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.
Customer plans to use the TEC unit to regulate the temperature of some electronics in an outdoor enclosure. The electronics will be mounted to a cold plate where they can be cooled by direct contact with the TEC. The walls of the enclosure will be insulated to reduce thermal losses to the outside world. The hot side of the TEC will be in a separate, ventilated part of the enclosure to carry away waste heat. Customer will provide longitudinal air flow along the heat sink, so the built-in fan will not be necessary.
Originally considered using a solid-state air conditioner to cool the entire enclosure, but now prefers the direct-contact method for lower cooling requirements and smaller size. The active load that needs to be cooled is about 50 W. It will consist of a number of RF components (amps, sources, etc) mounted to a common cold plate. Several passive components will also be mounted to the plate. The whole temperature-controlled assembly will be insulated by an inch or so of foam or something similar. The ambient temperature range is roughly 0 to 100 °F at the extremes.
Here’s another example of an AHP-1200CP thermoelectric cooler plate (Peltier cooler plate) used in a manufacturing station. The adjustable feet provide vertical flexibility in lining up the cold plate with the workstation. Parts slide easily from the hot plate to the work surface to the cold plate.
Department of histology in a major hospital needed a peltier cold plate to freeze tissue samples for examination. The Histology Division of the Department of Pathology places tissue samples from biopsies into a small block and fills it with wax. Several of these samples are then placed on one of the AHP-1200CP thermoelectric cold plates (Peltier cold plates) to “pull the heat” out of the wax so it gets really hard.
The near-frozen samples are then shaved down to the desired section (slice) using a Microtome (in picture). The thin sections are then placed in the water bath to warm up the remaining wax in order to remove it and then place the section on a slide for examination.
The customer was looking for a cooling solution for LED chips. With a heat load as high as 45 watts at times, the customer needed to cool the chips quickly. The customer was able to utilize TECA’s Loaner Program and test the AHP-301CP cold plate before purchasing.
Satisfied with the AHP-301CP performance, the customer has since purchased several more and sold them as a part of his total system to his clients.
The AHP-301CP series is replaced by the newer and updated AHP-401CP series.
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.
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.
The WWW brings many to TECA’s door. These particular customer requirements were filled by an AHP-300CP Peltier cold plate. He needed to control the temperature of a 96 well titer plate in a new product design. But he needed just a few things the standard unit didn’t provide and he didn’t need some that it did provide. He wanted a 24 VDC heat cool system with continuous fan operation and a custom tap pattern on the cold plate.
In short order the TECA sales team assigned a preliminary part number, passed the requirements through to engineering and together the first units were modified and shipped. This gave the customer plenty of time to work with the solid state cold plates and refine his requirements into the custom design he uses today.
The AHP-300CP series is now replaced by a newer and more efficient model the AHP-470CP series.
A Medial Doctor was interested in a Peltier based “Cold Probe” to anesthetize the skin prior to treatment. He wanted an instrument that ran on batteries based around the Otoscope or the Ophthalmoscope with interchangeable heads. It was a medical application, a prototype and a long shot one at that.
He came to TECA with some rather limiting criteria to do a big job considering the load human skin presents. We did our best and gave the good Doctor his cold probe. We designed it, packaged it, powered it and built it. But not many folks really needed it. Not a complete market success but a technical one.
Portable medicine cooler needed for carrying emergency intravenous solutions, all components must be enclosed within the case. TECA designed a 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.
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.
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.