ANY-maze Help > The ANY-maze reference > The Protocol page > The elements of a protocol > Inputs and outputs > Temperature controllers > Setting up temperature controllers > Specifying a temperature controller's start temperature

Specifying a temperature controller's start temperature

In brief

You should use Temperature at start of test field on the temperature controller's settings page to specify the temperature of the controller at the start of the test. You can also optionally specify that the test shouldn't start until the controller is at this temperature.

Details

When ANY-maze prepares to perform a test, it will set the temperature controller to the temperature that you specify here.

In some experiments you may not want the start temperature to be the same in all trials - for example, you might want to alternate the start temperature between 37°C and 45°C in each trial. In this case you can override the start temperature specified here using a procedure - as in figure 1, below.

Figure 1. This procedure will alternate the start temperature of the 'Thermal element' between 37°C and 45°C in each trial. Note that the statements are all in the shaded part at the top of the procedure, which means they run as soon as the test is ready.

If you use a procedure to set the start temperature in this way, then the value you enter here will still be used as the default start temperature, i.e. the temperature that will be used if the procedure doesn't explicitly set it to some other value.

How quickly the actual thing being heated or cooled will take to reach the start temperature will depend on the device, but you can optionally specify that ANY-maze should prevent the test from starting until this temperature is reached. If you do this, then rather than displaying Ready... as the test status, ANY-maze will display something like Waiting for thermal stimulus to reach start temp. of 60°C : X°C where, in this example, 'Thermal stimulus' is the name of the temperature controller and X is the current temperature. ANY-maze will actually wait until the temperature has not only reached the start temperature but has stabilized (remained at the start temperature for a few seconds).

Note that ANY-maze can't know whether the temperature you specify is actually achievable, so if you specify, for example, that the start temperature is 70°C, but the device can't reach this temperature, then your test will never be ready to start.

If you choose not to wait for the device to be at the start temperature, then ANY-maze will set the temperature controller to the start temperature when it prepares the test, but you will be able to start the test immediately, even if it has not reached the correct temperature yet.

ANY-maze help topic T0281