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US 2010/0169027 A1Published application
Analytical Equipment Enclosure Incorporating Phase Changing Materials
AssigneeSpectraSensors, Inc.
InventorsXuejiao Hu, Alfred Feitisch
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Thermally controlled enclosures that can be used with gas analyzers are described. The enclosures incorporate one or more phase changing materials that buffer ambient and internal heat loads to reduce the power consumption demand of mechanical or electronic heating apparatus. Maintenance of gas analyzer equipment at a consistent temperature can be important to achieving stable and reproducible results. Related systems, apparatus, methods, and/or articles are also described.
Claims21
An apparatus comprising an enclosure comprising an outer shell that is resistant to and compatible with an operating environment;
- one or more gas analyzer components disposed within the outer shell;
- and
- a mass of a phase changing material disposed within the outer shell, the phase changing material having a phase transition temperature at which the phase changing material transitions from a first phase to a second phase while absorbing or releasing a latent heat energy ΔHL, the phase transition temperature being within a desired operating temperature range of the one or more gas analyzer components, the mass M of the phase changing material being given by
- M
- ≥
- F
- T
- Δ
-
-
- H
- L
- where FT is an expected net heat energy flux from the operating environment into the enclosure during a period of an operating day during which an ambient temperature outside of the enclosure exceeds the phase transition temperature.
10 more elements
A method comprising:
- receiving a gas sample in a sample cell of a gas analyzer;
- projecting light produced by a laser light source through the gas sample in the sample cell and onto a detector;
- quantifying an intensity of the light received at the detector;
- calculating a concentration of at least one target analyte in the gas sample based on the intensity;
- controlling a temperature of the laser light source to within an operating temperature range, the controlling comprising operating the light source inside of an enclosure that comprises an outer shell that is resistant to and compatible with an operating environment, the outer shell containing a mass of a phase changing material, the phase changing material having a phase transition temperature at which the phase changing material transitions from a first phase to a second phase while absorbing or releasing a latent heat energy ΔHL, the phase transition temperature being within the operating temperature range, the mass M of the phase changing material being given by
- M
- ≥
- F
- T
- Δ
-
-
- H
- L
- where FT is an expected net heat energy flux from the operating environment into the enclosure during a period of an operating day during which an ambient temperature outside of the enclosure exceeds the phase transition temperature.
12 more elements
A method comprising:
- selecting a phase changing material having a phase transition temperature at which the phase changing material transitions from a first phase to a second phase while absorbing or releasing a latent heat energy ΔHL, the phase transition temperature being within an operating temperature range of one or more gas analyzer components;
- calculating a necessary mass M of the phase changing material necessary to maintain the one or more gas analyzer components with the operating temperature range,
- wherein
- M
- ≥
- F
- T
- Δ
-
-
- H
- L
- where FT is an expected net heat energy flux from an operating environment into an enclosure housing the one or more gas analyzer components and the phase changing material, the net heat energy flux occurring during a period of an operating day during which an ambient temperature outside of the enclosure exceeds the phase transition temperature;
- assembling the enclosure, the enclosure comprising an inner enclosure layer and an outer exposure layer with a gap volume between the inner and outer layers;
- and
- transferring the phase changing material to the gap volume between the inner and outer layers of the enclosure structure.
13 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.