Research on temperature measuring positions selection and verification for Polymerase Chain Reaction instruments

Specific fragments of DNA in vitro can be rapidly amplified after several thermal cycles of the test samples by taking Polymerase Chain Reaction technology. The good performance of temperature control in thermal cycles is critical to successful PCR reaction. However, in order to achieve good performance of temperature control and guarantee the temperature qualities of PCR instruments, it is crucial to precisely measure the temperature field of sample block by selecting appropriate temperature measuring positions on the sample block. Simulation in finite element analysis (FEA) is carried out by using software ABAQUS 6.9 in this paper in order to select appropriate temperature measuring positions on the sample block, meanwhile, the experiment concerned is conducted. The experimental results indicate that the temperature field distribution of sample block is able to be fully represented and illustrated through 13 selected temperature measuring positions.