CIJE Rambam Award 2018 Submission Video
SMART Cooler
(Sabbath Medical Adjusting and Regulating Temperature Cooler)
Every year, there are approximately 21,300,000 blood units transfused in the US and Israel. When an accident, natural disaster, terror attack, or injury in combat occurs, immediate blood transfusions are essential to a victim’s survival. However, blood for transfusions needs to be maintained at the proper temperature, even en route to the site of the disaster. Each of three blood components have a different optimal temperature. Failure to maintain the proper temperature can render the blood component useless. It can lead to increased risk of infection in transfusion recipients, and decrease the blood’s ability to clot. Additionally, the viability of red blood cells can be compromised in improperly maintained samples, decreasing their efficiency in transporting oxygen. Currently, the viability of life-saving units of blood is compromised by their mode of transportation: domestic refrigerators and picnic coolers. Without appropriate partitioned cooling of each of the blood components, it is unfeasible to be able to maintain the proper conditions for blood components via the current mode of transportation.
The SMART Cooler is a portable container that has separate autonomously regulated temperature controlled compartments. If the temperature in any component goes out of its optimal temperature range, the temperature sensor will sense the change and signal to peltier thermoelectric coolers to adjust the temperature of the corresponding compartment. This ensures that the temperature remains optimal, thus preserving sample integrity.
This tightly regulated system will increase the quality and viability of the blood sample and will simplify the entire transportation process. Emergency responders will able to take the SMART cooler to the field or site, where a disaster might have occurred, with multiple types of blood components for the various treatments the injured might require. SMART cooler is also Shabbat compatible; it has been engineered so one can use it without violating Jewish law.
This easy-to-use and easy-to-transport SMART cooler can help first responders to disasters move more quickly, efficiently, and safely in saving lives.
Creator: Mili Chizhik
Music Credit: Ivan Dominik - Frontline
