Patent ID: 6467642
Filing Date: 2002-10-22
Classification: F17C,F25D,G01N

Abstract:
A portable, insulated shipping container, comprising:a dewar vessel having an outer casing and an inner vessel with each having openings at their tops connected together by a neck portion forming an evacuable space between the outer casing and the inner vessel and a dewar opening into the inner vessel; a specimen chamber held within the inner vessel that is accessed through the dewar opening; a plastic foam held within the inner vessel between an inner wall of the inner vessel and the specimen chamber; a self-venting cap that restricts access to the specimen chamber when it is in an engaged position; an outer shipping container shell having a base, a side wall attached to and extending upwardly from the base, and a top wall attached to the side wall opposite of the base, the top wall having a movable access assembly for gaining access from outside of the shipping container shell to the specimen chamber when the self-venting cap is not in an engaged position and the movable access assembly is in an open position but denying access to the self-venting cap in the engaged position when the movable access assembly is an a closed position; and a support assembly for holding the dewar vessel within the outer shipping container shell and providing impact and vibration resistance to the dewar vessel; wherein the specimen chamber allows a liquid cryogen to pass through the specimen chamber into the plastic foam and allows the liquid cryogen in a vapor phase liquid state to pass from the plastic foam into the specimen chamber; wherein the shipping container is configured such that when the base rests on a flat planar surface in an upright position the specimen chamber is held such that a planar cross section of the specimen chamber taken from an upper end closest to the top wall and extending down through a lower end closest to the base and continuing to the flat planar surface is substantially perpendicular relative to the flat planar surface but when the side wall rests on the flat planar surface the angle formed by the intersection of the planar cross section with the flat planar surface is approximately six degrees or greater.