Improving Access to Hepatitis B

Vaccines

Danielle Klunk
Jared Martin
Kara Miller
Ava Self
Table of Contents:

Introduction…...………………………………………………………………………….Page 2
Needs Assessment
Identify the Customer…………………………………………………………….Page 2
Customer Needs..………………………………………………………………....Page 3
Conceptualization
External Search…………………………………………………………………...Page 4
Internal Search…………………………………………………………………....Page 5
Preliminary Design
Concept Selection.....……………………………………………………………..Page 10
Detailed Design
Description……………………………………………………………………….Page 12
CAD……………………………………………………………………………...Page 13
Testing…………………………………………………………………………....Page 14
Production
Manufacturing……………………………………………………………………Page 16
Conclusion…...…………………………………………………………………………...Page 17
Sources…………………………………………………………………………………...Page 19

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Introduction

Problem Statement:
The Hepatitis B vaccine has been available since 1982, but many tribal sub-Saharan African
communities, including those in Kenya, are isolated from these means of treatment due to lack
of effective transportation and vaccine storage (“Hepatitis”). According to the World Health
Organization (WHO), in 2015 alone 257 million people were known to have been living with
Hepatitis B, and 6.1% of those infected resided in the African region. Some of the symptoms of
Hepatitis B include yellowing of the skin, fatigue, nausea, and vomiting (“Hepatitis”).
Additionally, if someone contracts a chronic infection, he or she is at a significant risk of
developing cirrhosis or liver cancer (“Hepatitis”). The Hepatitis B vaccine is the best defense
against this virus, as it is able to induce antibody levels in about 95% of adults, children, and
infants that receive the vaccine (“Hepatitis”). This vaccine has been proven to provide at least
20 years of protection from the virus, but it is estimated that the antibodies it creates in the body
will be able to be sustained for a lifetime of protection if the patient has received the required
three doses (“Hepatitis”). The vaccine has an impeccable record of success; since it has been
introduced in countries where 8-15% of children became chronically ill with Hepatitis B, the
rate of infection in immunized children has dropped to less than 1% (“Hepatitis”). Yet those
living in Kenyan tribal communities often do not get to reap the benefits of this vaccine due to
flaws in the vaccine cold chain, a standardized system of storing and transporting vaccines at
the required temperatures from the time of manufacture to the point of immunization (“EPI”).
Vision: To reduce the number of diagnosed cases of chronic Hepatitis B in tribal
communities in Kenya by improving the cold chain process.
Issue: Three main flaws in the cold chain have been identified in Kenya including
insufficient cold chain capacity, lack of modern technology and equipment, and faulty
temperature regulation and maintenance systems (Ashok).
Method: Our team will use the engineering design process to develop more effective
cold chain process for the distribution of the Hepatitis B vaccine.

Needs Assessment

Identify the Customer:

In tribal Kenyan communities, those most impacted by the Hepatitis B virus include expectant
mothers and newborn children (“Hepatitis”). All expectant mothers should be tested for
Hepatitis B to prevent the spread of the disease to the baby. However, testing resources are
limited in Kenya, as rural medical clinics do not have the financial means to buy and maintain
the equipment or train operators (“Hepatitis”). If a mother tests positive for Hepatitis B, the
newborn needs to be given a vaccine immediately after birth, which is 90% effective at

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preventing the development of Hep. B (“Hepatitis”). Yet in countries such as Kenya, early
identification of the disease in mothers and immediate protective measures for newborns are not
common practices. In order to decrease the number of young children getting chronic Hepatitis
B infections, our design must be simple and tailored to the practices common in tribal Africa.
Since many women in labor do not go to hospitals, our device must be feasible for a midwife to
use. Mothers do not have a traditional income, so the product must be cost-effective and
affordable for the target demographic.

Customer Needs:
There are several constraints for our design. The device must be able to store the
vaccines at the optimal temperature, 2°C to 8°C, for at least two months (“Hepatitis B:
Information”). After the first dose of the vaccine, a patient must receive two more doses within
the following two months, so the serum must remain in viable condition (“Hepatitis B:
Information”). As tribal communities do not always reside in traditional brick and mortar
homes, the storage device must be able to weather various conditions. Since midwives could be
carrying the storage device from home to home, it must be able to survive being dropped.
Along with meeting the constraints that have been set, the device will reach peak,
optimal performance if it fulfills the other objectives our team has outlined. The device cannot
be heavy, since a midwife may need to transport it for several miles between homes. The
instructions should be easy to understand, since the device will be handled by individuals with
different educational backgrounds, languages, and dialects. The device needs to be
cost-effective, so those from tribal communities who do not have the financial means to afford
expensive treatment will be able to use it. The device cannot contain any corrosive materials,
which are often included in cooling solutions but can pose health risks to the person
transporting the vaccines. We also need to make sure that the only people who can access the
vaccines inside of the device are the proper medical personnel. It would also be beneficial if the
product was reusable and made from local materials, so the device would only need to be
purchased one time and the cost would be lower since there would be no shipping costs for
materials.
Table 1: List of customer needs, classification of constraint or objective, and metric

