Refrigeration from Steam?

[rake60]

I just saw this today and found it interesting.

In 1876 a German engineer named Carl von Linde invented an early steam powered refrigeration machine.
It was called a cold ammonia machine because it used a piston to compress ammonia gas into a liquid.
When that liquid sprayed out of a small nozzle and converted back to a gas, it got very cold.

It worked very much like our modern refrigerators and generic heat pumps.

My wife sometimes complains about the machines, chips and smoke in my hobby shop.
If I had THIS in the house to keep the beer cold.....

On the other hand, if the ammonia gas leaked out of the system, it could kill you.
So, how dangerous can a wife be?
:hDe:

Rick

 

[bearcar1]

How dangerous? Be afraid, be VERY afraid indeed! :big:

Those old ammonia refrigeration units could sure do the job. I've seen the one that was in service up until the late sixties used in Fort Madison Iowa and I forget now how many tons of ice it would produce in a day. The engine was given to The Midwest Old Thrashers Assoc. and they have it as a running display, however they do not use the compressor portion. It would certainly keep ALOT of beer cold.

BC1
Jim

 

[steamer]

Rick. You really need to ask that question? ;D

 

[substandard]

Years ago (1990) I use to be a security guard at a company that built gas burners for steam boilers. They had what they called a testing room which was a large room full of various sizes and models of boilers. They used these boilers to test the various burner designs.

Since there was always at least one boiler running at any given time the entire factory was heated and air conditioned with steam. On a hot humid Kansas summer where the day time temp would reach over 100 F the steam unit kept the factory cooled easily at 72F. The factory was roughly 8,000 to 10,000 sq ft.

 

[Foozer]

And here I thought it was Doc Brown in 1885 that built the first ice maker

Robert