Craic's Thermal Stage Controls Sample Temperatures

Craic Technologies has added the ability to control the temperature of samples being analysed spectoscopically to its microspectrophotometers. Heating and freezing stages have brought many benefits to scientists wishing to visualise a sample under different temperature regimes. The company has added this capability to its microspectrophotometers for spectral analysis of microscopic samples throughout the UV, visible and near-infrared regions.

Additionally, samples can be imaged from the deep-UV to the near-IR with this new product. The Craic Thermal Stage adds to the microspectrophotometer capabilities offered by the company. It also opens up new research capabilities for everything from biotechnology to materials science to nanotechnology.

The Craic Technologies Thermal Stage package, depending upon its configuration, enables a scientist to analyse the transmission, reflectance or fluorescence spectra of microscopic samples under conditions of extreme cold or heat. Operating in the UV-visible-NIR regions, samples can be cooled to as low as -196C or heated up to as high as 600C. The same system also allows for atmospheric control of the sample environment - a feature that will open up additional avenues of research in many fields.

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Barber Insys Offers EC060 Thermal Imaging Cameras

Trotec's EC060 hand-held low-cost thermal imaging cameras, available from Barber Insys, incorporate a 160 x 120 pixel un-cooled micro bolometer, flip-out display and visual camera option.

There are three models to choose from: the EC060 standard, which has two measuring spots, one auto hot/cold spot and one movable; the EC060V, which has an integrated digital camera and five spots, four movable and one auto hot/cold; and the EC060V+, which has an integrated digital camera and Bluetooth software (including headset and real-time IR video incorporated in the camera, real time software optional), nine movable spots and one auto hot-/cold-spot, integrated profile and area analysis.

All three models have a 50/60Hz image refresh rate, so rotating machinery is not a problem. The EC series is an ideal entry-level camera for engineers and surveyors.

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Ecobuild To Feature Ancon Thermal Wall Ties Range

Ancon Building Products is showcasing its sustainable products at Ecobuild, including its range of low thermal conductivity wall ties. The wall ties form Ancon minimise heat transfer through a masonry cavity wall. Use of these wall ties can reduce insulation thickness and wall footprint. In addition to Ancon's stainless steel wire wall ties, this range includes the BBA-approved TeploTie.

The Ancon TeploTie is manufactured from basalt fibres and has a thermal conductivity of 0.7W/mK. Fixings with a conductivity of under 1.0W/mK are excluded from U-value calculations to EN ISO 6946. Ancon's low conductivity range is manufactured in a variety of lengths to suit cavities from 50mm to 300mm. Ancon designs and manufactures high integrity structural fixings and supplies a variety of construction sectors including residential, commercial, infrastructure and sporting stadia.

In addition to cavity wall ties, Ancon manufactures insulated balcony connectors, warm roof batten fixings and stainless steel lintels. Many Ancon products are fabricated from stainless steel which has an approximate 60 per cent recycled content, a lower thermal conductivity than carbon steel and is 100 per cent recyclable at the end of a long, low maintenance service life. Ancon will be exhibiting at Stand 2230 at Ecobuild 2010.

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Schock Isokorb Provides Thermal Break Solution

Schock Isokorb thermal break system has been installed at the new headquarters of Aardman Animations, the film company responsible for Wallace and Gromit. The Bristol based studio seen the construction of a new three-storey headquarters building which includes a mini cinema presentation suite, office space and new catering facilities. The new building provides office and studio space, arranged around a tapered atrium providing break out spaces, daylight and air movement for the natural ventilation.

The building is designed to be highly sustainable in both its materials and use of energy. It externally features a brise soleil to prevent solar gain inside the building, which is a heavy, permanent structure. The brise soleil is structurally connected to the floor slab by steel beams, and as a result has to meet the requirements of Part L of the building regulations, which demand a thermal break solution to prevent cold bridging. Schock provides the type KS14 Isokorb as a solution, a module positioned between the outer and inner structural connection points that blocks the outflow of heat through the use of polystyrene insulation foam.

This polystyrene core sits inside a compression module that has stainless steel bars passing through it, which in turn take the tension and shear forces between the building frame, and on this occasion the brise soleil which runs along the whole of one side of the new building. The Isokorb enables a thermally insulated, load bearing connection to be made between reinforced concrete and steel construction components. The Isokorb reduces thermal energy loss in connective areas by guaranteeing the homogeneity of the thermal envelope between cantilever structures and the internal floor.

It also transfers load and maintains full structural integrity, while at the same time enabling inner surface area temperatures to remain well in excess of those likely to cause mould formation and condensation. The Isokorb enables optimum compliance with the building regulations approved documents by using numerical modelling to calculate the building's energy performance. There is also compliance with the Government Standard Assessment Procedure SAP 2005.

The Schock Isokorb range offers thermal break solutions for connections between concrete-to-concrete, concrete-to-steel and steel-to-steel and provides BBA Certification for the concrete-to-concrete and concrete-to-steel ranges. There are more than 250 standard solutions available in the Schock range and modules can be tailored to suit any application, with different types enabling the transmission of shear, bending moment and tension, as well as compression.

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