-RefrigeratorEvery 15 minutes or so you hear the motor turn on, and it magically keeps things cold.

Without refrigeration, we'd be throwing out our leftovers instead of saving them for another meal. The refrigerator is one of those miracles of modern living that totally changes life. Prior to refrigeration, the only way to preserve meat was to salt it, and iced beverages in the summer were a real luxury. A Refrigerator or "fridge" is a cooling appliance comprising a thermally insulated compartment and a mechanism to transfer heat from it to the external environment, cooling the contents to a temperature below ambient. The fundamental reason for having a refrigerator is to keep food cold. Cold temperatures help food stay fresh longer. The basic idea behind refrigeration is to slow down the activity of bacteria (which all food contains) so that it takes longer for the bacteria to spoil the food. The preferred temperature is somewhere between 35 and 38 degrees F (1.7 to 3.3 degrees C). This device maintains a temperature a few degrees above the freezing point of water; a similar device which maintains a temperature below the freezing point of water is called a "freezer". Freezers keep their contents frozen. They are used both in households and for commercial use. Most freezers operate around minus 18 C (0 F). Domestic freezers can be included as a compartment in a refrigerator. Many modern freezers come with an icemaker. The refrigerator is a relatively modern invention among kitchen appliances. It replaced the icebox, which had been a common household appliance for almost a century and a half prior.

Features
Refrigerators may include:

Frost-free refrigeration; A power failure warning, alerting the user by flashing a temperature display. The maximum temperature reached during the power failure may be displayed, along with information on whether the frozen food has defrosted or may contain harmful bacteria; Chilled water and ice available from an in-door station, so the door need not be opened; Cabinet rollers that allow the refrigerator to be easily rolled around for easier cleaning; Adjustable shelves and trays that can be moved around to suit the user; A Status Indicator to notify the user when it is time to change the water filter; An in-door ice caddy, which relocates the ice-maker storage to the freezer door and saves approximately 60 liters (about 2 cubic feet) of usable freezer space. It is also removable, and helps to prevent ice-maker clogging; A cooling zone in the refrigerator door shelves. Air from the freezer section is diverted to the refrigerator door, to better cool milk or juice stored in the door shelf.

Evolution of Refrigerating systems:

Prehistoric Refrigeration:
Man found that his game would last during times when food was not available if stored in the coolness of a cave or packed in snow. In China, before the first millennium, ice was harvested and stored. Hebrews, Greeks, and Romans placed large amounts of snow into storage pits dug into the ground and insulated with wood and straw. The ancient Egyptians filled earthen jars with boiled water and put them on their roofs, thus exposing the jars to the nights cool air. In India, evaporative cooling was employed. When a liquid vaporizes rapidly, it expands quickly. The rising molecules of vapor abruptly increase their kinetic energy and this increase is drawn from the immediate surroundings of the vapor. These surroundings are therefore cooled.

1550 - The intermediate stage in the history of cooling foods was to add chemicals like sodium nitrate or potassium nitrate to water causing the temperature to fall. Cooling wine via this method was recorded, as were the words "to refrigerate. 1600 - Cooling drinks came into vogue in France. Instead of cooling water at night, people rotated long-necked bottles in water in which saltpeter had been dissolved. This solution could be used to produce very low temperatures and to make ice. By the end of the 17th century, iced liquors and frozen juices were popular in French society.

