Last Tuesday, we presented to Gemstone freshmen and sophomores on the progress of our project so far. Divya detailed the cold chain using our animation created by Vishnu Ganti at the Maryland Institute of College of Art (you can check out a low-resolution version here: http://vimeo.com/16537015). After that, Jason went over the design criteria and plan for our ice box, and Kelly explained the CompSol diagrams. Our presentation was well received and we got a few questions from the freshmen about materials we will eventually use to construct the ice box. After our presentation we had a post-Colloquium celebration where we enjoyed Chipotle and then watched Harry Potter: The Goblet of Fire at Divya's place.
On Thursday we had our usual meeting where we discussed goals for these last few weeks of the semester. The technical team has a few questions they will look into:
-Why do vaccines need to be kept in the 2-8 degree Celsius range? How was this range determined?
-How can we get CompSol to stop logging out during data collection?
-What other variables should be considered for our ice box experiments?
-What other PCM's can we test?
-How can we can get vaccines to test inside the ice box?
-How can we learn from existing products to refine our design? For example, the Greenbox model uses a small storage space and a lot of PCM to stabilize the temperature for about 28 hours. This seems like a lot of materials used.
By Thanksgiving we hope to do the following:
-Finish CompSol modeling
-Find new PCMs (at least 4)
-Further understand existing models like the Greenbox
-Receive colorimetric sensors samples (by end of Thanksgiving), and test them immediately when we return
The technical hopes to use the help of our Roosevelt HS student lab assistant to complete ice box experiments by the end of the semester. Next semester we would like to compare the model with physical testing and optimize dimensions.
The non-technical team hopes to complete the cost-analysis by Thanksgiving weekend and start working on an outline of our Gemstone thesis. The five sections are Introduction, Literature Review, Methodology, Results, and Future Directions. We aim to complete a draft by the end of winter break. We hope to also get our education program off the ground next semester. Let us know if any of you would like our team to present at your high school!
This is the blog of Junior Gemstone Team FRESH, who are optimizing cold box design using PCM for more efficient vaccines transport to developing countries.
For more info on Team Fresh, visit their website
