The “Not So Great” History of Refrigeration

Can you imagine a modern house without a refrigerator? Well, it’s hard to even think what we would do without refrigeration. Modern cities in developed countries rely heavily on refrigeration to keep perishable foods fresh and safe for daily consumption. Refrigeration technology has impacted agriculture, industry, and lifestyles over the centuries, evolving from ice harvesting to temperature-controlled train cars.

Refrigeration is the name given to the process that ‘removes heat from one place to another’ creating a cool or cold environment that has many applications such as domestic refrigerators, air conditioning systems, cryogenic installations and industrial freezers.

The idea of ​​chilling beverages has its origins in the ancient Chinese and Roman empires. The seasonal harvesting of snow and ice is a practice that predates 1000 BC. C. according to a collection of Chinese letters from the period known as the Shih dynasty. The next mention of ice harvesting is in the time of the Jews and is mentioned in the book of Proverbs in the Bible. Other civilizations, such as the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans, made use of large snow pits lined with tree branches and straw to cool drinks and keep fruit cool. But it is not until the Persian culture when the use of an ice well called Yakhchal is mentioned; this may be the precursor to cold storage of food for preservation.

In the early 1800s, ice became a mass market product with a large majority of people using ice chests to store dairy products, fish, fruit, meat, and vegetables, thus paving the way for the technology’s acceptance. of refrigeration.

Refrigeration – the timeline

William Cullen, a Scottish professor, was the first to examine the idea of ​​artificial refrigeration by creating a partial vacuum over a container of diethyl ether that absorbed heat from the surrounding air. This was in 1755, but the experiment had no practical application at the time.

In 1758, Professors Benjamin Franklin and John Hadley investigated the principle of evaporation as a means of rapidly cooling an object by conducting an experiment at the University of Cambridge.

In the year 1820, the renowned British scientist Michael Faraday used high pressures and low temperatures to liquefy ammonia and other gases.

American scientist Jacob Perkins, working in Britain in 1834, assembled the first closed-cycle vapor compression refrigeration system. Although the unpatented prototype was the first known system to work successfully, it was not commercially successful.

American physician John Gorrie made a similar attempt in 1842, but again it was a commercial failure.

The first practical and patented vapor compression refrigeration system using alcohol, ether, or ammonia was produced in 1856 and built by James Harrison.

In 1860, Ferdinand Carre of France patented his gas absorption refrigeration system design called “aquatic ammonia”, the process of using gaseous ammonia dissolved in water.

Meanwhile, an engineering professor at the Munich University of Technology in Germany had been working on an improved method of liquefying gases. In 1876 he patented this new process made possible by the use of gases such as ammonia, sulfur dioxide and methyl chloride as ‘refrigerants’, a practice that became widely used until the late 1920s.

A refrigerant is a substance or chemical that is used in a thermal cycle, such as refrigeration, to convert a liquid into a gas.

In the early 19th century, refrigeration came to play a vital role in the food distribution industry, first through natural ice and later through manufactured ice. Many food and meatpackers in the United States have adopted ammonia cycle refrigeration units for their storage facilities.

With the idea of ​​artificial refrigeration being a great success, the idea of ​​refrigeration for domestic purposes arose. The limitations were largely due to size, as they were designed for installation on trucks, lorries, and warehouses, and the safety factor in case of fire accidents where toxic gases leaked or exploded.

home refrigeration

In 1911, General Electric (GE) became the first company to overcome the challenges of meeting home cooling needs. GE launched a domestic gas-powered unit that eliminated the need for an engine and greatly reduced the size of the unit. However, the idea of ​​a gas-fired unit was not well received by GE’s electric customers, so an electric model framework was put into operation.

In 1927, Monitor Top was launched, the world’s first refrigerator powered by electricity. The idea created waves with many other companies jumping on the bandwagon in the lead up to improving this new invention.

One of GE’s main competitors, Frigidaire entered the fray in 1930, synthesizing freon as a refrigerant. This was a revolutionary invention that allowed the development of cheaper, lighter and smaller refrigerators for home use. At the time, the use of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) was considered less harmful than commonly used refrigerants such as ammonia, methyl chloride, and sulfur dioxide. The intention was to provide safer home equipment at affordable prices.

Today, home refrigerators have become stylish appliances with a variety of designs, colors and sizes with different temperature control functions to meet the needs of small, medium and large families.

environmental concerns

In the 1970s, as the world became aware of environmental concerns and global warming, these CFC compounds were found to react with the protective layer of atmospheric ozone, reducing the use of CFCs as a refrigerant, as established in the Montreal Protocol of 1987. Today, manufacturers have embraced the idea of ​​using environmentally friendly refrigerants such as hydrocarbons as a means of combating global warming and reducing the impact of greenhouse gases.