Product Overview
A CSZ BioStore freezer room is walk-in ultra-low cold storage — not a test chamber. It holds bulk material at a consistently low temperature in individual stainless freezer compartments running −40°C to −75°C, off a −20°C storage room with a 2–8°C ante room for entry — ideal for vaccines, pharmaceuticals, genetic material (DNA), donor tissue, and allografts. One managed room replaces a bank of upright freezers, with redundant (single or dual) backup cooling and an optional LN₂ backup, far less floor space and power per cubic foot, and the same EZT-570S touchscreen controller used across the CSZ line — with the 21 CFR Part 11 audit-trail and electronic-signature feature set. Sizes and compartment counts are custom-configured.
Other CSZ chamber families
Stability & Photostability — ICH Q1A/Q1B pharmaceutical shelf-life test chambers
V-Series Top-Loading Freezers — economical light-duty ultra-low storage on casters
T-Series Top-Loading Freezers — top-loading heavy-duty heat-treat cold processing
TF-Series Front-Loading Freezers — front-loading charge-car heat-treat cold processing
Key Features & Benefits
- Replaces a bank of upright freezers with one managed room — consolidating dozens of cabinets into a single walk-in room cuts floor space, power per cubic foot, condenser heat dumped into the building, and noise — and centralizes monitoring. One system to maintain and watch instead of nineteen.
- Redundant cooling that protects irreplaceable samples — single or dual backup cooling (optionally LN₂) keeps the room cold through a compressor failure, a power loss, or planned maintenance — the difference between a service event and a ruined vaccine lot. The samples stay cold even when something fails.
- Ante room keeps the deep cold stable — a 2–8°C ante room ahead of the −20°C room and the ultra-low compartments isolates the deep cold from every door opening, so frequent access does not disturb the stored temperature. Routine entry without a temperature excursion.
- Audit-trail control and alarming built in — the EZT-570S controller logs data, holds an audit trail with electronic signatures, and sends email/text alarms on a door-ajar or over-temperature event — the 21 CFR Part 11 feature set a regulated cold-chain operation builds its records on. The audit trail and alarms in place; you validate it to your own GxP environment.
Specifications
- Type & operating principle
- Walk-in ultra-low cold-storage freezer room — not a test chamber. A BioStore room holds bulk material at a consistently low temperature in individual freezer compartments cooled by external, redundant conditioning units.
- Loading / configuration
- Walk-in room layout: a 2–8°C ante room for frequent entry, a −20°C storage room, and multiple ultra-low freezer compartments off a central hallway. The ante room provides environmental isolation so the deep-cold compartments are not disturbed on every entry.
- Cabinet & interior construction
- Compartments with a stainless-steel interior and custom-configurable stainless-steel product shelving; freezer compartments have a white-painted exterior. Hallways are stainless steel or painted-white aluminum with white suspended ceilings.
- Temperature range
- Freezer compartments run −40°C to −75°C (−40°F to −103°F), off a −20°C storage room and a 2–8°C ante room.
- Refrigeration system
- Compartments are cooled by external, redundant conditioning units — locating the refrigeration outside the room dissipates less condenser heat into the space (saving on building cooling) and minimizes frost accumulation. A dry-air purge holds a positive pressure to minimize moisture infiltration.
- Backup & redundancy
- Fully redundant (single or dual) backup cooling guarantees continuous operation to protect valuable samples, with an optional LN₂ backup; back-up systems are available for power-failure, mechanical-failure, or maintenance events. CSZ rates the room at 2× or greater redundancy versus none for a bank of upright freezers.
- Compartments & rooms
- Configured with multiple freezer compartments — 10, 20, or more — sized and arranged to the application. CSZ cites a single room of about 504 sq ft replacing roughly 19 upright (32 cu ft) freezers for an equivalent 600 cu ft of storage, with negligible heat and noise versus 92,000 BTU/hr and a “dull roar” from the freezer bank.
- Controller
- CSZ EZT-570S touchscreen controller — the same controller used across the CSZ line — with data logging, USB and Ethernet data access, full system security, an audit trail, and electronic signatures. Its 21 CFR Part 11 feature set (audit trail, e-signatures) supports a regulated cold-chain operation; validating it in your GxP environment remains your responsibility.
- Data logging & communications
- Data logging with USB-memory-stick file access, Ethernet monitoring and control, daily data-file backup, and email/text alarm notification.
- Alarms & monitoring
- Audible high/low-limit alarms and optional audible/visual alarms for a door left open or a compartment warming above its setpoint, with power-recovery options — protecting the stored product.
- Build & lead time
- Quote-only — there is no published CSZ price list, because most units are configured or custom-engineered to the application. A standard freezer carries a routine build lead time; a large or custom unit (custom size, custom temperature range, explosion-proof, LN₂ cooling) carries a longer engineered-build lead. Prater Technical Partners scopes the configuration and lead time with the quote.
Common Applications
- Bulk ultra-low storage of vaccines and pharmaceuticals
- Storage of genetic material (DNA) and biological samples
- Donor tissue and allograft storage for surgical transplantation
- Consolidating a bank of upright ultra-low freezers into one managed cold room
- Centralized, redundant cold-chain storage for biorepositories and biobanks
Fit guide: BioStore is steady-state ultra-low STORAGE for irreplaceable material — it does not cycle, ramp, or add humidity or vibration. For pharmaceutical shelf-life testing per ICH protocols, see the stability and photostability chambers; for dry industrial cold processing, see the V-Series and TF/T-Series freezers.
Design & Selection Considerations
- Size the room from storage volume and compartment count, not a single number — BioStore rooms are custom-configured — ante room, −20°C room, and the number of ultra-low compartments (10, 20, or more) are set by how much you store and how you access it. Bring your total cold volume and your access pattern, and the room is laid out to it.
- Decide how much backup the samples justify — single-redundant cooling covers most cold-chain duty; dual-redundant plus an LN₂ backup is for material that cannot tolerate any excursion. Match the redundancy tier to the consequence of a warm-up, not to a default.
- Plan the LN2 supply and personnel safety if you choose it — an LN₂ backup needs a bulk supply and safe venting with oxygen monitoring for personnel entering the room. Settle the cryogen logistics and life-safety provisions during specification.
- This is storage, not testing — a BioStore room holds material at a steady low temperature — it does not cycle, ramp, or add humidity or vibration. For shelf-life or stability testing of pharmaceuticals, the ICH stability and photostability chambers are the right tool.
To configure the right CSZ BioStore freezer room:
Use the input form to send the total volume of material you need to store, the temperatures it must hold (−40 to −75°C compartments, −20°C room), how often it is accessed, and the level of backup redundancy the samples justify (single, dual, or LN₂). We lay out the ante room, storage room, and compartment count to your cold-chain requirement.
Environmental Test Application Sheet ›Talk to an engineer directly — Scott Prater, Principal · 917-580-0878 · scott@pratertechnical.com
Specifications compiled by Prater Technical Partners from Cincinnati Sub-Zero published product specifications.