Anyone else on insulin?

[TramcarTrev]

Mt Dr sent a letter to Sanofi who market the insuling I use and they sent me a cute little “fridge” to use when travelling. Only catch it is its capacity, 8 cartridges or 2 pens… Ok I got away with this last year on our ASIAN TRIP but we were lucky that most of the hotel rooms had freezers in the bar fridge where I coulkd freeze some blocks to keep the bulk of my supply cool.
We are planning a trip to Europe and the UK and the Agent tells us that in the UK fridges dont generally get put into hotel rooms….
Soooooo Im thinking of making my own peltier cooled fridge. I need about 1 litre capacity to last me while we are away with some reserve…
Now the current drain on these things is high but I calculate that for 1 ltre I need about 10watts if the container is adequatley insulated (thinking of using 12mm closed cell neoprene in an abs Jaycar enclosure) that would be around 2 amps plus a bit for the fans….

Then I came across the USB mini fridges, has anyone had any experience with them, they are 10 watt; http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/USB-Charger- … 0mFIuXz5zg

Maybe a bit too small but then the guts of it may be a good starting point…. and I could power it with an 8amp USB battery for 4 hours and outher times via a 2 amp 240V charger…

There are 12 V gadgets too that could be converted eg;http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Thermoelectr … 2240779281
Then I need a 12V supply and I have no idea of what the current draw is….
Thoughts?

[Old Techo]

TT, I know nuffin bout insulin

How cool does it need to be kept how does temp effect its use-by?

[TramcarTrev]

Well OT the suppliers say between 8 and 15c. Once outta the fridge you have 25 days to use the cartridge unless an airbubble gets into it, then its buggered. Once over 25c you cant put it back in the fridge and it cant be frozen. However if it gets over 25c then because insulin is a protein (think of it as an egg) it goes off quickly and you dont know about it untill your blood sugar skyrockets. If it is really “off” it sometimes crystalises…

I use 2 cartridges a week and so I take 2 out of my fridge and store them in an insulated bag that tends to keep the temp even.

Diabetes Australia have even more rigid “standards” in place and if you followed their guidelines O/S travel would be too impractical to be bothered, eg “Report to the closest Australian embassy or consulate and make sure you inform them of you condition and give them some of your insulin to use in a emergency” really handy if I hand over a couple of cartridges to the embasy in Hanoi while Im getting blind drunk in Vung Tau, hypothetically of course…

Now keeping it cool on aircraft is usually not an issue, keeping it cool on a cruise is not an issue if you have your own cooler with its own power supply that you can plug in but say a month on a narrow boat exploring the canals of the western UK is a problem because there is no 240V power, every thing runs on 12V… Mind you I guess if the daytime temp dosent get over 20c it would be ok…
The big catch is that insulin is hard to get O/S in most places, other countries dont recognise our prescriptions, yet Im allowed to board an aircraft with enough insulin to put everyone to sleep.

[dieseltojo]

I have been insulted for years…try to stay away from them….

[bobsa]

Hi tramcar
you might be able to knock something up yourself using “12V 60W TEC1-12706 Heatsink Thermoelectric Cooler Peltier Cool Plate Module EW” I found this on ebay ,but i think Jcar sell something like this.
The wattage is a bit high ,but you can get smaller.
I would have to travel with water samples and had to have a reasonable stable temp , we would use a 6 pack lunch esky and by mounting Heat sink under the lid, this solved our needs
If you could find something small enough for your needs, It would not be too hard to do.
Bob

ps would be better with pictures ,but I cant do the picture thing

sample on ebay
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/12V-60W-TEC1 … SwlfxXGO4k

[TramcarTrev]

Yes I had spotted those assemblies…
Looking at the problem practically it would be good if it could be powered by a couple of 8.8ah 5V USB power banks I already own. 5V Peltier modules seem easily got in a variety of wattages (5 watt looks good at this stage) and I also found a 5V digital read out thermostat so Im thinking that I’d run it off a 2amp usb 240v a adapter to cool down or when mains are available then if its well enough insulated it may only be on 50% of the traveling time and I could maybe get 4 – 6 hours (this is the tricky bit because it depends on too many variables to do any serious calculations – the key is the insulation though) from the power bank then swap over and hopefully charge them up overnight while the thing runs on 240V.
Heat sinks, fans and the other bits and pieces are readily available…

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Stylish-Ther … JqpFnJGpBA

http://www.ebay.com.au/sch/i.htm?_sacat … w=5V%20fan

This is similar to the one I have its only problem is its capacity; http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Portable-Ins … SwqfNXjE0C

[bobsa]

wow the little cooler box is a neat unit and battery back up,
It is a pity is is not large enough for you needs

[TramcarTrev]

wow the little cooler box is a neat unit and battery back up,
It is a pity is is not large enough for you needs

So me being me I pulled off the bottom of the thing to see what was inside or indeed if I could fit the “works” into a larger box.
What I think I can do is make up a new metal tray bit which would have deeper sides as there is plenty of space underneath….
This would give me room for around 20 phials if I take them out of the packaging… Which would give me enough for around 90 days. The cold side of the Peltier is stuck onto the underside of the existing tray with what looks like double sided thermal tape….
There will also have to be a few minor mods to the mountings for the existing works but not so difficult…
Wonder why they dont make them like that to start with… I expect with the larger volume that it wont run as long…