Medicines handled with care
French company Emball'Iso has developed a closed-cell packaging foam made from expanded extruded polystyrene, which has very effective insulating properties to store and transport medicines that are very sensitive to variations in temperature. The company has also developed a system to monitor the temperature.
'We realised that it was very difficult to know the variations in temperature experienced by a product during transit,' said Jean-Claude Champeymond, sales manager.
While electronic recorders are available, they have to be interrogated by a microcomputer on arrival.
To overcome this, Emball'Iso has designed a smart card, Spy Temp, which has an LCD screen and button battery. The sender programs the temperature control using two keys, and on arrival the recipient removes the card from the packet. He reads the screen, which shows any temperature divergences, and estimates their effect on the product quality. The Spy Temp can be archived without its battery while retaining the records of the journey. The cost is €6.9 (US$6.3) for single use and €23 (US$21) for a reprogrammable version.