Mr ThermoParcel: Temperature Controlled Container for Sample Transportation
The Genesis of Our Project
Design concept
Implementation
Electronics & wiring
Performance
Future directions

Published October 25, 2018 © GPL3+

Temperature Controlled Container for Sample Transportation

Thermally insulated box that maintains sensitive samples like vaccines and cells at the desired temperature via battery or 12V sources.

AdvancedFull instructions providedOver 1 day16,753

Temperature Controlled Container for Sample Transportation

Things used in this project

Hardware components

PT 100 Temperature sensor

Arduino UNO

Lithium ion battery

10400 mAh

Polystyrene Box

Recycled from conventional delivery of samples/chemicals

Copper blocks

Two copper blocks approx. 80x50x10mm, to be machined for heat sink and Peltier attachment, with holes for heat pipes.

Adjustable Boost Power Supply Board Module ULS

Heatpipe cooler

Digital potentiometer

Magic Gel

To improve heat transfer we could insert metal rods in between samples

DC converter

Peltier module

Capacitor 3.3 uF

Heat pipes

Power supply for mains

DC splitter for power supply

LCD screen Adafruit

Heater mat

For heating samples

Terminal block

Plastic enclosure

Panel mount DC plug

Four pole double throw switch

Single pole double throw switch

Plastic enclosure

External plastic box for electronics

Terminal block connector, 3 way

Terminal block connector, 5 way

Hook and Loop DualLock tape

Adafruit Proto-screwshield

For firmer screw terminal wire connections to Arduino

Adafruit Lithium-ion USB battery charger

Adafruit PT100 Temperature sensor amplifier

Software apps and online services

GitHub

We used sleemanj's library for the MCP41100 Digital Potentiometer (thank you sleemanj!). We also used Adafruit's libraries for each of the Adafruit modules we used; those are available from the product page.

Arduino IDE

Hand tools and fabrication machines

Soldering iron (generic)

Dremel 4000

Vise

Drill

Cable stripping tool, pliers, cutters

Manual mill

For machining copper parts

Story

Mr ThermoParcel: Temperature Controlled Container for Sample Transportation

The aim of is to develop a temperature controlled container that can be used to safely transport sensitive samples with a conventional mail service. Our prototype device, called Mr ThermoParcel, works within the range of temperature 4-37 °C, and can powered by either a mains adapter, internal battery, or other 12V sources such as a car cigarette lighter or laptop charger.

The Genesis of Our Project

Our idea originates from a real problem that we faced in our academic research: the safe exchange of temperature-sensitive biological samples with collaborators. Viola works on the malaria disease, and there is often the need to send or receive blood samples. However, if the samples are not kept at the correct temperature during storage and transportation, they can easily degrade and become useless. This is all the more frustrating when samples contain precious types of blood that have a special response to malaria and come from rare patients.

The common method to send blood samples of this type is to completely freeze them before shipping, use a standard courier for frozen goods, and then carefully defrost them after delivery. Apart from still being expensive, such a system is far from ideal, since freezing/defrosting always alters or damages parts of the samples, and the defrosting process itself follows a specific protocol that requires additional chemicals. Furthermore, items often get delivered to University at the campus parcel depot, where inappropriate storage conditions and delivery notification delays are frequent causes of sample degradation.

Design concept

We integrated a temperature control system in a conventional polystyrene container of the size of a small parcel, reused from a delivery of chemicals. We optimised and tested it with blood samples, but the same system could be used for a vast range of other biological materials such as cells, culture media, temperature sensitive chemicals, emulsions, and enzymes, or even adapted for solid items.

The concept of the system is shown in Figure 1. Cooling is achieved with a Peltier module, with the cold side attached to a small sample box inside the polystyrene container, and the hot side connected to an external heat sink. Heating is performed with a heater mat placed inside the sample box. Temperature is constantly monitored using a sensor in contact with the samples, and the heating/cooling intensity is regulated by an Arduino controller.

