The noise
Would be the only thing that would put me off this. Sort that out and I'm sold.
Fifteen years of plasma experiments on the International Space Station (ISS) could let people enjoy the lusciously unhealthy taste of deep-fried potato chips, without having to smell them first. [What's wrong with you? Why would you want to eat chips without the thrill of anticipation first?] The work being done by German …
If it sounds like the plasma gun from Doom...OK I could understand... but how much noise does a plasma discharge really make ?
Plus... what exactly happens to these "odour molecules" ?
Are they all ripped apart into carbon-dioxide and water or is there a chance that there might be formation of (possible) carcinogenic compounds ?
They better be damn sure that plasma disk is thick enough to completely oxidize all organics in the incoming air: partial oxidation products may be much more toxic than the acrolein from the burning grease. If any halogen-containing species are also present, dioxins are a common (and rather stable) byproduct. Even if the combustion is complete, you will still need filtering to remove nitrogen (and possibly sulfur, depending on how fond of garlic your shef is) oxides.
So yeah, it could be useful, but it ain't a silver bullet.
In a past life I worked for a large general insurance company. There was a problem with insuring chip shops. The main cause of fires was that the filters in the extractors didn't get regularly cleaned, so they clogged up with fat, caught fire, and burned the place down. Okay, simple solution, as a condition of insurance they had to regularly clean the filters and keep proof that it had been done. Next problem, place burns down anyway, including all your paperwork, so how do you prove etc...
One smart-arse in another company had a bright idea. Why don't we offer an insurance package that includex a regular filter clean and replace by an outside company? Then, if it burns down, it doesn't matter whether the filter had been changed, 'cos if it hadn't then it's the insurer's fault, not the distraught chip-fryer.
Cleaned up 80% of the market.
Lateral thinking can be good.
Given the sort of fumes that hang around in both cars and elevators I'd say a plug-in model could be more interesting. Just not sure if it could handle a curry overload, and there is always a risk with introducing anything based on sparks in that location.
I bet it would be briefly interesting, though :)
I thought Teflon was originally used to coat the plumbing in the gaseous diffusion plants used to purify uranium for the Manhattan Project (because uranium hexafluoride is not nice stuff).
So more accurate to call it a spin off from nuclear weapon development, rather than the space program.
So more accurate to call it a spin off from nuclear weapon development, rather than the space program.
Teflon was discovered by accident in 1938 by Roy Plunkette of DuPont, patented in 1941, and got its "Teflon" name in 1945. It was used in the Manhattan Project's K-25 enrichment plant, but not invented for it.
Those things are not just there for 'the smell' in a commercial kitchen.
And I can tell you - there isn't a chef/cook/kitchen worker alive that is going to let you remove those big noisy fans from their kitchen. Kitchen is nicer place than sauna, especially when you're slaving over someone else's food. And I'm kinda certain that the H&S folks don't want them sweating into your plate.
That said, I'll agree that if you get the plasma temp wrong by only a few degrees you're doing more damage than good by not breaking that molecule out correctly, and leaving nasty things in the air. Most kitchens are *gas* fired. The fat in the fryer may well be nothing to sweat over once you have the gas off the (propane/natural gas/etc) combustion in the mix.
goin with the grumpy bastard since I've been up all night again.
Plasma does not have to be RF. there are DC plasmas (for example, in a spark plug) and low frequency plasmas (in a fluorescent light). So this device will not necessarily interfere with cell phones, etc.
When they say ozone is created by the hood, that is from the fan motor, not the inert filter. I'm not sure why some ozone will not be created when ambient oxygen goes through the plasma, but perhaps this amount of ozone is very small compared to that from a large motor.
They say it works by "electrons in the plasma react with the odour molecules and neutralise them" which means the molecules are not being broken up (and so will not create new carcinogens) but rather the molecules are charged and the plasma (which contains free electrons) is neutralizing such charge, rather like the old anti-static guns used to get rid of charge on vinyl records. I don't pretend to understand why ionized molecules smell and neutral ones don't, but that is literally what they are claiming.