration methods. A cheap and even small system to transport that could help people living in remote and rural areas where electricity is scarce.
For the cooling mechanism, in fact, scientists were inspired by the temperature regulation typical of some mammals and insects and it is a new way of dealing with problems in the food system. Coral and termites inspired the first step, kangaroos, bees and elephants the second, and finally the meerkats the third.
How does it work? The device starts with a funnel which draws outside air into a tube. The latter is immersed in a fluid. The liquid evaporates, cooling the air, which is then sent to an underground refrigeration chamber. Here the food is stored.
"Our concept aims to tackle the problem of grocery stores where food is spoiled by poor access to electricity" explains the team formed among others by Jorge Zapote and Michelle Zhou.
The boys took the prize at the Biomimicry Global Design Challenge, aimed at improving the food system.
“Everywhere from one quarter to one half of the food produced in the world comes wasted every year, and among rural populations around 70 percent of people in Africa do not have access to electricity, ”said Jorge Zapote. “This at the moment uses a little bit of electricity produced by a solar panel, but the ultimate goal is to reset electricity. This could really help people in those areas. "
The team is now waiting to create a prototype for the next round of the competition and try to reach the temperature target. "The target is 4,5 degrees Celsius, the temperature we need so the food doesn't go bad," said Zhou.
Nice idea, what do you think?
Francesca Mancuso
Foto: Challenge Biomimicry e Ucalgary
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