Package and Product Integrity Blog

Cryopak recently announced the addition of thermal modeling and simulation services to its array of cold chain packaging expertise. Cryopak has developed a standard set of processes, options and parameters leading to valid thermal simulation results for existing and new thermal packaging designs.

“The determination of correct simulation parameters and the assessment of appropriate geometric approximations present the biggest challenges in obtaining simulation results that accurately replicate test results,” Landon Halloran, Finite Element Thermal Analyst at Cryopak, said.

Thermal Simulation allows Cryopak to accelerate the design process by reducing inventory and chamber time requirements. Multiple variations on a common development idea can be tested to determine the optimal design. The temperature response at any point in the pack-out can be investigated and a wide variety of graphic rendering can be provided to customers.

Cryopak’s cold chain packaging group offers the following thermal modeling and simulation services;

• Creation of Thermal Packaging System CAD Model
• Thermal Simulation of Modeled Temperature-Controlled Packaging System
• Thermal Simulation with Custom Profile.
• Modification of Payload.

“Thermal Simulation is also offered as an integrated part of the full design, qualification and production service from Cryopak,” Halloran said.

“We saw that there was a need in the industry for these services,” Bill Hingle, Marketing Director at TCP Reliable said. “Others in our industry were starting to use the software on a more regular basis and we wanted to keep Cryopak ahead of the curve.”

To learn more about Cryopak’s Thermal Modeling and Simulation Services, or to speak with one of our cold chain packaging engineers about your thermal packaging system, please feel free to visit our website today at www.cryopak.com.

Cryopak recently announced the launch of one of our new products, the Tempak Plus Insulated Shipping Container.

These cost effective insulated shippers with refrigerants are designed for refrigerated 2-8°C (with excursions of 1-10°C) for 24 hour applications.

The new Tempak Plus Insulated Shipper has been pre-tested against the standard ISTA 7D summer profile.  Test data for this product is available up on request on Cryopak’s website.

Each Tempak Plus comes complete with the EPS insulated shipping container and the specified refrigerant gel packs. These units are available in either assembled or unassembled based on your requirements. Units also come complete with conditioning and packout instructions.

“This light weight shipping system has minimal components and is ideal for customers looking for an affordable alternative to our stringent 2-8°C pre-qualified product line.”  Eva Langen, Engineering Project Manager, said.

For companies looking for a more affordable insulated shipping system that requires basic qualification, the Tempak Plus product is designed for them.

Save the Date! DDL and Cryopak will be hosting their Fall Package Testing and Cold Chain Packaging Seminar and Interactive Workshops, October 11-12 at our east coast laboratory and manufacturing facility in Edison, NJ.

Package Testing Presentation Topics:

• Distribution Simluation by DDL’s Packaging Engineer, Peter Johnson

• Test Method Validation by our Director of Operations, Corey Hensel

• Materials Used in Your Sterile Barrier System for Shelf-Life Products

Package Testing Workshops Sessions:

• ASTM F88 – Peel Seal Testing

• ASTM F2096 – Bubble Leak Testing

• ASTM F1929 – Dye Leak Testing

• ASTM F1886 – Visual Inspection Testing

Cold Chain Packaging Presentation Topics

• Use of Thermal Modeling Software

• Thermal Transportation Package Design

• How thermal modeling is used in transport packaging design work

• The effects of engineered phase change materials in package design

Cold Chain Packaging Workshop

• Assembly of a cold chain pack out

• How the thermal package is readied for testing

To learn more about DDL and Cryopak’s Fall Packaging Seminar, please visit the event page below for further details and to register.

Register for DDL/Cropak’s Fall Package Testing and Cold Chain Packaging Seminar >>

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)

Cryopak, leader in temperature controlled products, has released RePak120CRT™ insulated pallet shipping container.

“We designed the RePak120CRT™ model because of an increase in the demand for controlled room temperature (CRT) insulated pallet containers,” Anthony Alleva, Technical Services Manager, at Cryopak said.  “These shippers are ideally suited for shipping cold chain shipments such as pharmaceuticals, blood products, tissues, live animals and plants that must remain in the 20°C to 30°C range.”

RePak120CRT™ insulated pallet shipping containers are constructed to offer superior thermal performance that is light weight, easy to use and supports even the heaviest payloads. These containers are tested against robust summer and winter profiles, are designed to maintain 15°- 25°C for up to 120 hours.

Other features and benefits of the RePak120CRT™ include;

• Lightweight insulated panels offer superior performance to traditional polyurethane as well as easy assembly- only 1 person needed!
• Re-usable or single use capability; comes with std wood pallet or tough re-usable plastic pallet (shown)
• Other options include corrugated outer covering; re-usable plastic outer covering;
• Designed with Re-usable Phase 22™ HDPE refrigerant packs. Pre-conditioned at room temperature.

