Alaska
Ice would be harvested while it is around 0 ˚F in order to extract enough heat from the freezer room to ensure quick and complete freezing of meats, vegetables, etc... The primary source of heat removal is from the ice. If the freezer room was perfectly insulated (ie. no energy flow in or out) then all that would be required to keep the room cool would be fixed amount of ice due to the concept of thermal equilibrium. However, perfect insulation is not within my grasp so there will be heat energy from outside the freezer room trying to bring the freezer temperature into equilibrium (hot to cold). So to retard this thermal equilibrium process, it is very important that the room is heavily insulated. In addition the temperature differential can be decreased by leaving an air gap around the exterior of the freezer roof. (the smaller ∆T is the less of an energy potential there is, resulting in retarding of thermal equilibrium between the freezer interior and exterior) The air is cooled via evaporation pads placed over the vent intakes (evaporation cools the air because the it takes heat energy to evaporate the water, this energy is provided by the air).
Another method would be to run the vent air over the surface of some underground water source to cool it. In theory this should provide a cool insulating air gap between the soil and freezer walls. A thermal chimney would be used to provide a draft, which would draw in air from the vents. (As the chimney is heated by the sun it heats the air inside it, resulting in an upward draft. hot air rises)
My Underground refrigerator
In Alaska, keeping food cool during the winter is simple due to the colder temperatures. With a cellar, all one would have to do to refrigerate or freeze food during the winter would be to vent the cold air into the cellar. What I would like to do is design a cellar that will keep food cool during the summer and also have a year round freezer section. In order to attain freezing temperatures I have incorporated a couple different chilling mechanisms into my design. The design assumes the absence of permafrost. I am not sure if this would work, but I’d like to try it out whenever I end up building a house.
