Current Project phase:

  • 1 1: Initiate Phase
  • 2 2: Nominate Phase
  • 3 3: Improve Phase
  • 4 4: Triumph Phase
  • 5 5: Accelerate Phase
  • 6 6: Make it Happen Phase
Track: Student
Location: Portugal

Natural Cooler

Natural Cooler

This product is in terracotta and use water and sand for natural cooling and preservation of all kinds of aliments specially vegetables and fruits. The temperature inside can be cooled down up to 25-40% compared to outside air temperature and extend shelf-life of produce up to ten times longer than without cooling. The motivation for our project is to develop an ecological cooling device which is universally applicable. In industrial as well as in developing countries, for who doesn’t have easily access to electrical energy. Food is easy accessible, 100 % ecological materials, just use water and sand for cooling, it’s ergonomic and intuitive handling, scalable size to different requirements, helps to reduct electric energy consumption. Can be used to cool in areas without electric infrastructure and protects food against sun light, heat, dirt and animals or insects.

Long Description

Our context is about modern industrialized countries especially in urban areas there is hardly no room left in housing where to store food appropriate; larders or cellar rooms disappeared. Instead of that big and energy wasting refrigerators took over the place in the kitchen. But here we now store lots of food which does not require such hard cooling like, vegetable, fruit and many more. For many of these the extreme cooling is concerning the flavour and consistency.   

There are different ways of conserve food. A long time ago, humans used different methods for preserving food for long periods of time. They had left the nomadic lifestyle and began preserving their foods to create a surplus which could be kept for the future. In these cases, depending on the climate, several preservation techniques were employed.
Ranging from concepts to projects you can do at home, here are our inspiration for how to keep food chilly without refrigeration.The refrigerator is made completely of clay and requires no energy. There’s a space for fruit and vegetables in the first container. In the second you need to fill with sand and water. Sand works to prevent moisture from rotting the fruits and veggies. The third container works as a vase, where humidity of the second container will reach the plants and leave them fresh and wet.
Temperature inside can be cooled down up to 25-40% compared to outside air temperature. 

Additional Images

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