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We created an analytic hierarchy processing chart to determine which objectives were the most
important. Table 1 above has letters labelled which correspond to the letters in the AHP chart
below, Table 2.
Table 2: Analytic Hierarchy Processing Chart

When we were working on the chart, we directly compared different objectives to each other to
determine which were most important. A “1” means that the two objectives are of equal
importance. “2” to “9” means that the objective in the row is more important than the objective
in the column, with a “9” being extremely more important. A decimal means the objective listed
in the column is more important. The two columns on the far right are the total and the weight.
After completing the chart, we concluded that the most important objectives are the ones with
the largest weights. While we still need to make sure our design meets all of the objectives and
constraints, the most important objectives are: being easy to carry, cost effective, and reusable.

Conceptualization

External Search:
The entire eradication of a disease from a whole country is a truly tall task. Thus, we
began our research by looking at the current situation with Hepatitis B vaccinations in Kenya.
We researched statistics and first-hand accounts to observe the most significant issues in getting
Hepatitis B vaccines to expectant mothers in time for their babies’ deliveries. These issues were
found to be the storage and long-term portability of vaccines in rural areas (Ly KN).
Thus, we continued with an external search to find existing products which attempt to
address this issue. We found several very similar products with a few key differences based on
their power source (or lack thereof), their longevity, their reusability, their size, and their
transportability (“Vaccine”). All products attempt to meet customer needs in some distinct way,
all while avoiding temperature excursions and fragility (“Qualification”). Yet, none stood out.
Therefore, we continued with an extensive competitive benchmarking process regarding the
aforementioned qualities.

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 The table below compares five existing products in the vaccine storage industry. They
are distinctly compared based on their effectiveness in addressing customer needs. By
compiling this chart, we are able to adequately and fairly relate very different solutions in a
standard fashion. It allows us to distinguish the best qualities from each and draw on them in
our own solution.
Table 3: Benchmarking chart

Scaled worst
(0) to best Packing Vaccine Generic Generic Sundanzer
(5) Shipping Refrigerator Passive Passive Solar Panel
Containers (“Vaccine”) Container I Container II Cooler
(“National”) (“Qualification”) (“Qualification”) (“Medical
Refrigerator”)

Cost effective 3 1 4 5 4

Mobile 4 0 3 3 3

Longevity of 2 5 2 1 5
storage

Reusable 4 3 3 0 5

No Corrosive 5 2 5 5 5
Materials

From this benchmarking effort, we learned that none of the products have encapsulated
all of the necessary customer needs. Still, there are qualities from several different models of
vaccine transporting devices which could come together for the best product. These features
include low-weight (low-cost) materials, multilayered (enforced) and sleek walls for protection
and ease of transport, easy accessibility for longevity, and some sort of power. However, we
learned from this benchmarking activity that the power source can be either solar powered or
battery powered. All of these features would combine for the most efficient, successful solution.

Internal Search:
After our external search, we used the information we had gathered to formulate our
own solutions to the problem. We began our idea generation session by separating our focuses
into three categories: transportation/portability, temperature retainment and monitoring, and
durability. We utilized a modified version of the 6-3-5 method of brainstorming, which
traditionally has six members sketch three ideas on a piece of paper, and then pass their papers

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to another group member, repeating this process five times. We completed this process with
four members, and once we finished we looked over the forty-eight sketches we had created and
looked at concepts that seemed to be repeated. From these ideas, we drew more detailed
sketches and elaborated on their functionality through quick blurbs.
In our first category, transportation/portability, our ideas were able to be grouped into
three possible subcategories: on wheels, by air, and on person.

Figure 1: Possible vaccine transportation devices on wheels.

