Cold Storage Material Reduces Supercooling Gap
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current cold storage materials for frozen foods are inefficient in maintaining low temperatures, leading to energy loss and unsuitable for products like high-grade ice cream, as they require significant power to maintain temperatures below −18°C and often result in supercooling phenomena, increasing energy consumption.
Innovation Solution
A cold storage material composed of water, a melting point adjuster with multiple inorganic salts and an organic compound, where the anions are all chlorine and cations include sodium, with a freezing point adjuster having a functional group identical to the cation, achieving a melting temperature of −26°C to −32°C and a solidification initiation temperature of −35°C or higher, reducing the difference between the two temperatures to within 5°C.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If cold storage materials formed by adding metal salts to water are used to maintain low temperatures, then the melting temperature can be reduced to −18°C or lower, but the supercooling phenomenon becomes significant, requiring a temperature setting 10°C below the melting point for freezing, which increases energy consumption
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the chemical composition parameters of the cold storage material by selecting specific inorganic salts (sodium chloride, potassium chloride, calcium chloride) and organic compounds (urea, ethanol, glycerol) in optimized ratios. This parameter optimization reduces the supercooling phenomenon, allowing the freezing temperature to be closer to the melting temperature, thereby reducing the temperature difference that drives energy consumption in freezing operations
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a composite cold storage material system combining multiple inorganic salts and organic compounds. This composite approach allows synergistic effects where the combination of substances reduces supercooling more effectively than individual components, enabling the freezing temperature to be only 5°C or less below the melting point, thus reducing energy consumption while maintaining effective cold storage
2Reliability
If the temperature setting of a freezer is lowered to account for supercooling, then the cold storage material can be frozen adequately, but power consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
By optimizing the chemical composition parameters of the cold storage material, the patent reduces the supercooling degree, which directly improves freezing reliability. The material can now be frozen at temperatures closer to its melting point without requiring excessive undercooling, ensuring reliable freezing while avoiding the need for excessively low temperature settings that would increase power consumption
3Ease of manufacture
If commonly used water-based cold storage materials near 0°C are used, then they are simple and inexpensive, but they cannot maintain the required temperature of −18°C or lower for frozen foods
Solution Approach 1:
The patent develops a composite cold storage material containing water, multiple inorganic salts, and organic compounds. This composite formulation enables the material to achieve and maintain low temperatures of −18°C or lower, meeting frozen food storage requirements while remaining manufacturable through simple mixing processes
Solution Approach 2:
The patent modifies the physical and chemical parameters of the cold storage material by adding specific inorganic salts and organic compounds to water. These parameter changes lower the freezing and melting points of the material while maintaining ease of manufacture through simple formulation and mixing, enabling effective low-temperature cold storage
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This composition effectively maintains frozen foods at a stable low temperature with reduced energy loss, suitable for products with high milk solids and fat content, while minimizing energy consumption by shortening solidification time and allowing for a higher temperature setting in freezers.
Implementation Method 1
cold storage materials keep target substances cool through an endothermic phenomenon during melting
Implementation Method 2
cold storage materials keep target substances cool through an endothermic phenomenon during melting, so the cold storage material must be frozen before use
Implementation Method 3
a supercooling phenomenon is significant with cold storage materials formed by adding metal salts to water
Data Source
AI summary
The disclosure is a cold storage material containing: a cold storage material main agent formed from water and a melting point adjuster; and a freezing point adjuster. The melting point adjuster includes a plurality of types of inorganic salts and an organic compound. Anions of the plurality of types of inorganic salts are all chlorine, and cations of the plurality of types of inorganic salts include at least sodium. The freezing point adjuster is a salt having a functional group that is identical to a cation included in any of the plurality of types of inorganic salts, and the salt has a temperature dependence of saturated solubility in pure water that decreases by 30% or more at a water temperature from 20° C. to 0° C.