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Whilst doing some Business English teaching ("show me the money", "that'll be £100 for this bolt, if it's a defence contract" etc) I came across the heated cooled fridge.
The front glass door of yer typical shop/supermarket fridge has a window so you can see what's in there. I didn't know that this
is electrically heated, to prevent condensation.
It does of course make complete sense to cool one part of the fridge, while heating up another part.
So, perhaps some of that water lilly surface coating might be a step towards relative sanity?
New Refrigerator Syndrome Cure
New_20Refrigerator_20Syndrome_20Cure
..quantum linked in some inexplicable way [not_morrison_rm, May 12 2012]
[link]
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It's merely heating the gas in the space sandwiched
between the two sheets of glass, to prevent
condensation fogging up the door... so people can
see inside the fridge without opening it. |
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Adding lilypad microfibre surface coating seems a
little extreme... high tech solutions rarely work out
that well for low tech problems. |
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//heating the gas in the space sandwiched between the two sheets of glass, to prevent condensation fogging up the door. |
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I think it would be the same with a single layer glass door, so it really is still a bit of an energy waster... |
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If you want low-tech, how about photographs of the packets stuck to the door, it'd work for shops, which have a fixed range of items. Maybe countdown LED panel to show how many actually there, either by RFID, or little men. |
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You live in the UK, right? Where double glazing is
the norm? |
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The fridge door is just a double-glazed unit, with
some of the waste heat from the compressor
redirected to heat the gas inside the double-
glazed cavity. |
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The cuticle surface on a lotus leaf is actually a
micro-structure similar to the pads on the feet of
a gecko, with a layer of incredibly fine threads
effectively repelling water through their polarity
and through their fine structure, which is similar
to Gore-Tex. They're a very neat solution to the
problem of being constantly wet. |
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I'm not sure how a microfibre coating is going to
look n clear glass. I'm guessing cloudy at best,
which kinda defeats the purpose of having a clear
glass door so patrons can see the product inside
the fridge. |
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>"The fridge door is just a double-glazed unit, with some of the waste heat.." |
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re-introduced, next to the contents of the fridge |
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"..from the compressor redirected to heat the gas inside the double- glazed cavity." |
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but that's only two layers, one of which must be next to the contents of the fridge. The point of double glazing is to have two layers of glass between the warm bit and the cold bit. |
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The problem we have here is sort of synchronicity. I saw your post and it reminded me of the commercial fridges. Domestically, there must be very few domestic fridges like this, ergo not that much extra power draw, whereas there are one gazillion commercial fridges... |
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Anyway, woohoo we have our own private message board, and for free, as I'm sure no one is reading these. I can say anything I like about the Borg...la la la no one is listening.. |
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Were talking about the ones in supermarkets right?
They should hire someone to sit in there with a
squeegee. |
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How about you hire kids to draw heaps of smiley faces in the glass? |
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I think a superhydrophobic coating would not solve
the problem. Water will still condense, but it will
form small, beaded droplets. Admittedly, the
droplets will run down the glass when they reach a
certain size, but I think you'll always have a surface
covered with droplets. |
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I suppose hiring someone to spit on the glass and smear it
around a bit is also out of the question? |
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The solution is not a hydroPHOBIC coating that results in tiny beads, but rather a hydroPHILIC coating that results in the drops spreading out to coat the surface evenly. |
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The better shops don't bother with doors on the freezers. You sell a lot more if the freezers are open all the time. |
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You have to, with rising energy prices. |
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>but rather a hydroPHILIC coating |
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Aha! I knew that I was just pretending to be completely stupid. Ahem. |
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Also just remembered to old "cut a potato and rub it over the glass" trick to prevent misting. Also "heatstork" I've decided this is my new favourite word, even thought it's meaningless and just me failing to to type heatstroke properly. |
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Use a conventional door (no glazing). In the upper portion of the door, at eye level, place a large LCD touchscreen colour display, as wide as the door. |
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Mount a number of colour video cameras with built in illuminators throughout the fridge. |
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Install software that displays the output of the cameras in rotation when the system is idle; have a menu bar that allows specific camera feeds to be selected and zoomed. |
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Deluxe version has cameras that tilt and pan under user control. |
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External interfaces are gigabit Ethernet, 802.11n WiFi, and Bluetooth. Load the App on your smartphone and you can look inside your fridge while out shopping. You can let your Social Network friends see in your fridge, too. |
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Good idea! Fitting the fridge with cameras will let you answer the age-old conundrum: does the light _really_ go out when you close the door? |
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Or, does the camera freeze on the last frame before the door actually shuts? |
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No, that's on the freezer. This is just a fridge.
Please try to pay attention, [poc]. |
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My fridge has a freezer compartment. |
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Then it's a fridge/freezer, not a fridge. |
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Please try to pay attention, [poc] |
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ponders connection between "rezzo" and "rezocon" in Japanese. one means "fridge", the other means "lesbian". Perhaps it doesn't translate well. |
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You'd probably find out that the fridge camera does something strange and terrible on a quantum level due to a Schroedinger-cat effect, the fridge light would stay on, but the stars would go out..god has that kind of sense of humour. |
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If you can demonstrate a coating that will prevent all fogging and icing on a glass surface I have a few other applications that you might consider marketing to first. After you collect your Nobel, the money might not be such an issue but the demand is going to be huge. |
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I don't think it works against icing, but if you want to
prevent fogging on glass, rub it with Pert Plus shampoo. I'm
not kidding. Of course, periodic re-application is required. |
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>demonstrate a coating that will prevent all fogging and icing |
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Oh, that's easy. For example, cheese. |
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Thinking about it, why not use water lilies and just clip photos the food on them.. |
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Anyway, this debate seems to be running on two topics at the same time, this and New Refrigerator Syndrome Cure. Maybe merge them..or just get 3D glasses and look at both at the same time.. |
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