Dry Ice Insulated Box
A dry ice insulated box is insulating packaging designed to transport a product together with dry ice as the cooling medium. It limits heat ingress and provides space for the specified product and dry ice load. Its suitability must match the specific shipping application.
What matters in the box design?
- Insulation and material suitability: components must be suitable for the very low operating temperatures and the mechanical stresses of transport.
- Usable product space: dry ice, inner packaging and any spacers take up room. The internal volume of the empty box is therefore not automatically the available product volume.
- Gas release: dry ice sublimates to CO₂. The packaging must allow pressure equalisation and must not be sealed gas-tight.
What temperature and duration are possible?
These follow from the tested packout, not solely from box material or wall thickness. Dry ice quantity, arrangement, product load and ambient temperature profile affect the result. The product must tolerate the temperatures that occur.
Suitable outer packaging and the applicable transport requirements must also be considered for shipping. The term dry ice shipper is often used for the complete shipping system.
Related terms: Dry Ice Shipper · Usable Volume
Technical references:
FedEx: Packaging requirements for dry ice shipping