Solar Powered Ice Maker Keeps Vaccines Cool

Mar-31-14 The NanoQ shipping containers can keep vaccines cooled to near freezing using only water and sunlight.

Vaccines must be kept within a narrow margin of temperature—between 36 and 48 degrees—which can be difficult to maintain in rural areas or disaster zones. To address this problem, Bruce McCormick, president of SAVSU Technologies of Santa Fe, created a solar thermal icemaker based on an idea that was first documented in the 80s but lacked the technology to make it real.

The NanoQ is equipped with a one-meter square solar panel, a condenser and an evaporator. By harnessing the solar energy during the day, the icemaker drives methanol out of a porous carbon material and into a condenser for liquification. During the night, when the heat is not causing fluid to flow off the carbon, the liquid evaporates, causing the gas to be absorbed back into the carbon and creating a cooling effect that freezes a trough of water. The system can create between 2 and 12 pounds of ice per day, which is used to keep the vaccines chilled.

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[MEDGADGET.COM]
[SAVSU]

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