Sánchez Carlos, Dessì Paolo, Duffy Maeve, Lens Piet N L
Microbiology Department, School of Natural Sciences, National University of Ireland, Galway, University Road, Galway, Ireland.
Electrical and Electronic Engineering, School of Engineering, National University of Ireland, Galway, University Road, Galway, Ireland.
HardwareX. 2020 Feb 24;7:e00099. doi: 10.1016/j.ohx.2020.e00099. eCollection 2020 Apr.
Microbial electrochemical technologies (MET) are emerging systems for environmental applications such as renewable energy production or pollution remediation. MET research often requires stable temperatures and low levels of electromagnetic interference. Due to the presence of electrical wires and sensors, heating MET using water jacket recirculation can raise safety issues, whereas heating coils may affect the results of electrochemical analyses. The proposed open-source temperature-control chamber (OpenTCC) aims to provide a low-cost solution for controlling temperature (in the range 20-55 °C) while simultaneously reducing the electromagnetic interferences caused by switching mode power supplies. OpenTCC consists of a light and cheap structure, incorporating eight heating pads and two Peltier-cooling modules powered by open-source electronic circuits. Its hardware is controlled by an Arduino microcontroller and a Python interface which provides data-logging and serve as a basis for programable temperature cycles. The system has a modular design to allow stacking several independent modules. OpenTCC provides a reliable and tunable temperature control at lower costs than currently available commercial temperature controllers and provides a platform for field-specific upgrades. Though optimized for MET, Open-TCC can be adapted to other laboratory applications due to its flexible design.
微生物电化学技术（MET）是用于可再生能源生产或污染修复等环境应用的新兴系统。MET研究通常需要稳定的温度和低水平的电磁干扰。由于存在电线和传感器，使用水套再循环加热MET会引发安全问题，而加热线圈可能会影响电化学分析的结果。所提出的开源温度控制箱（OpenTCC）旨在提供一种低成本的解决方案，用于控制温度（在20 - 55°C范围内），同时减少开关电源引起的电磁干扰。OpenTCC由一个轻便且廉价的结构组成，包含八个加热垫和两个由开源电子电路供电的珀尔帖冷却模块。其硬件由一个Arduino微控制器和一个Python接口控制，该接口提供数据记录并作为可编程温度循环的基础。该系统具有模块化设计，允许堆叠多个独立模块。OpenTCC以低于目前市售温度控制器的成本提供可靠且可调节的温度控制，并为特定领域的升级提供了一个平台。尽管OpenTCC是针对MET进行优化的，但由于其灵活的设计，它也可适用于其他实验室应用。