Figure 1 above shows the sketches of the possible designs for a product on wheels. We focused
on solutions that incorporate wheels first because these are most similar to the existing solutions
already in place by WHO. There were three main ideas generated in this subcategory: a
suitcase-like cooler, a solar-powered truck, and utility hauler.

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 The next subcategory, wearability, seems to be the most feasible, and has three main
ideas, as shown in Figure 2:

Figure 2: Wearable devices which could safely transport vaccines

In the case that there would not be easily accessible roads, these ideas above could be
transported on foot by an average-sized person. The three main ideas we generated were a tube
full of vaccines, a backpack, and a fanny pack.
The next subcategory, by air, was composed of two ideas, as shown in Figure 3:

Figure 3: Vaccine transportation by air.

For this category, we decided to try to find solutions that would not require a person to carry the
device. The drone could be flown from a WHO camp to a nearby village, while the parachute
drop would require a plane or helicopter for transport.

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 Our group then moved on to the next category, temperature retainment and monitoring.
The ideas for this category are shown in Figure 4 below.

Figure 4: Depicts possible methods of maintaining proper temperature for vaccines.

Temperature control is an extremely important feature of our solution because vaccinations of
Hepatitis B are known to expire quickly if they are not kept at the correct temperature. We
could incorporate these features into many of the other solutions we explained above in the first
category, transportation/portability.
The final category our group focused on was durability. No matter what routes we
would choose in the transportation or temperature areas, the vaccines would need to be
protected from possible damages from falling or environmental factors such as water. Our ideas
to combat these problems are shown in Figure 5.

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 Figure 5: Methods to protect contents from possible outside interactions
Once we were finished with our brainstorming, we formed a morphological chart
attempting to piece each of our ideas together, as shown in Figure 6.

Figure 6: Morphological Chart used to test combinations of varying ideas.

This chart aided us in finalizing what characteristics we would include in our final product. We
found that we could combine most of the ideas in the temperature and durability categories
instead of choosing one of the four. For instance, we could incorporate layered insulation along
with a temperature display, or have a plastic cover outside of a hardshell which holds the
vaccines. However, this could not be done in the portability category, so we would need to
focus on downselecting for this category.

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Preliminary Design:

Concept Selection:
With our ideas fully organized we began to think about which we could feasibly create.
This would exclude transportation ideas such as the “By Air” category, the solar truck, and the
utility hauler as well as the coolant dispenser idea in the temperature category. The solar trucks
and utility haulers would require too many resources to make, and would waste gasoline in
order to make weekly rounds to villages in need. As for the air category, there would be no
guarantee that the containers would be light enough to be supported by a drone or a parachute
while also being durable enough to prevent damage in case of unexpected falls. There would
also be the risk that the vaccines may land at the wrong destination and be found by improper
personnel or remain unfound and go to waste. Meanwhile, the coolant dispenser was ruled out
simply because the idea was unrealistic. For this method to work, it would require a highly
endothermic reaction to take place safely inside the container around the vaccines. It would also
need an automatic dispensing mechanism that would take place at just the right times to ensure
the correct temperature.
So, with the remaining transportation ideas we created proof-of-concept models. For
these prototypes, we would only need to communicate the basic idea of the solution, so we used
cardboard, hot glue, and other readily available scrap parts.

Figure 7: Prototype for the poster tube design. Figure 8: Prototype for fanny pack design.

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Figure 9: Prototype for the backpack design. Figure 10: Prototype for the wheeled cooler.
The first idea, a holder in a shape similar to a poster tube, would behave similarly to a thermos
in order to keep the vaccines cool. The vaccines could be held in multiple layers of five,
allowing for approximately thirty vaccines to be held. This device would distribute weight
evenly across the back and would not be cumbersome to the wearer. However, the next idea, the
fanny pack, would be much smaller and lighter. Although this device would carry few vaccines
at a time, it would require less energy and resources to keep the insides cool. The final idea was
the backpack, which would distribute weight similarly to the poster tube. The backpack would
need to be insulated, and possibly rectangular to fit as many vaccines as possible. The fabric of
the backpack could also add extra padding to the device, further protecting the vaccines. Large,
heavy duty wheels added to a cooler model would eliminate the need to carry the object
altogether, and could be made to rotate 360 degrees for ease of use. However, there would be no
guarantee that all of our users would have access to roads or environments which would allow
for the use of such a wheeled system, for it would only work on flat and even surfaces.
Once we finished these designs, we went to our peers to receive feedback. The
overwhelming concern from those we talked to was about how we would power our device, as
charging stations are not readily available in the Kenyan region and batteries would corrode and
become hazardous over time. This led to the discussion of using solar power, but some
expressed their concerns that this method would not produce enough energy for the cooler to
function. However, because we had found devices during our external search that powered
much larger containers with this method, we knew it was possible.

