Design and Characterization of an Active Cooling System for Temperature-Sensitive Sample Delivery Applications Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Abstract

The transport of temperature-sensitive biological samples (blood, medicines, patient samples, vaccines, organs, etc.) to hard-to-reach places remains a challenge. This is especially true in places where infrastructure is limited, for which the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is an attractive solution. In this project, a cooling system compatible with on-board drone applications for the delivery of samples that require cold temperature storage and transportation was built, tested, and characterized. Specifically, a miniature polystyrene cooling unit with Peltier coolers was designed and built, enabling temperatures as low as −10 °C within the unit to be achieved. Further, passive and active cooling control strategies including the use of active feedback-control were explored to achieve a consistent temperature range between 2 °C and 8 °C. Finally, calculations of on-board power and battery weight required to achieve target cooling performance as a function of ambient environmental conditions are presented. Overall, this study presents an important step towards the design and development of drone-based technologies for temperature-sensitive sample delivery.