A team of Maltese engineers at the University of Malta have developed a prototype device that will make the transport of sensitive medical equipment like vaccines easier.
Vaccines need to be kept in a very limited temperature range – otherwise they risk losing potency and the ability to effectively protect against disease.
Maintaining this cold chain means there are a limited number of ways in which a vaccine can reach any particular destination.
The ICECAP team, made up of researchers and students at the Department of Electronic Systems Engineering, in collaboration with New Energy Ltd, has developed a battery-operated device that can keep a payload of up to 960cm cubed cool down to -40°C.
Team leader Andre Micallef said the device is made to resemble a suitcase or a backpack and is designed in a way so that it can be carried with ease by a person.
He explained that, in order to transport vaccines, the carrier has to have the adequate infrastructure to maintain the required temperatures.
“Our point of departure was, if we can miniaturise a freezer up to a certain point then it means the goods can be delivered farther and to more remote locations without the need for dry cooling,” he said.
“The technology we developed is a way to chill a very small space to an extreme temperature without the need for bulky systems like a compressor or a radiator.”
The credit card-sized thermoelectric device works by applying the Peltier effect, Micallef explains.
When an electric current runs through a semiconductor material heat is removed from one end and deposited in the other, thus creating a cooling effect. While these devices aren’t considered to be as efficient as a compression system for cooling, part of the ICECAP team’s innovation has been in making them more efficient for practical use.
While the device is still in initial testing, Micallef says that, theoretically, by continuing to charge and swap batteries, the device could continue working indefinitely but, on a single charge, they estimate that it can run for approximately half a day.
A modified idea
Micallef says that the idea for the device actually came about when the lab team was working on another project and stumbled onto the idea.
The group had originally been working on a high-speed camera and, at a point in the development, needed to find a way to cool the sensor to produce better pictures. The team worked on innovating how to make their Peltier system more efficient and small enough to fit in a confined space, that is, within the camera itself.
It was only once the COVID-19 pandemic hit that they thought about redeveloping it for other purposes.
“One thing led to another and here we are,” Micallef said.
Having filed two patents on the technologies, he said the goal is now to test the device in the field and continue refining it to bring it closer to a product that is ready to go to market.
“At the end of the day, we want to see this technology used by people who really need it,” Micallef continues.
“It’s not just about commercialising the product, there’s a lot of technology being developed by academics and researchers that can be applied in a lot of good ways and this is our part in that process.”
ICECAP is supported by €200,000 in funding covering three years of development thanks to the Malta Council for Science & Technology through FUSION: The R&I Technology Development Programme.