Figure 1. Design concept of the temperature controlled container.

Implementation

Container hardware design

The external container is a polystyrene box with dimensions 250x250x250mm and wall thickness 45mm on all sides, which is a common type of box used in lab deliveries with standard mail services. A plastic enclosure (125x70x40mm) is placed inside, and contains two 50mL centrifuge tubes. These tubes act as secondary packaging according to regulations for Biological and Infectious Substances, Category B UN3373 (link: http://www.un3373.com/info/regulations/ ). The primary samples are six 2mL Eppendorf tubes containing specimens, separated by absorbent tissue to prevent any leaking. Mr ThermoParcel is able to store up to 50mL of liquid samples by replacing hard secondary packaging with flexible pouches that can contain a bigger amount of specimens, e.g. up to three o four 15mL tubes (link: https://www.alphalabs.co.uk/laboratory-products/consumables/sample-handling/sample-transport/95kpa-pouches ). To improve heating/cooling uniformity inside the internal box, and ensure thermal contact between the copper sheet, samples and temperature sensor, we poured an electrically insulating, solid-setting gel around the samples. The inner box containing samples is shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2. Samples inside a secondary packaging with absorbent material to prevent any leakage. The blue transparent gel ensures good thermal contact with the samples and temperature sensor.

Cooling and Heating system

Internal temperature is monitored with a 100Ohm Pt resistance thermometer (or Resistance Temperature Detector, RTD) placed in contact with the samples, and controlled with a PID system using a Peltier module (cooling) or heater mat (heating). In order to dissipate outside the box the heat from the Peltier, the hot side of the Peltier module is put in thermal contact with an external piece of copper and a heat sink (CPU cooler) via three copper heat pipes. The cold side is attached to a thin copper sheet that passes through the box, cooling down the samples uniformly. Details of the thermal coupling are shown in Figure 3.

The heating mat is placed inside the inner enclosure in contact with the temperature sensor and the samples.

1 / 3 • Figure 3. Cooling and heating system. The Peltier module is sandwiched between the internal copper block and the copper sheet inside the box, and is not visible in the photographs. The brown-coloured foil on the right in this image is one side of the heater mat.

Electronics & wiring

Cooling and heating regulation

The Peltier module used by Mr ThermoParcel is rated for 3.9A and 7.6V at maximum cooling power. To control the temperature effectively, the amount of power delivered to the Peltier module is managed electronically using the PTN78020W step-down adjustable switching regulator. The regulator accepts an input voltage in the range 7-36V, and produces an output in the range 2.5-12.6V, with the limitation that the output cannot exceed the input minus 2V. The output voltage is adjusted by setting a certain value of resistance between two regulation pins, according to the table in the device datasheet. Mr ThermoParcel employs the MCP41100 100kOhm digital potentiometer, controlled by Arduino, to electronically regulate the output voltage based on the temperature reading. Since the entire output voltage range of the PTN78020W requires a variation in voltage in excess of 1MOhm, a voltage is applied to the Peltier module even when the digital potentiometer is set to 100kOhm, so the Peltier module can't be "turned off" using the digital potentiometer alone. The same regulation concept applies to the heating performed with the heater mat. The mat is simply a resistor that dissipates current as heat, and regulating the voltage is a direct way to control the delivered power.

Power supply

A 12V DC power supply is used to directly power the PTN78020W when Mr ThermoParcel is near a mains power socket. This allows for up to 10V output, which is sufficient to drive the Peltier at maximum power, and the heater mat at sufficient power for the purposes of the project. Given the 7-36V input range of the PTN78020W regulator, Mr ThermoParcel can be also driven with most DC power supplies used for laptops and other electronic devices, as well a the cigarette lighter sockets found in cars. When external power is not available, Mr ThermoParcel is powered by a 3.7V, 10400mAh Li-ion battery. The battery still powers the PTN78020W regulator, but to reach the input voltage required to drive the Peltier module (10-12V at the PTN78020W input), the XL6019 step-up DC-DC converter is first connected at the battery output.

