DailyDirt: Better Living Through Phase Change Materials

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

High school chemistry is probably the last time most folks hear about heats of fusion. As a quick reminder, when solid materials are melted, there's the energy to just heat up the material, and then there's some extra energy that goes into melting the solid (if it has a melting point) -- and that's the heat of fusion. This property can actually be useful for maintaining temperatures near the melting point of a material -- and that's a phase change material (PCM). This kind of thing can be done with other phase changes, too. Here are some interesting examples. By the way, StumbleUpon can recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.
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Filed Under: coffee joulies, pcm, phase change material, swamp cooler


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  1. icon
    :Lobo Santo (profile), 1 Apr 2011 @ 5:03pm

    Typo

    This kind of thing cab be done with other phase changes, too.

    (emphasis mine)

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 1 Apr 2011 @ 5:50pm

    Swamp coolers can cool in the humid regions too if you pass the air into a dehumidifier like the Coolerado does or the other one base on it, that uses a liquid salt to dehumidify the air.

    http://technewsdaily.co.za/2010/06/28/energy-saving-air-conditioner-system-5090-percent-less -energy/

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 1 Apr 2011 @ 5:57pm

    The videos for the Coolerado explaining how it works.

    http://www.coolerado.com/tech-info/

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    Lawrence D'Oliveiro, 1 Apr 2011 @ 6:16pm

    Coffee At 140° Celsius ...

    ... isn’t going to stay coffee for very long.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. icon
    Michael Ho (profile), 1 Apr 2011 @ 11:19pm

    Re: Typo

    Oops. fixed.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  6. icon
    Michael Ho (profile), 1 Apr 2011 @ 11:20pm

    Re: Coffee At 140° Celsius ...

    YIKES. Meant to say Fahrenheit... :P

    Obviously, coffee's gaseous phase change happens well before 140 C..

    link to this | view in thread ]


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