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 Next, we went through the process of concept scoring. We made a chart listing our four
ideas (fanny pack, backpack, wheeled cooler, and poster tube) and how each would fulfill
different criteria for our solution. This would be done on a scale of one to five, with one not
fulfilling the criteria at all and five fully fulfilling the function. These results would then be
multiplied by the weights of each customer need, found in Table 2 of the customer needs
section, and added together to get a total score of each design. Our chart can be seen below as
Table 4.
Table 4: Concept Scoring of Transport Solutions

Based on these results, the backpack would be the best overall solution due to the fact that it
best fulfills customer needs. The backpack would be the easiest to transport over long distances
because of its adjustable back straps. Visual instructions could be stored inside the bag, and
fabric backpacks are feasible to reuse. While the backpack would not be the cheapest option, its
ability to meet all of the other requirements in the most effective manner outweighs its
disadvantages.

Detailed Design​:

For our final design, we decided on a backpack that is 18 inches long, 12.5 inches tall,
and 8 inches wide. Inside of the backpack, there is a cooler that is modeled after the SunDanzer
cooler created by NASA(“Medical”), which is powered by the solar panel on the exterior of the
backpack. This cooler is 13.5 inches long, 9 inches tall, and 4.5 inches wide, with 1.75 inches of
insulation on either side. The cooler is medical grade and specifically designed to operate in
remote locations (“Medical”). The photovoltaic solar panels on the surface of the backpack first
convert sunlight into a DC electrical current (“Solar”). After the current is generated, it provides
the power to operate a vapor compressor, which circulates refrigerant through a vapor
compression refrigeration loop that extracts heat from an insulated enclosure built into the
cooler (“Solar”). Contained within this insulated enclosure there is a thermal reservoir and a
phase change material that freezes as heat is removed (“Solar”). This freezing effectively
creates an “ice pack,” which is able to maintain the temperature of the cooler if no sunlight is
available to generate a current (“Solar”). The World Health Organization requires that all
medical grade coolers are able to maintain their temperatures for at least three days should their
power source become compromised (“Medical”). The SunDanzer technology is able to maintain

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the required 2 to 8 degrees Celcius temperature needed for the Hepatitis B vaccine for four days
without power (“Medical”). On the top of the cooler inside the backpack there will be a lock
that the midwife will need to open in order to access the vaccines in the cooler.
On the exterior of the backpack, there is a solar panel that is 9.1 inches long and 14.4
inches tall. The 9 L cooler inside the backpack will require a 60 watt panel to generate the
power required to maintain the temperature (Burton). When sunlight hits the silicon
photovoltaic cells of the solar panel, electrons are knocked off of the silicon and are
preferentially attracted to one side of the cell (“How”), and this electric energy can be collected
and passed through a wire at the base of the backpack that then passes through the interior of the
bag as a DC current needed to power the cooler.
The cooler would be able to hold up to 1,580 doses of the Hepatitis B vaccine. Each vial
stored in the cooler contains 10 doses of the vaccine (“Hepatitis B 10”). The volume per dose is
2.8 cm​3​. The volume of the inside of the cooler, after taking into account the width of the
insulation, is 4424.51 cm​3​. To calculate the maximum amount of vaccines that can be
transported, this volume of the cooler is divided by the volume per dose. This amount of doses
could be slightly less after the administration syringes are added to the cooler as well. The final
cost of this design would be $1700, and it would be able to transport $2,216.74 worth of
vaccines. The cost would be covered by the World Health Organization, which would distribute
the backpacks from its medical outposts throughout Kenya at no cost to the communities.
CAD Models:

Figure 11: CAD Design

This series of CAD images encapsulates our detailed design. On the far left, the entire
backpack is featured, including a cross-sectional view of the interior of the cooler. The cooler
would open on the top, but it opens from the side in this instance to show the 1.75 inches of
insulation on either side of the cooler. The middle image shows the backpack itself, and the
extruded cut in the middle is specific to the dimensions of the cooler. The right image features
the solar panel, which is built into the top surface of the backpack.

