A fan is mounted inside the refrigerator, probably in the side wall. The motor for the fan is mounted outside the insulation so that its heat won't warm the interior any. The fan is covered by a safety screen. the fan blows the cool air drawn from the back of the compartment and directs it at a specific spot on one of the shelves. Any item placed on the shelf where the air blows will be cooled extra quickly due to the wind-chill effect. The faster the air flow, the better the effect. The fan would be turned on only when desired. A timer would shut it off after a selected period of time. This would be great for quickly cooling warm sodas, beer, wine, etc. The technology is simple and shouldn't be unreasonably expensive. It would add some cost to the fridge, but would be an excellent option for nicer fridges. A similar device could be put in the freezer, but I think that would be less useful.
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Salted ice water has the best thermal conductivity of all readily available fluids, unless you happen to keep acetone in the freezer. I recall reading a test (lord knows where from) that managed to chill a beer in around three minutes.
I realize there are faster ways to cool things, but this is more convenient. Who wants to keep a bucket of salty water sitting around all the time? The fan would always be there, ready to go, any time.
I guess what I'm getting at is I don't think the fan would work fast enough to make a difference. You should test it, to see if there's an appreciable difference.
Your doubts about the efectiveness of the fan seemed valid, so I decided to do a test. I used 2 ten ounce drinking glasses filled with water at room temperature (74 degrees F). I used a small box fan that I happen to own. The fan is actually a space heater, but is has a fan only position on the switch. I used a mercury thermometer. I first filled a pitcher with tap water, which I mixed to get room temp. I put the fan in the fridge with an extention cord. The rubber seal of the fridge door closed adequately around the cord for the test. I tested both glasses (one at a time) by placing them in the same spot in front of the fan, one with the fan on, the other off. I allowed exactly 15 minutes for each of them to chill. I then removed them and immediately checked their temperatures.
With the fan on, The water went from 74 F to 60 F. That's a 14 degree drop.With the fan off, the water went from 74 F to 69 F. That's a 5 degree drop.
Now my test conditions are perfect, but they clearly show that the concept works. It would work even better with a better fan. The space heater fan is designed to move a fairly large volume of air at modest velocity. For maximum wind chill, you would want a moderate volume at high velocity. Also, you don't want the fan motor in the refrigerator because it does generate significant heat. In any event, I was able to lower the temperature almost 3 times faster with my mediocre fan. I encourage you to recreate the experiment yourself if you're still skeptical.
Cool! I am sure you would find a market in the college-age demographic.
Dwane, your idea is neat, I'm sure there's a lot of market potential for refrigerators with built-in quick-chill appliance parts but unfortunately it's not new at all, Whirlpool has been commercializing its "Quick chill refrigerator" since 1999.