Swiss are best know for their very useful unbeatable knife. Now, they have something else to show off. Professors of the Graduate School of Engineering and Management developed the first environmentally friendly magnetic fridge. And, oh by the way, they also grabbed the Swiss Technology Award at the first Swiss Innovation Forum ― featuring Mr. Bill Clinton.
Magnetic appliances would circulate water or relatively benign antifreeze fluids instead of ozone-depleting refrigerants. The technique isn’t a new comer ― at least for specialists. For more than 50 years, cryogenics specialists used it to chill already ultracold substances to even lower temperatures. Now, it is excepted to step into into household heating, supermarket freezers and industrial cooling processes.
This new style of refrigerator uses gadolinium metal that heats up when exposed to a magnetic field, then cools down when the magnetic field is removed. For physics geeks, interested by keywords as electron spin and entropy, they could find some more details here and also here.
[via NZZ online] [picture: peneli]
Technorati Tags: Magnetic, Magnetic Fridge, Swiss Innovation, Engineering, Cryogenics, Households, Appliances, Physics, Ozone, Fridge, Refrigerator, innovation, Design, Gadolinium
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