Vaccines like those for measles and polio must be administered to children in remote rural areas. The main problem is storing and transporting the vaccines to these areas. Vaccine refrigerators store vaccines at very low temperatures. However, these refrigerators are not portable. They need an uninterrupted supply of electricity to function. To transport these vaccines to areas that do not have sound electrical infrastructure is a major problem. Therefore, in order to address this problem in a big way, many groups of scientists have come together to create refrigerator that use and harness natural sources of energy to store the vaccines at the recommended temperature. Many organizations like NASA and the WHO (World Health Organization) are diverting their finance and resources to find an appropriate solution to this problem as soon as possible.

One of the recent developments in this area has been designing the photovoltaic and the thermal refrigerators. In extremely arid regions, solar power can be used to charge the batteries that the refrigerator runs on. Though both the refrigerators use the same technology, the photovoltaic refrigerator is an electrical unit. The operational costs are almost negligible. They also have a good battery life and are extremely reliable. While the thermal refrigerator turned out to be a disappointment, the photovoltaic refrigerator has been very promising in accomplishing the transport of vaccines across deserts and other formidable land masses.

There are three main types of portable vaccine refrigerators that have been developed and tested successfully. The first one has solar panels and batteries. The batteries are charged using solar energy and this power generated is used to run a standard vaccine refrigerator. The term ‘standard’ here implies that the refrigerator has undergone no modifications in its design.

The second type has only solar panels. In this model, the solar power is directed to a cooling unit that is controlled by a microprocessor. This is a more efficient model as it eliminates the need of using lead-acid batteries which were installed in the earlier battery-operated vaccine refrigerator model.

The third type of refrigerator is a marvel of engineering. It used neither batteries nor solar panels. It is commonly referred to as the EcoFridge. It utilizes the heat from the cooling compartment of the refrigerator to generate enough energy to store the vaccines at the desired temperature. It can be built from locally available materials. The only problem with this particular model is its constant need of water. In semi arid and relatively dry zones, access to water is limited and this causes a problem while using the refrigerator.

Some of the metals of choice for the construction of these vaccine refrigerators include copper, aluminum and steel. Copper is the preferred metal due to its amazing heat-transferring properties. Copper is also highly malleable. The limited availability of aluminum and the relatively expensive steel makes using copper a better option.

Solar-powered refrigerators are definitely helping even remote parts of the world get access to at least basic health care like vaccination.

Author Bio: Dr. Bob Sandor is a Director at Tovatech, a leading North American supplier of laboratory refrigerator units. When not busy running his company, he explores his fascination with the many aspects of various scientific & industrial devices. For more details on the above you can reach him through the laboratory refrigerators section of his website.

Category: Medicines and Remedies
Keywords: laboratory refrigerator,lab refrigerator,vaccine refrigerator,lab refrigeration