Team:Grenoble-Alpes/Temperature Control
T°C Control
It was at Amont à Aussoi that we had met that night to sleep by the fireside. Credits: Estelle Vincent
How to control the temperature within the kit ?
As biological material is used along the analysis, maintaining a specific temperature within the kit is essential. In order to control the temperature, an electrical circuit was designed using an Arduino card. This system has to first perform an enzymatic cleavage at 37°C .Then, DNA target denaturation at 73°C is realized, and finally, a heat shock occurs which is needed for the bacterial transformation. Whenever the system controlling the temperature must not perform special operations, it keeps the temperature around 37°C.
The idea we had was to design an electronic card with a resistance thermometer which would measure the temperature. With a direct current source, the resistance variation is transformed into a voltage variation. The circuit also required the design of a voltage divider and as well as an instrumentation amplifier to adjust 0V at 0°C. An Arduino card was also essential to compare the tension relative to the current temperature with the tension relative to the temperature wanted. Eventually, the output tension was sent to a power converter, then to the Peltier device to cold or heat within the kit.
