Drying in the Presence of Phase Change Material
Description of the market need:
Shopping via internet has become a common practice in recent years (e.g., buying all sorts of items from Amazon!). During the shipment of food, medicine, etc. one has to make sure that the product is protected against the adverse effect of potential high ambient temperature. A package that contains phase change material (PCM) in its walls will protect its interior content from the ambient temperature fluctuation over a required shipment period. Currently, such packaging material is not available in the market, however, this will be expected/needed in the near future.
Our patent focuses on the energy consumption during drying process of a paper board that includes PCM. Our patented work showed that the energy required for drying is less with PCM than without PCM. Our patent should be marketed from the both aspects: energy reduction in drying as well as developing packaging paperboard that includes PCM.
Description of how this approach addresses that need:
Packaging with PCM protects the interior content from the adverse effect of ambient temperature rise (e.g., spoilage of food product etc.). The PCM present in paperboard absorbs the heat from the ambient (via changing its phase from solid to liquid) in order to protect the interior content.
Key Features/Benefits
Description of the benefits of using this approach:
Energy reduction in drying of paperboard with PCM.
Packaging to be used in the shipment of products such as food, medicine, etc. that could be spoiled or not be consumable if experienced a high temperature during shipment.
Description of other competing approaches and why we are better:
Perhaps, one can think of dry ice used in shipment of food products. This is not very practical as it is bulky and most likely more expensive.