National Funny Cooler Association, NFCA
Driving Innovation in Cooling Technology
The National Funny Cooler Association is at the forefront of Open Loop Refrigeration, harnessing compressed gases to achieve efficient cooling solutions. Our commitment to research and development paves the way for alternatives to conventional refrigeration, exploring innovative applications and niche markets. Join us in revolutionizing the future of cooling technology.
The 'CO2 Cold Plate" performed extremely well.
Liquid CO2 was routed through a copper coil inside a portable cooler. The temperature drop as shown in the graph below shows an ambient in the mid 70 Degrees F. down to over -100 BELOW Zero in under eight minutes.
Unfortunately, COVID arrived at about this same time, and further work was halted until January 2026. The beneficial effects of displacing all Oxygen with the food grade CO2 had yet to be explored. What became obvious was that the 50 lb. CO2 tank and the YETI cooler needed some sort of simple cart to carry them together.
The World's First Funny Cooler
When the cart for the tank and cooler was being designed, a Drag Racing theme was chosen for marketing purposes. Soon it evolved from lawn mower front wheels and tiny tires in the rear, to what we have today.
(Awesome Logo by Amber Boles)
The Fluke Data Acquisition system is critical for NFCA research and develpment
The NFCA utilizes a 20 channel Fluke Hydra Data Acquisition system. The temperature sensors are Type "T" thermocouples. Nine are taped to the copper coil inside the cooler, with one left out for an ambient reference. It is usually programmed to scan once every 15 seconds, or four per minute.
The Data Logger is connected between the copper coil installed in the cooler and the laptop recording the data. The file format is .csv and the NFCA is fully capable of analyzing the data in Excel. The ends of the thermocouples are taped to the continuous copper coil inside the cooler. For most efficient operation, the Funny Cooler is tuned to provide most of the cooling near the front of the coil.
The Funny Cooler Hauler
The Funny Cooler Hauler is dedicated to being the home mobile shop. Cooling runs are performed inside the van when configured as a Test cell. The large screen monitor is firmly attached to the FC. The data logger is stuck to the cooler with Velcro. An inverter provides 120vac power for the instrumentation. A folding step stool, mouse pad and stop watch round out the set-up.
First Cooling Test in the FC Hauler
The square vertical manifold is painted black.
Two of the thermocouple sensors read below -30 degrees F at one point. The numbers on the bottom represent the temperatures on the right.
Testing for Food Preservation Features
Simple, inexpensive school Science kits can measure Bacteria utilizing a swab/solution method. The NFCA is performing side by side comparison testing using two coolers. One has raw chicken and Oxygen. The FC has raw chicken and NO Oxygen. Results will be posted soon.
The Funny Cooler can Flash Freeze Food
In addition to the food preservation benefits of CO2, the Funny Cooler can also Flash Freeze food.
Meat in particular sees significant benefits of Flash Freezing. Many fishermen dreamt of Flash Freezing on board a small boat which was impossible until now.
Other PPR experimental Coolers:
The NFCA is dedicated to promoting safety in all aspects of Open Loop refrigeration development and operation.
Drag racing Funny cars push the limits of race car technology which must be respected. Funny Coolers must also be respected for their envelope pushing cooling capabilities.
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