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Based on this NYT article [1], some logistics companies planning to store and transport the vaccine are using freezers from Stirling Ultracold. It may just be a
by jashephe 6y ago
Based on this NYT article [1], some logistics companies planning to store and transport the vaccine are using freezers from Stirling Ultracold. It may just be a curiosity, but their freezers (as the name would suggest) use bona fide Stirling engines rather than the typical two-stage compressors used in most ULT freezers.
As someone in life science research who uses plenty of -80 freezers, I've always been curious about Stirling Ultracold. Maybe they're on to something after all.
[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/18/business/coronavirus-covid-vaccine-cold-frozen-logistics.html https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/18/business/coronavirus-covi...
- KMag 6y agoNit: Stirling cryocoolers, not Stirling engines. Thermodynamically, it's just reversed. You're driving mechanical/electrical power in to get a thermal difference, not dissipating a thermal difference to get mechanical work/electrical power out.
- bluGill 6y agogas-liquide cycle freezers typically do not have enough of a temperature gradiants to work. Normal freon (R-whatever you have heard of) don't get cold enough. That isn't to say you can't make one, but stirling cycle is not much worse so just use it.