Whirlpool joins forces with Camfridge to commercialise green fridge

Collaboration

The white goods manufacturer Whirlpool Europe has signed up as the principal partner of Camfridge Ltd, a spin-off from Cambridge University, to develop a domestic refrigerator based on Camfridge’s magnetic refrigeration technology.

The project recently won funding from the Carbon Trust, the independent company set up by the UK Government to promote low carbon technologies.

If it can be translated into practice, magnetic refrigeration promises to free the refrigerator from heavy, noisy and heat-producing compressors, offering a high-efficiency, cool and gas-free design.

Laboratory testing conducted so far is said to be promising and the project is now moving on to a real-scale level to prove that this technology can effectively be applied to commercial products.

The principle behind magnetic cooling is that certain materials, when exposed to a magnetic field, exhibit a temperature change. When the magnetic field is removed, the materials will cool below their original temperature. Compared with gas refrigeration based on the use of compressors, this technology is more efficient and makes no use of environmentally harmful gases.

Bracken Darrell, president, Whirlpool Europe, said, “Whirlpool is proud of being part of this project as an industrial partner. We are also delighted with the support from the Carbon Trust. We are still in an exploratory phase, but this technology looks very promising.”