Who invented refrigeration compressor

In , an American inventor, Oliver Evans, designed a blueprint for the first refrigeration machine. The refrigerator created cool temperatures using a vapor compression cycle. Ten years later, an American physician named John Gorrie built a refrigerator based on Oliver Evans' design.

Gorrie used the device to cool the air for his yellow fever patients. In , German engineer Carl von Linden patented the process of liquefying gas that has become part of basic refrigeration technology. Refrigerators from the late s until used toxic gases such as ammonia, methyl chloride, and sulfur dioxide as refrigerants. This led to several fatal accidents in the s, the result of methyl chloride leaking out of refrigerators.

In response, three American corporations launched collaborative research to develop a less dangerous method of refrigeration, which led to the discovery of Freon. In just a few years, compressor refrigerators using Freon would become the standard for almost all home kitchens.

Only decades later would people realize that these chlorofluorocarbons endanger the ozone layer of the entire planet. As of , compressor refrigerators were still the most common, though some countries have made efforts to phase out the use of chlorofluorocarbons. Some machines now use alternative refrigerants such as HFOyf that are not as harmful to the atmosphere. There even exist refrigerators that operate using solar, magnetic, and acoustic energy. Actively scan device characteristics for identification.

Use precise geolocation data. Select personalised content. Create a personalised content profile. Measure ad performance. His system had closed cycle and could operate without waste. Although practical, it did not succeed commercially. American physician John Gorrie built a working prototype in and planned to use it for cooling the air in the tropical homes, but this one was also a commercial failure. James Harrison, a British journalist who had immigrated to Australia, built a mechanical ice-making machine in and made the first commercial ice-making machine in He patented it in This machine used ether, alcohol or ammonia while later models used ammonia dissolved in water, sulfur dioxide, and methyl chloride.

These refrigerators were also used in breweries and meat packing houses. Fred W. Wolf of Fort Wayne, Indiana invented in refrigerators for home and domestic use, that were generally a unit that was mounted on top of an ice box, and many other worked to improve the idea. Nathaniel B. Wales of Detroit, Michigan, introduced an idea for a refrigeration unit that worked on electric power in According to historians, the middle-aged inventor described a closed vapor compression system in detail in With the help of ether sealed in a vacuum, the conceptual system would produce ice during the refrigeration cycle.

Just as he had done in other fields, Oliver Evans wanted to create a fully-automated system that operated without human involvement. His vapor compression refrigeration system could run continuously with the help of a circulating liquid refrigerant that removed heat from the interior space. Based on his design details, Jacob Perkins created a closed-cycle system that included a gas compressor, a condenser, an evaporator, and an expansion valve.

These four main components created cooler interior temperatures by forcing the refrigerant to change thermodynamic states. These transformations invariably produced heat, which was then removed from the environment, producing cooler temperatures.

Even though he was a visionary inventor, there was no way Oliver Evans could have possibly foreseen the impact his idea would have on numerous industries and scientific fields. More than two hundred years after he described it, vapor compression remains the most widely used method for air conditioning indoor and enclosed spaces.

Hotels, hospitals, shopping malls, restaurants, movie theaters, private homes, even automobiles rely on it. As the most popular method of refrigeration, it is also used in both commercial and domestic refrigerators, warehouses that store food and meats, and in refrigerated trucks and railroad cars.