Cold Storage Material Composition for Stable Low-Temperature Melting
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional cold storage material compositions exhibit instability in melting temperatures and lack stability, particularly when used for maintaining articles at low temperatures such as -30°C or lower during transportation.
Innovation Solution
A cold storage material composition containing water, lithium ions, bromide ions, a crystal nucleating agent, and a defoaming agent or alkali metal salt of a higher fatty acid, with specific amounts of each component to stabilize the melting temperature and enhance stability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional cold storage material compositions are used, then cooling effect is provided, but melting temperature stability is poor
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses a composite cold storage material composition containing water, lithium bromide, sodium chloride, and a crystal nucleating agent. This composite formulation stabilizes the melting temperature by combining multiple components that work synergistically, where the crystal nucleating agent promotes consistent crystal formation and the specific salt mixture maintains stable phase transition characteristics.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent optimizes specific parameter ranges including water content (75-95 wt%), lithium bromide content (3-20 wt%), sodium chloride content (1-15 wt%), and crystal nucleating agent content (0.1-5 wt%). By precisely controlling these parameters, the melting temperature stability is improved while maintaining the cold storage functionality.
2Temperature
If dry ice is used as cold storage material, then low temperature control is achieved, but volume expansion during sublimation causes hazardous material classification
Solution Approach 1:
The patent utilizes the phase transition from solid to liquid state of the cold storage material composition at a controlled melting temperature. This liquid-phase transition avoids the gas-phase sublimation of dry ice, preventing volume expansion and eliminating hazardous material classification while maintaining effective low-temperature control for storing articles at -30°C or lower.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If aqueous inorganic salt solution is used as cold storage material, then phase transition to gas is avoided, but melting temperature stability is insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent enhances the simple aqueous inorganic salt solution by adding a crystal nucleating agent to create a composite composition. This addition promotes consistent crystal nucleation and growth, stabilizing the melting temperature and improving reliability while maintaining the advantage of avoiding gas phase transition.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent optimizes the concentration parameters of the inorganic salt components (lithium bromide at 3-20 wt% and sodium chloride at 1-15 wt%) and introduces controlled amounts of crystal nucleating agent (0.1-5 wt%). These parameter optimizations ensure stable melting temperature and reliable cold storage performance without gas phase transition.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The composition provides stable melting temperatures, enabling effective temperature control of articles over extended periods, particularly in low temperature ranges, and can be used as a substitute for dry ice.
Implementation Method 1
a method in which (i) a cold storage material, which has been frozen and solidified in advance, is placed in a container having a thermal insulation property to prepare a temperature keeping container and (ii) an article housed in the temperature keeping container is transported or stored in a state in which the temperature of the article is maintained by using latent heat of melting of the cold storage material
Implementation Method 2
a cold storage material composition containing: water; lithium ions; bromide ions; a crystal nucleating agent; and a defoaming agent and/or an alkali metal salt of a higher fatty acid
Data Source
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AI summary
It is an object to provide (i) a cold storage material composition that is excellent in melting temperature and stability of the melting temperature and (ii) a technique for using the cold storage material composition. The object is attained with a cold storage material composition containing: water; lithium ions; bromide ions; a given amount of a crystal nucleating agent; and a given amount(s) of a defoaming agent and/or an alkali metal salt of a higher fatty acid.