Bill Gates gives Welsh inventor Ian Tansley $1.4m to develop fridge to keep vaccines cool without electricity

  • Wales
The money will help turn this prototype into a reality

An inventor from Machynlleth has received more than a million dollars from Microsoft founder Bill Gates.

Ian Tansley has been given the money to develop a fridge that keeps vaccines cool - without electricity.

It's designed for use in the developing world and can store vaccines without power for up to 35 days.

Kevin Ashford reports.

The money will help turn this prototype into a reality
A basic demonstration of how the fridge works

The temperature of four degrees Celcius is crucial.

It's what's needed to keep vaccines and blood supplies fresh in parts of the world where power supplies are unreliable... if they exist at all.

The vaccines need to be kept cool in hot environments

The company already has fridges keeping vaccines cool for up to ten days in more than thirty countries.

The funding from Bill Gates will mean the new fridges being produced from the middle of next year, opening up even more markets across the world and save even more lives.