Project Description:

Hemorrhage remains the leading cause of preventable battlefield deaths, causing approximately 85%. However, when a blood transfusion occurs immediately after a major loss of blood, survival rates increase by over 75%. While it seems like a relatively simple solution, bringing blood into limited resource environments requires storage between 1 and 6 ºC. Our sponsor, Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC), frequently conducts missions requiring travel to remote or austere environments, where access to advanced surgical care and blood resupply is limited. Currently, the device used by AFSOC cannot properly store two units of blood, only lasts for about 24 hours when the average mission is 72 hours, lacks external temperature monitoring, and relies solely on passive cooling, leading medics to debate whether giving blood that has gone out of range is justifiable for an airman’s survival.

Our device, the Crimson Cooler, is a rugged, collapsible system that uses both passive cooling with specially designed glycol panels and a removable active cooling module. The external LCD display provides the medics with a non-invasive mechanism to verify internal temperature without exposing the blood to the external environment and allowing cold air to escape. The Crimson Cooler can hold four units of blood and collapses, reducing carry volume once blood has been transfused. The active cooling component is modular, allowing the system to interface with power supplies the medics may have access to. Designed with direct input from military medical teams and emergency medical service providers, the Crimson Cooler provides a cutting edge solution to an age-old problem. It’s time to get away from “bad blood is better than no blood” and ensure that all patients worldwide are able to benefit from safe and timely blood transfusions.