[labnetwork] A safer hotplate?

[Daniel Christensen]

Mary,

Just a couple of quick thoughts......

You might add a secondary over-temp TC and over-temp 
controller.  Most heated baths have this and it would be nice to 
prevent run away temps on the hotplate.

We've also wondered about making some kind of "egg timer" on the 
hotplate that would require the user to punch a button every "X" 
minutes to keep the power on.  This would provide hardware 
enforcement of the user's presence to monitor the hotplate.


  At 03:01 PM 3/26/2009, Mary Tang wrote:
>Hello Labnetworkers --
>
>We are interested in trying to find, or even build, a safer hotplate.
>As you probably know, these things are ubiquitous and probably the most
>hazardous thing in the lab. There was a presentation from a major
>insurance company a while ago which said that the greatest damage
>payouts in the semiconductor industry were due to fires caused by hot
>pots or heating plates -- scarier still was that majority of these
>incidents occurred during operation while someone was ostensibly present.
>
>Anyway, we (actually, Jim Haydon, one of our engineers) have been on the
>search for a safer hotplate -- but just haven't found one that has all
>the features we'd like.  (Does anyone have recommendations???)   Because
>we haven't had a lot of success, Jim has initiated some discussions with
>one of the best controlled hot plate manufacturers we've found.  They
>are interested in working with us, but wanted to see if there might be a
>broader market (other than just our lab) for these things.  So, this
>email to you.
>
>Some of the features we'd like to see:
>- Ability to program recipes and store multiple recipes (for example,
>hot phosphoric nitride strip versus solvent-based resist strip).
>- Programmable max temp  (right now, we install a hard stop -- but it
>would be nice to be able to change this depending on the process
>need/recipe.)
>- Monitor and control of either hotplate temp and solution temp (using a
>plug-in TC - most do this)
>- Active comparison between hotplate temp and solution temp (built into
>the recipe - ensures solution doesn't evaporate off, for example)
>- Automatic shut down feature (if solution temp changes suddenly when a
>beaker breaks, for example)
>- Interlock control on the low voltage side
>- Manual reset switch - when the hot plate shuts down (if a beaker
>breaks for example - human intervention is required to reset and get
>going again)
>- Manual reset switch - on a process timer (our plates on timers so
>shutoff after two hours, unless the operator resets the timer)
>
>
>So, if anyone is interested in an updated hot plate for general lab use,
>your feedback would be much appreciated.  Please get in touch with us
>and let us know your level of interest ("I want a dozen" or "here's our
>alternative solution")
>
>Thanks,
>
>Mary & Jim at SNF
>
>
>--
>Mary X. Tang, Ph.D.
>Stanford Nanofabrication Facility
>CIS Room 136, Mail Code 4070
>Stanford, CA  94305
>(650)723-9980
>mtang at stanford.edu
>http://snf.stanford.edu
>
>
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Daniel C. Christensen
dan at engr.wisc.edu
Univ of WI-Madison
(608) 262-6877
FAX (608) 265-2614