Refrigeration

Refrigeration removes heat from a space or substance to lower and maintain its temperature below that of its surroundings. It transfers heat rather than destroying it.

Vapor-compression refrigeration: A refrigeration cycle that compresses, condenses, expands, and evaporates a refrigerant to move heat. This is the dominant cycle in household refrigerators and air conditioners.
Refrigerator: An insulated appliance that keeps an enclosed compartment cool using a refrigeration system. It applies refrigeration to everyday food storage.
William Cullen: A Scottish physician and chemist who demonstrated artificial cooling by evaporating ether under reduced pressure. His eighteenth-century experiment showed that evaporation could produce cooling.
Evaporative cooling: Cooling produced when a liquid evaporates and takes latent heat from its surroundings. It can cool without a compressor, but works best in dry air and cannot generally cool below the wet-bulb temperature.
Refrigerant: A working fluid that absorbs and releases heat as it changes pressure, temperature, or phase. Its phase changes carry heat through the refrigeration cycle.
Cold chain: A temperature-controlled supply network for storing and transporting perishable goods. Refrigeration must remain reliable from production through delivery.
Oliver Evans: An American inventor who described a vapor-compression refrigeration machine in 1805. His design anticipated a practical cycle, though he did not build it.
Thermoelectric cooling: Cooling or heating produced by electric current passing through dissimilar materials. It avoids moving refrigerant but is usually less efficient for large cooling loads.
Evaporator: A heat exchanger where a liquid refrigerant absorbs heat and evaporates. It extracts heat from the cooled space or substance.
Cryogenics: The study and use of materials and processes at very low temperatures. It extends cooling into temperature ranges beyond ordinary refrigeration.

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