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Gravity to Save 90% Energy When Using a Fridge

18 points by onreact-com 17y ago

tamas 17y ago
Am I the only one who sees a usability problem with this? With freezers this layout is acceptable, as you don't browse around for stuff many times a day, just dump them in the box and forget about it till next spring. Even if it has shelves, just by thinking about how one gets the jar of jelly out from the back of lowest shelf makes my back hurt.
- catch23 17y ago
  What it needs is a rotating shelf, it would be less space efficient, but then you could just spin the wheel to get something at the bottom. Also, it doesn't have to be a wheel, maybe just a bunch of hanging shelves on a movable track. If it were a track, you also wouldn't need such a large cover, you could get by with a cover just large enough to access 1 compartment on the movable shelf. Advanced fridge shelves could operate like tape backup systems -- type in "milk" and it rotates the milk compartment to the access cover. With the microcomputer, it could also keep track of access times of each compartment and ping you when it thinks a compartment has food past the expiration date. With the rotating fridge compartments, you could also have weird fridge layouts that still maintain energy efficiency -- maybe a tall and skinny one, but there is a loading bay at the user's height level. Maybe I'm overthinking this...
JunkDNA 17y ago
From the article:"I wonder why no company has thought of this easy way to cut energy use in fridges?" I suspect they probably have thought of this. But to me, this is one of those ideas that looks good on paper. The obvious main problem here is usability. Freezers work in this configuration because everything you put in them roughly turns into bricks that stack on each other without damage. This fridge would need all kinds of little compartments and shelves to keep things like produce from going to the bottom and getting squashed. In order to have a fridge with the same capacity as an upright fridge, I suspect you would need quite a bit of floor space. There are practical limits on how deep you can make a fridge without it being difficult to use. It's probably fine if you're a single person and don't have a lot of stuff. But what about for a family? Finally, many kitchens have a "spot" for a fridge, and anything that doesn't fit there, needs to go somewhere else. It's likely there likely isn't going to be enough floor space.
- swombat 17y ago
  I was going to say the same thing. There are numerous obvious reasons, from convenience to conventions, why this is not a practical solution. The problem, as they say, is not a technical one.
  - tdoggette 17y ago
    No, I think the author is right when he says "you just need a way for drawers to slide up, so you can access the depths without leaning down into a huge box." I think it's a solvable design problem that could turn into a viable product with a bit of cleverness.
    - swombat 17y ago
      That doesn't solve the problem that the space commonly allocated to fridges in the vast majority of kitchens is vertical, not horizontal. It certainly wouldn't be workable in any of the flats I've ever lived in, only in spacious houses.
    - jodrellblank 17y ago
      You just need a way for drawers to slide up, without using up the electricity saved by this change, or being too heavy. or using too large a counterweight system or being to weak.
- beza1e1 17y ago
  I'd think of a design like a file cabinet with every drawer being its own fridge. This way you can even set different temperatures. The stacking is variable so suitable models for every kitchen should be possible.
  - swombat 17y ago
    That's a smart idea, but wouldn't that require several compressors instead of one? (one per fridge)
yannis 17y ago
Usability and shape is the biggest problem with this idea. However, if you had something in the fridge that would minimize the amount of air in the fridge that could work i.e a spring loaded mechanism of some sort that pushes back to allow for goods to be inserted in the fridge. If no goods are on the shelf then the spring pushes to the front thus allowing less air to be in the fridge. Hey? Can I get VC funding for this?
m_eiman 17y ago
"I wonder why no company has thought of this easy way to cut energy use in fridges?" http://www.prisjakt.nu/kategori.php?k=533 http://www.prisjakt.nu/kategori.php?k=533 The link is in Swedish, but it's a list of freezers just like his readily available for purchase. Mouse-over an item in the list to see an image. The columns: divide the price by ten to get an approximate USD price; energy use per year; freezing capacity per 24h; volume. [edit] My in-laws have a freezer like this and use it for long term storage. And yes, there are usability problems. [edit2] Freezer != fride, of course. I shouldn't comment with a baby on my lap, and I also blame it on language barriers! :)
dugmartin 17y ago
Why not just add those plastic strip drapes they use in super markets to your existing fridge? That would do a lot to minimize the cold air dumping out when you opened the door wouldn't it?
MaMa 17y ago
It's a converted chest type freezer. Freezers also have a lot thicker insulation on the walls that also helps improve the efficiency a lot. It also takes a lot of floor space. On the other hand it could be usable as a secondary refridgerator to hold cold drinks, vegetables etc. that you don't want taking space in your main fridge. And btw where is my aerogel-insulated fridge? I want one for my flying car!
onreact-com 17y ago
Hey, for all those who complain about the poor usability: This is a low budget DIY hack! In case you want to solve the same problem with a usable product on a big budget you can too, using horizontal compartments: http://www.appliancist.com/appliance_trends_2008/electrolux-design-lab-2008-winners-finalists.html http://www.appliancist.com/appliance_trends_2008/electrolux-... http://www.yankodesign.com/2008/04/09/your-fridge-sucks-this-ones-better/ http://www.yankodesign.com/2008/04/09/your-fridge-sucks-this...
ramchip 17y ago
using only about 100 watts of power a day A little confusion in the units there... It would appear the author means 100 watts for one hour, so 0.1 kWh per day or 3 kWh per month. Compared to the regular's fridge 30 kWh/month.
- jrockway 17y ago
  I was just about to mention this. 100 Joules per second per day? So it uses more energy as time goes on? :)
boredguy8 17y ago
Our new fridge works this way on the bottom, for the freezer. It's a 'pull out' freezer. http://www.kenmore.com/shc/s/dap_10154_12604_DAP_Large+Capacity?adCell=W2 http://www.kenmore.com/shc/s/dap_10154_12604_DAP_Large+Capac...
jasonkester 17y ago
Here we have the classic case of a trade-off between energy efficiency and pain in the ass. Personally, I'll happily pay an extra $2/month in electricity bills not to have to pick the milk up off the floor every single morning.

