New way to transport vaccines to remote areas; solar-powered refrigerator to store vaccines

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A solar-powered refrigerator has been developed to safely transport vaccines, including polio vaccines, to remote areas. The refrigerator's compressor system can maintain a temperature between 2 to 8 degrees Celsius, allowing the safe transport of oral polio vaccines (OPV) and measles-rubella (MR) vaccines.

The refrigerator was developed by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) under the Ministry of IT and Electronics. The device was built in C-DAC’s Thiruvananthapuram laboratory and underwent a successful trial run at the Sree Chitra Institute of Medical Sciences and Technology. Following this, C-DAC has applied for a patent. The system has already been used to transport polio vaccines to tribal regions such as AayyiraMkal and Aamala. The refrigerator also gained attention at the G-20 Summit.

The project, which began in 2019, faced delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was developed in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Sree Chitra Institute, and the University of South Carolina (USA). The project was led by Ranjith V. Chacko (Head of Power Electronics Group, C-DAC) and Principal Investigator Subhash Joshi.

Key features

• It can also be charged like a phone and used even without solar power
• Operates for up to two days on a single charge
• Storage capacity: 3 liters
• Weight: 7 kilograms
• Temperature range: 2 to 8 degrees Celsius
• Can transport vaccines for over 600 people at a time