CN103827606B - Container device for goods to be cooled and method for operating such a device - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a container device for the transport of goods to be cooled, such as pharmaceuticals, comprising: a closable receiving space for the goods to be cooled; a thermal conductor adjacent to the receiving space; a thermal buffer thermally insulated from the environment of the container device; and a heat pump in thermal contact with the thermal conductor and the heat buffer and configured to transfer heat from the receiving space and to transfer the heat to the heat buffer. The invention also relates to a method for transporting goods to be cooled, such as pharmaceuticals, comprising: placing an article in the receiving space of the device described above; transferring heat from the receiving space via the thermal conductor with the heat pump; and delivering the transferred heat to the heat buffer by the heat pump.

Description

Container device for goods to be cooled and method for operating such a device

technical field

The invention relates to a container device for goods to be cooled and to a method for operating such a device. More particularly, the invention relates to a container for transporting medicaments and cooling them during transport. Furthermore, the invention relates to a method for preparing such a container for use.

Background technique

Certain commodities, especially pharmaceuticals, need to be transported and stored under certain thermal conditions. These conditions may vary for each particular drug, making it often undesirable or even impossible to combine shipments of multiple drugs in a common (cooled) container. Also, because the medication may need to be shipped from the same origin to multiple destinations, it is desirable that separate containers can be used in order to avoid the necessity of opening the container during transportation.

Contents of the invention

It is an object of the present invention to provide a container for the transport and/or storage of goods to be cooled which fulfills the needs mentioned above and which offers additional advantages.

The present invention proposes a container arrangement for goods to be cooled, such as medicines, comprising: a closable containment space for the goods to be cooled; a heat conductor adjacent to the containment space; a thermal insulation from the environment of the containment arrangement; a buffer; and a heat pump in thermal contact with the thermal conductor and the thermal buffer and configured to remove heat from the containment space and transfer the heat to the thermal buffer.

The containment space can be sized as needed such that it can hold a quantity of medication that is typically sent as a batch from a producer (such as a drug dealer) to a wholesaler or patient. In a practical embodiment, the space may be approximately 25 by 25 by 25 cm. The receiving space can be put into for inserting medicine when the container device is opened. When the container is closed, the receiving space is preferably protected from the atmosphere of the container. The thermal conductor can be a passive or active thermal conductor, and the thermal buffer can be an active or passive thermal buffer. The thermal buffer is thermally insulated from the environment of the device in order to avoid heat exchange with the environment. In this way, the device according to the invention does not heat the object or other devices in its immediate vicinity. This may be a particular advantage, for example, when the device is sent by air freight where special regulations apply. Another advantage is that the avoidance of heat (and thus air) exchange removes the usual risk of contamination of cooling systems exchanging heat with their environment. Opening and closing of the container means may be accomplished under certain controlled or conditional circumstances, and thereafter, the means may remain closed until the contents are to be used.

The heat conductor may be arranged adjacent to the accommodation space. In fact, the boundary of the receiving space may even be at least partially formed by the heat conductor. However, isolation or shielding may be required for hygienic reasons.

In an embodiment, the buffer may include a reservoir having a phase change material. Such a material may have a high heat capacity and the property of remaining at a fixed temperature until all material phases have changed. In practice, the phase transition is a change from solid to fluid most of the time.

A thermal buffer with a fixed temperature over a wide range of energy absorption is also advantageous for controlling the temperature of the containment space. In a further embodiment (the power of) the heat pump is controllable and the device comprises a controller in order to control the amount of heat to be removed from the containment space and/or the temperature of the containment space.

The controller may be equipped with one or more sensors for monitoring the temperature of the containment space and means for setting the required or desired temperature. These devices can be accessed from outside the container device or even remotely by means of a control panel. Embodiments are also conceivable in which the settings are to be fed in when the goods to be cooled are placed in place.

