Vacuum Water Cooling Structure for Longer Low-Cost Cooling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing cooling apparatuses, such as thermally-insulated containers and semiconductor-based cooling systems, face limitations in cost-effectiveness and duration of cooling effect, with ice-based systems melting over time and semiconductor-based systems being expensive to produce.
Innovation Solution
A cooling apparatus comprising a shell to hermetically store liquid water, a heat exchanging structure with heat transfer walls, and a vacuum pump that creates a partial vacuum above the water surface, increasing evaporation rate and latent heat absorption to decrease water temperature, thereby providing a cost-effective and sustained cooling action.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If ice is used to cool items in a thermally-insulated container, then the cooling effect is simple and cost-effective, but the cooling duration is limited as the ice melts down over time
Solution Approach 1:
The invention utilizes the phase transition of water from liquid to vapor through evaporation. By creating a vacuum environment, the evaporation rate increases, absorbing latent heat and maintaining low temperatures without the ice melting limitation. This phase change mechanism provides sustained cooling over extended periods.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention creates a vacuum environment (inert atmosphere without air) inside the container. This vacuum serves multiple functions: it eliminates heat transfer through convection and conduction from air, enables enhanced evaporation for cooling, and maintains the low-temperature state for extended durations without external heat intrusion.
2Duration of action of moving object
If a cooling semiconductor chip is used to maintain low temperature, then the cooling duration can be sustained, but the manufacturing cost becomes expensive
Solution Approach 1:
The invention replaces expensive semiconductor cooling chips with simple, inexpensive components: a vacuum pump, water, and basic insulation. The system uses readily available materials that can be manufactured at low cost while achieving sustained cooling through the vacuum-evaporation mechanism rather than expensive electronic components.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention replaces the electronic/semiconductor cooling system with a thermodynamic system based on vacuum creation and evaporation. Instead of using electrical energy to drive semiconductor cooling, the system uses mechanical vacuum pumping to create conditions for natural evaporation cooling, eliminating the need for expensive electronic components.
3Temperature
If a vacuum pump is used to create partial vacuum and increase evaporation rate, then the cooling effect is enhanced and sustained, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The vacuum pump serves multiple functions within the system: it creates the vacuum environment for enhanced evaporation, removes non-condensable gases that would interfere with cooling, and can be used to control the pressure level to optimize cooling rates. This multi-functionality reduces the need for additional separate components.
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
The apparatus achieves efficient and economical cooling by rapidly decreasing water temperature through increased evaporation, maintaining cooling for an extended period without the need for expensive materials, making it suitable for both portable and industrial applications.
Implementation Method 1
The vacuum pump is operable to create a partial vacuum on a surface of the liquid water, whereby causing a decrease in a temperature of the liquid water in the shell
Implementation Method 2
As the pressure acting on the surface of the liquid water abrupt decreases, the rate of evaporation of the liquid water can be increased without supplying energy. Accordingly, latent heat of vaporization is taken in, and the temperature of the liquid water can decrease to produce a cooling action
Implementation Method 3
The heat exchanging structure has one or more heat transfer walls, each of the heat transfer walls having a first surface in contact with the liquid water stored in the shell, and a second surface in contact with the substance to cool down
Data Source
AI summary
A cooling apparatus includes a shell adapted to hermetically store liquid water, a heat exchanging structure adapted to receive a substance to cool down, and a vacuum pump. The heat exchanging structure has one or more heat transfer walls, each of the heat transfer walls having a first surface in contact with the liquid water stored in the shell, and a second surface in contact with the substance to cool down. The vacuum pump is operable to create a partial vacuum on a surface of the liquid water, whereby causing a decrease in a temperature of the liquid water in the shell. In other embodiments, methods of cooling a substance are also described.