The ALICE/CPF thermostat

The thermostat is a cylindrical container of appx. 30 × ø 20 cm. This system houses the sample cell unit, that is appx. 10 × ø 6 cm. Typical sample volumes are of the order of 5 cm³. The temperature range of the system is 30 to 70°C.

The capabilities of the thermostat are:

Thermostat between 30°C and 70°C

Accuracy +/- 10 mK,

reproducebility +/-50 µK,

stability 50 µK/h

gradient in SCU 100 µK/cm

Quench: amplitude ± 0.05 -100 mK speed >10 mK/s

The 9 sensors and 5 heaters of the thermostat have to be measured and and adjusted to keep the sample cell at a stable temperature.

The science faculty of the University of Amsterdam has build the analog/digital system, and the necessary software. Apart from regulating the thermostat, the system had to communicate with the sciencelab/MIR host-computers.

used in missions:

Space shuttle missions IML-1 and IML-2 Critical Point facility CPF and
in the MIR with ALICE-1 and ALICE-2 see e.g. thesis Christoph Batscher.
ALICE in MIR