ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Adam Grosser - Venture capitalist
Adam Grosser is a general partner at Foundation Capital -- and a refrigeration visionary.

Why you should listen

Adam Grosser is a venture capitalist, working with startups that are exploring new ideas in data communications, electronics and energy management. With a background in engineering and entertainment, he enjoys looking for opportunities that map over a few of his passions -- which also include greentech.

His passion for a sustainable solution to refrigeration -- for storing food and medicines -- led to the project he describes in his 2007 TEDTalk. 

 

More profile about the speaker
Adam Grosser | Speaker | TED.com
TED2007

Adam Grosser: A mobile fridge for vaccines

Adam Grosser e a súa neveira sostible

Filmed:
973,042 views

Adam Grosser fala dun proxecto para construir un refrixerador que funciona sen electricidade, e levar a vital ferramenta ás vilas e clínicas de todo o mundo. Botando mano das vellas tecnoloxías, encontrou un sistema que funciona.
- Venture capitalist
Adam Grosser is a general partner at Foundation Capital -- and a refrigeration visionary. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:13
This is a work in process,
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Este é un traballo en desenvolvemento
00:16
based on some comments that were made
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basado en comentarios que se fixeron
00:19
at TED two years ago
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en TED hai 2 anos
00:20
about the need for the storage of vaccine.
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sobre a necesidade de almacenar vacinas.
00:24
(Music)
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(Música)
00:25
(Video) Narrator: On this planet,
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[Neste planeta]
00:26
1.6 billion people
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[ 1.600 millóns de persoas ]
00:28
don't have access to electricity,
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[ non teñen acceso a electricidade ]
00:30
refrigeration
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[ refrixeración ]
00:34
or stored fuels.
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[ ou combustibles almacenados ]
00:38
This is a problem.
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[ isto é un problema ]
00:40
It impacts:
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[ e ten un impacto: ]
00:44
the spread of disease,
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[ na propagación de enfermidades ]
00:46
the storage of food and medicine
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[ no almacenamento de comida e medicinas ]
00:49
and the quality of life.
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[ e na calidade de vida ]
00:52
So here's the plan: inexpensive refrigeration that doesn't use electricity,
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[ este é o plan: refrixeración barata sen electricidade... ]
00:55
propane, gas, kerosene or consumables.
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[ ... propano, gas, queroseno ou consumibles ]
01:00
Time for some thermodynamics.
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[ hora de falar de termodinámica ]
01:02
And the story of the Intermittent Absorption Refrigerator.
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[ E a historia da Neveira de Absorción Intermitente ]
01:05
Adam Grosser: So 29 years ago, I had this thermo teacher
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Hai 29 anos, tiña un mestre de termo
01:09
who talked about absorption and refrigeration.
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que falaba de absorción e refrixeración.
01:10
It's one of those things that stuck in my head.
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Nunca o esquecín.
01:12
It was a lot like the Stirling engine:
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Era moi parecido ao Motor Stirling:
01:13
it was cool, but you didn't know what to do with it.
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xenial, pero non sabías que facer con él.
01:16
And it was invented in 1858, by this guy Ferdinand Carre,
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O inventou este tío, Ferdinand Carre, en 1858
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but he couldn't actually build anything with it
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pero non puido construir nada con él
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because of the tools of the time.
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polas ferramentas da época.
01:23
This crazy Canadian named Powel Crosley
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Un canadense tolo chamado Powel Crosley
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commercialized this thing called the IcyBall in 1928,
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comercializou unha cousa chamada Icyball en 1928,
01:29
and it was a really neat idea,
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e era unha idea moi boa,
01:31
and I'll get to why it didn't work,
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aínda que non funcionou,
01:32
but here's how it works.
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pero así é cómo funciona.
01:34
There's two spheres and they're separated in distance.
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Hai dous esferas que están separadas.
01:36
One has a working fluid, water and ammonia,
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Unha ten auga e amoníaco,
01:39
and the other is a condenser.
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e a outra é un condendador.
01:40
You heat up one side, the hot side.
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Quentas un lado.
01:42
The ammonia evaporates
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O amoníaco evapórase
01:43
and it re-condenses in the other side.
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e recondénsase noutro lado.
01:46
You let it cool to room temperature,
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O deixas arrefriar ata chegar a temperatura ambiente
01:47
