Patent ID: 8408013

Claim:
A portable moisture trap for use with a vacuum pump, comprising: a housing, a cooling chamber positioned at least partially within the housing, the cooling chamber including a first inlet port and a second outlet port; a lid that sealably attaches to a top portion of the cooling chamber to seal the cooling chamber; a heat sink residing under the cooling chamber; a thermoelectric device having an upper cooling side and a lower heat generating side residing between the cooling chamber and the heat sink, the thermoelectric device being in thermal communication with the cooling chamber and oriented so that the cooling side faces the cooling chamber and the heat generating side faces and is in thermal communication with the heat sink; a fan residing under the heat sink, the fan oriented to blow air upwardly toward the heat sink; and a baffle extending downwardly in the cooling chamber from a location proximate the lid to a location proximate an inner bottom surface of the cooling chamber; wherein the baffle comprises a plate that extends across the cooling chamber so that the first port is on one side of the plate and the second port is on the other side of the plate, and wherein the plate has a bottom edge with alternating downward projections and valleys that resides proximate the inner bottom surface of the cooling chamber, the baffle configured to define a physical barrier to urge air received through the first port to flow down toward the inner bottom surface of the cooling chamber before exiting through the second port, to thereby remove moisture from air traveling through the cooling chamber in response to a vacuum pump in fluid communication with the second port.