About SunDanzer
SunDanzer was founded in 1999 by a NASA refrigeration engineer who figured out how to keep things cold on sunlight alone, with no battery to fail. Twenty-seven years later, that idea protects vaccines and food in 69 countries.
1999
founded on licensed NASA technology
44,676
fridges and freezers shipped
7,000+
vaccine refrigerators deployed
69
countries with SunDanzer units
Our story
David Bergeron led refrigeration research at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, where his team worked on solar-powered heat pumps meant to cool a future lunar base. Out there, a battery is a liability: heavy, short-lived and hard to replace.
His answer was to store cold instead of electricity. The compressor runs straight off the solar panel while the sun is up and freezes a water-based phase-change material into a thermal “ice bank.” When the sun goes down, the ice bank keeps the cabinet cold. No battery, no charge controller.
In 1999 he licensed the technology and founded the company that became SunDanzer. The first battery-free unit went to NASA. The next ones went where the problem was real: rural clinics with no grid and no spare parts, where a warm fridge means wasted vaccines.
We still build every refrigerator around the same principle. Fewer parts that can fail, so health workers can spend their time on patients instead of equipment.
Today our next generation pairs that same phase-change ice bank with lithium batteries. A clinic needs a solar array about half the size, and the vaccines stay cold through cloudy stretches. Smaller systems, fewer parts that can fail, so health workers can spend their time on patients instead of equipment.
Generation 1 · Where it started
The original NASA idea: the compressor runs straight off the panel and freezes a phase-change ice bank that holds the cabinet cold overnight. No battery at all.
Generation 2 · Today Next generation
We kept the phase-change ice bank and added a lithium battery. The two together do more with less sunlight than either can alone.
Milestones
Who we build for
Health programs
Ministries of health, UN agencies and NGOs use our WHO PQS refrigerators, freezers and carriers to keep vaccines potent at remote sites.
Off-grid living
Low-draw 12/24/48V fridges and freezers that let a small solar system do the job of a big one.
Partners
Regional partners who install, service and sell SunDanzer units across our 69-country footprint.
How we build
The best refrigerator in a remote clinic is the one nobody has to think about.
Key components are easy to reach and replace in the field, so a fault means a quick part swap, not a new refrigerator.
Powder-coated galvanized steel cabinets and lockable lids made for heat, dust and humidity.
Medical systems arrive with their power system and everything needed to install. Plug and play.
Every watt we save shrinks the solar array our customers have to buy and maintain.
The team
Founder & CEO
Former lead of NASA’s advanced refrigeration work at Johnson Space Center and inventor of the battery-free solar refrigerator. Today he leads SunDanzer’s research and development, including our next-generation lithium + phase-change systems.
Chief Operating Officer
Harrison runs SunDanzer’s day-to-day operations, from production and quality to getting every order delivered, installed and supported. He spent a year and a half living in China working directly with our production partners on build quality, and he regularly travels to installation sites to see how our refrigerators perform in the field and bring those lessons back to the factory.
Director of Medical Sales
Founder of SureChill, Ian has spent more than 30 years working with off-grid solar and vaccine refrigeration across Africa. He works with ministries of health, NGOs and procurement teams to plan cold-chain rollouts, from choosing the right refrigerators to delivery at remote sites.
Tucson, Arizona
Main warehouse · R&D
420 E Aviation Drive, Suite 120
Tucson, AZ 85714, USA
San Luis Obispo, California
R&D
Talk to the engineers who designed the equipment.