Starting on August Bank Holiday 2017, two ABB engineers based on site carried out comprehensive cold chain mapping surveys within the facility, where blood and medical products need to be stored at temperatures ranging from -80°C to ambient temperature conditions.
In total, the two-person team surveyed 135 different units, including warehousing, cold storage facilities, fridges, freezers and incubators, many of which needed validation mapping, empty and full, to ensure they can maintain the required temperature within the prescribed ranges for each type of unit.
Tests were carried out in accordance with regulatory requirements using a variety of temperature measurement devices, including platinum resistance thermometers, for fridges freezers and incubators; type T thermocouples for freezer units below -30°C, and wireless dataloggers for the warehouse and cold stores.
To ensure that temperatures were being evenly maintained throughout each unit, readings were obtained from anywhere between 9 and 32 measurement points, with the warehouse requiring 117. The data was included in the mapping reports to provide evidence that all controlled temperature storage areas were regulatory compliant.
The mapping reports for each item of equipment tested had to be produced within 24 hours of completion of mapping to meet the timelines of the project.
“With all of the work needing to be completed by December 2017, our team needed to work as quickly as possible to get all of the testing done and pinpoint any potential problems with any of the units,” says Dr Jonathan Farrington, Technical Manager for ABB’s Industrial Automation, Measurement & Analytics Service business. “With extensive experience in carrying out cold chain mapping in medical facilities throughout the UK, our engineers were able to survey the equipment and produce the mapping reports to the customer’s requirements.”