and then, as the ammonia re-evaporates and combines with the water
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e logo, ao re-evaporarse o amoníaco e combinarse coa auga
01:51
back on the erstwhile hot side,
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na parte quente anterior,
01:52
it creates a powerful cooling effect.
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crea un potente efecto de arrefriado.
01:55
So, it was a great idea that didn't work at all: it blew up.
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Foi unha gran idea que non funcionou: explotou.
01:58
Because using ammonia you get hugely high pressures
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Ao usar amoníaco, se crean presións moi altas
02:03
if you heated them wrong.
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se o quentas mal.
02:04
It topped 400 psi. The ammonia was toxic. It sprayed everywhere.
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Chegou a 28 Bar. O amoníaco era tóxico. Se asperxía por todas partes.
02:08
But it was kind of an interesting thought.
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Pero foi unha idea interesante.
02:10
So, the great thing about 2006 is
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Entón, o bo de 2006 é
02:13
there's a lot of really great computational work you can do.
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que temos moitos recursos computacionais.
02:16
So, we got the whole thermodynamics department
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Tivemos ao departamento de termodinámica
02:19
at Stanford involved --
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de Stanford involucrado.
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a lot of computational fluid dynamics.
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Moita dinámica de fluidos computacional.
02:22
We proved that most of the ammonia refrigeration tables are wrong.
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Probamos que a maioría das táboas de refrixeración por amoníaco están mal.
02:25
We found some non-toxic refrigerants
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Atopamos algúns refrixerantes non tóxicos
02:28
that worked at very low vapor pressures.
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que funcionaban a presións moi baixas.
02:29
Brought in a team from the U.K. --
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Trouxemos un equipo do Reino Unido
02:32
there's a lot of great refrigeration people,
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(hai moita xente boa en refrixeración
02:33
it turned out, in the U.K. --
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no Reino Unido)
02:35
and built a test rig, and proved that, in fact,
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e fixemos probas e vimos que
02:37
we could make a low pressure, non-toxic refrigerator.
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podíamos facer unha neveira de baixa presión non tóxica.
02:41
So, this is the way it works.
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Así é como funciona.
02:42
You put it on a cooking fire.
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O pos nunha fogueira.
02:43
Most people have cooking fires in the world,
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A maioría das persoas teñen fogueiras.
02:45
whether it's camel dung or wood.
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xa sexa bosta de camelo ou madeira.
02:47
It heats up for about 30 minutes, cools for an hour.
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Se quenta 30 minutos, e se arrefría unha hora.
02:50
Put it into a container
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O pos nun recipiente
02:53
and it will refrigerate for 24 hours.
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e refrixerará durante 24 horas.
02:55
It looks like this. This is the fifth prototype. It's not quite done.
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É algo así. Este é o quinto prototipo, non está rematado.
02:59
Weighs about eight pounds, and this is the way it works.
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Pesa 3 kilos e medio e funciona así.
03:02
You put it into a 15-liter vessel, about three gallons,
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O pores nun recipiente de 15 litros,
03:06
and it'll cool it down to just above freezing --
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e o arrefriará ao punto de conxelación,
03:08
three degrees above freezing --
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tres graos por riba,
03:10
for 24 hours in a 30 degree C environment. It's really cheap.
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durante 24 horas nun ambiente a 30ºC. É moi barato.
03:13
We think we can build these in high volumes for about 25 dollars,
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Cremos que podemos fabricalos a gran escala por 25 dólares,
03:16
in low volumes for about 40 dollars.
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en menores cantidades a 40 dólares.
03:18
And we think we can make refrigeration
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E cremos que podemos facer que todo o mundo
03:21
something that everybody can have.
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teña refrixeración.
03:22
Thank you.
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Grazas.
03:23
(Applause)
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(Aplausos)
Translated by Canela Rodal
Reviewed by Jose Camean

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Adam Grosser - Venture capitalist
Adam Grosser is a general partner at Foundation Capital -- and a refrigeration visionary.

Why you should listen

Adam Grosser is a venture capitalist, working with startups that are exploring new ideas in data communications, electronics and energy management. With a background in engineering and entertainment, he enjoys looking for opportunities that map over a few of his passions -- which also include greentech.

His passion for a sustainable solution to refrigeration -- for storing food and medicines -- led to the project he describes in his 2007 TEDTalk. 

 

More profile about the speaker
Adam Grosser | Speaker | TED.com