When a soldier is injured, every second counts. But when the injury occurs in a remote location, it can be logistically difficult to get the soldier to a secure site or, depending on the type of wound, have the correct supplies to save their life.
For example, a blood transfusion is a life-saving measure that has been challenging in the past, given a lack of available blood in the field stored at the right temperature.
In 2018, the military tasked a pair of engineers, Bill Barg and Robert Futch, with creating a new blood refrigeration prototype. While they were experts in mechanical engineering, software engineering, and thermoregulation, they sought the advice of Monti Leija, a veteran of combat service who had hands-on experience as a special forces medic.
Together they created the Autonomous Portable Refrigeration Unit (APRU), a portable blood and vaccine refrigerator. It can keep blood cool for four days and has a durable design that can withstand the G-forces after being air dropped out of a plane. Powered by standard batteries, it can also use solar power, which is critical in remote locations. From there, they formed the Tucson, Arizona-based startup Delta Development Team, hoping to make their concept a reality.
To speed time-to-market, Delta turned to Xometry, a digital manufacturing marketplace with ISO 13485 certification, to move the APRU into production. Xometry helped Delta navigate the mold and tooling processes and provided critical feedback for design for manufacturability (DFM). The partnership allowed the startup to reduce costs and lower risks.
Delta tapped into Xometry’s network of some 5,000 suppliers to scale up their business and make some otherwise challenging new product prototypes.
The APRU is now used by multiple military branches and is such a critical unit that the armed forces came back and asked for a larger version, the Total Blood System (TBS). If all goes according to plan, trucks and airplanes will use the TBS to transport life-saving blood from state to state and even to our armed forces in other countries.
