Design and performance of a 96 cell thermally controlled multi-cell instrument

This paper describes the design, construction, and evaluation of a thermally controlled multi-cell instrument containing ninety-six independently controlled cells (designated as the TCMCI-96). Each cell was designed to operate over a temperature range of -20oC to +50oC with accuracy to the setpoint of ± 0.2oC compared to the setpoint requested by the operator at any point within the specific cell temperature cycle. The TCMCI-96 instrument was designed to meet the temperature range and accuracy objectives as well as a number of engineering design objectives to improve overall utility and serviceability when compared to the instrument reported by McLaughlin et al. (1985) and a previous one hundred and seventy-six cell version (designated as the TCMCI-176). This paper describes the design and illustrates the utility, flexibility, and accuracy of the TCMCI-96 by presenting data from biological studies conducted within the TCMCI facility at the Saskatoon Research and Development Centre. The temperature accuracy performance objective was not met as the TCMCI-96 achieved a ± 0.3oC accuracy compared to the set point. The temperature range and cycle frequency objectives were met and can be reliably used provided humidity around the instrument is controlled correctly.