In yet another embodiment, the heat pump includes Peltier elements. This type of heat pump has no moving parts and is therefore generally relatively robust. Its amount of heat transfer can be controlled by means of electricity (i.e. current or voltage), and it does not require high power to operate. This makes it particularly suitable to be precisely controlled with an electronic controller without the need for an intermediate power switch. Low power consumption is further desirable in this case, since external power may not always be available, and reliance on it would thus be a dangerous disadvantage.

The efficiency of a Peltier heat pump generally depends primarily on its thermal contact with the body with which it needs to exchange heat. In applications designed according to the state of the art, the use of Peltier elements has caused difficulties, since optimum thermal contact can only be made when these bodies have surfaces that completely touch the surface of the Peltier element, whereas the body surface Has an implicit roughness.

In yet another embodiment according to the invention, both the heat conductor and the heat buffer thus comprise a fluid which is in thermal contact with the opposite face of the Peltier element. The use of these fluids ensures (nearly) full contact with the Peltier elements and thus a very efficient heat exchange.

This heat exchange can be further improved by providing the heat conductor and/or the heat buffer with a fluid pump for pumping the corresponding fluid along the surface of the Peltier element. The containment device according to the invention then comprises two independent closed fluid circuits. Pumping the fluid around further increases the efficiency of the heat exchange and enables the controller to respond faster to a measured difference between the actual and desired temperature in the containment space.

The thermal buffer may need to be cooled before use, or between uses of the device. This can be done by exposing the thermal buffer to low temperatures, for example by placing it (along with the rest of the apparatus) in a refrigerator. This may however consume too much time. According to the invention, the controller can be equipped with a special mode for controlling the transfer of heat by the heat pump in the opposite direction, where the heat is diverted from the thermal buffer and delivered to the containment space.

The use of Peltier elements makes it possible to do so simply by changing the direction of an electrical quantity such as current or voltage. This property may well be exploited to electrically restore the thermal buffer to its initial condition in a relatively short time.

As mentioned before, different commodities, especially pharmaceuticals, may require different temperatures. The controller may be configured to read a code in or on the commodity to be cooled, the code indicating a storage temperature, and to set the holding space temperature to the storage temperature. The risk of incorrect settings due to human error is thereby eliminated.

The controller may be configured to read RFID, optical codes such as barcodes, magnetic codes or chips, or any other device applied in or on merchandise.

To be able to operate autonomously, the device may include an energy source, such as a battery, for providing energy to the heat pump and/or the controller and/or the fluid pump. Such a battery may, for example, be placed at or close to the outer boundary of the device. Furthermore, a heat buffer can be arranged, for example, at the periphery of the receiving space separated by the heat conductor and the heat pump. Given a certain volume, components having various temperatures within the container arrangement can be separated maximally so that undesired heat exchange between these components is minimized. The device may further comprise a housing enclosing at least the containment volume and thermal buffer hermetically isolated from the environment of the device.

Description of drawings

The device according to the invention will now be elucidated in more detail with reference to the following figures, which serve only as examples, and in which:

Figure 1 shows a schematic cross-sectional view of a container arrangement according to the invention;

Figure 2 shows a perspective view of the container device of Figure 1;

Figure 3 shows a perspective view of an embodiment of a container device according to the invention.

detailed description

Fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a device 1 according to the invention. The container device 1 comprises: a closable containment space 2 for goods to be cooled; a plurality of thermal conductors 3 adjacent to the containment space 2; and a thermal buffer 5 thermally insulated from the environment of the container device 1 . The device further comprises a plurality of heat pumps 4 which are in thermal contact with the heat conductor 3 and the heat buffer 5 and are configured to transfer heat from the receiving space 2 and to the heat buffer 5 .

The thermal conductor 3 comprises a fluid which is pumped around by a fluid pump (not shown), while the thermal buffer 5 comprises a phase change material which is likewise pumped by a (further) fluid pump (not shown) to each place. The container means comprises a battery 7 for providing electrical energy to a controller 8 which controls the heat pump 4, the heat pump 4 and the fluid pump(s).

