Cooling below room temperature without using energy

[Psi]

Physicists at the University of Zurich have developed an amazingly simple device that allows heat to flow temporarily from a cold to a warm object without an external power supply. Intriguingly, the process initially appears to contradict the fundamental laws of physics.

https://www.media.uzh.ch/en/Press-Releases/2019/Thermodynamic-Magic.html

[OwO]

OK, so object is initially at 100*C. Peltier element is used to harvest electrical energy from it and charge a capacitor. Then the capacitor is discharged through peltier to cool the object below ambient. I can replicate this in my bedroom.

[IanB]

It requires an external power supply to heat the object initially to 100°C. This is "fake news".

[amyk]

About the same as claiming that discharging a can of air duster gives "free cooling"?

[Gyro]

Time for a move to 'Dodgy Technology'.

[magic]

If they got efficiency right, it would freeze freshly cooked meals without further energy input.

And nope, they said something about superconductive inductors rather than capacitors - highly practical for now

[soldar]

I often eat for free... by paying with my wife's credit card.

[Brumby]

I often eat for free... by paying with my wife's credit card.

There's no such thing as a free lunch.

You'll be paying for that - one way or another...!

[thm_w]

Don't blame the researchers for whoever wrote that misleading article.. Paper: https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/5/4/eaat9953

"Intriguingly, the process initially appears to contradict the fundamental laws of physics."

Then right in the conclusion of the paper:
"We have analyzed a corresponding oscillatory thermal process in detail, from both the electrical and thermodynamic points of view. While it fully complies with the second law of thermodynamics"
 

OK, so object is initially at 100*C. Peltier element is used to harvest electrical energy from it and charge a capacitor. Then the capacitor is discharged through peltier to cool the object below ambient. I can replicate this in my bedroom.

Inductor not capacitor, but close.

[NiHaoMike]

There's no such thing as a free lunch.

You'll be paying for that - one way or another...!

This is a little different, in that the energy is taken from the item you want energy taken out of in the first place.

[Bud]

They should not be saying the process happens without use of any energy. This is deception.