Cool down your energy costs with a new ULT storage chamber
Pioneers of laboratory temperature chambers, FARRAR, deserve their time in the spotlight when discussing technological innovation in life science applications.
Leveraging forced air convection technology for unparalleled efficiency in processing equipment, their unique solutions set new expectations for temperature uniformity.
But why stop there? By addressing previous pain points associated with critical biological and medical storage, the FARRAR temperature chamber range has also been specifically engineered to conserve footprint, increase capacity, establish full redundancy and much more.
Temperature chambers: the unsung hero of the life sciences
Biomedical research, drug development and therapeutic management are just some of the many applications that require sufficient preservation of our essential biological samples, medicinal materials and drug compounds.
Substances such as DNA, proteins, tissues, vaccines, biologics and additional diagnostic reagents are all inherently susceptible to degradation, meaning that for preservation, they’re heavily reliant on specific temperature-controlled environments.
First developed in the early 20th century, the temperature chamber continues to serve as the unsung hero within the life science and pharma domain. Designed to meet the storage needs of researchers, clinicians and scientists, ULT chambers can operate from as low as -80°C for long-term biological product preservation.
The temperature chamber's inherent ability to manipulate and simulate specific temperature conditions makes them the perfect environment for bioprocessing applications, including for stability and shelf-life evaluation.
These applications have secured their essential place within biomedical research and medical development, boasting an integral role in regulatory quality control for patient safety.
Although widely overlooked, these essential storage and bioprocessing solutions have unsurprisingly made a profound and underlying contribution to modern society. The most recent and publicly recognised example being the COVID-19 pandemic, where vaccine manufacturers employed ULT chambers at a monumental scale for the widespread distribution of the COVID-19 vaccines.
Challenges faced when storing biological materials
Whether it be specific temperature requirements, an increase in demand, new adherence to evolving regulatory standards or meeting new sustainability goals, stakeholders relate to a variety of challenges when storing or processing biological substances.
Temperature chambers must not only provide exact environmental control for optimal preservation but are essential to meet wider commercial needs as well. Key challenges faced by stakeholders include:
Temperature stability
As fluctuations in temperature are the leading contributor to sample degradation, consistent temperature throughout the storage space is essential for the stability and integrity of all enclosed temperature-sensitive materials. Temperature uniformity must be evident throughout the entirety of the chambers, with zero hot or cold spots present that could affect sample integrity.
Poor air circulation, heat infiltration, insulation issues and temperature fluctuations are just some of the contributing factors that can influence temperature stability within the temperature chamber. Many of these appear seemingly unavoidable through standard usage, including the opening and closing of the doors to give an example.
Increasing capacity demands
Growing diversity in biomedical research requires temperature chambers to accommodate larger quantities of varied biological samples and materials. This means additional temperature requirements and larger volume capacity.
For biomedical players to remain competitive with the ever-advancing life science demands, future-proofing your space with scalable but efficient storage offers a strong commercial advantage. The challenge lies in choosing versatile chambers that meet varied temperature conditions, whilst maximising capacity without taking up large surface areas.
Energy efficiency
Supporting the government's Net Zero agenda, a new focus on sustainability has brought increasing pressures to cut or optimise energy usage within all areas of the life sciences.
With large-scale storage demands undoubtedly requiring significant energy backing, sustainable energy consumption has become an increasing consideration for stakeholders when choosing capital equipment.
Substantial upfront costs
Access to advanced technology comes with a cost. Unsurprisingly, purchasing large storage units with precise temperature control requires significant financial backing which, unfortunately, doesn’t always align with annual budgets.
This makes the acquisition of top-of-the-market, high-precision temperature chambers that are desperately needed within the life sciences that much more unobtainable.
Driving efficiency through unique design: Meet FARRAR
Redefining ultra-cold storage for pharmaceutical, biomedical and biorepository applications, FARRAR harnesses their next-generation technology to meet stakeholder demands. Backed by 100+ years of experience, FARRAR’s technological advances have secured their spot as innovative partner of the life science market.
Redefining temperature chamber technology
Incorporating new ways to drive performance, FARRAR’s market-leading storage portfolio was designed through their innovative forced air convection technology. This uniform cooling technique involves a fan to circulate and distribute air around the entirety of the chamber.
First to market forced air convection within the biomedical sphere, this technology has enabled temperature uniformity at any set point, effective even with frequent door opening and closing.
Covering temperatures range from +40°C to -80°C, their ULT chambers is built to increase capacity by over six times the amount of a standard ULT chamber. With space efficiency as an essential design consideration, their chambers boast 5,380 litres of capacity in just a 190 cubic ft area, offering a 50% reduction in floor space than the standard freezer seen on the current market.
It is this space efficiency that has bolstered FARRAR’s reputation within the biopharma space, landing its significant involvement within the COVID-19 vaccine.
Running at -70 to maintain the quality of the required drug substance, the ULT temperature chamber played a vital part in Merck’s immense operation in manufacturing the Johnson and Johnson COVID-19 vaccine in the US.
With each freezer holding approx. 5.5 million dosages of the vaccine substance, the FARRAR ULT chambers were hand-selected to help meet Merck’s scalable vaccine manufacturing ambitions.
This improved floorspace efficiency also allowed businesses like Merck to take advantage of a maximised product inventory without the additional costs of more storage space. This is particularly beneficial for biobanking applications, where maximised storage solutions are intrinsic to their profitability.
FARRAR’s portfolio further includes solutions to assist in integral biological R&D storage. Offering quick, consistent, and accurate freezing and thawing of biological samples ideal for research and the cold chain, the FARRAR freeze/thaw chamber is designed to drastically reduce freezing and thawing conditioning times to a matter of hours.
Propelling energy efficiency
Understanding the efficient technology needed to reduce energy consumption is what has propelled FARRAR’s commitment to sustainability. In line with the governments reduced energy initiatives, the FARRAR lab grade refrigerators and freezers are ENERGY STAR certified, SNAP/EU F-gas-compliant and boast a low global warming potential (GWP) rating.
Integrating high performance with lower energy consumption, their best-in-class density further reduces the need for additional storage chamber use.
Improving accessibility with Withnell Sensors
As proud distributors of technological innovation within the life science space, Withnell Sensors are honoured to supply FARRAR’s controlled-temperature chambers to the biomedical and pharmaceutical field.
To help obtain top-level technology at an affordable cost, our customers can benefit from our flexible 3 to 5-year payment plans on all FARRAR temperature chamber equipment. As well as access to top-level technology, we offer continued aftersales support and routine management services throughout the entirety of your chamber lifecycle.
To acquire FARRAR’s technology with no substantial upfront cost, get in touch with Withnell Sensors.
