An Innovative Cold Chain Solution

Robert Miros of 3rd Stone Design, Inc. in the U.S. will adapt their portable vaccine refrigerator, which is battery powered and can be monitored remotely, to maximize the charge life so that it can support vaccination campaigns in low- and middle-income countries. Vaccines are normally stored in ice boxes and manually tracked, both of which are unreliable and can cause spoiling. Their vaccine refrigerator integrates thermo-electricity cooling and battery power together with an algorithm that can sense temperature and adjust it according to the available power. They will develop a new algorithm that can correlate charge times with vaccination routes, and integrate upgraded battery technologies to prolong charge life. This will then be field-tested in a selected vaccination campaign.