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 In order to create our CAD drawings, we had to make the backpack and the cooler
separately. First for the backpack, we extruded a rectangle, and filleted the corners and the
edges. Then we shelled out the inside. Next, we made an extrude cut from the front plane 1.75
inches in to show the insulation in the backpack. To make the handle and the straps, we used the
sweep function. The LCD display screen is just another extruded rectangle. For the front part of
the backpack containing the solar panel, we used more extrudes, extrude cuts, and fillets. We
had to make a cut on the inside of the backpack in order for the cooler lid fold down properly in
the assembly. However, in real life the cooler will not open in this direction, so this will not be a
problem. We just made it look like it is opening from the front in the assembly to illustrate the
cross sectional view. In the prototype, it will actually open from the top. We also needed to
make the cooler in CAD. The cooler is composed of two parts, the lid and the body. For the lid,
we extruded a rectangle, filleted the corners and edges, except the bottom edge, and did a loft to
create the seal for the container. To make the lock on the lid, we did an extrusion of three
rectangles of the same size, and one slightly larger one. To make the three rectangles appear
circular, we did an extrude cut. For the larger one, we did fillets. For the locking mechanism, we
did an extrude of a rectangle, then we did an extrude cut to make circular, and finally we filleted
it. In order to make sure the assembly actually worked, we needed to put holes in the back of the
lid and the cooler where the hinges would go. For the body of the cooler, it was an extrusion
again, with filleted sides except top edge. We also used the shell feature for the top face,
chamfered the edges of the shell, and finally did an extrude cut for the lock. To make the
assembly, we primarily used coincident mates. To ensure that the cooler lid did not go inside the
actual cooler or the unzipped part of the backpack, we did limit angle mate between the planes
that touched the cooler lid with the angles being 0 and 50 degrees.

Testing:
In order to determine how well our ideas meet our customer needs, we needed to
describe how we could test each of these aspects of our design. Our first constraint is that the
storage needs to be effective for 2 months in the proper temperature. In order to test this, we can
constantly monitor a storage container for two months. If the temperature ever goes outside the
acceptable range, 2°C to 8°C, then the device has failed to meet this customer need. In order to
test this we will need the storage container and a digital thermometer.
Another customer need is the objective that the storage device needs to be lightweight
enough to carry by hand. To test this, we will have various women carry the container over
different terrains for five miles. We will test over flat surfaces, unpaved trails, uphill areas, and
steep declines. We will make sure that we test different women with various body types and age
ranges. In order to pass this test, 90% of the test subjects must be able to carry the backpack for
the five miles. Some supplies we will need are test subjects and designated courses where they
will walk.

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 The device also needs to be waterproof. The most rain in Kenya is along the coastal
areas where they get between 1000mm and 1200mm annually (“Kenya”). We will place the
storage device in a shower where it will be subject to a constant stream of water. The average
flow rate of a shower is 2.1 gallons per minute. We will test the device by placing it in the
shower for 15 minutes. This is significantly more than the rain it will actually be exposed to in
Kenya, but it will definitely verify that the device is waterproof. If there is any water in the
container at all at the end of the test, then the device fails to meet this customer need. We will
need access to a shower in order to complete this test.
Another constraint is that the container cannot break when it is dropped. We will
repeatedly drop the device from various heights up to five feet and five inches off the ground.
The average height of a Kenyan woman is 5 feet and 1 inch (Kilonzo). If the device breaks at
all, then it has failed this test. In order to test this, we will need a ladder.
The person who administers the vaccine needs to be able to understand how to operate
our storage device, regardless of any language barriers. We will have test subjects read and
attempt to follow the instructions included with the container. We will observe how many
mistakes the test subjects make. The test subject cannot have any mistakes in order for the
instructions to pass this test and successfully meet the customer need. Again, for this test we
will need test subjects and observers.
In addition to all the previously stated customer needs, the device also needs to be cost
effective, meaning that the cost of the device should not exceed the cost of the vaccines inside
of it. In order to test this, we will determine how many vaccines can fit inside the container.
Then we will calculate the total cost of the vaccines inside and compare it to the cost of the
device. As long as the device is cheaper than the vaccines, then the device passes this test. Here
we will simply need to know the volume of the device, the volume of the vaccines in order to
perform cost analysis of the components.
Our device cannot have any corrosive materials that could cause any health concerns to
the person transporting the vaccines. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers,
IEEE, already has many tests and procedures in place to determine if a corroded lead acid
battery is dangerous. The IEEE even has ways to determine the severity of the problems,
classified as Category 1 and Category 2. If we have any Category 1 failures, which are defined
as “critical and must be dealt with immediately,” then our device will fail to meet our customer
need because it could pose a threat to the person carrying it. If there are any Category 2 failures,
which are less severe than Category 1, it can still pass the test (Spataro). However, our design
does not contain any corrosive materials at all since we avoided using a lead acid battery, so this
will automatically pass this test and meet the customer need.
Another important objective is that the device should not be able to be opened by
anyone besides for the intended administrator. In order to test this, we will have people try to
break into the device. We will observe the test subjects, and if any of them are able to
successfully break into the container, then the device does not pass the customer need.

