Package and Product Integrity Blog

This is an excerpt from a presentation given by Cryopak’s Technical Services Manager, Anthony Alleva on Thermal Management Panel: Phase Change Materials for Thermal Management.

There are many design factors to consider when combining components such as insulated containers, gel packs or phase change materials to be incorporated in thermal package designs used for shipping temperature sensitive products.

The primary drivers for a temperature control package design are:

• Payload volume and temperature requirements

• Expected ambient temperatures during transit

• Duration of the shipment

Basic design steps:

• Select a Phase Change Material (PCM) that will maintain the proper temperature and cover as much of the payload as possible.

• Determine the balance of insulation quality and PCM amount so as to overcome the amount of heat flow into or out of the package.

• The goal is for the PCM to not complete its phase change until the shipment is delivered and unpacked.

EXPERIMENTAL EXAMPLES

PCM Temperature vs Shipment Duration

• Water Gel: Phase Change at 0°C

• Phase 5: Phase Change at 5°C

• Phase 22: Phase Change at 22°C

• Cube of PCM encased in Cube of Polystyrene

• Freeze/Thaw all three samples and monitor the temperatures of each

Insulation Quality vs Shipment Duration

• Water Gel: Phase Change at 0°C

• Empty Corrugated RSC Box

• Expanded Polystyrene Lined RSC

• Vacuum Insulated Panel Lined RSC

• Freeze all three samples and monitor the temperatures of each

Insulation Quality vs Shipment Duration (Freezing)

PCM Temperature vs Shipment Duration (Freezing)

PCM Temperature vs Shipment Duration (Melting)

We are happy to announce that we will be represented by both Scott Levy, our lead packaging engineer at DDL and Anthony Alleva, the Technical Services Manager at TCP Reliable at this year’s upcoming Healthcare Packaging Conference & Workshop in Princeton, New Jersey.

Scott will be presenting on Distribution Simulation Geared Towards Medical Device Manufacturers and Anthony will be presenting on the importance of Phase Change Materials in Temperature Controlled Package Design.

This year’s event will focus on pharmaceutical packaging and medical device packaging, the  event will be divided into a morning general session and afternoon breakout workshops. The day will cover issues of interest for pharmaceutical, medical device, biologics and nutraceutical products packagers.

Here is some other important information about this year’s show:

Registration Fee: $695
Registration Fee for Packagers: $495

Who Should Attend:

• packaging decision-makers in the pharmaceutical, medical device, and healthcare industries
• packaging engineers
• plant managers
• validation and regulation officials
• package designers
• security/quality control professionals
• machinery and materials suppliers

Click here to register for the 2010 Healthcare Packaging Conference & Workshops

DDL and TCP Reliable are excited with our involvement at this year’s show and we look forward to providing attendees with valuable information that affects package and product integrity within the healthcare packaging industry.

See you at the show!