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If you stretch a rubber band, it heats up; Keep it that way, for a minute. It cools to ambient temperature. Now release the rubberband. Rubberband becomes very cold.
(I invite you all to try it out.)
The toy is just a plastic (thermal insulator) box which somehow uses rubberband. Exact mechanism
needs to figured out. Perhaps some hand cranking will be needed.
Mattel/ToysRUS ... are you listening ?
The Thermobile
http://lasp07c.blog...02/heat-mobile.html uses a loop of nitinol wire to generate power [xaviergisz, Jul 18 2011]
Toy-sized coolers already exist
http://koolatrononl...rand-koolatron.html They use a technology developed by NASA, if I recall right. [Vernon, Jul 18 2011]
Also
http://andythenerd-...bands.blogspot.com/ [MaxwellBuchanan, Jul 18 2011]
Baked!... sorta.
https://www.youtube...watch?v=lfmrvxB154w [2 fries shy of a happy meal, Jul 24 2017]
[link]
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Excellent (+++) If your bands were contained in a series if small bellows then they could pump cool air into the base of the fridge when tension is released. A valve at the top of the box would let rising warmer air escape. |
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I think a set of bands might be needed ?..may be 10-30ish...This could be a good home DIY project. |
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This could work analogously to a real fridge, using
a cycle. |
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Imagine two wheels, over which you stretch a
rubber band like this: |
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OK, not like that, but that's the best I can do.
(The o and the 0 are wheels, the rest is the rubber
band). Note that the wheels are two different
sizes. |
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Now, you put a crank on the smaller of the
wheels, and you gear that wheel to the bigger
wheel, so that they both turn in sync at the same
speed. |
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However, because one wheel is bigger, as the
crank (and hence the two wheels) turns, the
rubber band is constantly being stretched on one
side, and relaxing on the other. |
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As a result, one side of the band-loop will get
cold, the other will get hot. If the loop passes
through a small fridge, you could cool the fridge. |
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That should work; However, |
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//the rubber band is constantly being stretched on one side, and relaxing on the other.// |
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How about having a time delay between stretching and relaxing so that rubber band gets time to cool off ? |
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That's why the bellows... <tap-tap> Is this thing on? |
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//How about having a time delay between stretching
and relaxing// Yes, that would help, but is difficult
to engineer. |
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How about using the rollers (either the ones which
drive the bands, or additional purely passive rollers)
act as heat sinks to unload heat from the stretching
bands? |
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Yeah..That should work. Rollers will be made up of some metal, mostly steel then. If thats not enough, then probably air cooling will have to be used as [21Q] said. |
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You could enclose the rubber band in the hot part of the cycle in a little mini-fridge, to enable it to then absorb more heat. |
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could be a nifty science-fair exhibit: two glasses of water, one gets colder the other hotter. |
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Unfortunately, modern toy companies would skip all the
expensive rubber-band r&d and just rush to market with a
product that sprays liquid freon into your child's face the
third time they play with it. It would be cheap to
manufacture, unrecyclable, a great christmas roll-out, and
would come with a product-recall notice already in the box
to ward off those pesky class-action suits. |
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That's a splendid idea. Before long, the things we
all enjoyed in
childhood -- incandescent lightbulbs, high sulfer
coal, chloroflourocarbons -- will go the way of
rotary telephones, and our children won't have
the chance to enjoy them. Act now! Buy your
child an [Alterother] brand toy fridge. Limited
Offer! While supplies last! |
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voidwhereprohibitedbylaw maycauseburnsashpyxia
tionorglobalcatastrophe |
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Alterorder Inc. has currently suspended sales of all toy
refridgerators and related accessories pending the outcome
of a class-action lawsuit. We are, however, putting a lot of
thought into rubber-band re-development. |
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//a product that sprays liquid freon into your child's face// |
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I like this. It answers the question often expressed at picnics: if we can put a man on the moon a quarter million miles from home, why can't we freeze our baby whenever we want? |
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But we *can't* put a man on the moon. We lost that
capability decades ago. In fact, the Americans
cannot now even put a man in orbit. The Russians
can, so maybe they've got baby-freezing technology
as well. |
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If not, there's always laudanum. |
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Actually, back during the Cold War, the Soviets flash-froze
thousands of babies, to be thawed out and raised on lightly
irradiated grain years after a nuclear exchange, thus
ensuring victory at the post-apocalypse Olympics (and yet
another chance to inflict their 49-minute national anthem
upon the world). |
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Ha! This guy built a prototype. [link] |
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It won't cool your beer but the principal works. |
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" Yeah..That should work. Rollers will be made up of some metal, mostly steel then. " |
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Mostly steel .... is that like reinforced steel ? |
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