Industrial Timeline:
1720 Dr. William Cullen, a Scotsman, studied the evaporation of liquids in a vacuum 1805 Oliver Evans of Pennsylvania, compressed ether machine, the machine is never built 1820 Michael Faraday, a Londoner, liquified ammonia to cause cooling 1834 Jacob Perkins, ether vapour compression cycle, Ice Making Machine 1844 James Harrison of Australia invents compressed ether machine 1850 Edmond Carre of France, invents an absorption process machine 1852 William Thomson & James Prescott cooling increases in proportion to the pressure difference 1855 Dr. John Gorrie builds compression refrigeration system based on Faraday's experiments. 1856 James Harrison commissioned by a brewery to build a machine that cooled beer. 1859 Ferdinand Carre of France, developed the first ammonia/water refrigeration machine

1871 Carl von Linde of Germany published an essay on improved refrigeration techniques 1873 Carl von Linde first practical and portable compressor refrigeration machine was built in Munich 1874 Raoul Pictet of Switzerland, a compressor system using sulfur dioxide instead of ammonia 1876 Carl von Linde, early models he used methyl ether, but changed to an ammonia cycle 1878 von Linde starts Lindes Eismaschinen AG, (Society for Lindes Ice Machines), now Linde AG 1881 Edmund J. Copeland and Arnold H. Gross start Leonard Refrigerator Company 1894 Linde developed a new method (Linde technique) for the liquefaction of large quantities of air. 1894 Linde AG installs refrigerator at the Guinness brewery in Dublin, Ireland 1895 Carl von Linde produced large amounts of liquid air using the Thomson-Joule effect 1901 Patent # 665,814 issued January 10, for a Refridgeator (Ice Box) invented by Henry Trost. 1911 General Electric company unveiled a refrigerator invented by a French monk. Abbe Audiffren 1913 Fred W. Wolf Jr.of the Domelre Company (DOMestic ELectric REfrigerator) 1914 Leonard Refrigerator Company renamed Electro-Automatic Refrigerating Company 1915 Alfred Mellowes starts Guardian Frigerato to build first self-container refrigerator for home use 1916 Servel models compressors were generally driven by motors located in the basement 1916 Henry Joy of Packard Motor Car Co. purchased the Fred W. Wolf refrigerator rights 1918 Guardian Frigerato purchased by General Motors and renamed Frigidaire 1918 Electro-Automatic Refrigerating Company renamed Kelvinator 1920 there were some 200 different refrigerator models on the market. 1922 Baltzar von Platen and Carl Munters introduce absorption process refrigerator 1923 Kelvinator held 80 percent of the market for electric refrigerators 1923 AB Arctic.begins production of refrigerators based on Platen-Munter's invention 1925 Electrolux purchases AB Arctic and launches the "D-fridge" on the world market 1925 Steel and porcelain cabinets began appearing in the mid-20s 1927 first refrigerator to see widespread use was the General Electric "Monitor-Top" refrigerator. 1930 first built-in refrigerator is launched by Electrolux 1931 Dupont produced commercial quantities of R-12, trademarked as Freon 1931 the first air-cooled refrigerator introduced by Electrolux 1932 Gibson, then owned by Frank Gibson, manufactured its own line of refrigerators. 1934 an innovation, the Shelvador refrigerator, was introduced by the Crosley Radio Corporation 1936 Albert Henne synthesizes refrigerant R-134a 1937 more than 2 million Americans owned refrigerators. 1939 refrigerator with one section for frozen food and a second for chilled food, introduced by G. E. 1946 Mass production of modern refrigerators didn't get started until after World War II. 1947 GE two-door refrigerator-freezer combination 1955 80% of American homes now have refrigerators 2005 A domestic refrigerator is present in 99.5% of American homes

Artificial Refrigeration:
Milestones:1748 - The first known artificial refrigeration was demonstrated by William Cullen at the University of Glasgow . Cullen let ethyl ether boil into a partial vacuum; he did not, however, use the result to any practical purpose.

