# PCM hard plastic panels - I'm IMPRESSED!!!



## gary1218 (Dec 31, 2005)

I bought these Phase Change Material hard plastic panels from Josh's Frogs a little while back. 









I started doing a little testing on them to see how they compare to the Saf-T-Pak PCM soft gel packs I had been using previously.









I did some preliminary testing under somewhat "normal" conditions and those went very well. We FINALLY got some summer weather here in western NY this past weekend so I decided to do more of a stress test.

I used a small single insulated shipping box. The box is 8" x 8" x 12" with 1 1/4" foam insulation. It will hold up to 4 deli cups. I placed 4 panels around the sides of the box with a data logger in the middle.









I boxed in all up and put it in my van out in the hot sun. The outside temps were 85F with bright sun, no clouds, no wind. The temps inside the van got over 140F.

Here's the data logger read out for 24 hrs.









The hottest it got inside the shippind box was 81F. NOT BAD. Normally I use a double insulated box where I bet the temps would have stayed in the mid to high 70's.


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## Corpus Callosum (Apr 7, 2007)

How did the Saf-T-Pak PCM's do in the same test?


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## gary1218 (Dec 31, 2005)

Corpus Callosum said:


> How did the Saf-T-Pak PCM's do in the same test?


Sorry Mike but I've never ran that same test on the Saf-T-Pak.

I have done quite a bit of other testing on the Saf-T-Pak always with very good results. Probably the hottest testing I've done was with temps of around 100F.

Only reason I'm thinking of switching is that you have to buy a box of 16 Saf-T-Paks at a cost of $175 or so. The panels you can buy singly.


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## sports_doc (Nov 15, 2004)

thanks for going through the effort Gary. I'm impressed also!

Best,


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## Jason (Oct 14, 2004)

+ Rep points for you!

Here are some other results for the phase change panels, for anyone interested.

http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/general-discussion/36501-help-phase-22-panels.html

http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/parts-construction/16577-better-gel-shipping-tested-2.html

and as you know....

http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/general-discussion/36220-taking-advantage-cold-weather-brrr.html


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## gary1218 (Dec 31, 2005)

Thanks for posting the links Jason.


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## Philsuma (Jul 18, 2006)

Good stuff...thanks for posting


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## merk1_99 (Apr 19, 2009)

So you recommend shipping with 4 panels? Or do you think you could get away with one or two panels per shipment?


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## gary1218 (Dec 31, 2005)

merk1_99 said:


> So you recommend shipping with 4 panels? Or do you think you could get away with one or two panels per shipment?


I haven't done any testing with just 2 of the panels. Personally I'd rather play it safe. Using 4 panels rather than 2 I don't think will have that much of an effect on the shipping cost.

Josh said that he's been using an 8x8x8 box with just two panels with good success. You might try contacting him.


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## Dancing frogs (Feb 20, 2004)

What I chose to do when I was shipping frogs, was I'd empty the contents of the panels into vacum-seal bags. I put about 2-3 panels worth of pcm into each bag, and double bagged each pack.
I found the size, and dimensions of the panels to be kind of restrictive, as you can see in Gary's photo, there is a little wasted space inbetween the sides on the panels.
Using the same amount of PCM as 4 panels, made into 2 gel packs, you likely would be able to fit 6 deli cups in that box instead of 4.
As an added bonus, the bags don't make a sloshing sound when the PCM is liquid, something to consider if your carrier doesn't like shipping liquids or something like that.
Just my $0.02


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## gary1218 (Dec 31, 2005)

Thanks for the info Brian.

I contacted Josh and he said he is now also carrying these as a soft gel pack from the same company. I'm going to his place at the end of the month so I'm going to check them out.


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