
Is 24hr Cold Storage Possible Without Constant Power? - kaboro
https://medium.com/@reelfruit/is-24hr-cold-storage-possible-without-constant-power-we-think-weve-cracked-the-code-e641ca19fe88
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excalibur
In case anyone else is wondering, the spreadsheet gives a total cost for the
project of 1,448,100.00, without specifying any units. I think it's safe to
assume the price is in Nigerian naira. Given an approximate (Google-provided)
exchange rate of 0.0026, this works out to $3,765.06.

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Simulacra
There's a great book called "Absolute Zero and the Conquest of Cold" that
talks about medieval cooling using salts, and later with ammonia and other
chemicals. INAS but it sounded like the key thing was circulation and
ventilation. So if somehow you could keep a pump working, by crank, solar,
wind, water, you could keep it circulating. Likewise to some type of air
displacement.

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jbob2000
If you can keep a pump running, then you may as well just use adiabatic
cooling (gas under pressure gets cooler when released) to keep your stuff
cool. That’s how your fridge works!

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fragmede
It's not clear to me what the "Coolbot Pro"[0] is doing. Near as I can tell,
it is an aftermarket electronics kit to run a normal window or split system AC
unit right above freezing, because otherwise ice forms on the unit and it
stops operating until the ice has melted.

[0] [https://www.homedepot.com/p/CoolBot-Generation-7-WiFi-
Walk-I...](https://www.homedepot.com/p/CoolBot-Generation-7-WiFi-Walk-In-
Cooler-Controller-with-Air-Conditioner-Control-
from-59F-to-34F-CB-G7/308002549)

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BenjiWiebe
Yes. We use one, also in a reefer, to store cheese from our cheese plant. It's
an alternate thermostat, basically. It has a small electric heating element
that you attach to the AC unit's temperature sensor, and then you stick the
coolbot's sensor in the fins of the AC unit. Works great!

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jayparth
So interesting to hear about this niche problem. I never would have imagined
that this would be an issue. When I read the title, I thought.. "duh... just
use a backup generator", but the back of the napkin math doesn't seem to work
out.

I wonder what the economic impact of such a simple issue is. If you think of
food loss from all processors in a whole country, it is definitely huge. What
other seemingly small issues actually could have huge impact? What problems in
my country are hiding right under my nose?

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extrapickles
There is heavy reliance on GPS for precision timing to make cellular radios
work (why spend $100k on an atomic clock, when a $500 GPS unit will do). A few
other things are starting to take a dependency on GPS (power grid, TV).

Good roads can be hard to come by in quite a few areas. Even if a area has a
road big enough to support a truck, they can be impassable during the rainy
season.