1799 - Ice was first shipped commercially out of Canal Street in New York City to Charleston, South Carolina. 1800 - New Englanders Frederick Tudor and Nathaniel Wyeth saw the potential for the ice business and revolutionized the industry. Tudor, who became known as the Ice King, focused on shipping ice to tropical climates. He experimented with insulating materials and built icehouses that decreased melting losses from 66 percent to less than 8 percent. Wyeth devised a method of quickly and cheaply cutting uniform blocks of ice that transformed the ice industry, making it possible to speed handling techniques in storage, transportation and distribution with less waste. 1805 - An American inventor, Oliver Evans, designed the first refrigeration machine that used vapor instead of liquid. 1842 - The American physician John Gorrie, to cool sickrooms in a Florida hospital, designed and built an air-cooling apparatus for treating yellow-fever patients. His basic principle--that of compressing a gas, cooling it by sending it through radiating coils, and then expanding it to lower the temperature further--is the one most often used in refrigerators today. 1851 - He was granted the first U.S. patent for mechanical refrigeration . 1859 - Ferdinand Carr of France developed a somewhat more complex system which used air as a coolant. Carr's refrigerators were widely used, and vapor compression refrigeration became, and still is, the most widely used method of cooling. However, the cost, size, and complexity of refrigeration systems of the time, coupled with the toxicity

of their ammonia coolants, prevented the general use of mechanical refrigerators in the home. Most households used iceboxes that were supplied almost daily with blocks of ice from a local refrigeration plant. 1870 to 1891 - Commercial refrigeration was primarily directed at breweries . Nearly every brewery was equipped with refrigerating machines by the end.

Birth of Mechanical Refrigeration:

1879 - Natural ice supply became an industry unto itself. More companies entered the business, prices decreased, and refrigeration using ice became more accessible. 1909 - There were 35 commercial ice plants in America, more than 200 a decade later, and 2,000 . No pond was safe from scraping for ice production, not even Thoreaus Walden Pond, where 1,000 tons of ice was extracted each day in 1847. However, as time went on, ice, as a refrigeration agent, became a health problem. Says Bern Nagengast, co-author of Heat and Cold: Mastering the Great Indoors (published by the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Airconditioning Engineers), Good sources were harder and harder to find. By the 1890s, natural ice became a problem because of pollution and sewage dumping. Signs of a problem were first evident in the brewing industry. Soon the meatpacking and dairy industries followed with their complaints. Refrigeration technology provided the solution: ice, mechanically manufactured, giving birth to mechanical refrigeration. Improved refrigerator designs were patented by African American inventors, Thomas Elkins in 1879 and John Standard in 1891.

1895 - Carl (Paul Gottfried) von Linde set up a large-scale plant for the production of liquid air. Six years later he developed a method for separating pure liquid oxygen from liquid air that resulted in widespread industrial conversion to processes utilizing oxygen (e.g., in steel manufacture).

Working of the Refrigerator

The basic idea behind a refrigerator is to use the evaporation of a liquid to absorb heat. You probably know that when you put water on your skin it makes you feel cool. As the water evaporates, it absorbs heat, creating that cool feeling. Rubbing alcohol feels even cooler because it evaporates at a lower temperature. The liquid, or refrigerant, used in a refrigerator evaporates at an extremely low temperature, so it can create freezing temperatures inside the refrigerator. If you place your refrigerator's refrigerant on your skin (definitely NOT a good idea), it will freeze your skin as it evaporates. here are five basic parts to any refrigerator (or air-conditioning system):

Compressor Heat-exchanging pipes - serpentine or coiled set of pipes outside the unit Expansion valve Heat-exchanging pipes - serpentine or coiled set of pipes inside the unit Refrigerant - liquid that evaporates inside the refrigerator to create the cold temperatures Many industrial installations use pure ammonia as the refrigerant. Pure ammonia evaporates at -27 degrees Fahrenheit (-32 degrees Celsius).

The basic mechanism of a refrigerator works like this:

1. The compressor compresses the refrigerant gas. This raises the refrigerant's pressure and temperature (orange), so the heatexchanging coils outside the refrigerator allow the refrigerant to dissipate the heat of pressurization. 2. As it cools, the refrigerant condenses into liquid form (purple) and flows through the expansion valve. 3. When it flows through the expansion valve, the liquid refrigerant is allowed to move from a high-pressure zone to a lowpressure zone, so it expands and evaporates (light blue). In evaporating, it absorbs heat, making it cold. 4. The coils inside the refrigerator allow the refrigerant to absorb heat, making the inside of the refrigerator cold. The cycle then repeats.

