Development of a low-cost mini environment chamber for precision instruments

Jian Feng; Rui-Jun Li; Ya-Xiong He; Kuang-Chao Fan

doi:10.1117/12.2211334

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26 January 2016 Development of a low-cost mini environment chamber for precision instruments

Jian Feng, Rui-Jun Li, Ya-Xiong He, Kuang-Chao Fan

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Proceedings Volume 9903, Seventh International Symposium on Precision Mechanical Measurements; 99030U (2016) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2211334
Event: Seventh International Symposium on Precision Mechanical Measurements, 2015, Xia'men, China

Abstract

The wavelength of laser interferometer used widely in precision measurement instrument is affected by the refractive index of surrounding air, which depends on the temperature, relative humidity (RH) and air pressure. A low-cost mini chamber based on the natural convection principle with high-precision temperature-controlled and humidity-suppressed is proposed in this paper. The main chamber is built up by acrylic walls supported by aluminum beam column and are tailored according to the required space. A thin layer of vacuum insulation panel (VIP) with an ultralow thermal conductivity coefficient is adhered around the walls so as to prevent heat exchange with room air. A high-precision temperature sensor measuring the temperature near the instrument’s measuring point provides a feedback signal to a proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller. Several thermoelectric coolers uniformly arranged on the ceiling of the chamber to cool the air inside the chamber directly without any air supply system, yielding a vibration-free cooling system. A programmable power supply is used as the driver for the coolers to generate different cooling capacities. The down-flowing cool air and the up-flowing hot air form a natural convection, and the air temperature in the chamber gradually becomes stable and finally reaches the temperature set by the PID controller. Recycled desiccant contained silica gels that have high affinity for water is used as a drying agent. Experimental results show that in about two hours the system’s steady state error is 0.003°C on average, and the variation range is less than ± 0.02°C when the set temperature is 20°C, the RH is reduced from 66% to about 48%. This innovative mini chamber has the advantages of low-cost, vibration-free, and low energy-consumption. It can be used for any micro/nanomeasurement instrument and its volume can be customer-designed.

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Jian Feng, Rui-Jun Li, Ya-Xiong He, and Kuang-Chao Fan "Development of a low-cost mini environment chamber for precision instruments", Proc. SPIE 9903, Seventh International Symposium on Precision Mechanical Measurements, 99030U (26 January 2016); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2211334

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