Ultra-Cooled Autonomous Container (UAC) for the transport and storage of goods

"The temperature requirement for the preservation of Covid19 vaccines will force the refrigeration industry to work with technologies that reach very low temperatures remaining stable throughout the entire process: from manufacture, transport or storage, to delivery to users. Existing technologies are not always capable of ensuring temperature stability or the autonomy needed to maintain the cold chain throughout the process. The present invention proposes a system that reaches between -40ºC and -200ºC, robust before environmental variations of the temperature, that works at low pressure and with null danger by the used fluid (air=R729). It allows adaptation to existing chambers and is 100% autonomous with electric supply (AC or DC). The system is easily scalable to different configurations: both for transport (small or large transport) and for storage and distribution centres The current health emergency context has challenged technology in various industrial sectors. In particular, the recent manufacture of vaccines for Covid19 has put the refrigeration industry to the test as some of these vaccines need to be kept at -70°C. Dry ice or liquid nitrogen is currently used to cool storage containers to such low temperatures. However, this technology is not free from problems such as the difficulty of controlling the temperature, the potential danger of its use in certain types of transport - such as aircraft - due to the CO2 that can be released in the cabin and the limited autonomy it provides by requiring dry ice to be replaced from time to time. In addition, a lack of supply of dry ice is expected worldwide due to the scarcity of pure CO2 production. Other technologies, such as conventional refrigerant fluid cycles, are not designed to work at such low temperatures and present danger or contamination, due to the fluids they use. In addition, they are more complex as they work with several stages. These problems can be solved with the UAC which consists of a compact, single-stage system that allows temperatures of up to -200ºC to be obtained at low pressure (3.5 barG) and using natural air as the cooling fluid. To do this it uses an inverse Brayton cycle with air, semi closed, with the stages of compression, expansion, cooling and regeneration. These problems can be solved with the UAC which consists of a compact, single-stage system that allows temperatures of up to -200ºC to be obtained at low pressure (3.5 barG) and using natural air as the cooling fluid. To do this it uses an inverse Brayton cycle with air, semi closed, with the stages of compression, expansion, cooling and regeneration."