Precise Temperature Control

ELECTRONIC TEST STATION

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Electronic Test Station:

electronic test station

An aerospace contractor was interested in a large cold plate for the testing of electronic components.  We first offered them the AHP-1200CPV but they responded that the AHP-1200DCP was more the size they wanted.  Could we change it to a single plate?  Well, we couldn’t change the plate size but we could add an accessory plate which was larger.  And we could build the unit with one controller including all of the standard options.

Now they are using the 12” x 18” custom accessory plate and a special AHP-1200DCP to test electronic amplifiers by ramping the temperature up and down between +10 °C to +70 °C.  A custom solution at very nearly standard product price to fill a not so unusual need.

COOLING 64 DEGREES BELOW THE AMBIENT

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Cooling 64 Degrees Below The Ambient:

cooling 64 degrees below the ambient cooling 64 degrees below the ambient

 

A medical device manufacturer uses a TECA Low-Temperature Cascade System in his design process. The Cascade System consists of a TECA Cold Plate and Cascade attachment. The system offers direct contact cooling to the customer’s load.

In this example, the customer was able to cool his load of Isopropyl Alcohol solution from +25 °C to -25 °C in about 35 minutes. Cooling to such low temperatures allowed the customer to package his very small , invasive medical device.

We received the following feedback from the customer: “I was eventually able to get it down to -38 °C at an ambient temperature of 26 °C. It beats the heck out of the system that is currently being used…This thing is working beautifully. Everyone is most impressed. Thanks!!!”

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.”

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.

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.

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.

CASCADE COLD PLATE

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Cascade Cold Plate:

cascade cold plate cascade cold plate

 

Here’s a step by step of an AHP-1200CAS/CCP-22 Cascade system our engineers were playing with. They took a purple EasySep magnetic nano particle vessel, set it on the cascade, insulated it and then cycled it up and down for kicks. The curve shows the results. Faster times can be achieved by thinning out the plates and building the cascade into the AHP-1200CAS rather than having it as an option.

Talk to TECA engineers if your interested.

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