SteriPak - Low Cost Medical Autoclave

Low cost sterilisers for under served communities

SteriPak is a kit that converts end of life gas cylinders into autoclaves for sterilisation of medical and baby equipment. Originally developed for an open call by IMC Worldwide, a SteriPak autoclave only requires water and a heat source to achieve total sterilisation. While most developed countries treat surgical equipment like scalpels and forceps as one use items, many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa are forced to reuse them due to their expense. For intuitive use any parts that the user interacts with are colour coded blue.

Improved Surgical Success Rates

SteriPak will give people access to low cost, effective equipment sterilisation where it was previously unavailable. The result of this will be lower infant mortality rates, surgical infection and an overall increase in quality of life. A SteriPak Kit is designed to cost less than $10 when mass produced.

Simple, Intuitive operation

SteriPak is designed to be easy to operate; place items to be sterilised on the base plate, pour in 2 litres of water, tighten the lid using six the outer clamps, apply heat to base, when thick steam comes out of the top valve close it, leave for fifteen minutes, remove heat and open top valve, stand for 5 minutes and remove lid, the items are sterilised. SteriPak re-uses 99% of the material from the gas cylinder to minimise waste

Conversion from gas cylinder to autoclave

SteriPak is designed to be easy to operate; place items to be sterilised on the base plate, pour in 2 litres of water, tighten the lid using six the outer clamps, apply heat to base, when thick steam comes out of the top valve close it, leave for fifteen minutes, remove from heat and open the top valve, allow to stand for 5 minutes and remove lid, the items are sterilised. The SteriPak valve incorporates pressure regulation, safety and air purging features. The spring is calibrated to maintain the 15 psi of steam pressure to achieve 121°C for 15 minutes necessary to sterilise equipment.

prototyping + Testing

An old gas cylinder was converted using an early prototype SteriPak kit. The SteriPak autoclave was then tested using medical grade sterilisation testing strips. By the end of the test, the yellow testing indicator turned blue, indicating total sterilisation of the utensils within. The conversion process is carried out at local workshops where the gas cylinders are exchanged for finished SteriPak autoclaves.

Exhibitions + Awards

SteriPak was selected as a winner of the Global Irish Design Challenge and was exhibited in Dublin Castle in 2016 and the Kilkenny Design Centre in 2017. SteriPak was awarded a Red Dot Award for Environmental Design and a Silver A' Design Award for Social Design.

If you wish to discuss this project or need expert insight to develop one of your own, please get in touch here.