Students invented a refrigerator "WindChill" that can store food inexpensively without electricity and received a design award

Refrigerator that is cheaper than the existing refrigerator and can store food without using electricityWindChillA research team of college students who developed "Bio MimikuriHonor technology utilizingBiomimicry Global Design ChallengeI have won a grand prize in 2015.

WindChill - A Food Preservation Unit
http://challenge.biomimicry.org/en/custom/gallery/view/2576

Windchill refrigerator designed by Calgary students wins world prize - Calgary - CBC News
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/uofc-first-place-biomimicry-1.3273816

"WindChill" imitates the structure of nature and organisms at Calgary University in Canada and uses it for technology developmentBio MimikuriStudents who are studying the field of "the refrigerator to save food without using electricity in areas with poverty" have been developing with the concept.

Initial concept illustration is as follows, the box part to save food is buried in the ground.


As you rotate it by 90 degrees, it looks like the following, you can see the three parts of the coil immersed in the refrigerator, inlet port, water. The structure of the air intake port was made with reference to the organ which corals and termites introduce air.


A mechanism for cooling is embedded in the basement.


A prototype made based on the initial idea looks like this. First of all, using the wind blowing naturally, we take in warm air from the air intake port, and the silver color buried in the groundVenturiPour air through the pipe into the pipe. Because the temperature in the ground is lower than the ground, the air gradually cools while moving.


Next, the air moves to the "evaporation chamber" where the pipe has become coiled like a coil. The evaporation chamber is installed on the ground, the pipe is immersed in a small amount of water, and the air in the pipe is cooled by the evaporation of water by the heat of the sun. It is said that insects such as bees, kangaroos, elephants and mammals were made by gaining ideas from the internal structure that controls body temperature.


Cooled air moves through the pipe and moves to the ground again.


By the time the air reached the inside of the storage for food preservation, it means that the air is sufficiently cold to a temperature where food can be stored for a long time.


The way I actually use it is very compact with the following feeling. According to the research team, it seems that it is possible to continue to use the underground mechanism once it is installed without maintenance.


In addition, the research team is planning to continue research in the future with the goal of keeping the temperature inside the cabinet at 4.5 degrees Celsius.