Month: August 2016

MEASURING PLANT METABOLISM

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Measuring Plant Metabolism:

measuring plant metabolism plant metabolism measuring plant metabolism

 

A university-based agriculture research laboratory in Spain is measuring plant metabolism under various conditions. TECA Corporation’s high-capacity version of the AHP-1200CPV (please refer to part number 9-35KB-1-0A0 on our product specification sheet) is used to cool the plant to 22 °C. Precise temperature control is important in this application as the plant’s roots must not get too cold.

There is a significant heat load to deal with as well: the plant is being illuminated with LED lights. Finally, thermal contact is an issue. The plant is inside a glass container, which is inside an aluminum block, which is placed on the AHP-1200CPV Cold Plate surface. Working closely with TECA engineers, the customer was successfully able to integrate the AHP-1200CPV Cold Plate into this unique experiment design and his sensitive thermal management needs were met.

The customer shared with us: “Your suggestion to add water between the glass and the aluminum block is a good one. It does lower the temperature inside, probably by increasing the thermal contact. The fit between the block and the glass is pretty tight. The glass was made first and then the block was drilled out using the glass as a reference. Still, even a tiny space basically ruins the heat transfer, so adding the water seems to fix that. Thanks for your help and suggestions, they were quite useful.”

TESTING MATERIALS PROPERTIES

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Testing Material Properties:

testing material properties

A materials scientist at a state university used TECA’s AHP-1200CPV to conduct published research. The researchers built a thermal fatigue chamber using the AHP-1200CPV.

A 2mm-thick specimen was sandwiched between two laboratory-built hot plates. The hot temperatures were as high as 400 °C.  The AHP-1200CPV cold plate cooled the researchers’ load to 30 °C. Our customer reports that he was able to maintain the 30 °C temperature within +/- 2 °C.

TEMPERATURE CYCLE

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Temperature Cycle

temperature cycle

A university research laboratory uses TECA’s AHP-1200CPV Cascade system to perform nucleation studies. The AHP-1200CPV Thermoelectric Cold/Hot Plate paired with a CCP-31 Cascade attachment creates a low-temperature cooling system. The customer is able to control the temperature of an aluminum dish, rapidly cycling between +20 °C to -45 °C.

The Plexiglas box on top is to contain a dry nitrogen flow, which prevents condensation and frost from forming on the experiment stage.

COOLING CHICAGO

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Cooling Chicago:

cooling chicago cooling chicago

 

Have you ever wondered what the Chicago Skyline looks like after a nasty Noreater blows in off the lake? The creative machinists at Metal Concepts in Chicago constructed this city skyline to highlight the cooling capacity of our AHP-1200CPV product.

The V stands for Versatile and given it’s used in so many industries I guess it’s not hard to see it cooling the city. Interested in cooling a city of your own? Send us some pictures or sketches and we’ll see what the artists at Metal Concepts can do for you.

EQUIPMENT TESTING AND MAINTENANCE

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Equipment Testing & Maintenance:

equipment testing

Three AHP-1200CPV Cold Plates are running continuously and in tandem at 17 °C to monitor satellite equipment. The customer has added air deflectors of his own design. TECA offers standard air deflectors as well. The customer applies approximately 50 Watts of heat to the cold plate.

QUALITY CONTROL

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Quality Control:

quality control quality control

 

The AHP-1200CPV is used in a customer’s Quality Control inspection process. The customer required a specific piece of equipment that would allow for bench top inspection of solution samples contained in small vials. Maintaining a 5C temperature throughout the QC inspection process was crucial.

Ease of use and dependable control by TECA Model AHP-1200CPV Cold Plate has made the customer’s process more efficient.

CONSUMER ELECTRONICS

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Consumer electronics:

consumer electronics

They manufacture navigation devices for land, road, trail and water and they needed to evaluate circuit boards @ various temperatures (-30 °C to -40 °C, no or minimal heat load, room temperature ambient) and on recommendation of a person who joined them from a controls company and had been using the solid state cold plate AHP-1200CAS. The system required the cold plate, cascade, cascade control and tapped plate. The tapped plate is built into the cold plate in place of a smooth plate surface to attach to the cascade plate.

The cascade control facilitates power and temperature control to the cascade. The system also included an acrylic cover and insulation block. They received the system and liked how it is built.

HEARING AID

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Hearing Aid:

hearing aid

A global leader in developing and manufacturing cochlear implant systems uses the AHP-1200CPV to cool down silicone molds after the curing process so the operators can safely handle the mold. So far the cold plate has been performing perfectly.

BROADCAST MICROWAVE SYSTEM

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Broadcast Microwave System:

broadcast microwave system

Customer uses TECA AHP-1200CPV cold plate for a very accurate temperature control of a transmitter. The temperature of the unit under test is always the same, no matter what power it dissipates.

The thermal control loop works great and there is never a problem going cold or hot or switching power on or off.

COSMOLOGICAL PHYSICS

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Cosmological Physics:

cosmological physics

An associate professor of Cosmological Physics at a local university traveled to Antarctica for research. TECA’s High-Capacity AHP-1200CPV Cold Plate went along with him! The AHP-1200CPV is being used for testing on a NASA project.

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