Dewar warming alarm monitoring system
AssigneeCryoport, Inc.
InventorsBret Bollinger, Amir Vahid, Ashish Misra, Chris Exline, Pratik Khetiya
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Abstract
Systems and methods for monitoring environmental variables associated with temperature-sensitive products during shipping may include sensors attached to or inside a container being shipped and a remote processor receiving data provided by the sensors. For instance, temperature and orientation may be sensed over time and a status associated with a temperature-sensitive product may be determined based on the temperature and/or orientation and based on changes in the temperature and/or orientation over time. In this manner, potentially deleterious temperature and/or orientation excursions may be predicted and monitored.
Claims19
A method of electronically monitoring temperature-sensitive material inside a shipping container during shipment, the method comprising:
- monitoring a tilt of the shipping container and a temperature inside the shipping container over a first duration of time;
- sampling values of the monitored tilt of the shipping container over the first duration of time and storing a maximum tilt value over the first duration of time corresponding to a largest sample and a minimum tilt value over the first duration of time corresponding to a smallest sample;
- sampling values of the monitored temperature inside the shipping container over the first duration of time and storing a temperature sample array;
- sub-dividing the temperature sample array into sub-arrays associated with corresponding sub-durations of time of the first duration of time;
- calculating a rate of change of temperature for each sub-array associated with each corresponding sub-duration;
- calculating a rate of change of temperature for the temperature sample array over the first duration of time;
- calculating an amount of change of temperature for each sub-array associated with each corresponding sub-duration;
- calculating an amount of change of temperature for the temperature sample array over the first duration of time;
- applying a plurality of filters to the maximum tilt value, the minimum tilt value, a present temperature value, the amount of change of temperature for at least one sub-array associated with the corresponding sub-duration, the amount of change of temperature for the temperature sample array over the first duration of time, the rate of change of temperature for at least one sub-array associated with the corresponding sub-duration, and the rate of change of temperature for the temperature sample array over the first duration of time;
- and
- setting a state of a failure status flag in response to the filtering, wherein the state comprises one of:
- not set, alarm, no alarm, warm, and false alarm.
A computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that when executed by a computer cause the computer to perform a method for using a computer system to electronically monitor temperature-sensitive material inside a shipping container during shipment, the method comprising:
- monitoring a tilt of the shipping container and a temperature inside the shipping container over a first duration of time;
- sampling values of the monitored tilt of the shipping container over the first duration of time and storing a maximum tilt value over the first duration of time corresponding to a largest sample and a minimum tilt value over the first duration of time corresponding to a smallest sample;
- sampling values of the monitored temperature inside the shipping container over the first duration of time and storing a temperature sample array;
- sub-dividing the temperature sample array into sub-arrays associated with corresponding sub-durations of time of the first duration of time;
- calculating a rate of change of temperature for each sub-array associated with each corresponding sub-duration;
- calculating a rate of change of temperature for the temperature sample array over the first duration of time;
- calculating an amount of change of temperature for each sub-array associated with each corresponding sub-duration;
- calculating an amount of change of temperature for the temperature sample array over the first duration of time;
- applying a plurality of filters to the maximum tilt value, the minimum tilt value, a present temperature value, the amount of change of temperature for at least one sub-array associated with the corresponding sub-duration, the amount of change of temperature for the temperature sample array over the first duration of time, the rate of change of temperature for at least one sub-array associated with the corresponding sub-duration, and the rate of change of temperature for the temperature sample array over the first duration of time;
- and
- setting a state of a failure status flag in response to the filtering, wherein the state comprises one of:
- not set, alarm, no alarm, warm, and false alarm.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.