Thermoelectric Cold Plate Applications

Sample Cooling in a Clean Room:

A research lab in Europe needed to stabilize the temperature of an acid solution within +-0.5degC. TECA's AHP-301CPV Cold/Hot Plate was the ideal solution due to its small footprint, versatile features and programmable temperature controller. The customer offered the following comments:

• The AHP-301CPV is installed in our big clean room*. Here we fabricate our micro/nano devices for electronic and photonic applications.

• we have now the possibility to do experiments at controlled temperatures and in a really wide range of temperatures. This allow us to increase the reproducibility of our results, which often are so dependent by Temperature.

AHP-301CPV keeps stable the temperature of an acid solution inside a beaker (max 6 or 7cm in diameter and max 10cm in height).

• The possibility to program the temperature controller it’s really interesting, and it will be worthwhile for future experiments. (The customer is referring to the ability to program ramp & soak profiles)

*TECA's cold/hot plates are not specifically designed for clean room use however the customer determined this product would be suitable given the restrictions in this particular clean room.

 

COOLING SAMPLE TO -40C FOR RESEARCH STUDY:

A university research team utilized TECA's AHP-1200C31 Cascaded Cold Plate to build a calorimeter for a research paper that was recently published. The researchers aimed to determine the thermal properties of their specimen as part of a study on cement and concrete durability. Originally the customer used only the AHP-1200CAS base cold plate and was able to reach -15C. When he determined that colder temperatures were needed, he added the CCP-31 cascade attachment to reach -40C.

peltier cascade thermoelectric cascade

With a cascade system each cascade stage acts as a heat sink for the stage above it. This allows the top stage to reach colder temperatures. TECA offers two and three stage cascade systems for reaching temperatures as low as -60C (LHP-1200C31).

 

MEDICAL LABORATORY:

Some researchers at Johns Hopkins have taken the AHP-1200CPV thermoelectric cold plate (Peltier cold plate) and are cooling protein crystallization in Teflon trays with a solution in them. They’ve used the remote sense feature by drilling a hole in Teflon tray and installing the sensor in there.

Using it with internal sensor and the auto-tuning feature they have gotten the control they needed. The secret may have been in how well the teflon tray is contacting the 2" X 3" plate, machined perfectly flat. Cooling objects with concave bottoms minimizes the contact area and diminishes the cooling effectiveness.

 

MEDICATION STORAGE:

Keeping medication at optimal storage temperature is very important. A customized AHP-1200CPV thermoelectric cold plate (Peltier cooling plate) with plate that has grooves with various diameters to accomodate vials of different sizes and lengths was a perfect solution for the customer.

medication cooler peltier cooling

Another feature of this custom thermoelectric cooling unit (Peltier cold plate) is tamper proof temperature controller.

 

ISOTOPE RATIO MASS SPECTROMETRY LABORATORY:

Stock thermostated sample tray supplied with mass spectrometer holds water samples at above ambient temperature. This leads to evaporation and condensation within the sample vials, and problems of gas transfer through sample needle to mass spectrometer (liquid condensation blocks gas flow through capillary tube).

peltier cold plate peltier cooler

USF Geology Stable Isotope Laboratory installed a second auto-sampler with a TECA AHP-1200CPV cold plate to keep samples at precisely controlled temperatures to prevent condensation and evaporation of the sample within the vials, and maintains the thermal stability required for isotope ratio mass spectrometry of water samples analyzed by equilibration method.

 

COLD WELL:

The CWB-01 cold well was first developed as an AHP-1200CPV custom accessory for the petrochemical industry. It replaced the need to maintain ice baths for the storage of chemicals. It has the advantage of good temperature control in either heating or cooling modes.

cooling fluid thermoelectric cold well

The temperature of the cold plate can be referenced to the fluid temperature or the remote sensibility feature of the CPV can be used to control based on the actual fluid temperatures.

 

COOLING OF PURE FLUID FLOW:

peltier chiller peltier cooling

The customer needed to cool a very low flow rate of a very pure fluid. Passing tubing through an ice bath did not provide close enough and consistent enough temperature control. However by using the AHP-1200CPV with tube chiller option and by determining the optimum set point a consistently cooled flow of the pure fluid was obtained.

 

PHARMACEUTICAL LABORATORY: Keeping drugs cool on the bench

A private biopharmaceutical company formulates drugs that are sensitive to temperature. TECA Model AHP-301CPV is their perfect benchtop cooling solution. The customer uses the AHP-301CPV Cold Plate in combination with the customer's own aluminum blocks to keep solutions at 0C during filtration and vial filling operations. The customer reports, “We have been very satisfied”.

microplate cooler

This customer provided photo is a wonderful example of the versatility of TECA's line of Laboratory Cold/Hot Plates. The plate surfaces are appropriately sized to accept microtiter plates and other lab accessories. The temperature can be read from either the plate surface or anywhere a remote sensor can be placed, via the Remote Sensibility™ feature.

 

LABORATORY APPLICATION:

In March our customer said:
We are most likely going to soon order 1 of the AHP-301CPV.

