Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1489442
4 NEWS 5.1.2023 A fire that broke out at the Kordin Grain Terminal on Wednesday was put out but the grain silo that was impacted had to be emp- tied, a Home Affairs Ministry spokesperson said. Initial reports suggested that a silo holding 1,000 tonnes of grain caught fire at around 10am and fire fighters were immediately on site to battle the flames. No injuries were re- ported. Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri had also appealed in a Facebook post for people to avoid the area. Camilleri said that he was informed of a fire at the Kordin Grain Ter- minal and members of the civil protection department and other entities were on site. e Kordin Grain Terminal is Malta's fore- most grain storage facility and is situated on the Corradino side of the Grand Harbour. Fire breaks out at Kordin Grain Terminal IN the midst of the pandemic, a team of Maltese engineers were inspired to apply their engineering skills to join the frontier against the COVID-19 pandemic. Many vaccines have to be kept cool until administration to preserve their effectiveness, prompting the team to go the extra mile to apply proprietary, locally developed technology to tackle the last-mile cold chain challenge. Fast-forward to present day, and a first prototype of the last-mile medical transporter has been successfully de- veloped by researchers and students at the Department of Electronic Systems Engineering, University of Malta . Beyond COVID-19 vaccines, such a medical transporter could prove cru- cial in delivering cooled, active med- ical payloads in areas where infra- structure is a major obstacle. The medical transporter consists of a payload up to 960cm cubed, com- fortably fitting one vaccine carton (holding 100 doses) to be transported at temperatures below - 40°C. The battery-powered device is capa- ble of continuous cooling for a num- ber of hours, or powered indefinitely by an external power source. Furthermore, security features are implemented to prevent any tamper- ing of the payload. The robust transporter is light enough to be carried by one person at just 12kg, allowing it to be carried by foot or vehicle over difficult terrain to service challenging, remote locations where cold-chain infrastructure is lacking. Such a medical transporter is only possible thanks to the technology developed through ICECAP, an R&I project formed by a consortium be- tween the University of Malta and local manufacturing company New Energy Ltd. Refrigeration was achieved through thermoelectric devices, which are of- ten not fully taken advantage of due to their inherent inefficiencies and pow- er losses. However, the patent-pending ICE- CAP technology is capable of over- coming these issues and is able to provide efficient and consistent tem- peratures. ICECAP (MCST R&I-2018-035T) is supported by €200,000 in funding covering a three period of develop- ment thanks to the Malta Council for Science & Technology through FU- SION: The R&I Technology Develop- ment Programme. Medical transporter developed at University of Malta reaches first active prototype