Improving the process of automatic temperature stabilization in a cryovacuum installation

Abstract

This article addresses the issue of temperature stabilization in installations conducting researches on the properties of molecules at low and ultra-low temperatures. Temperature stabilization directly affects the speed and accuracy of the data obtained. Using LabView graphical environment programming tools, a control program was created for the LakeShore 325 thermal controller, which responds to the approach of the current temperature to the temperature of the control point set by the experimenter. Controls were added for the power of the heating element and the turn-on time of the PID controller, enhancing their flexibility of use. For a more accurate verification of the method, stabilization was conducted for temperature control points of 40K, 100K, 150K, and 200K. A comparison between the proposed temperature stabilization program and the standard solution, represented by a PID controller, demonstrates the advantage of the first. An increase in the speed of reaching control points by an order of two times was achieved in some cases. In addition, digitalization of the LakeShore 325 thermal controller allows further work to improve temperature stabilization. The resulting increase in the pair of parameters, such as accuracy-time of stabilization, allows experimenters in the low-temperature field to significantly improve the quality of their measurements. In addition, the introduction of a digital version of a temperature control device opens up a number of possibilities for further automation of cryovacuum installations by linking the thermal control program with other programs that record, for example, spectra at certain temperature values.