Arduino wiring

Power is supplied to Arduino directly from the 12V external input if available, via the jack socket on the board. If using the internal battery, a similar voltage is set at the socket using the output from the XL6019 converter.

Arduino regulates the power delivered to the Peltier module/heater mat by controlling the resistance of the digital potentiometer. Wiring is done according to the instructions in sleemanj's MCP41 series library, with the potentiometer in variable resistor configuration. Arduino is also connected to the Adafruit MAX31865 Pt100 RTD amplifier, used to read the temperature sensor, and to the Adafruit RGB LCD Shield, used to display the temperature data and system operation. These are both wired according to the thorough Adafruit documentation found on the product pages.

Software

All Adafruit modules connected to Arduino are operated with their respective libraries, and the digital potentiometer with sleemanj's MCP41 series library. The core functionalities of the Arduino code in Mr ThermoParcel are related to the temperature control, which is implemented with a PID closed loop system. The temperature set point is provided by the user via the LCD display shield buttons. Each measured temperature reading is then used to obtain the deviation from the set point, and thus calculate the PID value that is fed to the digital potentiometer to regulate the cooling/heating power. An external physical toggle switch determines whether the power output is directed towards the Peltier module (cooling) or the heater mat (heating). Since there are no electronic switches in the system, a distinction is made is the code between a heating mode and a cooling mode, and the user must select the appropriate mode using the LCD display shield buttons. This distinction ensures that the calculated PID value has the correct sign. During our tests we tried a range of values for the PID factors, and observed that the P term alone was sufficient in most situations to stay within ±0.5°C from the set point, so we eventually removed the I and D factors. This is probably due to the relatively large heat capacity of the samples and internal gel-filled box, that make temperature changes slow (typically an average of 0.02°C/s in the fastest regimes).

Performance

When mains powered, Mr ThermoParcel cools down to 4°C when starting from a room temperature of 21-23°C within about 1h. A temperature of 8-10°C is reached within the first 20 minutes. Starting again from room temperature, and using the heater mat, 37°C are reached within about 10 minutes. All temperatures are maintained at the setpoint within ±0.5°C.

When powered by the internal battery only, approximately 10°C is the minimum temperature that can be reached, in a time of 1.5-2h. With the heater mat, 37°C can still be obtained but in 40-60 minutes. These limitations are due to the discharge rate of the battery: the Li-ion battery in Mr ThermoParcel is rated for 7A maximum discharge current at 3.7V, but given the step-up conversion to 10-12V the discharge current would need to be higher to maintain the maximum power of the Peltier module. Since the battery contains self-protection circuits which cut off its output in case of current overload, the system cannot function if the cooling/heating system attempts to draw a current larger than the maximum rating. When operating via the battery, the power draw is limited by the software to a safe level. This limitation is purely due to the battery being used here, and batteries with higher discharge rate are widely available. Alternatively, a Li-ion battery with 3 cells in series and a nominal voltage of 11.1V would solve the problem and also eliminate the need for a step-up DC converter.

1 / 2 • Figure 4. View of the front panel of Mr ThermoParcel, showing the LCD display shield and wiring.

Future directions

In its current development stage, our device cannot be shipped, mainly because of the size and moving parts of the CPU cooler, and the robustness of the construction. However, once the heat sink is replaced by a passive cooling system and a 95k Pa secondary packaging is employed, Mr ThermoParcel could be put in an appropriate rigid container for safe transportation, fulfilling all the requirements of standard couriers for shipping samples by plane and all other transport means.

With core aim of the achieved, other components could be added to extend the functionality of the device. The temperature profile during transportation could be stored in a local memory for later verification, or sent directly to the user via SMS at regular intervals using a GSM Arduino module. A GPS receiver could also be included for independent parcel tracking and timely collection at delivery.

