PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
Contact: Liz Ernst, Director of Public Relations
[email protected]
813.980.1400 x 210
Thermablok’s NASA Technology Aerogel Used to Insulate
Solar Autoclave, Address Long-Standing Health Issue for
Developing Countries
Incorporating Thermablok’s aerogel insulating technology, Capteur Soleil may now be
used to sterilize medical instruments in developing countries, where sterilizing medical
equipment is impossible in regions with no electricity.
HOUSTON, Texas, May 11, 2011 – Combining the unrivaled insulating properties of aerogel
technology and a decades-old device created by French inventor Jean Boubour, Rice
University engineering students are harnessing the sun’s energy to power an autoclave that can
be used in developing countries, where electricity is rare or non-existent, to sterilize medical
instruments and help solve a long-standing health problem.
Engineering students incorporated a thin layer of Thermablok aerogel insulation in the
autoclave’s plywood frame to provide the thermal protection necessary in any climate and
terrain. Thermablok’s aerogel has the highest insulating properties of any material known to
man. This technology was developed in conjunction with NASA’s application of aerogel use in
shuttle and mars missions. For this reason, Thermablok was the perfect insulator for the
project, according to Sam Major, Rice University senior engineering student.
--more--
Rice University/page 2
“The thin layer of Thermablok does the work,” Major said. “We used standard pink insulation
to make the box stronger, but the Thermablok handles the insulation on its own.”
The students used Capteur Soleil, a device created decades ago by French inventor Jean
Boubour to capture the energy of the sun in places where electricity, or fuel of any kind, is hard
to get or nonexistent. By attaching the Thermablok-insulated box containing the autoclave, the
students transform the device into a potential lifesaver.
The Capteur Soleil, which sits outside Rice's Oshman Engineering Design Kitchen, looks
something like an ultramodern lawn swing. Its spine is a steel A-frame, and a bed of curved
mirrors beneath the frame produces steam by focusing sunlight along a steel tube at the frame's
apex. Rather than pump steam directly into the autoclave, the Rice team chose to use the steam
to heat a custom-designed conductive hotplate.
"It basically becomes a stovetop, and you can heat anything you need to," said Major. "As long
as the autoclave reaches 121 Celsius for 30 minutes (the standard set by the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention), everything should be sterile, and we've found we're able to do that
pretty easily."
He said one person could easily adjust the Capteur Soleil by ratcheting up the back leg to align
the mirrors with the sun. Within half an hour of receiving strong sunlight, the Capteur Soleil
will begin to produce steam, which will in turn heat the patterned hotplate and then the
standard-issue, FDA-approved autoclave. With good midday sun, Major said, it takes 40
minutes to an hour to begin significant heating of the autoclave.
The autoclave, which has a steamer basket inside, holds about an inch of water inside, followed
by the basket with the tools and syringes to be sterilized.
"We've used some biological spores from a test kit, steamed them, and then incubated them for
24 hours and they came back negative for biological growth,” Major said.
"This is really the latest iteration of a much larger project," said Doug Schuler, the team's
faculty adviser and an associate professor of business and public policy at Rice's Jones
Graduate School of Business.
"We already have a version of the Capteur Soleil being used in Haiti for cooking, but we felt it
could do more."
About Thermablok:
NASA named Thermablok aerogel insulating material to its “Spinoff” list of companies that
have successfully adapted NASA technology to everyday products and made them available to
consumers. Thermablok is most often used in construction as a preventative measure against
thermal bridging.
“Aerogel was previously considered not flexible enough to use in building applications,” said
Lahnie Johnson, president and founder of Thermablok. “Now, however, through a unique
--more--
Rice University/page 3
patented process, it has been formulated into a ¼-inch thick fiber that reduces ‘thermal
bridging’ - a building’s prime energy loss - from one wall to another.”
The thermal R-value of a stud wall is increased by more than 40-percent with just one, ¼-inch
strip of Thermablok on each stud before drywalling.
Thermablok and its parent company Acoustiblok, Inc., is proud to focus its research and
product manufacturing resources on environmentally important projects for the worldwide
community For more information, contact us at [email protected], or visit our website
at www.thermablok.com.
###