The shown container arrangement is very energy efficient. A temperature range between -25 and +25 degrees Celsius can be set and kept constant for 20 to 100, and especially for between 50 and 80 hours. Although 4 heat pumps are shown, embodiments with a single heat pump can be used.

FIG. 2 shows a perspective sectional view of the embodiment of the container device 1 from FIG. 1 . In FIGS. 1 and 2, the same reference numerals designate the same parts.

Figure 3 shows a perspective view of a container according to the invention. The container device comprises: a main part 9 comprising the accommodation space 2; and a lid 10 comprising a protruding part 13 forming a wall of the accommodation space 2 when the lid and main part 9 are assembled. The main part 9 comprises a plurality of seals 11 in order to ensure an airtight closure of the container means in the assembled state.

In use, goods are placed in the holding space 2 and heat is removed from the holding space 2 with the heat pump 4 via the heat conductor 3 in order to be delivered to the heat buffer 5 . The exact temperature required for the commodity to be cooled can be read from a code from the commodity that indicates the desired or prescribed storage temperature. The heat pump is then controlled in such a way that the temperature of the holding space remains within a predetermined bandwidth of the storage temperature of the commodity. To prepare the device for use, heat can be removed from the thermal buffer by operating the heat pump in the opposite direction.

Claims (16)

1. for a case for the transport of commodity to be cooled, comprising:

-for the closed spatial accommodation of described commodity to be cooled;

-heat conductor, it is adjacent with described spatial accommodation;

-thermal buffer, the environment heat insulation of itself and described case;

-heat pump, itself and described heat conductor and described thermal buffer thermo-contact, and be configured to useIn shifting from the hot of described spatial accommodation and described heat being delivered to described thermal buffer.

2. according to the device of claim 1, wherein said commodity to be cooled are medicines.

3. according to the device of claim 1 or 2, wherein said thermal buffer comprises having phase transformation materialThe holder of material.

4. according to the device of claim 1, wherein said heat pump is controlled, and wherein saidDevice comprises controller, for controlling the heat and/or the institute that treat from described spatial accommodation transferState the temperature of spatial accommodation.

5. according to the device of claim 4, wherein said heat pump comprises peltier-element.

6. according to the device of claim 5, wherein said heat conductor and described thermal buffer are bothComprise fluid, the opposite face thermo-contact of described fluid and described peltier-element.

7. according to the device of claim 6, wherein said heat conductor and/or described thermal buffer compriseFor the fluid pump of pumping corresponding fluids.

8. according to the device of claim 4, wherein said controller comprises for the direction contraryThe control model of the described heat pump of upper control, wherein heat is shifted from described thermal buffer and is carriedTo described spatial accommodation.

9. according to the device of claim 4, wherein said controller be arranged to read in treat coldBut code in commodity or thereon, described code instruction storing temperature, and for by instituteState spatial accommodation temperature setting and be set to described storing temperature.

10. according to the device of claim 9, wherein said controller be arranged to read RFID,Optical code.

11. according to the device of claim 7, comprises for energy being offered to heat pump and/or controllerAnd/or the energy of fluid pump.

12. according to the device of claim 1, and wherein said thermal buffer is disposed in by described thermal conductanceThe periphery of the described spatial accommodation that body separates with described heat pump.

13. according to the device of claim 1, comprises a housing, and it holds sky described in sealing at leastBetween and thermal buffer the environment of itself and described device is hermetic isolated.

14. for transporting the method for commodity to be cooled, comprising:

-commodity are placed on according to the spatial accommodation of the device of any one in aforementioned claimIn;

-shift the heat from described spatial accommodation via described heat conductor with described heat pump;

-by described heat pump, shifted heat is transported to described thermal buffer.

15. methods according to claim 14, comprising:

-from described commodity to be cooled read instruction storing temperature code;

-control temperature that described heat pump makes described spatial accommodation and be retained in the institute of described commodityState within the scope of the bandwidth of storing temperature.

16. for preparing according to the device of aforementioned claim 1-13 any one for the side usingMethod, comprising:

-shift the heat from described thermal buffer by operating in the opposite direction described heat pump.