Not a whole lot has changed in conventional refrigeration technology in the last 160 years. It’s a little like the internal combustion engine. We’ve made several strides in the supporting technologies developed around it, but it’s still the same engine technology (crankshaft, pistons, valves, etc.) developed over a century ago. So, it’s pretty much the same with vapor compression technology—just iterative component improvements with very little impact on end users’ financial bottom line. Until now.
Colorado-based Rebound Technologies, founded in 2012 by CEO Kevin Davis and CTO Russell Goldfarbmuren, has taken a new approach to refrigeration with its IcePoint technology, focusing its efforts on developing highly agile systems to match perfectly the dynamic thermal needs of a business. Though not a “battery-like” thermal storage system, IcePoint can indeed create a -40°F refrigerant at night by mixing ice with a freeze point suppressant (i.e., a salt) during off-peak hours, and then during the day, deploying the brine refrigerant to provide required cooling and moisture control. The mixture is eventually separated into pure water and freeze suppressant, reusing both as the closed-loop cycle continues. This architecture allows IcePoint to deploy cooling at the exact time needed, in the quantity needed.