Code

PID_LCD_controller_v03

#include <Adafruit_MAX31865.h>          // import PT100 temperature sensor library
#include <MCP41_Simple.h>               // import digital potentiometer library
#include <Adafruit_RGBLCDShield.h>      // import LCD  display & buttons shield library
#include <utility/Adafruit_MCP23017.h>  // import I2C expander library
#include <Wire.h>

// Setting up digital potentiometer
MCP41_Simple digitalPotentiometer;  // create digital potentiometer object
const uint8_t digitalPotentiometer_CS = 10;

// Setting up PT100 temperature sensor
// Use software SPI for PT100 temperature sensor: CS, DI, DO, CLK
Adafruit_MAX31865 PT100amplifier = Adafruit_MAX31865(2, 3, 4, 5);
// Set value of the Rref resistor. Use 430.0 for PT100 temperature sensor.
#define RREF      430.0
// Nominal 0-degrees-C resistance of the sensor, 100.0ohm for PT100
#define RNOMINAL  100.0

// Setting up LCD display shield with buttons
Adafruit_RGBLCDShield LCD_shield = Adafruit_RGBLCDShield();
//#define OFF 0x0   // ON and OFF states can be used to turn on/off the LCD backlight
//#define ON 0x1

void setup() {
  Serial.begin(115200);
  Serial.println("Mr ThermoParcel, starting operation...");
  PT100amplifier.begin(MAX31865_4WIRE);  // set to 2WIRE or 4WIRE as necessary, 4-wire RTD in this case

  // Initialise digital potentiometer
  digitalPotentiometer.begin(digitalPotentiometer_CS);
  // Set the wiper to an arbitrary point between 0 and 255
  digitalPotentiometer.setWiper( 200 );

  // Initialise LCD display shield
  // set up the LCD's number of columns and rows: 
  LCD_shield.begin(16, 2);
  // set up setpoint and measured T text on LCD with the correct spacings
  LCD_shield.print("Tsetpoint:   C");
  LCD_shield.setCursor(0, 1);
  LCD_shield.print("Tsample:     C");
}

// Initialise PID constants, temperature related variables and shield button value
int powerMode = 1;   // powerMode=1 for battery power, powerMode=-1 for mains power; used to prevent battery overload
int operationMode = 1;   // operationMode=1 for cooling, operationMode=-1 for heating; used to correct sign of PID terms
float PT100ratio;   // Define resistance ratio variable for PT100 sensor
uint8_t buttonsPressed = 0;
float kp = 500.0;  //;   int ki = 5;   int kd = 3.9;
float PID_p = 0.0;  //  int PID_i = 0;    int PID_d = 0;
float Tmeasured = -1.0;
float Tsetpoint = 22.0;   // Start around room temperature
float PID_error = 5;
float PID_value = 0;

// Define print_Tsetpoint function to correctly print the temperature setpoint on the LCD screen
static char TsetpointString[3];
void print_Tsetpoint(int T) {
  // Print Tsetpoint in the correct place 
  LCD_shield.setCursor(10, 0);
  dtostrf(T, 3, 0, TsetpointString);
  LCD_shield.print(TsetpointString);
}

// Define print_Tmeasured function to correctly print the measured temperature on the LCD screen
static char TmeasuredString[4];
void print_Tmeasured(float T) {
  // Print Tmeasured in the correct place
  LCD_shield.setCursor(8, 1);
  dtostrf(T, 5, 1, TmeasuredString);
  LCD_shield.print(TmeasuredString);
}

// Define print_powerMode function to correctly print the power mode (B, battery; M, mains)
void print_powerMode() {
  LCD_shield.setCursor(15, 0);
  if (powerMode == 1) {
    LCD_shield.print("B");
  }
  else if (powerMode == -1) {
    LCD_shield.print("M");
  }
}

