In this example of an AHP-1200CP application a box surrounds the cold plate area. Materials are set directly upon the cold plate and the lid is closed. The material is cooled and temperature controlled without the large air cooling refrigerator.
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.
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.
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.
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.
A customer heard about TECA’s Thermoelectric Cold Plates through word-of-mouth and placed an order within a week. The AHP-301CP Cold Plate is used in the customer’s 3D printing process. Parts are printed on an aluminum plate which is then set on the AHP-301CP Cold Plate.
As the AHP-301CP Cold Plate cools the aluminum plate, the 3D prints just pop right off of the aluminum plate. The customer is pleased with the performance, ease of use and low purchase price of this basic model.
The AHP-301CP series is replaced by the newer 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.
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.
A Peltier stirring cold plate was needed to cool liquid inside a standard 1000 ml plastic tank and maintain the class 100 clean room rating. They desired a custom designed thermoelectric stirring cold plate with integral variable stir speed control, temperature control, alarm and remote sense capability.
TECA is glad to participate in custom and OEM product development. Over the years we have come up with some innovative and novel solutions for our customers. This product was developed from scratch for a start-up company in the field of pharmaceutical development. This TECA cold plate apparatus was designed and built for use in a clean room facility. The controls are ergonomic. The user can easily adjust controls for stir speed, timing and temperature even while wearing clean room garb and sterile gloves.
A potential customer expressed interest in a cooling/heating system for an aerosol flow tube envisioning a 1 inch OD, 0.875 inch ID stainless steel flow tube mounted inside a 2-2.5 inch ID pipe (likely also stainless steel and insulated on the outside) capable of controlling the tube at temperatures ranging from roughly 5 °C to 40 °C at an ambient temperature of 25-30 °C. We are measuring the change in particulates in the air due to the temp change.
Standard liquid chillers were first offered along with technical design assistance. The requirements led to direct contact cooling as being a good solution. Standard cold plate products and controllers were offered which led to this request for a custom package. “We would like to have the flow tube sandwiched between the cold plates with the temperature controller and power supplies attached in a similar manner so that we only need attach the temperature controller (the TC-3400 appears as if it will work) to a computer so that we can change the set points remotely.
Is any of this even possible or am I dreaming in Technicolor?” We advised him that the best dreams were in color. Preliminary design work was done and a quote prepared. Shortly thereafter an order was received; design documents were completed and sent to production. Less than 3 months after the initial contact the product was shipped. Several months later a follow up was made with this response.
“Things are doing really well. It does exactly what we wanted it to do, and is much more efficient and better than we hoped for. We’re very happy!