MEASURING PLANT METABOLISM

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

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.

COOLING CHICAGO

Cooling Chicago:

cooling chicago cooling chicago

 

Have you ever wondered what the Chicago Skyline looks like after a nasty Noreater blows in off the lake? The creative machinists at Metal Concepts in Chicago constructed this city skyline to highlight the cooling capacity of our AHP-1200CPV product.

The V stands for Versatile and given it’s used in so many industries I guess it’s not hard to see it cooling the city. Interested in cooling a city of your own? Send us some pictures or sketches and we’ll see what the artists at Metal Concepts can do for you.

EQUIPMENT TESTING AND MAINTENANCE

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.

BROADCAST MICROWAVE SYSTEM

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

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.

LABORATORY EQUIPMENT

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.

QUICK COOLING OF A LOAD FROM 100 °C

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.

MANUFACTURING

Manufacturing:

manufacturing

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.

MEDICAL LABORATORY

Medical Laboratory:

medical laboratory cooling histology samples cooling histology tissue samples

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.

Quarterly eNewsletter