Refrigerated Vaccine Transport: A Heat Transfer Analysis of Periodic Heating Through a Multi-Layer Cylinder

Abstract

There are vaccines against many of the worst diseases, as well as money to pay for them, but one main issue with the supply chain is that while most vaccines must be kept cool, almost half of all health posts have minimal or no grid access. In 2007, 151 million vaccine doses were wasted due to improper refrigeration. Using heat transfer analysis, this self-powered vaccine refrigerator will keep its payload at the CDC regulated temperatures for the 3-5 days necessary to distribute vaccines in areas without power access but very high temperatures.