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 Our device needs to be reusable. We will use the Accelerated Life Test which subjects
the device to extreme stress, strain, temperature, and voltage in a shortened time period in order
to predict the lifespan and maintenance intervals of the container (“Quantitative”). The
conclusions from this test need to show that our device will last 10 years in order to meet the
customer need. In order to complete this test, we will the HAST Accelerated Life Test machine
(“HAST”).
Finally, our last objective is that the materials in the storage container should be sourced
“locally” to reduce transportation costs. In order to test this, we will measure the distance
between the distribution point in Kenya and the source of the supplies. Since solar panels are
the most expensive to make and import and are the most specialized technology in our design,
we are focusing on the distribution location of just the solar panels. In order to pass this test, the
solar panels need to be sourced in the same country. There is a large solar panel factory in
Naivasha, Kenya, so the import costs would be eliminated (Solinc).
Production:

Manufacturing:
With our designs finalized, we set out to find the best production methods for our
backpack. We realized that our final product prototype would be a functional model of the
product. While it was deemed too difficult to attain the necessary materials for legitimate solar
panels or cooling materials, we were confident in our ability to assemble an accurate
representation of these materials in a functional and true-to-life fashion.

Figure 12: The final prototype of the solar panel backpack with a cooler inside.
In our final construction, we primarily used joining and fastening techniques to assemble
our parts. While the primary fastener we used for our prototype was glue, to create a real cooler

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we could manufacture each side individually and then join them using mechanical fasteners
such as screws, bolts, and rivets (“Engineering”).
Materials used to create the prototype included a backpack exterior, and cardboard &
styrofoam to represent the solar panels and interior cooler. The styrofoam and cardboard were
formed into a rectangular prism, hollowed out to represent the bag’s interior. The foam stands in
for the cooling layers which are chemically cooled by the solar energy. Cardboard was then
used to form a lid for the styrofoam layer, being attached with tape. This represents the airtight,
sealed lid on the final design. Further, a briefcase lock was drawn in the top to show where the
interior vaccine storage unit could be accessed. This foam and cardboard unit was then placed
on the interior of the backpack, where it was fastened into place with tape and hot glue. The
zipper was closed and work began on the exterior. This was primarily composed of constructing
a solar panel. A flat piece of cardboard was drawn on with marker to represent the solar panel. It
was then affixed to the exterior of the bag’s material with tape at several different stress points
to emphasize stability. If we were to manufacture this device, the solar panel would be
constructed by soldering the individual solar cells together, using metal connectors as links
between the cells, to create the final array of cells that could be attached to the backpack (“How
are”). We used tape as our fastener to attach the mock solar panels to our prototype, but in the
real model we could sew the solar panels into the exterior surface of the backpack to give a
sleek finish. For our backpack, it could be made using Cordura fabric, which is waterproof and
has military-grade durability which would be able to protect the cooler and its contents from the
elements ( “Popular”).
The final result of these efforts was a final prototype which was an accurate spatial and
material representation of the product we have designed. The joining and fastening methods
used in manufacturing our final prototype are representative of the methods to be used in
production of our legitimate, technically efficient final product. Throughout this design process,
our work has developed into a design which we are confident in and is supported by sound
scientific research.

Conclusion:

With the final backpack design, we were able to address all of the issues that have been
identified in the cold chain process. The cold chain has been cited as having an insufficient
capacity, but we have been able to increase the vaccine doses administered, as our backpack can
carry 1,580 doses. While traditional cold chain processes lack modern technology, we have
incorporated the latest in solar innovations to optimize our design. We have eliminated the issue
of faulty temperature regulation by using a phase change material that can function as an ice
pack should the backpack no longer have access to sunlight to generate a DC current.
Maintenance difficulties have been significantly decreased, since the backpack uses renewable

17
energy and does not require battery replacement. With this backpack, a future without Hepatitis
B moves ever closer.

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