High Speed Peltier Calorimeter for the Calibration of High Bandwidth Power Measurement Equipment

Accurate power measurements of electronic components operating at high frequencies are vital in determining where power losses occur in a system such as a power converter. Such power measurements must be carried out with equipment that can accurately measure real power at high frequency. We present the design of a high speed calorimeter to address this requirement, capable of reaching a steady state in less than 10 minutes. The system uses Peltier thermoelectric coolers to remove heat generated in a load resistance, and was calibrated against known real power measurements using an artificial neural network. A dead zone controller was used to achieve stable power measurements. The calibration was validated and shown to have an absolute accuracy of +/-8 mW (95% confidence interval) for measurements of real power from 0.1 to 5 W

A liquid-in-glass thermometer with sub-microKelvin resolution, and its application for calorimetry

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2006.Includes bibliographical references (p. 95-104).Labeling methods with optical readout are widely used to implement high throughput screens for drug discovery. However, labeling requires assay customization and does not allow examination of the reactants in their native state. The most direct and universal non-labeling method is calorimetry, but current calorimetric techniques are limited in resolution and throughput for pharmaceutical applications. In this thesis, a novel single-reaction microcalorimeter with optical readout, based on liquid expansion, was designed and built. The instrument was first constructed as a miniature liquid-in-glass thermometer in which the meniscus level was read by a Michelson interferometer. Contact angle hysteresis was limited by a wetting film and the low meniscus velocity. The sub-microKelvin resolution achieved was the lowest known for any thermometer above cryogenic temperatures. The thermometer was modified for use as a batch analysis microcalorimeter. Special attention was paid to minimize evaporation of the 1 /L reaction drops. Resolution of approximately 10 pJ was achieved for an acid dilution.by Robert David.Ph.D

Technical Design Report for PANDA Electromagnetic Calorimeter (EMC)

This document presents the technical layout and the envisaged performance of the Electromagnetic Calorimeter (EMC) for the PANDA target spectrometer. The EMC has been designed to meet the physics goals of the PANDA experiment. The performance figures are based on extensive prototype tests and radiation hardness studies. The document shows that the EMC is ready for construction up to the front-end electronics interface

Advanced photonic and electronic systems - WILGA 2017

WILGA annual symposium on advanced photonic and electronic systems has been organized by young scientist for young scientists since two decades. It traditionally gathers more than 350 young researchers and their tutors. Ph.D students and graduates present their recent achievements during well attended oral sessions. Wilga is a very good digest of Ph.D. works carried out at technical universities in electronics and photonics, as well as information sciences throughout Poland and some neighboring countries. Publishing patronage over Wilga keep Elektronika technical journal by SEP, IJET by PAN and Proceedings of SPIE. The latter world editorial series publishes annually more than 200 papers from Wilga. Wilga 2017 was the XL edition of this meeting. The following topical tracks were distinguished: photonics, electronics, information technologies and system research. The article is a digest of some chosen works presented during Wilga 2017 symposium. WILGA 2017 works were published in Proc. SPIE vol.10445

Measurement of pure liquid molar heat capacities using a dual purpose differential flow calorimeter.

Master of Science in Engineering. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 2016.Abstract available in PDF file

MEMS-based temperature-dependent characterization of biomolecular interactions

Biomolecular interactions are of fundamental importance for a wide variety of biological processes. Temperature dependence is a ubiquitous effect for biomolecular interactions as most biological processes are thermally active. Understanding the temperature dependence of biomolecular interactions is hence critical for a wide variety of applications in fundamental sciences and drug discovery and biotherapeutics. Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) technology holds great potential in facilitating temperature-dependent characterization of biomolecular interactions by providing on-chip microfluidic handling with drastically reduced sample consumption, and well-controlled micro- or nanoscale environments in which biomolecules are effectively manipulated and analyzed. This thesis is focused on various MEMS-based devices for temperature-dependent characterization of biomolecular interactions. Biomolecular interactions can occur with biomolecules in solution or with either the target or receptor molecules immobilized to a solid surface. For surface-based biomolecular interactions, we first present microcantilever-based characterization of biomolecular affinity binding with in-situ temperature sensing, using a demonstrative system of platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) and an inhibitory ligand. The temperature-dependent kinetic and equilibrium binding properties are determined. In addition, a microfluidic approach for temperature-dependent biomolecular behavior with single-molecule resolution is also presented. Using a platform that combines microfludic sample handling, on-chip temperature control, and total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) microscopy, we have studied the temperature dependence of the structural dynamics of transfer RNA (tRNA) translocation through ribosome in protein synthesis. For solution-based biomolecular interactions, we mainly focus on calorimetry, a technology that directly measures heat evolved in biological processes. We first present a MEMS differential scanning calorimetric (DSC) sensor integrating highly sensitive thermoelectric sensing and microfluidic handling for thermodynamic characterization of biomolecules. We have characterized the unfolding of protein (e.g. lysozyme) at minimized sample consumption with thermodynamic properties determined, including the specific heat capacity, molar enthalpy change, and melting temperature. In addition, we also present the development of a variant of standard DSC, temperature-modulated DSC (AC-DSC), on a MEMS device for thermodynamic characterization of biomolecules. Preliminary results again with lysozyme unfolding at optimum modulation frequencies have been presented with thermodynamic properties determined. Furthermore, we have developed a MEMS isothermal titration calorimeter (ITC) integrating thermally isolated calorimetric chambers, on-chip passive mixing, and environmental temperature control, for temperature-dependent characterization of biomolecular interactions. We have characterized the interactions of 18-Crown-6 and barium chloride, as well as ribonuclease A and cytidine 2'-monophosphate, in a 1-µL volume with low concentrations (ca. 2 mM). Thermodynamic properties, including the stoichiometry, equilibrium binding constant, and enthalpy change, are also determined