Laminar boasts largest validation lab in Europe

Laminar Medica, the UK-based specialist manufacturer of temperature-controlled shipping containers for the pharmaceutical and biotech industries, has installed two new walk-in environmental chambers at its Tring headquarters. This brings the total number of chambers to 10, plus five conditioning units, giving the company the largest test and validation laboratory for cold-chain shippers in Europe.

The new capacity will enable Laminar Medica to accommodate a growing number of new customers as well as providing capacity for existing customers' new projects, which are becoming increasingly complex and demanding more laboratory time and space, said technical director Geraint Thomas. The expanded facility will also be used by the company's newly created dedicated research and development team.

Each of the chambers in the Laminar laboratory is microprocessor-controlled, which allows them to be programmed with an almost infinite number of profiles within ambient temperatures from -20°C to +50°C. The laboratory also offers pre-conditioning facilities for cool-packs and test products, including -40°C super-freezer, -20°C freezer and two +5°C chillers.

Data acquisition in the validation lab is achieved with Grant Squirrel data loggers comprising 8, 12 and 16 channel devices that enable Laminar to map temperatures accurately for even the largest payloads to within +0.5°C accuracy. T-type thermocouples are used with these loggers and the devices are triple point calibrated on a monthly basis to traceable national standards (UKAS).

According to Thomas the new capacity also greatly increases the flexibility of the lab. 'It means we can adopt specific procedures requested by our customers, such as pre and post test calibrations, for instance,' he said. 'Our operating specification has an accuracy of 0.5°C and a 0.1°C resolution.'