First though, can you please provide a quote on the manufacture of a top plate? We would like to fit:
- 2 x 500 mL Schott bottles (the one I measured was 86mm diameter);
- 2 x 250 mL Schott bottles (the one I measured was 68mm diameter); and
- 2 x 50 mL Schott bottles (the one I measured was 46mm diameter).

peltier block TE block

I’d guess that Schott do not make their bottles to too tight specifications, so we would need to allow some room for tolerances. What do you think? These could be arranged in any way that fit best and that minimised any top plate overhang over the cold plate beneath.

We can foresee out-growing the 50 mL bottles, so ideally would like the ‘walls’ surrounding the 50 mL wells to be thick enough to later be drilled out so that the wells can accommodate 100 mL Schott bottles (the one I measured was 56mm diameter).

The height of the top plate (i.e. depth of the wells) only need be about 70mm. For the current application, we only need to chill to about 5 deg C. Does the range we are interested in affect anything?

In May we shipped the custom “Beaker Block: and AHP-301CPV.

 

R & D LABORATORY:

Peltier cooler

An R&D laboratory needed to quickly cool beakers of high-concentration sucrose samples to 10C. The customer reports that using TECA's AHP-800MSP Magnetic Stirring Cold/Hot Plate system has been successful. The customer has different sizes of samples, which are accommodated by TECA's sleeve accessories. The customer uses 2L, 1.5L, 1L and 800mL sleeves at different times with the AHP-800MSP system. The sleeves are easy to switch in and out and add versatility to the system. In fact, unique to this product is the adjustable nature of many of its features: stir-bar speed, fan speed (for noise reduction), and temperature sensing (internal or external).

 

CHEMICAL WASTE TRANSPORT:chiller plate

Here’s an application that our engineering crew would love to put into greater use if they could figure out where and how.

A specialty gas company called. They wanted to transfer toxic and corrosive liquids from big to small containers for lab use. The process had been taking several minutes with too much wasted product. They knew because of the conditions a natural head pressure in the big container that they could use a cold plate to cool at the receiving vessel (1.5 dia x 12" bottle) to create a driving force which moves the fluid. We didn’t go into the physics of this, we trusted what the customer said and worked with them. When they tried an AHP-1200CP it was fantastic. It turned 4 minutes and a lot of waste into no waste and 40 seconds.

 

COOLING WAFER:

The adjustable feet on this AHP-1200CP Peltier cooling plate (thermoelectric cooling plate) made life easier on the factory floor.

peltier cold plates TE cooler

Customer wafers needed cooling at the end of processing and the feet brought the cold plate up to the perfect height to match the production mechanisms. Just a little option that TECA is ready to provide to make the products we build work for you.

 

INDUSTRIAL MATERIAL:

peltier cooler

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.

 

COOLING FLUID FLOW:

Chilling liquids being circulated by a peristaltic pump under ultra-clean conditions. When handling and processing various fluids in laboratory and electronic environments cleanliness is a must. Peristaltic pumps have been developed for the purpose of creating a fluid flow without contacting the fluid itself.

thermoelectric cooling peltier cooling

 

TECA developed a liquid chiller to cool fluids, while satisfying the same cleanliness requirements. The solution, based on our successful cold plate product line, has proven to be versatile and effective. Pictured here is the first prototype of a multiple-pass tube cooler for use with a peristaltic pump.

Applications range from laboratory to medical to industrial.

 

ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL:

A municipal waste plant had an emergency requirement for a water drop device (to condense moisture for analysis) to be installed in a smokestack.

peltier cold plate

In this time critical application TECA responded with a custom designed variation of the AHP-150CP thermoelectric cold plate, to be mounted high up in the stack. Working with the customer TECA was able to design and deliver the product in less than two weeks, more than meeting the customer’s timetable.

 

NeoGraft FUE Hair Transplant:

Our customer calls the ICE-160 Electric Ice Trays a “dramatic improvement”. He uses several in his medical practice. From our customer:

hair transplant cooling hair graft cooling

“We use the ICE-160 during the quality-control and graft-storage portion of our minimally-invasive hair transplant procedures. While hair transplant grafts are outside of the body, they are fragile and susceptible to damage from dehydration and other factors as they are separated from their blood supply.
During this delicate phase of the hair transplant, the harvested follicular unit micrografts are now in a special physiologic holding solution at 4deg C using the thermoelectric ICE-160 before and after being counted and sorted and while they are awaiting implantation. This is a dramatic improvement over the use of traditional graft coolers using frozen water which need to be swapped out often during a long NeoGraft FUE hair transplant procedure. We are confident that this method of graft storage ensures maximum graft viability and helps us maintain exceptional results for our hair transplant patients. The solid metal surface is simple to clean and disinfect after each procedure. Thank you for this great addition to our practice!”

 

Hair Replacement Procedure: Follicular Unit Transplant/Extraction (FUT/FUE)

A group of physicians pioneered a hair replacement procedure using TECA’s AHP-1200CPV Cold/Hot Plate. The AHP-1200CPV is a Peltier cold plate. In the photos provided by TECA’s customer, the cold plate keeps hair transplant grafts cool in a solution during the patient’s procedure.

laboratory cold plate

The convenience of the AHP-1200CPV cold plate’s built in temperature controller allows the technician to easily program it to maintain the desired set point. The AHP-1200CPV is capable of reaching temperatures as low as -15C. In the photos here, the set point is programmed to 5C. The AHP-1200CPV has an integral universal power supply, so it can be used with any input voltage range from 100 to 240 VAC.

 
     
   
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