FEAT
ATURE
TH
THERMAL MANAGEMENT & EM
MAL MANAGEMENT & EMC
FEELING THE HEAT F M FEELING
any product s require temperature- controlled conditions during
transport and storage. Pharmaceutica l and healthcare products, as well as many foods, may need t o be kept cool, and some must not be frozen. Regulat ion is in place and growing across several sect ors to ensure that standards are maintained. This diligence requires a method of monitoring temperature at the produ ct level that is c onvenient, cos t effective, accurate, and which provides the failsafe indication of breaches in temperature during the progress of the product from manufacture to t he ‘last mile’ - delivery to pharmacies is just one significant example.
Indicator technologies include
chemical-based self-adhesive st rips that affix to products on the inner or outer packaging, and provide imme diate visual notification of temperature breach. Another alternative is data loggers. These provide detailed data recording , but are much larger and more expensive, and so are best suited t o use on a one per container basis; these do not necessarily monitor the temperature of t he products themselves. This could result in whole shipments being reject ed, when only a few products have been compromised; with the IT support
required for software installat ion on t op of t his wasted potent ial, and the operator training demanded at k ey points in the supply chain, and temperat ure indicators appear t o be a more precise and effective solution from this point-of-view. This point-of-view is held by T imestrip,
28 APRIL 2020 | ELECTRONICS G THE HEAT
Designing and delivering a new project to market is an exciting process. But safety is that hurdle that must always be conquered, particularly in the realm of thermal management. Timestrip proposes temperature breach in dicators as a necessary solution
Designing and delivering a new project to market is an exciting process. But safety is that hurdle that must always be conquered, particularly in the realm of thermal management. proposes temperature breach indicators as a necessary solution
demonstrated by t he introduction of a t hird range of chemical temperature and t ime indicat ors, for the t opical application of electronic temperature indication: eTimestrip products look to combine the convenience and co st effectiveness of chemical indicators with the data gathering and auditability of data loggers.
Referred to as ‘TIR ’ products
(Temperature Indication and Report), th ey can be selected according to application from a standard range, or configured to customers’ requirements. Importantly, eTimestrip indicators are single use devices, activated by breaking a tab. Accordingly, the st ored data cannot be overwritten, providing a guarantee of integrity - a ‘quality seal’ th at th e cold chain has remained intac t. Thes e durable indicators are fabricate d in a metal housing, around 28x26mm in size and just 2.8mm thick, so they can be fixed ont o many individual product packages. Accuracy is quoted at +/- 1.0 degrees Celsius, between -30 and +70 degrees Celsius, with greater accuracy
(0.5 degrees Celsius) in the core range of -10 to +50 degrees Celsius. Resolution is at 0.1 degrees Celsius.
Indicators come sealed with in-built button cells for power. Cert ified t o UN3091, t he cells are exempt from DGR declaration. Measurement of temperature is at one minute intervals once activated, and there are six alarm levels that record the date, time and extent of any temperature breaches. A simple traffic light LED system on the indicators provides users along the supply chain with instant status information: ready, operating, stopped, alarm, etc. Access to the full data report is achieved using a PDF format report, which is downloadable, wirelessly, through a standard smartphone using Android or iOS. The report contains t he individual device and product ID, along with a variety of statistics that can be integrated with other shipment data. This report is also used to demonstrat e compliance with relevant regulations such as GxP, 21CFR Part 11, NIST and ISO 17025.
One of Timestrip’s TIR indicators
rs strip’s
The development of electronic temperature indicators is hoped to open up a wider range of applications th at can be monitored, cost effectivel y, throughout the suppl y chain - i n pharmaceuticals, healthcare, bulk food and other high value applications with temperature sensitive products.
Timestrip
www.timestrip.com / ELECTRONICS
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