Ensuring the safe and effective delivery of temperature-sensitive products is more critical than ever. With advancements in materials technology, understanding the nuances of insulated box liners is essential.
This comprehensive guide will help you navigate the options available in 2024 and beyond; providing insights into choosing the right thermal insulation for your needs, optimizing packing techniques, and avoiding common mistakes.
Whether you’re shipping refrigerated goods or frozen items, this guide will equip you with the knowledge to make informed decisions and ensure your products arrive in perfect condition.
Table of Contents
- Understanding the Basics
- The Importance of Transit Time
- Temperature Requirements
- Detailed Analysis of Insulated Box Liners
- Optimizing Performance
- Conclusion
Understanding the Basics
Choosing the right insulated packaging for your temperature sensitive products is dictated by two main factors: Transit time and temperature requirements. Those factors will dictate which insulator and refrigerant you’ll need.
The Importance of Transit Time
Transit time dictates the caliber of the needed insulation component of the packaging you need.
For example, conventional foil/bubble like CooLiner are useful for product shipments with shipping durations under 24 hours. We offer a foil/bubble solution called CooLiner as well as a single plastic version called SustainaLiner.
General Guidelines
24 hrs or less: Radiant barriers such as foil bubble (Cooliner Materials)
24-48 hrs: 1” thick foam or fiber (CelluLiner, PopupLiner, EcoLiner)
48 -72 hrs+: 1.5” thick foam or fiber (CelluLiner, PopupLiner, EcoLiner)72 hrs+: foam material 1.5” or 2” PopupLiner
Temperature Requirements
The second largest factor in determining the type of insulated packaging to use will be your temperature requirements.
We recommend using a more robust insulator, like our PopupLiner, if you’re looking to maintain frozen temperatures. A robust thermal insulator for shipping will help you get the most out of your refrigerant regardless of whether you’re using dry ice, gel packs, or foam bricks.
General Guidelines
Refrigerated or room temp products: Radiant barriers such as foil bubble (Cooliner Materials)
Refrigerated or frozen: 1” or thicker thick foam or fiber (CelluLiner, PopupLiner, EcoLiner)
Insulated Box Liners – The Details
CoolLiner vs. SustainLiner – 24 Hour Solutions
CooLiner insulated box liners protect refrigerated or room temperature products for 24 hrs or less. They are used to ship perishables, pharmaceuticals, dairy products, and other temperature-sensitive items.
CooLiner insulation is made from metalized films and air bubbles. The combination of these materials creates a silver bubble wrap that provides high-performance temperature control against extreme conditions.
SustainaLiner offers 24-hour protection as well. It’s an innovative insulated packaging material made entirely of high-quality mono-material LDPE, which is recyclable. Exclusively available at IPC, SustainaLiner protects refrigerated and room-temperature shipments for 24 hours. It can be easily recycled at thousands of drop-off facilities that accept LDPE.
Insulated Box Liners for Over 24 Hours
It is crucial to have a high performance insulator employing the right material types for longer transit times. You’ll need to ensure your liner can handle the journey and keep your products at desired temps. PopupLiner is a powerhouse for extended shipments. It provides robust insulation for both refrigerated and frozen goods for up to 96 hours.
CelluLiner offers a reliable option for those middle-range shipments. For extreme weather or keeping your products frozen for more than 48 hours, we defer to our PopupLiner insulated box liners.
In this section, we’ll explore the specifics of these liners, discussing when and how to use each type to ensure your products arrive in perfect condition. Let’s get into it and ensure your long-haul shipments are as safe and effective as possible
PopupLiner
PopupLiner is the best insulated box liner to keep refrigerated and frozen temperatures for extended transit times.
Our two-piece PopupLiner insulated box liners are made of two lightweight panels that arrive collapsed and vacuum compressed using our patented technology. It offers superior insulation to other products on the market with two radiant barrier layer panels and a high performance insulating foam.
These thermal box liners are constructed with flexible polyurethane foam insulators that are encased inside two metalized sleeves, designed to easily ‘lock’ together inside cartons of any size. Our proprietary materials and preparation method make storing our flexible polyurethane foam insulators easy. They come vacuum compressed and sealed in packs of approximately 40 panels, saving you 75% in storage space over molded foam coolers.