18 points by onreact-com 17y ago

tamas 17y ago

Am I the only one who sees a usability problem with this? With freezers this layout is acceptable, as you don't browse around for stuff many times a day, just dump them in the box and forget about it till next spring. Even if it has shelves, just by thinking about how one gets the jar of jelly out from the back of lowest shelf makes my back hurt.

catch23 17y ago
What it needs is a rotating shelf, it would be less space efficient, but then you could just spin the wheel to get something at the bottom. Also, it doesn't have to be a wheel, maybe just a bunch of hanging shelves on a movable track. If it were a track, you also wouldn't need such a large cover, you could get by with a cover just large enough to access 1 compartment on the movable shelf. Advanced fridge shelves could operate like tape backup systems -- type in "milk" and it rotates the milk compartment to the access cover. With the microcomputer, it could also keep track of access times of each compartment and ping you when it thinks a compartment has food past the expiration date. With the rotating fridge compartments, you could also have weird fridge layouts that still maintain energy efficiency -- maybe a tall and skinny one, but there is a loading bay at the user's height level. Maybe I'm overthinking this...

JunkDNA 17y ago

From the article:"I wonder why no company has thought of this easy way to cut energy use in fridges?" I suspect they probably have thought of this. But to me, this is one of those ideas that looks good on paper. The obvious main problem here is usability. Freezers work in this configuration because everything you put in them roughly turns into bricks that stack on each other without damage. This fridge would need all kinds of little compartments and shelves to keep things like produce from going to the bottom and getting squashed. In order to have a fridge with the same capacity as an upright fridge, I suspect you would need quite a bit of floor space. There are practical limits on how deep you can make a fridge without it being difficult to use. It's probably fine if you're a single person and don't have a lot of stuff. But what about for a family? Finally, many kitchens have a "spot" for a fridge, and anything that doesn't fit there, needs to go somewhere else. It's likely there likely isn't going to be enough floor space.

