Environmental Chamber
Status
Believed working, can be messed with, but not hacked.
The chamber is currently 'on trial' as hackspace equipment : it takes up a moderate amount of space and may not prove to be useful. If this is the case, I will move it on, perhaps to another user. So please don't leave it in pieces or make permanent changes without talking to me first. --Artag 16:14, 30 March 2011 (UTC)
Uses
I've mainly brought this in for possible use in biohacking - it will cool, heat, hold a temperature, follow a simple profile and might be hacked to allow further control. However, there are other possibilities :
- Beer cooler (has been used for this)
- Pie warmer (and listeria farm .. see biohacking)
- Vacuum forming oven (this is what I originally intended it for)
- Glue drying / thermosetting (the most recent commercial use)
- Electronics testing / fault diagnosis (common industrial use)
- Low-temperature firing for polymer clay or similar
Controls
I'm going to have to try it again to give proper details and never really got a good idea of the temperature controller, but the important parts are :
- Switches at top - mains, internal lamp, fridge unit
- Temperature controller - set temperature demand and show temperature.
- Temperature dial - does NOT set temperatire, It sets the overtemperature trip level at which it will automatically cut out. Set it just above the maximum you will require.
- D-type connector- Don't know. Possibly RS232 to controller.
Heating operation is straightforward. Just set a temperature higher than ambient and don't switch the fridge on.
Cooling operation is less obvious - I think the cooler itself runs to a very coarse setting and the heater is used for fine control. In particular, I think you have to set an auxilary control output on the temperature controller to enable the cooler. I have had this working so it's not impossible but may require a bit of fiddling.
Careful
- Don't leave it on unnecessarily, wasting electricity
- If you have to move it, try not to drag it. The feet will fall off. Check when you've finished that they're all still fitted.
- Don't lose the tray inside.
