Improving Performance of Cold-Chain Insulated Container with Phase Change Material: An Experimental Investigation

The cold-chain transportation is an important means to ensure the drug and food safety. An cold-chain insulated container incorporating with Phase Change Material (PCM) has been developed for a temperature-controlled transportation in the range of 2 similar to 8 degrees C. The container configuration and different preconditioning methods have been determined to realize a 72-h transportation under extremely high, extremely low, and alternating temperature conditions. The experimental results showed that the temperature-controlled time was extended from 1 h to more than 80 h and the internal temperature maintained at 4 similar to 5 degrees C by using a PCM with a melting/freezing point of 5 degrees C, while the container presented a subcooling effect in a range of -1 similar to 2 degrees C when using water as PCM. The experimental values of the temperature-controlled time agreed well with the theoretical values.