The propane fridge would be consistent with a prequel book entitled: Ice from Fire. In your example the propane supplies the fire or high temperature reservoir.
An engine requires a temperature _difference_ between a reservoir and the ambient environment. Typically we think of an engine as needing a reservoir which is at higher temperature than the ambient environment. However, it is possible for the ambient environment to be at a higher temperature than the reservoir. For example the ambient temperature could be at 5 degrees below the freezing point of water and the reservoir temperature at 105 degrees below the freezing point. One way to melt ice under this circumstance would be to use a thermoelectric device. The temperature difference would create a voltage potential and this could be used to generate electricity to produce joule heating which would melt the ice. This would qualify as Fire from Ice. The point of this exercise is to suggest that there may be useful reservoirs of intense cold in places that we don't ordinarily consider to be cold because they are behind an insulating barrier. Harry On Tue, Nov 3, 2020 at 5:56 PM JonesBeene <jone...@pacbell.net> wrote: > Make that “propane fridge” … Einstein’s first patent IIRC > > > > > > This challenge is inspired by the title of Gene Mallove`s book "Fire From > Ice"….Has this already been done? > > > > > > Yes. At least in the sense of a propane fringe, > > >
