TECA Gives Back

Donation of Recirculating Liquid Chiller:

TECA is pleased to be a part of an educational exhibit in a science museum.

TECA donated a TLC-700, our most popular model of Recirculating Liquid Chiller to the New York Hall of Science (NYSCI). The TLC-700 is part of the “Search for Life” exhibition. Specifically, it cools Mars and The North Pole in an exhibit exploring how Earth’s denser atmosphere holds heat better than Mars’s thin atmosphere.

 

 

 

Special Note: The NYSCI has been temporarily closed since September 1, 2021 due to hurricane damage. Learn More

Under the Radar

Under the Radar

Cooling RF Device with Liquid Chiller:

under the radar

TECA Corp. manufactures an extensive line of thermoelectric, recirculating liquid chillers. Typically used in laboratories, TECA’s chiller Model RLC-1800 recently adventured out into a more unique application. In this application, TECA was able to help a contractor working for the USAF to reduce cost. The contractor required a replacement chiller with the same form, fit, and function as their original (non-TECA) equipment. The TECA engineering team found a way to modify the RLC-1800 to satisfy the customer’s requirements, while keeping the expense to a minimum. The cooling capacity of the RLC-1800 is our largest in a mountable chiller.

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AEROSPACE MANUFACTURING

Aerospace Manufacturing:

liquid chiller for aerospace manufacturing application

 

To meet an Aerospace manufacturing customer requirement TECA sales and engineering team modified a standard model chiller to meet a highly specialized demand of the application, including liquid cooling, 24 VDC input and wall mounting. 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.

BEVERAGE COOLING

Beverage cooling:

beverage cooling with TLC-700 thermoelectric liquid chiller adn water pad

Here’s more of the engineers dream test job (beverage cooling). The team was messing around and decided to cool a keg with a TLC-700 liquid chiller and one of our medical customers water pads used for patient temperature therapy. Instead of the patient laying down on the pad they wrapped it around the keg and then insulated it.

Not quite an economical way of cooling your beer. But they did use the mattress the next day to sleep off the hangovers.

LIQUID CHILLER WITH 200′ HOSE

Liquid Chiller with 200′ Hose:

Liquid chiller with 200' hose

A customer wanted a TLC-1400 thermoelectric liquid chiller (Peltier chiller) to maintain a 400 watt load under normal conditions except for one thing, the hose needed to be over 200’ long. Would it pump? How much of an effect would it have on the cooling capacity? We could have run the numbers and come up with an estimate.

It was really easier to just hook up some hose and a constant load plate, roll it into the environmental chamber and see what it did. It did more than it was supposed to. The customers safely bought it knowing it would do what he needed.

LIQUID CHILLER COLD PLATE CASCADE

Liquid Chiller Cold Plate Cascade:

Here are pictures of the TLC-900 thermoelectric liquid chiller with LHP-150CP Peltier liquid cooled cold plate set up run in the lab. The “load” is a plate with 10 power resistors mounted to the top and a series of thermocouples measuring the surface of the LHP-150CP’s thermoelectric cold plate.

liquid chiller cold plate cascade liquid chiller

 

During the test the power to the resistors is increased in steps with enough time in between for the temperatures to stabilize. Plotting the data resulted in performance curves. The test was made with the load insulated and with the load simply covered.

Later on we used a TLC-900CAS, a version of the TLC-900 made specifically for running and controlling secondary cold plates like the LHP-150CP and ran some step, ramp and soak profiles.

SEMICONDUCTORS

Cooling Semiconductors:

semiconductors

 

A research oriented organization uses TECA’s TLC-900 recirculating liquid chiller to control the temperature of a semiconductors test stage where proximity of TEC would produce electromagnetic noise hard to screen.

Temperature controlled fluid supplied by TLC-900 keeps their test stage cooled and free of noise.

TESTING PROPERTIES OF MATERIALS

Testing Material Properties:

testing material properties

A materials scientist at a state university uses TECA’s TLC-900 Liquid Chiller to cool transducers for an elastic modulus apparatus. The apparatus measures the elastic modulus as function of temperature. The elastic modulus is a material property. It defines the stiffness of material. It varies with temperature and is used in design.

The customer uses the TLC-900 Liquid Chiller to cool a plate, which then cools from 400C to between 30C and 50C.

BEVERAGE COOLING IN A BARREL

Beverage Cooling in a barrel:

beverage cooling in a barrel beverage cooling in a barrel

Here’s an application that TECA’s engineering team was particularly excited about. Not because of the economics or the potential new business. Frankly we didn’t think the market was there. But as soon as they found out that a ½ barrel of beer would be needed for testing they were all over it. While none was ever sold, good lessons regarding contact methods and material stratification were learned. To see the result of the test click here.
We used an AHP-1200CP thermoelectric cold plate and a TLC-700 thermoelectric liquid chiller for testing purpose.

CHEMICAL VAPOR DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM

Chemical Vapor Distribution System:

130-tlc-900

An OEM customer integrates TECA’s Model TLC-900 Liquid Chiller into a bubbler system designed to distribute chemical vapor via a carrier gas. The bubbler vessel is filled with the liquid chemical. The carrier gas is bubbled through the vessel and TECA’s TLC-900 Liquid Chiller maintains the chemical at a temperature determined by the end user, to maximize process control. The customer chose TECA’s TLC-900 Liquid Chiller over others because of its heating and cooling capability and the versatility of its universal input voltage (100-240 VAC). The customer’s system is sold worldwide and quality and reliability are key. The customer shared with us: “Before we used TECA products, we had half a dozen failed units over in China that my boss had to fix. I’m talking chillers that have only been in service for less than 4 months. In all, there have been at least ten of them go bad over the years. Some of the current orders we have with you are replacement units for the failed ones. We love your products. You are putting the competition to shame. Keep up the good work.”

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