A portable Vaccine carrier

This project during my internship period in Black frog Technologies focused on developing an insulated portable carrier with an independent Peltier-chip enabled cooling system-SANJIVINI, to serve the healthcare needs of developing countries. The device is aimed to make remote delivery of temperature-sensitive vaccines like Polio and critical Medications like anti-venom vials, insulins etc to remote areas without loss of the potency of the medication. Given the 2-8 degrees Celsius standard for most Laboratory cold-storage, Black frog is devising an auxiliary utility to this product wherein tissues or blood collected from patients can be safely carried back to the central laboratory for further testing as well.

Working

The Design has two concentric chambers, one of which is the cooling chamber and the other is the external casing between which the PU (Polyurethane) foam is used as insulating material. The cooling chamber was made of stainless steel for better conduction and retention of the heat. Two thermo-electric chips (Peltier chips) were used for cooling the chamber. The heat sinks were attached to the hot side dissipation of heat and the cold side of the Peltier was exposed to the inside of the chamber. A PID controller was also developed to maintain a constant temperature of 5-degree Celcius inside the chamber and the temperature was measured using an LM35 Sensor.

Innovative Elements:

The design of the product has been optimized to minimize heat entry and ensure refrigeration from Solid-state cooling, which is otherwise a highly inefficient process.

Market Potential:

Currently focusing on hospitals and Laboratories in South-India for transporting biological samples. The end goal of the product is to replace the blue-box with ice-packs which are a standard issue device provided by WHO

National/social relevance:

Immunization Technical Support unit under India's Health Ministry claims 25% of all the vaccines go to waste in India Because of poor cold-chain management. The wastage is close to 50% for some Other vaccines like BCG. Sanjivini seeks to provide a solution for these biological materials, as well as provide accountability.

Technology

Developed a Proof -of-concept that works on direct AC power Optimizing the function to ensure the least possible battery consumption and simultaneously testing the product in the field

Programming language and software

C (Aurdino)

The Internship certificate is available at https://github.com/tejaswinrao/Blackfrog-Internship-Certificate/blob/master/blackfrog_certificate.pdf