Medi-pal

Background

Pharmaceuticals are the world's seventh most traded commodity, accounting for 3.5% of total world trade by value. Yet the amount of waste of temperature-controlled pharmaceuticals every year is huge, with the biopharmaceutical industry alone losing approximately $35 billion annually due to temperature failures during transportation. At the same time, this is also a huge economic loss for exporters, importers, and operators in logistics and transportation. What's more important is the threat to life. Temperature out of control has a bad impact on the quality of medicines, which will affect the health of patients. Failure in transportation results in medicines that cannot arrive in time and also affects the optimal treatment time.

According to the survey, the main reasons for the frequency of pharmaceutical losses: 25% failure or failure of refrigeration equipment, 22% improper packaging and preparation of goods for transportation, however, in terms of the value of loss and damage, more than half of the claims are caused by refrigeration Caused by equipment malfunction or malfunction.

The most vulnerable parts of transportation, whether by air, sea or rail, are the first and last miles, as there is a lack of monitoring of the cargo during the process and no ongoing kinetic energy to provide a constant temperature.

In terms of the proportion of temperature sensitivity of pharmaceutical cargo, cryogenic medicine accounts for only 17%, and has good and stable insulation measures such as dry ice and vacuum. However, medicine at ambient and refrigerated temperature accounted for 51% and 31% respectively, but the way to keep temperature is packages made of thermal insulation materials, which are passively controlled and low flexibility.

So it is necessary to ensure the safety and control of pharmaceuticals in long-range electric trucks (2-25°C) and transport cargo in multiple temperatures simultaneously during the first and last mile.

Design brief

Medi-pal consists of a vertical battery-powered temperature housing and control unit, a bottom plate mountable to the pallet, and a double-layered vacuum insulation bag. It is designed so it can be installed directly on existing EUR/EPAL pallets no matter the material of these.

To achieve continuous and controlled cooling or heating, it’s powered using recycled electric bicycle batteries that can be easily replaced when needed by sliding them in and out of the battery drawer. For on-site charging, or in case of longer unforeseen storage situations, a built-in charging cable will ensure that Medi-pal can be powered at any time to ensure its cargo is protected.

The inflation and deflation of the vacuum insulation bag, to ensure optimal protection and usage of energy for the correct temperature for the medicine, can easily be adjusted with a simple touch of a button. The shape of the bag will become stiff after vacuuming, which will help fix and protect the goods. For unloading, the bag can easily be deflated and opened. The bag is attached to the Medi-pal through inflation ports and magnetic attachment points for easy removal and replacement when needed.

The Medi-pal and the important cargo carried and the state and any access to it can be monitored both on-site and remotely though an app by authorized users and staff. Medi-pal was developed with feedback from the company Einride that specializes in next generation electric and autonomous logistic solutions.