swombat 17y ago
I was going to say the same thing. There are numerous obvious reasons, from convenience to conventions, why this is not a practical solution. The problem, as they say, is not a technical one.
- tdoggette 17y ago
  No, I think the author is right when he says "you just need a way for drawers to slide up, so you can access the depths without leaning down into a huge box." I think it's a solvable design problem that could turn into a viable product with a bit of cleverness.
  - swombat 17y ago
    That doesn't solve the problem that the space commonly allocated to fridges in the vast majority of kitchens is vertical, not horizontal. It certainly wouldn't be workable in any of the flats I've ever lived in, only in spacious houses.
  - jodrellblank 17y ago
    You just need a way for drawers to slide up, without using up the electricity saved by this change, or being too heavy. or using too large a counterweight system or being to weak.
beza1e1 17y ago
I'd think of a design like a file cabinet with every drawer being its own fridge. This way you can even set different temperatures. The stacking is variable so suitable models for every kitchen should be possible.
- swombat 17y ago
  That's a smart idea, but wouldn't that require several compressors instead of one? (one per fridge)

yannis 17y ago

Usability and shape is the biggest problem with this idea. However, if you had something in the fridge that would minimize the amount of air in the fridge that could work i.e a spring loaded mechanism of some sort that pushes back to allow for goods to be inserted in the fridge. If no goods are on the shelf then the spring pushes to the front thus allowing less air to be in the fridge. Hey? Can I get VC funding for this?

m_eiman 17y ago

"I wonder why no company has thought of this easy way to cut energy use in fridges?" http://www.prisjakt.nu/kategori.php?k=533 http://www.prisjakt.nu/kategori.php?k=533 The link is in Swedish, but it's a list of freezers just like his readily available for purchase. Mouse-over an item in the list to see an image. The columns: divide the price by ten to get an approximate USD price; energy use per year; freezing capacity per 24h; volume. [edit] My in-laws have a freezer like this and use it for long term storage. And yes, there are usability problems. [edit2] Freezer != fride, of course. I shouldn't comment with a baby on my lap, and I also blame it on language barriers! :)

dugmartin 17y ago

Why not just add those plastic strip drapes they use in super markets to your existing fridge? That would do a lot to minimize the cold air dumping out when you opened the door wouldn't it?

MaMa 17y ago

It's a converted chest type freezer. Freezers also have a lot thicker insulation on the walls that also helps improve the efficiency a lot. It also takes a lot of floor space. On the other hand it could be usable as a secondary refridgerator to hold cold drinks, vegetables etc. that you don't want taking space in your main fridge. And btw where is my aerogel-insulated fridge? I want one for my flying car!

onreact-com 17y ago

Hey, for all those who complain about the poor usability: This is a low budget DIY hack! In case you want to solve the same problem with a usable product on a big budget you can too, using horizontal compartments: http://www.appliancist.com/appliance_trends_2008/electrolux-design-lab-2008-winners-finalists.html http://www.appliancist.com/appliance_trends_2008/electrolux-... http://www.yankodesign.com/2008/04/09/your-fridge-sucks-this-ones-better/ http://www.yankodesign.com/2008/04/09/your-fridge-sucks-this...

ramchip 17y ago

using only about 100 watts of power a day A little confusion in the units there... It would appear the author means 100 watts for one hour, so 0.1 kWh per day or 3 kWh per month. Compared to the regular's fridge 30 kWh/month.

jrockway 17y ago
I was just about to mention this. 100 Joules per second per day? So it uses more energy as time goes on? :)

boredguy8 17y ago

Our new fridge works this way on the bottom, for the freezer. It's a 'pull out' freezer. http://www.kenmore.com/shc/s/dap_10154_12604_DAP_Large+Capacity?adCell=W2 http://www.kenmore.com/shc/s/dap_10154_12604_DAP_Large+Capac...

jasonkester 17y ago

Here we have the classic case of a trade-off between energy efficiency and pain in the ass. Personally, I'll happily pay an extra $2/month in electricity bills not to have to pick the milk up off the floor every single morning.