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Cooling technology

Linde's cooling machine with ice cubes

Picture: The Linde Group; iStock.com/Valentyn Volkov

Bavaria without a cold beer? Unthinkable! But chilling drinks such as beer was actually very difficult until 1875, when the first viable refrigeration machine was developed by a young engineer called Professor Carl Linde from what was later to become the Technical University of Munich (TUM). His invention led to the creation of a global enterprise and still shapes everyday life today – with cold beer and a whole lot more besides.

Linde’s cooling machine – a matter of efficiency

Until almost the end of the nineteenth century, breweries were carting huge volumes of ice from the mountains to Munich every winter – in warmer years all the way from the alpine region of Tyrol. They needed to ensure low temperatures for the production and storage of their beer – which still often went sour in the summer. Unsurprisingly, then, some of them were keen to support young mechanical engineering professor Carl Linde from what was then the Polytechnic School of Munich when he made his first forays into refrigeration technology around 1870. His complex and cost-intensive experiments in this previously almost unresearched area were inspired by a single aim: to build a cooling machine that would be actually viable for industrial use. Linde had calculated that it would be cheaper to produce ice with a machine than obtain it from natural sources – as long as he could achieve the right degree of mechanical efficiency.

Although some cooling machines were already in existence, they barely reached a fifth of the performance physically possible. In its very first trial, Linde’s initial prototype already doubled the existing efficiency benchmark. By 1875, the engineer had refined his system ready for delivery to the Dreher Brewery in Trieste. It was so robust and easy to use that industrial demand soon soared.

This machine is the forerunner of today’s refrigerator. Through this and his many other inventions, Carl Linde changed the world – impacting everything from the food trade through medicine to research. These innovations continue to shape our lives to this day. In recognition of his achievements, Luitpold, Prince Regent of Bavaria, gave the inventor a noble title in 1897, so he became Carl von Linde from then on.

“If the natural scientist’s calling is to work completely liberated from the constraints of practical applications, then the engineer’s mission is to apply those findings and insights to a diverse range of practical scenarios.”

Prof. Carl von Linde

Carl von Linde, Professor of Theoretical Machine Research at the Polytechnic School of Munich from 1868 and founder of today’s Linde AG

Bild: The Linde Group

Curious? More discoveries and inventions spanning 150 years of TUM

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