Chemical temperature control

• Main Authors: DOMINGO-VILLEGAS GONZALO JOSE, LABARRE PAUL DONALD, GERLACH JAY LEWIS, WEIGL BERNHARD HANS
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 30.04.2013
• Subjects: APPARATUS FOR ENZYMOLOGY OR MICROBIOLOGY; BANDAGES, DRESSINGS OR ABSORBENT PADS; BEER; BIOCHEMISTRY; BLASTING; CHEMISTRY; COLLECTION, PRODUCTION OR USE OF HEAT NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDEDFOR; DEVICES PROVIDING PATENCY TO, OR PREVENTING COLLAPSING OF,TUBULAR STRUCTURES OF THE BODY, E.G. STENTS; ENZYMOLOGY; FILTERS IMPLANTABLE INTO BLOOD VESSELS; FIRST-AID KITS; FOMENTATION; FOR PERFORMING MECHANICAL WORK IN GENERAL; GENERATING OR TRANSMITTING MECHANICAL VIBRATIONS IN GENERAL; HEATING; HUMAN NECESSITIES; HYGIENE; LIGHTING; MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; METALLURGY; METHODS OR APPARATUS FOR GENERATING OR TRANSMITTING MECHANICALVIBRATIONS OF INFRASONIC, SONIC, OR ULTRASONIC FREQUENCY; MICROBIOLOGY; MUTATION OR GENETIC ENGINEERING; ORTHOPAEDIC, NURSING OR CONTRACEPTIVE DEVICES; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; PROSTHESES; RANGES; SPIRITS; TRANSPORTING; TREATMENT OR PROTECTION OF EYES OR EARS; VENTILATING; VINEGAR; WEAPONS; WINE

Exothermic and/or endothermic chemical reactions in combination with phase change materials can produce output temperature(s) within strict tolerances without requiring expensive and complicated external equipment to generate and maintain an output temperature. Similarly, an exothermic phase change material, which generates heat as a consequence of crystallizing a supercooled liquid, can generate heat at a constant temperature, without requiring expensive and complicated external equipment, as a consequence of the liquid form of the exothermic phase change material being in equilibrium with the solid form of the exothermic phase change material. Numerous biological and chemical processes and/or diagnostic devices require a constant temperature or temperatures for set periods of time. An example completely non-instrumented diagnostic platform based on nucleic acid amplification is described, which is particularly suited for use in developing countries that may not have access to expensive and complicated external equipment.