Adam Grosser: A mobile fridge for vaccines

Translator: Canela Rodal Reviewer: Jose Camean

This is a work in process,

Este é un traballo en desenvolvemento

based on some comments that were made at TED two years ago

basado en comentarios que se fixeron

en TED hai 2 anos

sobre a necesidade de almacenar vacinas.

about the need for the storage of vaccine.

(Video): [On this planet

(Música)

[Neste planeta]

1.6 billion people

[ 1.600 millóns de persoas ]

[ non teñen acceso a electricidade ]

don't have access to electricity

[ refrixeración ]

refrigeration

[ ou combustibles almacenados ]

or stored fuels

this is a problem

[ isto é un problema ]

[ e ten un impacto: ]

it impacts:

the spread of disease

[ na propagación de enfermidades ]

[ no almacenamento de comida e medicinas ]

the storage of food and medicine

and the quality of life.

[ e na calidade de vida ]

[ este é o plan: refrixeración barata sen electricidade... ]

So here's the plan ... inexpensive refrigeration

that doesn't use electricity, propane, gas, kerosene or consumables

[ ... propano, gas, queroseno ou consumibles ]

[ hora de falar de termodinámica ]

time for some thermodynamics

[ E a historia da Neveira de Absorción Intermitente ]

And the story of the Intermittent Absorption Refrigerator]

Hai 29 anos, tiña un mestre de termo

Adam Grosser: So 29 years ago, I had this thermo teacher

who talked about absorption and refrigeration, one of those things

que falaba de absorción e refrixeración.

Nunca o esquecín.

that stuck in my head, a lot like the Stirling engine:

Era moi parecido ao Motor Stirling:

xenial, pero non sabías que facer con él.

it was cool, but you didn't know what to do with it.

O inventou este tío, Ferdinand Carre, en 1858

It was invented in 1858, by this guy Ferdinand Carré,

but he couldn't actually build anything with it

pero non puido construir nada con él

polas ferramentas da época.

because of the tools at the time.

This crazy Canadian named Powel Crosley commercialized this thing

Un canadense tolo chamado Powel Crosley

called the IcyBall, in 1928.

comercializou unha cousa chamada Icyball en 1928,

e era unha idea moi boa,

It was a really neat idea, and I'll get to why it didn't work,

aínda que non funcionou,

pero así é cómo funciona.

but here's how it works.

There's two spheres and they're separated in distance.

Hai dous esferas que están separadas.

One has a working fluid, water and ammonia,

Unha ten auga e amoníaco,

and the other is a condenser.

e a outra é un condendador.

You heat up one side, the hot side.

Quentas un lado.

The ammonia evaporates and it recondenses in the other side.

O amoníaco evapórase

e recondénsase noutro lado.

You let it cool to room temperature,

O deixas arrefriar ata chegar a temperatura ambiente

e logo, ao re-evaporarse o amoníaco e combinarse coa auga

and then, as the ammonia reevaporates and combines with the water

back on the erstwhile hot side,

na parte quente anterior,

crea un potente efecto de arrefriado.

it creates a powerful cooling effect.

So it was a great idea that didn't work at all.

Foi unha gran idea que non funcionou: explotou.

They blew up.

Ao usar amoníaco, se crean presións moi altas

(Laughter)

Because you're using ammonia, you get hugely high pressures

if you heated them wrong;

se o quentas mal.

it topped 400 psi.

Chegou a 28 Bar. O amoníaco era tóxico. Se asperxía por todas partes.

The ammonia was toxic, it sprayed everywhere.

But it was kind of an interesting thought.

Pero foi unha idea interesante.

Entón, o bo de 2006 é

So the great thing about 2006,

there's a lot of really great computational work you can do.

que temos moitos recursos computacionais.

So we got the whole thermodynamics department at Stanford involved --

Tivemos ao departamento de termodinámica

de Stanford involucrado.

a lot of computational fluid dynamics.

Moita dinámica de fluidos computacional.

We proved that most of the ammonia refrigeration tables are wrong.

Probamos que a maioría das táboas de refrixeración por amoníaco están mal.

Atopamos algúns refrixerantes non tóxicos

We found some nontoxic refrigerants

that worked at very low vapor pressures.

que funcionaban a presións moi baixas.

Trouxemos un equipo do Reino Unido

We brought in a team from the UK --

a lot of great refrigeration people, it turns out, in the UK --

(hai moita xente boa en refrixeración

no Reino Unido)

and built a test rig, and proved that, in fact,

e fixemos probas e vimos que

we could make a low-pressure, nontoxic refrigerator.

podíamos facer unha neveira de baixa presión non tóxica.

So this is the way it works.

Así é como funciona.

You put it on a cooking fire.

O pos nunha fogueira.

A maioría das persoas teñen fogueiras.

Most people have cooking fires in the world,

xa sexa bosta de camelo ou madeira.

whether it's camel dung or wood.

It heats up for about 30 minutes, cools for an hour.

Se quenta 30 minutos, e se arrefría unha hora.

O pos nun recipiente

You put it into a container and it will refrigerate for 24 hours.

e refrixerará durante 24 horas.

It looks like this.

É algo así. Este é o quinto prototipo, non está rematado.

This is the fifth prototype, it's not quite done.

It weighs about eight pounds, and this is the way it works.

Pesa 3 kilos e medio e funciona así.

You put it into a 15-liter vessel, about three gallons,

O pores nun recipiente de 15 litros,

and it'll cool it down to just above freezing --

e o arrefriará ao punto de conxelación,

three degrees above freezing --

tres graos por riba,

for 24 hours in a 30 degree C environment.

durante 24 horas nun ambiente a 30ºC. É moi barato.

It's really cheap.

Cremos que podemos fabricalos a gran escala por 25 dólares,

We think we can build these in high volumes for about 25 dollars,

en menores cantidades a 40 dólares.

in low volumes for about 40 dollars.

E cremos que podemos facer que todo o mundo

And we think we can make refrigeration something that everybody can have.

teña refrixeración.

Thank you.

Grazas.

(Applause)

(Aplausos)