Alcor, Inc.

Thomas W Orlando

Vincent T Randal

An apparatus and method for determining the freezing point of substances, particularly liquids, that are likely to be used in environments that subject them to temperatures at or near their freezing points. The apparatus and method achieve a determination of the freezing point of the substance without the necessity of rigidly controlling the warming and cooling of the substance and without mistaking errant fluctuations in the thermal behavior of the substance for the freezing point. The apparatus includes a test sample cell that is cooled by direct contact with a rapidly expanding gas and a means for recording and analyzing temperature and time data for a test sample within the test sample cell. Means for controlling the test and displaying the information/data are also provided. The method utilizes a numerical analysis means to arrive at a freezing point value without the necessity of complex differentiating electronics or calculations. The method is capable of ignoring anomalies in the thermal characteristics of the substance and isolating the characteristics which are indicative of the freezing point. The apparatus and method can be packaged in a small, compact configuration that is portable and battery powered.

Micro freeze point analysis apparatus and method

An oven for heating a distillable material in a preselected gas atmosphere. The oven comprises an inner heating chamber adapted to receive a spherical gravity lid, the heating chamber being connected to and in communication with a gas exhaust tube having a condensate trap at the termination thereof. The inner heating chamber is also in communication with and surrounded by an outer gas flow chamber, the outer gas flow chamber having a plurality of heater elements therein. The gas exhaust tube is surrounded by an ante chamber which is in communication with the outer chamber. The heater elements are continuously monitored by a programmable controller and a thermocouple in communication therewith. During oven operation, a purge gas is introduced to the ante chamber and flows therefrom into the outer gas flow chamber around the heater elements and into the top of the inner heating chamber. The lighter purge gas initially displaces the denser oxygen within the inner heating chamber and urges it outward through the gas exhaust tube and an exhaust chimney connected thereto. During the heating phase, the preselected purge gas continuously purges the inner heating chamber of volatile gas from the heated distillable material. As the denser material gas is urged outward through the gas exhaust tube by the warm purge gas, the cool purge gas entering the ante chamber causes the material gas within the exhaust tube to condense therein and be collected in the condensate trap.

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San Antonio, TX, United States of America

Thomas W Orlando