New container turns up the heat
The latest development in the Envirotainer range is the RKN e1, designed to ensure pharmaceutical products remain within tightly specified temperature parameters, even during extreme fluctuations in ambient conditions.
The latest development in the Envirotainer range is the RKN e1, designed to ensure pharmaceutical products remain within tightly specified temperature parameters, even during extreme fluctuations in ambient conditions.
Rather than using dry ice as the cooling source, the new container uses electrical energy supplied from a large rechargeable battery pack in a separate compartment to power heating elements and a compressor for cooling.
The batteries were chosen for their intrinsically safe design. They can be recharged from a standard power supply up to 1,000 times with no loss of capacity and take a maximum of eight hours to charge. The container is equipped with a 12-metre cable and six different adapters that cover virtually all countries worldwide. A pro-active alert signal is given if the container is low on power.
Running autonomously on batteries and exposed to an external temperature of a constant 30°C, the system could maintain an internal temperature of 5°C for 40 hours. On a typical journey, the autonomous range would be 60 hours, but plugging the batteries into the mains supply for one hour would increase the range by some 15 hours.
'The specification by healthcare customers states that the unit should operate for a minimum of 30 hours in extreme temperatures from -10 to +30°C without recharging,' says Welander.
Aimed at the +2-8°C market segment but also suitable for +2-25°C applications, the RKN e1 is the result of a three-year research, development and testing programme, and was recently awarded air worthiness certification by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). It has external dimensions of 2000 x 1530 x 1620mm, measures 1340 x 1319 x 1315mm internally and has a loadable volume of 2.3m3.
The container is the most thoroughly tested Envirotainer has ever produced. Its development included safety tests to show compliance with avionics regulations, extensive vibration and shock testing, tests at different pressures and severe humidity, Electro Magnetic Capability testing, shell stability testing and functionality testing of the control unit, and battery charging in a wide array of electricity conditions. Envirotainer has also conducted a thorough analysis of cargo and container loading, physical damage and repair techniques, cleaning, shipment simulations, autonomy at extreme conditions and air velocity performance testing.