CLAIRE DUFFIE
Mechanical Engineer
HEATED TESTING VESSEL FOR ACID
Lyndra Therapeutics
DESIGN PROCESS
PROBLEM STATEMENT
Samples are subjected to repeated stress while incubated in FaSSGF. A heating system is required to keep the FaSSGF at body temperature through the test
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:
• Holds the element that stresses samples
• Maintains temperature to ±1°C
• Doesn’t degrade in acid
• Same height as existing jar
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IDEA GENERATION:
Three possible designs shown below range from least invasive to most invasive design solution.
INITIAL PROTOTYPES
THERMAL FIN (left): Too much heat is lost to the environment since size constraints limit the thermal mass – method rejected
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BASE HEATING (right):
• Water heated up
• Thermocouple accurately reads water temperature
• Insulated base got hot over time
PROTOTYPE 2
ADJUSTMENTS:
• Increased insulating air gap in base between heater and bottom surface
• Gasket added between jar and conductor
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RESULTS: Water reached temperature in about 45 minutes and maintained ±0.5°C (shown in graph)
MACHINED AND ASSEMBLED FINAL HEATED JAR
ADJUSTMENTS:
• Thermocouple screws directly into side wall
• Screen added to support to collect broken samples
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RESULTS:
• Reduced user time by 5 minutes/cycle
• Maintained temperature to improve accuracy of test
• Standardized system to decrease user error