Cryopak also has a series of 2°-8°C pallet shippers ranging from the RePak120™, which holds its temperature range for up to 120 hours to a RePak24™, which will hold its temperature range for up to 24 hours.   Cryopak’s RePak series of pallet shippers are all prequalified to ensure product integrity is maintained through temperature consistencies.

“The idea behind the RePak120CRT™ is to eventually finish the series by introducing a RePak96CRT™, RePak72CRT™  and a RePak24CRT™, giving customers more flexibility on temperature ranges and transit times during cold chain distribution,” Bill Hingle, Director of Marketing, at Cryopak said.

Cryopak and DDL will be exhibiting at next week’s PACK EXPO International show in Chicago, IL. If you are attending the show and want to learn more about the work that we do to support pharmaceutical, medical device, biotech, food and consumer product companies with thermal package design, cold chain packaging solutions and packaging testing, make sure to stop by booth #6914 to say hello to one of our packaging engineers.

More than 1,600 exhibiting companies will be on hand in Chicago to showcase their latest packaging technologies on more than 1.1 million net square feet of space. Attendees will find state-of-the-art advances in packaging and processing equipment, converting machinery, materials, packages and containers and components.

Click here to register for PACK EXPO

We look forward to seeing everyone that will be able to attend the show next week! If you have any questions on upcoming cold chain packaging or package testing projects, we would be happy to help.

Cryopak’s TimeSaver72™ pre-qualified shipper was submitted for a Greener Package Award because all of the materials used are fully recyclable. The TimeSaver72 offers clients an option to select the design & service features to create the smallest, lightest, and most cost efficient approach to match their shipping lane requirements.

“The TimeSaver72™ consists of an outer box, insulating material, and refrigerants,” Anthony Alleva, Technical Services Manager at Cryopak, explains. “Each component has a set of options offering the ability for client’s to specify their requirements based on environmental conditions, cost value and their company’s preference on green initiatives while also keeping the requirements of the specific application.”

The EPS insulating material specified uses recycled pharmaceutical grade material ranging from 0 percent to 20 percent regrind content with no degradation of performance. Engineered Phase 5™ phase change material is used as the core refrigerant because it reduces the overall size and weight of the package while also increasing the range of performance time. The conditioning methods reduce energy requirements because of the fact that the PCM doesn’t need to be pre-conditioned in a refrigerator or freezer, therefore, reducing the energy requirements to prepare the package.

The second-annual Greener Package Awards competition recognizes innovations in five categories that significantly reduce packaging’s environmental footprint. The categories included; Food & Pharmaceutical Packaging, Personal Care/Cosmetics Packaging, Non-Food Primary Packaging, Secondary/Large-Format Packaging, Beyond the Package Award. An award was also given out for the Innovator of the Year.

Read more »

Cryopak worked with Carolinas Cord Blood Bank at Duke University to develop a Cord Blood Shipper that would maintain between 4C-30C for at least 36 hours. This kit was designed so that no pre-conditioning was required for the system to function properly. The kits can be stored inside the expectant mother’s home and carried to the hospital on their delivery date. The doctor’s will then load the system with the required blood collection bag and tubes to be sent back to Carolinas Cord Blood Bank for storage.

Each kit was designed with an outer returnable plastic shell so that the systems could be reused numerous times and provide ample protection during transportation.

This kit is very unique in that it uses our new PIR panels and Exogel panels to maintain the required temperature ranges. Also, Cryopak designed a water filled pouch using our Flexible Ice Blankets to completely enclose the collected blood material to prevent any leaks and provide more protection to the collected blood samples.

Learn more about this project and how cord blood collection kits are helping to save lives.

Jean Bedard, CEO of ATP, a subsidiary of TCP Reliable/Cryopak, will be leading a workshop with TCP/Cryopak’s Technical Services Manager Anthony Alleva at IQPC’s 8th Annual Cold Chain Distribution for Pharmaceuticals Conference. The topic for Jean and Anthony’s workshop is Performing an Efficient Cold Chain Compliance and Process Gap Analysis.

Philadelphia Convention Center | September 20 – 23 | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

The purpose of Gap Analysis is to assist pharmaceutical manufacturers, distributors or 3 PLs (3rd Party Logistics Providers) to help them identify gaps in their cold chain supply chain network or systems.

Jean and Anthony will be leading their workshop on Monday, September, 20th, from 2:30-5:30 pm.

What you will learn:

• The regulatory aspects related to the cold chain
• Responsibilities in the supply chain
• Requirements for the storage and handling of drug products
• Packaging, transportation and distribution of drug products
• Performing a gap analysis to know what needs to be done in order to fully comply with regulations and optimize your processes
• Ways and means to develop an executable action plan

Bill Hingle from TCP Reliable shows off a lightweight insulated shipping container and explains the different options for pack out configurations. Lightweight insulated shipping containers are used for the transportation of high value pharmaceutical products to ensure that during transportation, the drugs maintain their product integrity.