The Refrigeration Cycle

The refrigerator in your kitchen uses a cycle that is similar to the one described in the previous section. But in your refrigerator, the cycle is continuous. In the following example, we will assume that the refrigerant being used is pure ammonia, which boils at 27 degrees F. This is what happens to keep the refrigerator cool: 1. The compressor compresses the ammonia gas. The compressed gas heats up as it is pressurized (orange). 2. The coils on the back of the refrigerator let the hot ammonia gas dissipate its heat. The ammonia gas condenses into ammonia liquid (dark blue) at high pressure. 3. The high-pressure ammonia liquid flows through the expansion valve. You can think of the expansion valve as a small hole. On one side of the hole is high-pressure ammonia liquid. On the other side of the hole is a low-pressure area (because the compressor is sucking gas out of that side). 4. The liquid ammonia immediately boils and vaporizes (light blue), its temperature dropping to -27 F. This makes the inside of the refrigerator cold. 5. The cold ammonia gas is sucked up by the compressor, and the cycle repeats.

Gas and Propane Refrigerators

If you own an a refrigerator where electricity is not available, chances are you have a gasor propane-powered refrigerator. These refrigerators are interesting because they have no moving parts and use gas or propane as their primary source of energy. Also, they use heat, in the form of burning propane, to produce the cold inside the refrigerator. A gas refrigerator uses ammonia as the coolant, and it uses water, ammonia and hydrogen gas to create a continuous cycle for the ammonia. The refrigerator has five main parts:

Generator - generates ammonia gas Separator - separates ammonia gas from water Condenser - where hot ammonia gas is cooled and condensed to create liquid ammonia Evaporator - where liquid ammonia evaporates to create cold temperatures inside the refrigerator Absorber - absorbs the ammonia gas in water

The cycle works like this: 1. Heat is applied to the generator. The heat comes from burning something like gas, propane or kerosene. 2. In the generator is a solution of ammonia and water. The heat raises the temperature of the solution to the boiling point of the ammonia. 3. The boiling solution flows to the separator. In the separator, the water separates from the ammonia gas. 4. The ammonia gas flows upward to the condenser. The condenser is composed of metal coils and fins that allow the ammonia gas to dissipate its heat and condense into a liquid. 5. The liquid ammonia makes its way to the evaporator, where it mixes with hydrogen gas and evaporates, producing cold temperatures inside the refrigerator. 6. The ammonia and hydrogen gases flow to the absorber. Here, the water that has collected in the separator is mixed with the ammonia and hydrogen gases. 7. The ammonia forms a solution with the water and releases the hydrogen gas, which flows back to the evaporator. The ammonia-and-water solution flows toward the generator to repeat the cycle.

Frost Free Refrigerators:

If you have an old refrigerator or one of the small dorm refrigerators, you know all about the frost that forms around the coils that cool the freezer. If you let it build up long enough, the frost can get 6 inches thick and eventually there is no room to put anything in the freezer. This frost forms when water vapor hits the cold coils. The water vapor condenses -turns to liquid water. Think of the water beading up on a glass of iced tea on a summer day -- that is an example of water vapor in the air condensing. The same thing happens on the ice-cold freezer coils, except that when the water condenses onto the coils it immediately freezes.

A frost-free freezer has three basic parts:

A timer A heating coil A temperature sensor

Every six hours or so, the timer turns on the heating coil. The heating coil is wrapped among the freezer coils. The heater melts the ice off the coils. When all of the ice is gone, the temperature sensor senses the temperature rising above 32 degrees F (0 degrees C) and turns off the heater. Heating the coils every six hours takes energy, and it also cycles the food in the freezer through temperature changes. Most large chest freezers therefore require manual defrosting instead -- the food lasts longer and the freezer uses less power.

