History
Absorption cooling was invented by the French scientist Ferdinand Carré in 1858. The original design used water and sulphuric acid.
In 1922 Baltzar von Platen and Carl Munters, while they were still students at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden, enhanced the principle with a 3 fluids configuration. This "Platen-Munters" design can operate without a pump.
Commercial production began in 1923 by the newly formed company AB Arctic, which was bought by Electrolux in 1925. In the 60s the absorption refrigeration saw a renaissance due to the substantial demand for refrigerators for caravans. AB Electrolux established a subsidiary in the U.S, named Dometic Sales Corporation. The company marketed refrigerators for caravans under the Dometic brand. In 2001 Electrolux sold most of its Leisure Products line to the venture-capital company EQT which created Dometic as stand alone company.
In 1926 Albert Einstein and his former student Leó Szilárd proposed an alternative design known as Einstein refrigerator.
At the 2007 TED Conference, Adam Grosser presented his research of a new, very small, "intermittent absorption" vaccine refrigeration unit for use in third world countries. The refrigerator is a small unit placed over a campfire, that can later be used to cool 3 gallons of water to just above freezing for 24 hours in a 30 degree Celsius environment.
Read more about this topic: Absorption Refrigerator
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