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.

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.

MEDICAL APPLICATION

PROBLEM: Compact thermoelectric cooling system required to cool flow of fluid through removable membrane liquid jacket for mobile medical application.

SOLUTION: TECA developed, designed and built the product you see in the pictures above for the exclusive use of our customer. Similar to the OEM beverage system cooler above; this unit will be part of a larger system, and we expect to produce thousands. The application is medical and will be protected by patent. Thermoelectric cooling will be employed for effective cooling of the brain for emergency treatment of stroke victims.
 

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.
 

MILITARY APPLICATION  

PROBLEM: The United State Navy needed a liquid chiller to circulate coolant and also meet strict military requirements.

SOLUTION: Custom thermoelectric liquid chiller using MIL rated components.

Here’s another custom military application by TECA. This is a liquid chiller for circulating chilled coolant as part of a tracking system on a NAVY ship. Note that the chilled liquid circuit is effectively “sandwiched “ between two heat sinks with rugged Mil 901 fans. Wiring and electrics are housed in a NEMA4X enclosure with an O-ring gasket seal. This unit is rated for shipboard use in salt-spray, shock and vibration.

TELECOMMUNICATIONS

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

SOLUTION: Liquid cooled cascade peltier cold plate.

TECA does alot 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.

FOOD PROCESSING

PROBLEM: Heat sinks collect materials in food processing plant ... if they are not washed clean.
A long standing customer with food processing plants has used dozens of TECA Model AHP1200X air conditioners over the years. The air-conditioners worked great, except for one thing....... after years of service, the units would come back to TECA with their heat sinks and fans clogged with a hardened paste which seems to be made from corn flower, water and dirt!

SOLUTION: Change from air to liquid cooling of the customers equipment.
Working with this customer for a better solution; TECA developed a liquid cooled version of AHP1200X. This means that there is no heat sink and no fan on the outside of the customer’s enclosure. This customer uses available re-cycling plant water coupled with TECA’s liquid heat exchanger to remove the waste heat.

MANUFACTURING

PROBLEM: Video cameras needed to function in an environment beyond their rated temperature range.
One of our customers wanted to position cameras to observe a process from a location not safe for operators to go. The customer is a rubber manufacturer and the camera location was too hot for the cameras to work in. The customer had the cameras, but had no suitable enclosure, or cooling apparatus.

SOLUTION:
TECA adapted a tiny air conditioner based on Model AHP150XE to mount to a standard commercial enclosure. The package was completed by retrofitting the cameras with insulation and special cooling units. The design satisfied our customer’s needs to a “T”.

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.

AEROSPACE MANUFACTURING QC

PROBLEM: Modify a standard model chiller to meet a highly specialized requirement, including liquid cooling, 24 VDC input and wall mounting.

SOLUTION: This recirculating liquid chiller was developed for a customer who needed something similar to the TECA LHP-300CP chiller; but it had to be a liquid cooled liquid chiller - it had to be 24 VDC input - and it had to be mounted on the wall! The application is X-Ray inspection of aircraft engine parts. Temperature controlled water is circulated through a heat exchanger which is keeping photo diodes nice and cool, assuring quality X-Ray imaging.

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. 

VIDEO PROJECTION

PROBLEM: A ruggedized enclosure for a military video projector caused excessive heat to build up from the high wattage bulb.

SOLUTION: A more rugged version of TECA's AHP-1200FF thermoelectric cooler / solid state air conditioner is used by military to cool a projector.
For detail information such as inlet and outlet air temperatures etc.... open the PDF file.

For detail information such as inlet and outlet air temperatures etc.... click on the image and open the PDF file.

COMMUNICATIONS

PROBLEM: A major manufacturer of communications equipment was to go into production of special equipment enclosures, then encountered unforeseen problems with overheating electronics deep inside.  

The customer wanted air conditioning, but specified that no part of the air conditioner could protrude outside of their enclosure.

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.

ELECTRONIC IMAGING

PROBLEM: A leading manufacturer of video cameras and mobile electronics communications for law enforcement needed a dependable source thermoelectric coolers.

The company had been “thrown for a loop” when their previous thermoelectric vendor admitted that they couldn't meet the delivery promised on a standard cooling assembly.

SOLUTION: An engineer for the vendor responded that TECA was the best choice if they wanted quality and delivery.

One week and several phone calls later, 16 customized assemblies based on TECA's model AHP-150FF were delivered in time for testing and installation.

MILITARY COMMUNICATIONS

PROBLEM: A branch of the US military had a need for cooling a small enclosure containing a critical voice communication system.

The shipboard system had to be resistant to salt water corrosion as well as pass stringent shock and vibration testing.  

SOLUTION: A modification to TECAs AHP-300X solid air conditioner allowed the unit to meet specializing and air flow requirements and pass these tests.  The challenge was to overcome the small available space both inside and outside the enclosure.  The heat sinks were turned so that the heat rejection air flow and internal cold side air flow moved in different directions.  

This unit is a prime example of how flexible Team TECA is when customer needs require customization of standard products.

NUCLEAR ENERGY

PROBLEM: Need to cool equipment used for quality control inspection of pipes in nuclear energy plants.

Evaluating the condition of pipes in nuclear power plants can be time consuming and costly. Automated and remote guided methods are available. Much of the electronics for the job must be rugged and durable, capable of handling many environmental conditions.

SOLUTION: TECA designed, tested and built a system around standard portable cases. The unit shown is the prototype of the production unit, built into the top of a transportation case.

Doing the design and prototype work of this nature often leads to happy customers and production jobs for TECA, as it did in this case!

AVIONICS MAINTENANCE

PROBLEM: Create a portable cooling system for diagnostic equipment to allow troubleshooting of avionics systems while still installed.

Troubleshooting and diagnosing avionics problems is hard enough on the bench. To save valuable time, technicians would rather get it done while the electronics are still in the aircraft. Also, under harsh environments, it is difficult to keep cutting edge electronics functioning the way they should. 

SOLUTION: When it came to the type of portable cooling for the diagnostic equipment required for these jobs; a navy contractor came to TECA for the solution. We helped design and build the solution shown in its prototype form around the portable enclosure. TECA completed the project on a tight schedule, which called for teamwork and attention to detail.

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.