Trace the Evolution of a Product

Running Head : Evolution of the Refrigerator

Evolution of the Refrigerator

Evolution of the Refrigerator

Food is a prime necessity and food preservation has been a primary concern for entire humanity since the early days of civilization . The modern refrigerator is capable of addressing all our food preservation needs , little wonder that this particular home appliance is the most widely used among all other home appliance product . The importance of the refrigerator in our daily lives is revealed by the fact the refrigerator is found in approximately 99 .5 of American Homes

(History .com

Prior to the advent of the refrigerator people indulged in many complex and time consuming activities in to prevent spoilage of stored food . Ice harvesting was widely practiced in cold places the process involved storing sheets of natural ice in insulated ditches for use in the summer season . In warm places meat was salted and smoked in to preserve it over long periods (History .com . These practices had their pros and cons and of these techniques could guarantee protection of food over prolonged periods . The refrigerator has changed our lives because this appliance can be used for preservation of all kinds of food items , in fact the refrigerator occupies a prominent position in the independent .com list of 101 gadgets that changed our lives (Usborn 2007

The Evolution of the Refrigerator Technology

Refrigerator preserves food by maintaining it at a near freezing temperature which prohibits breeding of microbes and thereby preventing food spoilage . Refrigerators work on the second low of thermodynamics The storage area of the refrigerator is surrounded by loops of tube where a liquefied gas called coolant is made to circulate . As the coolant circulates it absorbs heat from the storage chamber thereby lowering the temperature of the storage area . As the coolant absorbs heat its temperature increases and it gradually vaporizes . After passing through the entire circuit the coolant is sucked into the compressor where it is compressed into liquid state once again and the entire cycle repeats over and over again (energyquest .gov .ca . This principle has been used in the very first refrigerator and the present day refrigerator continues to work on this very principle

In 1784 William Cullen of the Glasgow University first demonstrated refrigeration but he did not put this discovery to practical use , later in 1834 Jacob Perkins first designed a practical refrigerator using ether as a coolant . In 1844 Dr John Gorrie designed a refrigerator that could make ice , later Carl von Linden a German engineer invented a process of liquefying gas continuously , this was a major breakthrough because this technology could be used to create better performing refrigerators (About .com

Kelvinator and General Electric were pioneers in the field of refrigerator manufacturing . The refrigerators made during 1915 consisted of storage unit that was connected to an external compressor , the compressor was driven by an external electric motor , most often the motor was kept in a basement or in an adjoining room and a conveyor...