PETROLEUM INDUSTRY RESEARCH

PROBLEM:To cool down and hold  four one liter bottles filled with samples, to 0C.

SOLUTION: With its AHP1200CPV Versatile Cold Plate, Teca offers accessory Cold Well assembly with Insulation Kit as shown.  The AHP1200CPV is a standard item.  The Cold Well assembly is made to order. The user can specify the number of wells and the diameter of each, as long as the hole pattern fits within the footprint given.

RESEARCH

PROBLEM: Keeping tissue samples frozen for dissection has been done over an ice/dry ice combination with variable results.  The problem was to find a way to get reliable consistent results.

SOLUTION: The Dept. of Psychiatry in a major U.S. university is employing the Versatile Cold Plate Model AHP1200CPV in a novel way.

They are using the product to keep tissue samples frozen for dissection.  The technician has placed an accessory borosilicate (Pyrex) substrate directly on the Cold Plate to provide a cut proof, frozen work area.

The apparatus provides temperature stability and control.  This in turn assures uniform tissue sample consistency for excellent quality dissections.

MEDICAL LABORATORY

PROBLEM: Department of histology in a major hospital needed a peltier cold plate to freeze tissue samples for examination.

SOLUTION: The Histology Division of the Department of Pathology places tissue samples from biopsies into a small block and fills it with wax.  Several of these samples are then placed on one of the AHP-1200CP cold plates to "pull the heat" out of the wax so it gets really hard.  The near-frozen samples are then shaved down to the desired section (slice) using a Microtome (in picture).  The thin sections are then placed in the water bath to warm up the remaining wax in order to remove it and then place the section on a slide for examination.

BEVERAGE COOLER

PROBLEM: Keep concentrated beverage container located next to a hot water tank cool in a high volume OEM application.

SOLUTION: TECA has always had the flexibility and resources to manufacture custom OEM assemblies intended for use as part of a customer machine, apparatus, or system.

This OEM assembly is made by TECA in production runs in the thousands.

It is not ours, so to protect the privacy and identity of our customers we can’t give too many details here.

This assembly is part of a beverage service product which is shipped worldwide by a well known consumer products company. TECA furnishes the cooling "engine" which refrigerates the beverage product to be dispensed, and the OEM builds finished machinery in their own plants.

STIRRING COLD PLATE

PROBLEM: A peltier stirring cold plate was needed to cool liquid inside a standard 1000 ml plastic tank and maintain the class 100 clean room rating.

SOLUTION: A custom designed thermoelectric stirring cold plate with integral variable stir speed control, temperature control, alarm and remote sense capability.

TECA is glad to participate in custom and OEM product development. Over the years we have come up with some pretty innovative and novel products for our customers.

This product was developed from scratch for a customer which was a start-up company in the field of pharmaceutical development. This TECA cold plate apparatus is designed and built for use in a clean room facility. The controls are ergonomic. The user can easily adjust controls for stir speed, timing and temperature even while wearing clean room garb and sterile gloves.

Unfortunately for the start up company, their funding was pulled and they are not around any more. The stirring cold plate was taken over as a proprietary product by TECA.
 

TELECOMMUNICATIONS

PROBLEM: Customer needed a cold plate that could get to -40C.

SOLUTION: Liquid cooled cascade peltier cold plate.

TECA does a lot of business in the field of telecommunications. This customer needs to test components in the range of minus 40C. Single stage thermoelectrics cannot reach such a low temperature, so TECA designed and built liquid cooled cascaded cold-plates for the customer’s laboratory. We used as many standard components as we could, so that while the order was for only two systems, the cost could be kept to a minimum. The customer got a turn-key package including the cold-plate, fittings, cabling, DC power supply and PID temperature controller.

MEDICINE

PROBLEM: Portable cooler for carrying emergency intravenous solutions, all components must be enclosed within the case.

SOLUTION: Custom thermoelectric (peltier) based cold plate built into a Pelican™ Box.

TECA is developing this product for a new customer. We have taken a standard Pelican™ Box and configured a battery powered thermoelectric cooling system which is installed totally inside.

This cooled box is for the purpose of transporting up to 4 liters of emergency intravenous solutions safely. There are fitted compartments inside as well for transporting other necessary items for patient care. Since nothing is exposed or protruding from the box, our customer has ended up with a good looking and very rugged, functional thermoelectric product.

PERFORMANCE TESTING

In this application of low temperature thermoelectric cooling; the user is testing inertial measurement devices over a temperature range. The devices as well as the TECA cascaded cooling assembly are subjected to various rotational and acceleration stimuli while device temperature is controlled.

SOLUTION: The cascaded cooler was built up from a standard Model AHP301CP cold plate.
The finished test fixture was able to function with a maximum rotation rate of 1700 degrees per second and 50g acceleration. The rotation is evident in the photo.  By using a standard product as the basis for the cooling system, higher costs associated with a custom solution were avoided.

MOTOR SPORT

SOLUTION: A solid state cold plate based on TECA model AHP-300CP.

The AHP-300CP, which draws power directly from the car battery, was the solution to maintain the temperature of the water at an acceptable level.  With a ready supply of chilled water, the racing team could drive at peak performance.

AVIONICS                                    

PROBLEM: A branch of the US military had an overheating problem with a high-tech radio inside the wing of a fighter aircraft.

SOLUTION: TECA custom, high-performance cold plate.

TECA developed the solution by making custom cold plates that withstand the shock, vibration, and G forces created by one of the most technically advanced aircraft. In order to assure maximum strength with minimum weight, TECA's Advanced Machining Center machines the finned heat sinks for each cooler from a single blocks of material. 

CONSUMER ELECTRONICS

PROBLEM: A consumer electronics manufacturer needed a thermoelectric cold plate with variable height to help stabilize a process in an assembly line.  

SOLUTION: Modified version of TECA Model AHP1200CP solid state cold plate

The AHP1200CP had the correct cooling capacity but was not the same height as the assembly process.  We added continuously-adjustable feet for a low cost solution that used standard parts. This is now an available option on standard units.

ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL

PROBLEM: A municipal waste plant had an emergency requirement for a water drop device (to condense moisture for analysis) to be installed in a smokestack.

SOLUTION: In this time critical application TECA responded with a custom designed variation of the AHP-150CP cold plate, to be mounted high up in the stack. Working with the customer TECA was able to design and deliver the product in less than two weeks, more than meeting the customer’s timetable.

QUALITY TESTING

PROBLEM: An Electronics manufacturer needed to test their equipment at various temperatures and no standard chamber met the requirements.

They needed to manually ramp and soak their products from -10 C to 65C.  

SOLUTION: By adding a custom cover to a TECA Model AHP-1200CPHC solid state cold plate the customer created what amounts to a mini environmental chamber, able to have fine temperature control and to evaluate performance in hot or cold environments.

LABORATORY

PROBLEM: Chill liquids being circulated by a peristaltic pump under ultra-clean conditions.

When handling and processing various fluids in laboratory and electronic environments cleanliness is a must. Peristaltic pumps have been developed for the purpose of creating a fluid flow without contacting the fluid itself.

SOLUTION: TECA developed a liquid chiller to cool a fluids, while satisfying the same cleanliness requirements. The solution, based on our successful cold plate product line, has proven to be versatile and effective. Pictured here is the first prototype of a multiple-pass tube cooler for use with a peristaltic pump.

Applications range from laboratory to medical to industrial.