Testing of the small sample (new concept) calorimeter received from EG&G Mound Applied Technology

The Small Sample calorimeter, also known as the New Concepts calorimeter, has undergone testing in the transfer of the calorimeter operations to Los Alamos National Laboratory from EG&G Mound Applied Technology (Mound), Miamisburg, Ohio, in September 1996. The design of the calorimeter incorporated several new concepts, thus the name New Concepts. The normal water bath was replaced with a small self-contained bath and control that used a thermal electric cooling/heating device to supply the control for the bath temperature. This change replaces the large refrigeration unit that has been used in the past, thus reducing the weight and the power required to operate the system. The design was done to allow the complete calorimeter system to be contained in a single electronics rack. With the new electronics package, this change would allow the unit to use a short electronics rack with a laptop computer and make the complete system transportable. By reducing the amount of water in the bath, the control and size of the bath could also be reduced. By making the bath self-contained and sealed, there would be no need to replace water or supply de-ionized water for the system. This change would remove some of the concerns about using a water bath in certain situations. The water would be about 5 gal. or less depending on the size of the calorimeter. The present system is a 5 in. diameter sample chamber system which can accept most older material now in storage. It will not handle the new 3013 size container as built but could be easily designed for that size. There is also a new sensor design that takes less wire and can eliminate the constant current source used in past Mound calorimeter designs. With the new digital voltmeters, the complete system could be run from a single meter with the ability to monitor bath and room as well as the calorimeter operating voltages for electrical heater runs. A few problems, though minor, need to be corrected to make the system available