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Pharmaceutical
biotechnology has drawn increasing attention to
freeze-drying as a critical step in the development
and manufacture of new therapeutic and diagnostic
agents. Physitemp's FDC-1 microscope stage allows
observation of the controlled freeze drying process
for characterization purposes. The stage uses
thermoelectric (Peltier) heat pumps to achieve product
sample temperature as low as -60°C. Accuracy of
temperature control is 0.I°C.
The chamber is a
cylinder 11/16" high and 4 1/8" O.D.. The
bottom of the chamber is approximately 3/8" thick,
and is cross drilled to allow circulation of liquid
coolant which acts as a heat sink for the
thermoelectric heat pumps. The top lip of the chamber
is grooved (I/ 16") to accommodate an
"O" ring vacuum seal for the stainless steel
cover plate. A tapped hole in the wall of the chamber
accommodates a compression fitting for attachment to a
vacuum pump. A 1/4" diameter hole through the
center of the chamber permits the use of transmitted
light when viewing samples under test inside the
chamber.
A second thermocouple is
used to monitor the actual sample temperature and is
imbedded directly into the sample. This thermocouple
may then be connected to your PC for continuous
monitoring of temperature via an optional temperature
data acquistion card available from Physitemp. This
card, called THERMES, will turn any IBM compatible PC
into a precision temperature measurement device. The
system is self-calibrating and will maintain 0.1°C
stability and clinical accuracy or better when used
with Physitemp's highly accurate Type T thermocouples. The
basic THERMES unit is supplied with a pre-calibrated
cold-junction reference and single thermocouple input
socket in a 25 pin DIN connector housing for
connection the the THERMES board.
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