The Development of a Thermoelectric Vaccine Cooler through the Utilization of Liquid Metal as a Thermal Diode (2015)
Undergraduates: Rizul Naithani, Katherine Driscoll, Justin Douglas, Mary Killela, Pratik Patel, Jamie Sabo, Skye Westra, NA Dr. Ken Jacobson, Bing Yang
Faculty Advisor: Kenneth Jacobson
Department: Clinical Laboratory Science
Vaccines are an important way of preventing many infectious diseases. However, interruptions in the cold chain, which is the storage path taken by vaccines from production to patient, in vaccine storage prior to delivery, is responsible for over 50% of vaccine wastage worldwide. In many cases vaccines are administered to recipients with a loss of potency. Presently, vapor compression refrigeration systems, which use a circulating liquid refrigerant to absorb and remove heat from cooling areas, and cold boxes are the most common cooling systems in use. However, vapor compression systems are heavy, noisy, and costly; in contrast, the cold boxes are lighter and cheaper but provide cooling for a limited time and cannot accurately monitor temperatures which can lead to freezing of some of the vaccines. In contrast, the thermoelectric cooler can solve these issues because it is more precise in monitoring and adjusting temperature. However a problem with this system is the fast warming times (from 4degC to 8degC) upon cooling shutdown. Our group focuses on elongating this warming phase by the creation of a thermal diode that consists of a chamber containing a liquid metal that is positioned between the cooling thermoelectric device and the heatsink; hence when the metal is removed during warming phase, the heat sink is not able to conduct its heat back into the cooler. With the current model, we have improved warming by atleast 50% of initial warming phase without any disjunctions.