CelluLiner
Our CelluLiner insulated box liner is very consumer oriented making it a perfect option for meal kit delivery
CelluLiner is the best curbside recyclable insulated box liner on the market. It’s designed to keep your frozen and refrigerated shipments protected for extended transit times. Since they are made of a paper based material , CelluLiner can be put in your customer’s curbside recycle bins making them a practical, environmentally friendly insulated shipping option. We recommend CelluLiner for refrigerated items up to 72 hours and frozen temperatures up to 48 hours. Curbside recyclability of CelluLiner has been verified by a 3rd party lab and test reports are available.
The secret to CelluLiner’s performance is in the paper component of panels. The biodegradable paper insulation panels contain thousands of small air pockets per cubic centimeter, significantly slowing heat transfer and providing exceptional protection against extreme ambient conditions. We offer CelluLiner insulated box liners in custom sizes, constructed in sizes that match your exact requirements, providing the best possible insulation performance.
Choosing the Right Thickness
- For shipments up to 48 hours, use a 1-inch thick liner for refrigerated goods.
- For shipments between 48 and 72 hours, increase to a 1.5-inch thick liner to maintain the desired temperature.
- For shipments over 72 hours, especially for frozen items, consider using PopupLiner or a similar robust option for better performance.
- Understand that the more extreme the ambient conditions, the thicker the insulation needed to prevent temperature equilibrium between the inside and outside of the package.
- Ensuring a perfect fit without gaps is crucial, as even small gaps can act like an open refrigerator door, significantly reducing insulation effectiveness.
Optimizing Performance
You’ve chosen your insulated box liner appropriately, factoring in shipping duration and required temperature. Now what? Optimizing the performance of your shipping solution for temperature sensitive products involves lots of testing and small adjustments. In this section, we’ll explore best practices, highlight mistakes and talk about testing. After reading this you should be on your way to creating effective pack-out that reach their destination in perfect condition.
Packing Techniques
- Place gel packs at both the bottom and top of the box to maintain even cooling. (be careful with ‘burn’ associated with over-cooling certain goods like leafy greens and herbs.
- Ensure the goods are pre-conditioned to the correct temperature before packing to enhance performance, prevent condensation and to prevent uneven cooling.
- Meal kit delivery services often place a gel pack at the bottom directly adjacent to proteins,other goods can be placed on top and additional packs while buffered as needed can be placed to optimize necessary temperatures during the transit. Air space is generally recommended to be eliminated since it is a conduit for thermal transfer, also shifting freight during transit can drastically change expected performance.
Gel Packs
- Use approximately one pound of gel for every five pounds of refrigerated mass.
- Conduct a study to determine the optimal amount of gel packs needed for your specific product and shipping conditions.
- You can use a test facility like ours that has a temperature testing chamber.
- You can also purchase data loggers/temperature sensors that record temperature over time and record the ambient conditions as a reference.
- Understand that the ratio of refrigerant to payload weight may vary based on ambient temperatures, caliber of insulation and the product’s characteristics, such as heat generation during fermentation.
Avoiding Common Mistakes
- Avoid placing warm items directly next to ice packs. This causes condensation and reduces cooling efficiency.
- Ensure the payload is at the correct temperature before packing to prevent issues like “sweating” inside the box. If you’re shipping frozen meat, make sure the meat is frozen prior to shipping it with refrigerant. This may seem obvious in the previous example, but it’s a common mistake for refrigerated products.
- Test for the optimal amount of dry ice. We see many companies using too much dry ice without considering the stress it places on the liner. This can lead to the box’s exterior freezing and losing its structural integrity.
Operational Testing
- Conduct thorough operational testing with your products in the specific conditions they will be shipped in, considering seasonal variations.
- Ideally, you would have packing variations based on average temperatures cross-referenced along the routes.
- We recommend at least having a winter and summer variation. This will cut costs and reduce the stress of having to improvise each time the weather starts to change.
- Testing should include the actual payload, packaging configuration, and environmental conditions to ensure the packaging solution provides sufficient thermal protection.
- Avoid improvised solutions for different seasons and products; instead, have an engineered solution for every season and product type.
Conclusion
This guide provides a detailed look at insulated box liners and how to choose the right one for your shipping needs. By considering factors like transit time and temperature requirements, and by following best practices for packing and operational testing, you can ensure your temperature-sensitive products arrive in perfect condition.
