Monitoring temperature-sensitive cargo with automated generation of regulatory qualification
First Claim
1. A process of determining, at a point during shipment, whether a solid phase refrigerant in a shipment is sufficient to preserve a shipment cargo, which is blood or other biological products, for a remaining shipment period to an intended recipient, comprising:
- monitoring temperatures encountered and the time of exposure to such temperatures to said point by the shipment, using a logger which is connected to temperature sensors, and estimating temperatures likely to be encountered during the remaining shipment period and time of exposure to said estimated temperatures;
determining a likelihood that the remaining refrigerant can maintain the shipment cargo within a specified temperature range during the remaining shipment period based on the estimation of the temperatures likely to be encountered and the time of exposure; and
if risk that the remaining refrigerant cannot maintain the shipment cargo within said range during the remaining shipment period is above a cut-off level, then adding refrigerant to the shipment, moving the shipment to a faster transportation mode, moving the shipment to a temperature-controlled environment, or diverting the shipment to a different recipient.
7 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Disclosed is a process of determining, at a point during shipment, whether the solid phase refrigerant in a shipment is sufficient to preserve the shipment cargo, which is blood or other biological products, for the remaining shipment period, by: monitoring the temperatures encountered to said point and estimating the temperatures likely to be encountered during the remaining shipment period; determining the likelihood that the remaining refrigerant can maintain the shipment cargo within a specified temperature range during the remaining shipment period; and if the risk that the remaining refrigerant cannot maintain the shipment cargo within said range during the remaining shipment period is above a cut-off level, then taking action to preserve the value of the cargo.
-
Citations
19 Claims
-
1. A process of determining, at a point during shipment, whether a solid phase refrigerant in a shipment is sufficient to preserve a shipment cargo, which is blood or other biological products, for a remaining shipment period to an intended recipient, comprising:
-
monitoring temperatures encountered and the time of exposure to such temperatures to said point by the shipment, using a logger which is connected to temperature sensors, and estimating temperatures likely to be encountered during the remaining shipment period and time of exposure to said estimated temperatures; determining a likelihood that the remaining refrigerant can maintain the shipment cargo within a specified temperature range during the remaining shipment period based on the estimation of the temperatures likely to be encountered and the time of exposure; and if risk that the remaining refrigerant cannot maintain the shipment cargo within said range during the remaining shipment period is above a cut-off level, then adding refrigerant to the shipment, moving the shipment to a faster transportation mode, moving the shipment to a temperature-controlled environment, or diverting the shipment to a different recipient. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
-
-
16. A process of ensuring low cost shipment of biological products requiring temperature-control, comprising:
-
determining a maximum predicted period of shipment for a biological product and predicted ambient temperature ranges during shipment and predicted time of exposure to each said ambient temperature range; selecting the lowest-cost system of containers and solid phase refrigerants likely to maintain the biological products within a specified range of temperatures during the shipment period; determining, at a point during shipment, whether the solid phase refrigerant is sufficient to preserve the biological products, for the remaining shipment period, by; monitoring the temperatures encountered and the time of exposure to such temperatures to said point by the shipment, using a logger which is connected to temperature sensors and which includes at least four indicators coded to reflect different temperature thresholds by illumination of different combinations of indicators, and estimating the temperatures likely to be encountered during the remaining shipment period; and determining the likelihood that the remaining refrigerant can maintain the shipment cargo within a specified temperature range during the remaining shipment period based on the estimation of the temperatures likely to be encountered; if the likelihood that the remaining refrigerant cannot maintain the shipment cargo within said range during the remaining shipment period is above a cut-off level, adding refrigerant to the shipment, moving the shipment to a faster transportation mode, moving the shipment to a temperature-controlled environment, or diverting the shipment to a different recipient. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19)
-
Specification