Temperature Mapping
Planning, sensor placement, analysis and reporting of mapping studies.
What is temperature mapping?
Why regulated storage spaces are mapped, what a study produces, and how the results are used.
How many sensors are needed for temperature mapping?
There is no single number: sensor count follows from the geometry, the risk points and the acceptance limits of the space.
How to identify hot and cold spots
Hot and cold spots are defined by the data and the limits together — and the definition should be fixed before the analysis starts.
Temperature mapping report: a worked example
A worked mapping report for a 2–8 °C cold room: per-sensor statistics, hot and cold spots, an excursion and the acceptance decision. Demo data throughout.
What a temperature mapping protocol should contain
The protocol is the contract for the study: fix the purpose, limits, sensor plan and analysis rules before a single logger is placed.
What a temperature mapping report should contain
A report is a technical record that lets a reader who was not present understand what was done, what was found and what was decided.
Cold room temperature mapping
Walk-in cold rooms combine forced airflow, door traffic and defrost cycles — each leaves a signature in the data.
Warehouse temperature mapping
Large ambient warehouses are dominated by height, external walls, roof and season — so the sensor plan and the study calendar matter more than anything else.
Refrigerator temperature mapping
Pharmacy and laboratory refrigerators are small, but they have cold spots at the back and warm spots in the door — mapping shows which shelves are safe.
Freezer temperature mapping (−20 °C and −80 °C)
Freezers stress the sensors as much as the space: response time, cable ingress and condensation all need managing.
What GDP expects from temperature mapping
EU GDP asks for an initial mapping exercise before use, repeated after significant changes — and for the results to drive where monitoring equipment is placed.
Sensor placement principles for mapping studies
Place sensors where product is, where risk is, and where the monitoring probe might go — and write down why.
Setting acceptance criteria for a mapping study
Acceptance criteria come from the product's storage condition: limits, a definition of a permitted excursion, and a rule for what happens at the boundary.
Common temperature mapping mistakes
Most failed studies fail before the loggers are placed — in the plan, the metadata or the calibration.
Empty versus loaded mapping studies
An empty space shows the equipment; a loaded space shows what product will experience. Most qualification approaches want both.
Seasonal mapping: when one study is not enough
If ambient conditions drive the space, the study must cover the ambient conditions that matter.
Choosing sampling interval and study duration
A 30-minute logging interval does not blur an excursion, it deletes it. A 17-minute event peaking at 9.64 °C is caught at 1 minute and invisible at 30.
Data-quality checks before analysing mapping data
Statistics computed on bad data are precise and wrong. Check the data first.
Furnace and oven temperature mapping
Mapping the hot side: why a survey runs at every set point, what a thermocouple costs you in uncertainty at 600 °C, and where the pass mark comes from.