// Define print_operationMode function to correctly print the power mode (C, Peltier cooler; H, heating mat)
void print_operationMode() {
  LCD_shield.setCursor(15, 1);
  if (operationMode == 1) {
    LCD_shield.print("C");
  }
  else if (operationMode == -1) {
    LCD_shield.print("H");
  }
}

// *** main loop ***
void loop() {
  // Read temperature
  uint16_t rtd = PT100amplifier.readRTD();
  PT100ratio = rtd;
  PT100ratio /= 32768;
  Tmeasured = PT100amplifier.temperature(RNOMINAL, RREF);
  Serial.print("Setpoint Temperature = "); Serial.println(Tsetpoint);
  Serial.print("Temperature = "); Serial.println(Tmeasured);

  // Print temperature values and modes
  print_Tsetpoint(Tsetpoint);
  print_Tmeasured(Tmeasured);
  print_powerMode();
  print_operationMode();

  // Calculate the error between setpoint and measured value
  PID_error = Tmeasured - Tsetpoint;
  //Calculate the P value
  PID_p = operationMode * kp * PID_error;

  // Calculate total PID value, if above maximum (255) keep at 255, if below minimum (0) keep at 0
  PID_value = (int) PID_p; //+ PID_i + PID_d;
  Serial.print("PID_p = "); Serial.println(PID_p);
  Serial.print("powerMode = "); Serial.println(powerMode);
  Serial.print("operationMode = "); Serial.println(operationMode);
  Serial.print("PID_error = "); Serial.println(PID_error);
  Serial.print("PID_value = "); Serial.println(PID_value);

  // If in battery mode (powerMode=1) limit output to avoid battery overload
  // If in mains mode (powerMode=-1) allow full power (255)
  if (powerMode == 1) {
    if (PID_value < 0)
      { PID_value = 0; }
    if (PID_value > 120)  
      { PID_value = 120; }
  }
  else if (powerMode == -1) {
    if (PID_value < 0)
      { PID_value = 0; }
    if (PID_value > 255)  
      { PID_value = 255; }
  }
  Serial.print("Adjusted PID_value = "); Serial.println(PID_value);

  // Set digital potentiometer resistance from PID value
  digitalPotentiometer.setWiper(255 - PID_value);

  // Detect any buttons pressed, change the setpoint value if needed, and display measured and setpoint T
  // delay() funcion calls ensure that enough time is given to press buttons and see the values change
  delay(1000);
  buttonsPressed = LCD_shield.readButtons();
  if (buttonsPressed & BUTTON_SELECT) {
    // Highlight that system in edit mode by blinking the cursor
    LCD_shield.setCursor(14, 0);
    LCD_shield.blink();
    delay(1000);
    buttonsPressed = 0;
    // Stay in edit mode until SELECT button is pressed again. Buttons UP and DOWN change Tsetpoint.
    // LEFT toggles operation mode (heating/cooling). RIGHT toggles power mode (battery/mains).
    while (not (buttonsPressed & BUTTON_SELECT)) {
      buttonsPressed = LCD_shield.readButtons();
      if (buttonsPressed & BUTTON_UP) {
        Tsetpoint += 1;
      }
      if (buttonsPressed & BUTTON_DOWN) {
        Tsetpoint -= 1;
      }
      if (buttonsPressed & BUTTON_RIGHT) {
        powerMode *= -1;
        print_powerMode();
      }
      if (buttonsPressed & BUTTON_LEFT) {
        operationMode *= -1;
        print_operationMode();
      }
      print_Tsetpoint(Tsetpoint);
      LCD_shield.setCursor(14, 0);
      delay(500);
    }   // Exit edit mode and stop blinking cursor
    LCD_shield.noBlink();
    buttonsPressed = 0;
  }
  Serial.println();
}

Credits

Viola Introini

1 project • 4 followers

Dean Kos

0 projects • 4 followers

Temperature Controlled Container for Sample Transportation