Insu Portable
Mason Lucich
Bio-medicines require refrigeration, otherwise they quickly lose their potency and the patient either purchases new medicine, or rolls the dice and uses that spoiled medication. The former decision is costly, but the latter can result in serious health implications, even hospitalization, if not worse. Insu Portable was designed to protect bio-medicines, and therefore their users. Utilizing a patent-pending cooling system, the device has a battery life of 3-5 days, and can be charged through the wall, the car, or with a small solar panel.
Compared to other battery-powered bio-medicine coolers on the market, our prototype not only lasts 6X longer, but was the only device to accurately reach and maintain the target temperature. Only one of the competitor devices reached the “safe” temperature range, but none of the competitor devices reached the temperature at which they were programmed (shown by the black dotted line).
We discovered that our competition to have a true impact aren’t the portable devices, but the domestic refrigerators. Studies show that bio-medicines stored in refrigerators are outside the recommended temperature range about 11% of the time (that’s about 2 1/2 hours per day). Our device leverages its small volume to accurately monitor the temperature and maintain that temperature more precisely, protecting the medication and therefore its users.
My name is Mason Lucich. I graduated from Oklahoma State University with my Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering, and worked both stateside and overseas as an engineer all through my undergrad and after graduating. A year post-graduation, I realized that the work I was doing wasn’t fulfilling me like I had hoped it would, and I began exploring options. I came across Industrial Design and fell for the creativity and beauty exemplified by the designers and their products. I came into the Graduate ID program here at UH hoping to start my own boutique furniture company, making one-off pieces for clients with local materials and craftsmen. This path changed rapidly when I started working on Insu Portable, as I saw the potential to truly make a difference in people’s lives around the world. Now, as the company is growing and our product is becoming more and more of a reality each day, I cannot contain the excitement I have to focus on it full-time as a CEO.
