Research & Development

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.

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.

LABORATORY EQUIPMENT

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Laboratory Equipment:

laboratory equipment laboratory equipment

A research organization had a problem with overheating of their equipment in a chemical-vapor deposition reactor TECA’s AHP-301CPV Cold Plate cooled the equipment and improved the performance of the customer’s system.

The customer was able to avoid system failures, which allowed the completion of a research project.

ANODIZING ALUMINUM

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Anodizing Aluminum:

anodizing aluminum
A technological university in Asia chose TECA’ s thermoelectric cooling Model AHP-800MSP Magnetic Stirring Cold/Hot Plate to anodize aluminum. The researcher’s process required a temperature of 10 °C.

The AHP-800MSP‘s universal input voltage feature (100-240 VAC) allows it to be used anywhere, making it a perfect, off the shelf choice for our customer in Asia. He wrote to us: “It is quite good. Also the manual is quite clear and quite user-friendly. Thank you.”
Unique to this product is the adjustable nature of many of its features: stir-bar speed, fan speed (for noise reduction), temperature sensing (internal or external) and more.

The AHP-800MSP can even accept beakers of various size by adding optional sleeves. The solid-state thermoelectric construction is low-maintenance. There are no filters to change and no moving parts except for the fans. Our products use robust thermoelectric modules and boast a long service life.

QUICK COOLING OF A LOAD FROM 100 °C

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Quick Cooling of a load from 100 °C

quick cooling quick cooling

 

A company specializing in hydrogen fuel cell technology required fast cooling of a fixture. The fixture is bonding multiple thin materials and can be heated up to 100 °C. The fixture needed to be cooled to the point where it could be handled by technicians—within a 5 minute time frame. Using two AHP-1200CP Cold Plates from TECA, the customer has created a system where a heat sink is cooled on one AHP-1200CP Cold Plate while a hot fixture is sandwiched between a second AHP-1200CP Cold Plate and a pre-cooled heat sink.

The customer reports being very happy with the TECA Cold Plates—the system is cooling in about 4 minutes!  The AHP-1200CP Cold Plate is an economical, easy to use product when maximum cooling is required, without a temperature controller. 120 VAC, 240 VAC and 24 VDC versions are available.

CANADIAN FOG BOX

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Canadian Fog Box:

Below are few pictures of the “Canadian Fog Box” that our customer constructed using TECA’s AHP-300CP cold plates, power supply, and TC-3400 PID controllers.

canadian fog box canadian fog box

 

The interior of the box is covered with mirror finished aluminum to reflect the ultraviolet rays from the bulb in the bottom. The top is normally closed as well. The interior ambient temperature of the box is maintained @ 122 °F. subjecting the 2 insulated glass units (laying at a 45° angle) to intense UV radiation similar to strong sunlight. The upper portion of the glass is chilled to 70 °F. by your cold plates. This is maintained for 1 week 24 hours/day.

The insulated glass unit is then inspected for any condensation inside where the cold plates contacted the glass. Any condensation indicates impurities present inside the unit, which indicated faulty materials containing volatile gasses, which would lead to premature window unit failure.

Any other ‘fog boxes’ use water flow cold plates to maintain temperatures. Our customer during a research found TECA’s cold plates and decided to give them a try to eliminate the hassle and mess of water plates.

The thermoelectric cold plates (Peltier cold plates) have performed excellently to date, reaching and maintaining the 70 °F. quickly and without incident.

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