Keep Your Milk Cold Anywhere There’s Sunlight - Refrigeration for the Masses

You may not believe it, but what we’re looking at is a revolutionary refrigeration unit destined for the less developed areas on this planet. It is a mobile thermoelectric refrigerator designed by Sprout and Draper with the initial idea of creating a product that is efficient, accessible to those who wouldn’t normally have the financial resources to afford a standard refrigeration unit, and to keep milk from going bad.

Really. That last bit about the milk going bad is the main reason for this unit’s existence. It was initially designed to offer villagers in India, the world's largest producer of milk, a means for storing their product before reaching essential pasteurization facilities. Sure, pasteurization is meant to kill any bacteria whatsoever and even prolong its shelf life. But imagine, you are one of these villagers and you too rely on this milk for life. What then?

As we can see the system is made of two separate units and a chassis which allows for storage and transport. Let’s start form the ground up to make things a little easier. That chassis is made from anodized aluminum making it lightweight, durable, and easily towable behind a bicycle. E-bikes don’t seem to be as popular among poverty struck regions, so aluminum it is.

The wheels we see are just as strong and durable. By utilizing airless tire technology, these wheels are sure to take whatever unpaved roads you throw at it. This sort of tech allows the unit to be unaffected by thorns, nails, glass, rocks, or anything else that may puncture the tires and leave you stranded. We’re going to be seeing this kind of technology pretty soon on our own cars with the Uptis.

From there we have the actual refrigeration chamber for the milk. It’s this bottom of the structure in which milk is to be stored and even transported in. The top structure of the unit is only there to help facilitate the heat exchange.

It supposed to work like this. Water is filled into one of the openings on top of the unit and milk in the other. Utilizing the suns energy, a heat transfer is activated, and heat is sapped out of the milk, stopping any further bacterial propagations from occurring. We don’t know for sure how this heat transfer happens, but we’ve seen it before in military grade foods.

The water, however, now being heated, can be designated for a number of purposes. Depending on the level of purity of the water it can then be used for bathing or cleaning. So instead of just a milk fridge, you also have hot water to wash with.

Now I understand this refrigerator is meant for underdeveloped countries, but honestly, I'd like to have one of my own. Maybe a local milk delivery business.

But don’t count on this idea as will probably be offered only under governmental support, so hands off to us more privileged folks. The idea itself can be replicated, just not within the same design as patents have most likely been applied and pending.