These last two days we have been finishing our incubator and conducting tests with Hector.

After realizing we had mistakenly assumed that the voltage output of the standard phone charger was twelve-volts, we realized we had to make some changes to the power input for our incubator. As the standard voltage for transformers that connect to a USB port is five-volts, we decided that the best solution to our problem was attaching a five-volt twelve-volt step-up transformer to the end of our incubator. This way the incubator can still be powered by phone chargers, car outlets, and back-up battery packs.

While we found a converter online, if we ordered the component, the delivery would not arrive until after our trip was over. Therefore, we spent all of Tuesday morning jumping from electronics store to electronics store looking for an appropriate transformer. After visiting over a dozen stores, an incredibly inconveniently located RadioShack, and a marketplace selling pirated electronics, we were unable to find the component we needed.

To test the incubator we built in Chiapas, we ended up improvising and striping a twelve-volt AC/DC converter and connecting the component to a USB port so that it could be used with the new incubator.

 

While the design worked, we still felt that it would be more convenient in the formal design to use a step-up converter, and we updated to manuals to reflect that.

Afterwards, we went and ran another series of tests with Hector, using newly bought test tubes. Watching Hector conduct the test, we realized that his regard for laboratory techniques to avoid contamination exceeded our own by a large margin. We placed two tubes with contaminated water and two tubes with clean water in our incubator, while running the same test with the same samples in their incubator.

 

To our delight, when we checked the following day, this test reflected results consistent with both expectations and the control samples in their incubator.

With the testing results consistent and the new incubator functioning properly, we began to wrap up our project. We had a short meeting with Hector, where we went step by step showing how to manufacture the incubator. Additionally, we sent a translated manual with all the information needed to reproduce the process along with links for the specific components used.

Afterwards, it was time for goodbyes. The people at Cantaro Azul had been so welcoming, helpful, and wonderful to us the entire trip. From Sandra helping organize everything to make this trip a reality to Antonio taking us to visit rural communities to Hector offering us his time and expertise, the individuals we had an opportunity to interact with truly made our journey worthwhile.

-Scott