Refrigeration And Ice Making Process

Refrigeration And Ice Making Process

150 Years Later

It’s been over 150 years more or less since we discovered ways to cooling and freezing our foods & drinks to either preserve them or make them even more enjoyable. Yes I am talking about the time when we preserved our food and drinks with snow and ice, either brought down from the mountain or gathered locally from ice and snow falls.

“They say necessity is the mother of invention”

The first cellars were created by digging holes into the ground and lining them with wood, straw or both and covered the cellar with ice or snow. Until the first mechanical refrigeration was invented, this was the only means of refrigeration for that of time period.

“The great pioneers, inventors and innovators of the past”

Credits to all the great pioneers and inventors who’s brilliance have ensured that not only can we prolong the lifespan of consumable goods but also groundbreaking successes in the fields of medicine, science and technology. From William Cullen, Benjamin Franklin, Jacob Perkins, John Gorrie, James Harrison, Carl von Linde and all the way down to Dr. Prof. Hans Jurgen, who in 1929 invented the first tube ice machine capable of producing consumable ice for both commercial and domestic use.

But before I go further into this article, let’s first appreciate the topic and process of refrigeration in a brief description. Refrigeration uses the process of removing heat from enclosed space or even from a substance in order to lower its temperature. A refrigerator uses the evaporation of a liquid to absorb heat. The refrigerant (liquid substance) which is used in a refrigerator evaporates at an extremely low temperature and thereby creating freezing temperatures (below zero degrees) inside the refrigerator.

Explained in a simple physics process:

• quid is rapidly vaporized by way of compression
• the quickly expanding vapor requires kinetic energy and draws the energy needed from the immediate area and
• this then loses energy and becomes cooler.

Cooling caused by the rapid expansion of gases is the primary means of refrigeration today.

“The father of tube ice machine and Focusun Refrigeration Corporation”

Dr. Prof. Hans Jurgen after inventing the first tube ice machine turned his innovative invention into a business venture and eventually incorporated his first company Külinda (named after his wife Külinda) in Frankfurt-Germany in 1932.

With this incorporation was also the beginning of Focusun Refrigeration (Shanghai-China) Corporation; which specializes in the manufacturing of ice making plants. With over 80 years of experience in the manufacturing of refrigeration machines in China, based on German technology, Focusun (also China Ice Machines) can boast of owning the rights to 18 patents and has establish invaluable corporation with Shanghai Jiaotong University, Nanjing University, Beijing Institution of Refrigeration amongst other prestigious and professional organizations/ institutes.

Over the years Focusun China has specialized not only in the manufacturing of it’s founding father’s inventions of the tube ice machine but also in Block Ice, Flake Ice, Cube Ice, Plate Ice and Artificial Snow but also in Cold Storage technology and other cooling solutions.

To be continued…

Next topic: The Process of Ice Production in Tube Ice Machine

Sources:

1. http://researchingfoodhistory.blogspot.com/2012/04/thomas-moores- refrigerator.html
2. http://www.chinaicemachine.com/about-us.html
3. http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blrefrigerator.htm
4. http://www.history-magazine.com/refrig.html
5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icemaker
6. http://www.flake-ice-plant.com/core_technology.html