Configuring measurements The user-friendly measuring software comes with a complete set of predefined default values for all measuring and evaluation parameters to make getting started as easy as possible for new users. The default parameters are chosen to cover a wide range of different sample materials and measuring conditions. Advanced users can customize settings like heating power, duration of measurements, number of repetitions and evaluation parameters to meet their individual needs (e.g. lowering of the heating power when testing temperature-sensitive samples).

TK04 measuring configuration

Complete Automation After configuring and starting a measuring series, the instrument performs up to 99 successive measurements using the selected settings, operating fully software-controlled without requiring any user interaction. The heating current is automatically adjusted to the chosen heating power and is kept constant within an accuracy of ± 0.01%. Measuring series with 3 to 10 single measurements do not only improve the reliability of results, in addition the scatter of the measuring series can be used as an indicator of external disturbances, insufficient sample preparation or inadequate measuring parameters.

Drift control and drift correction Drift control by the TK04 measuring software Results of thermal conductivity tests can be falsified by any temperature variation not caused by the test itself. If the sample is not in thermal equilibrium (e.g. due to the difference between outdoor and indoor temperature) and/or ambient temperature in the laboratory is not sufficiently stable, considerable inaccuracies may result. To avoid this, TK04 monitors continuously and fully automated the thermal state of the sample before and between single measurements, never starting a test until the sample temperature is sufficiently constant.

The software is able to correct a sufficiently constant temperature drift as well as cooling processes caused by a preceding measurement. Usually it will not be necessary to wait for thermal equilibrium without affecting the accuracy of results.

Monitoring measuring progress on the screen Results diagram All stages of the measuring process can be monitored on the screen. During drift phases, the software continuously displays sample temperature, current temperature drift and drift history. During measurements, the registered temperature rise is plotted in real time to the measuring window (switch between a linear or logarithmic time scale). After finishing a single measurement, data are evaluated immediately, results are appended to the results table and the results diagram is updated. The software automatically calculates the mean value and variation (in percent) of all single measurements already evaluated.

Storage of data and results Measuring data and evaluation results are saved to plain text files in order to enable processing with third-party software. For further processing with the TK04 evaluation and graphics software results are stored in an additional MS Access database. The measuring software can automatically start external applications and pass it parameters after a measuring series is completed. An options dialog allows the user to choose a program, script or batch job to invoke and to configure the parameters that should be passed.

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