Patent attributes
A shipping container with an enclosure of insulating panels which swell in response to sublimation of a carbon dioxide mass within the enclosure. The insulating panels are made of a casing with an outer sheet which is impermeable to carbon dioxide gas and an inner sheet which is permeable to carbon dioxide gas. Dry ice is placed within the shipping container, along with contents which require refrigeration, and the container is closed (sealed or somewhat sealed). After closure, and upon sublimation of the dry ice, some portion of gaseous carbon dioxide passes through the permeable sheet of the casing and some may leak from the container. Because some portion of the sublimated gas enters the casing, it is retained and slowed in eventual escape from the container, thereby maintaining low temperatures within the container longer than a system with an impermeable casing.