Types of Refrigerators:
As per Designs 1) Top-Freezer Refrigerator:

2) Bottom-Freezer Refrigerator:

3) Side by Side Refrigerator:

4) Chest Refrigerator:

5) Up-right Refrigerator:

Main Issues:
Despite the inherent advantages, refrigeration had its problems. Refrigerants like sulfur dioxide and methyl chloride were causing people to die. Ammonia had an equally serious toxic effect if it leaked. Refrigeration engineers searched for acceptable substitutes until the 1920s, when a number of synthetic refrigerants called halocarbons or CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons) were developed by Frigidaire. The best known of these substances was patented under the brand name of Freon. Chemically, Freon was created by the substitution of two chlorine and two fluorine atoms for the four hydrogen atoms in methane (CH4); the result, dichlorodifluoromethane (CCl2F2), is odorless and is toxic only in extremely large doses. An increasingly important environmental concern is the disposal of old refrigerators - initially because of the freon coolant damaging the ozone layer, but as the older generation of refrigerators disappears it is the destruction of CFCbearing insulation which causes concern. Modern refrigerators usually use a refrigerant called HFC-134a (1,2,2,2-tetrafluoroethane), which has no ozone layer depleting properties, instead of freon.

Uses and Impact on Lifestyle:

The invention of the refrigerator has allowed the modern family to purchase, store, freeze, prepare and preserve food products in a fresh state for much longer periods of time than was previously possible. For the majority of families without a sizeable garden in which to grow vegetables and raise livestock, the advent of the refrigerator along with the modern supermarket led to a vastly more varied diet and improved health resulting from improved nutrition. Dairy products, meats, fish, poultry and vegetables can all be kept refrigerated in the same space within the kitchen (although raw meat should be kept separate from other foodstuffs for reasons of hygiene). The refrigerator allows families to consume more salads, fresh fruits and vegetables during meals without having to own a garden or an orchard. Exotic foodstuffs from faroff countries that have been imported by means of refrigeration can be enjoyed in the home because of the availability of domestic refrigeration. The luxury of freezing allows households to purchase more foods in bulk that can be eaten at leisure while the bulk purchase provides cost savings (see economies of scale). Ice cream, a popular commodity of the 20th century, was previously only available by traveling long distances to where the product was made fresh and had to be eaten on the spot. Now it is a practically ubiquitous food item. Ice on-demand not only adds to the enjoyment of cold drinks, but is useful in first-aid applications, not to mention cold packs that can be kept frozen for picnics or in case of emergency. In metalworking, for instance, mechanically produced cold helped temper cutlery and tools. Iron production got a boost, as refrigeration removed moisture from the air delivered to blast furnaces, increasing production. Textile mills used refrigeration in mercerizing, bleaching, and dyeing. Oil refineries found it

essential, as did the manufacturers of paper, drugs, soap, glue, shoe polish, perfume, celluloid, and photographic materials. Fur and woolen goods storage could beat the moths by using refrigerated warehouses. Refrigeration also helped nurseries and florists, especially to meet seasonal needs since cut flowers could last longer. Moreover, there was the morbid application of preserving human bodies. Hospitality businesses including hotels, restaurants, saloons, and soda fountains, proved to be big markets for ice. In WWI, refrigeration in ammunition factories provided the required strict control of temperatures and humidity. Allied fighting ships held carbon-dioxide machines to keep ammunition well below temperatures at which high explosives became unstable.

Upcoming Refrigerators:

Internet references:
www.wikipedia.com www.books.google.com www.howstuffworks.com www.about.com www.freepatentsonline.com www.images.google.com www.fridgedoctor.com

- Group Members Amit Chordiya, Aniket Halder, Bernard Ernest, Charandeep Singh