Quantachrome Instruments has added an economical and compact thermoelectric thermostatting device to its line of accessory equipment for its gas sorption instruments and gas pycnometers.
Gas sorption instruments are used to measure surface area and pore size of porous materials and powders. While most of such measurements are done at cryogenic temperatures using liquefied gases, many applications benefit from measurements at a very different temperature such as those around room temperature or the freezing point of water. These higher temperatures must still be well controlled, i.e thermostatted. This is best done by actively cooling/heating to ensure temperature stability rather than, at 0degC for example, relying on melting ice. This is normally achieved by using refrigerated, heated circulator baths. While these perform very well and have quite wide temperature range capabilities, they are often too large, too power hungry, and simply too much for smaller thermostatting jobs. In contrast, the thermoelectric device uses peltier devices to both cool and heat the circulating fluid contained in a closed bath; this means very low evaporation of the fluid and fast response times.
The new accessory is also the ideal partner for Quantachrome's gas pycnometer, the Ultrapyc-T 1200e, a density analyzer equipped with built-in circulation coils with an external port for connection to a circulator-style thermostat. The peltier does away with having separate heating and cooling elements and the associated refrigerant compressor, and so the new circulator is better matched in size and thermal specifications to the pycnometer. The thermoelectric thermostat accessory has a universal voltage input which means no special configuring is necessary whether used domestically or internationally.