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Our Michigan State University student design team recently returned from Guatemala where they demonstrated the ATC/MSU design of a solar vaccine refrigerator. (The MSU students deserve all the credit here)
This remarkable invention works. Period. Put it in the sun and it will keep vaccines very cold. With minor modifications it will freeze water solid and keep it that way, even in hot climates, just as long as the sun shines. If the sun doesn’t shine when you want to keep vaccines cold you can make a small wood fire to power the freezer. Moreover it can be built for about $400.00, about a third the cost of what NGOs are spending now in remote regions of Africa.
Background:
Over half of all vaccines spoil due to temperature before they reach the people who so desperately need them in rural Africa and parts of Asia. We met up with a representative of the World Health Organization to discuss this problem after which we, ATC, came up with a design problem: To design a low cost refrigerator that can keep vaccines cold without the use of fossil fuels or electricity in rural parts of Africa. Moreover the design should operate without human intervention, it should be robust and it must be cheap. While this sounds impossible, we challenged a group of Michigan State University Engineering Students to design just such a refrigerator. The students were more than up to the challenge, they reveled in the near impossibility of it. Imagine being charged with the task “just make a box that freezes when you put it in the sun” because this is the essence of what we asked them to do.
From the MSU Student Presentation:
Many of the vaccines used to control diseases require cold temperatures for preservation. Without a reliable power infrastructure, developing countries often lack the resources to keep these vaccines cool for an extended time period, hampering the ability to adequately protect citizens. It is estimated that 50 percent of vaccines in rural areas are wasted due to spoilage.
The Appropriate Technology Collaborative Student Design Team – Michigan State, was charged with the task of developing a refrigerator to solve this problem. Design specifications called for an adsorption refrigerator capable of maintaining a temperature between 2°C and 8°C that utilizes passive solar energy and can be built in developing countries. As the third team of a three-semester project, the students were given the tasks to create a design that was easily and affordably constructed and to build two prototypes.
During a 13-day trip to Guatemala, the team built the refrigerator (actual build time was less than one week!) with locally-available materials and tested it in a real-world scenario. The team’s final product is a clear and comprehensive set of instructions for building the device distributed freely online.
…The Appropriate Technology Design Collaborative Student Design Team – Michigan State University
MSU Solar Refrigerator CAD Model
A special shout out to AIDG, The Appropriate Infrastructure Development Group who hosted our work in Guatemala, and to the intrepid Prof. Craig Somerton, without whom this project wouldn’t have been possible.
A copy of the design drawings for the Solar Refrigerator is available: Solar Vaccine Refrigerator
Photo: Kevin McPhail, Muhammed Aslam, Eric Tingwall, Brent Rowland, Ryan McPhee
Great job guys. The inexpensive manufacturing of these remote refrigeration units should be able to help save a lot of lives!
Dear Refrigeration Team,
Good job guys, great idea! I am a mechanical design student in Indonesia. I am very interested in your project. This kind of ‘solar fridge’ would be very needed in remote areas for local medical center. I really want to join you and do something to promote your concept. Could you send me the drawings of the prototype and any other relevant documents? Appreciate your reply.
Regards, Jonny
Very good work, and useful especially for the hot countries like India. Ideal for vaccination in rural areas. I am really interested to promote such products for vaccination storage and transportation to remote areas. Can you send me the drawings of the prototype and any other relevant documents? Appreciate your reply.
Regards,
Chandra Sekhar
Are these fridges available for other organizations? I do work with the health sector in West Africa and would love to see if we can get these models into clinics there. Please contact me: gaurav at onedegreesolar dot com.
Thanks!
The refrigerator is in the prototype phase. We may develop the fridge as a product or possibly as a kit of parts where most of the parts can be sourced in-country. Stay tuned.
I am a retired automotive engineer involved in off grid renewable energy projects, primarily in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. I have forwarded the report on the solar vaccine refrigerator to my colleagues there, and we have been conversing about the adaptability of the design to materials available. Nigeria has the dubious blessing of an active petroleum industry, so most of the materials mentioned are available. However, in our conversations, someone asked if the report mentioned when and how the ethanol is introduced into the system, and if there was any description of the evacuation process given. We have been unable to locate details of these steps. If you could provide any further information on these two questions, I would appreciate it. We intend to build one or more, and will report our results if you like.
Thank you for your time.
Brilliant work guys! This page may be old but I just caught wind of this through an Engadget link and I have to say I’m really impressed. And it’s wonderful how you guys are sharing all the hard work you put in with everyone else. Really, this concept is quite valuable (money-wise) and it’s admirable that you’re giving it to the world.
I really want to build one myself and when I return to the provincial country-side of the Philippines, I’ll look forward to giving it a go and sharing this with them.
But by the way, could you give any updates for the revisions you’ve made. I’d like to hear how that new adsorber with the pipes worked out for you.
All in all, great work! And that design pdf was a great read! The only problem was that it wasn’t developed by a Hawkeye! Just kidding. But it’s great to see the Big Ten in the news! And to come across such a valuable contribution like yours coming out of it. MSU should be proud!
Anyone out there who knows any of the individuals in the team picture above? Can you ask them to contact me re the issues outlined in my previous post? I would very much like to pursue the use of the design they developed, but have been at a standstill for months. Thank you for any help you can provide.
I can be contacted at jjmforbes@aol.com or 989-868-4877. Thanks.