I am not actually in an imaging facility, but some thoughts based on my
experiences with microscopy and imaging, historic preservation, electricity
and modern building science:
1) Yes, do make sure that your spaces (on what ever floor) are as far
removed (or shielded) from the main electrical chase(s) as possible. This
_MAY_ be achievable by deliberately grounding the embedded rebar in a
concrete wall - check with your local EE department. In my no so humble
opinion, there is nothing worse than having to work on a scope inside a
Faraday cage because there is too much electrical interference...
2) If I were desiging a microscopy facility in a brand new building, I would
seriously investigate the passive and active vibration isolation options for
earthquake "proofing" buildings. I have seen every thing from a rubber and
steel plate stack to active monitoring and shifting of a counter weight. My
thought here is to vibration isolate the entire lab - depending on how many
scopes you have and how many air tables you already have this may well be
cost effective. I would think that something passive would be relatively
cost effective and might go a long way towards simplifying your life down
the road. Given that I have seen more than one confocal necessarily sitting
on an air table in a basement lab, I would suggest this for any new facility
being built from the ground up. I will also state that I have personally
seen the effects of vibration in EVERY scope I have used - yes I tend to
force the issue just to verify the quality of image images when I am not
deliberately causing vibration.
3) Having worked in a Class 1000 clean room lab that was always under a
slight positive pressure, there are pluses and minuses. On the plus side,
almost no dust ever built up in side the positive pressure rooms. On the
down side we had to go through an air lock room to avoid too strong of a
draft out of the lab. We did have special synthetic fiber lab coats (no
bunny suites) and we each had to bring in a pair of all leather shoes to
keep in the locker room for use exclusively in the clean room. The upside
for a micro facility would be less time spent cleaning dust off of equipment
and worrying about dust covers. You could achieve all of this by specifying
an ISO 6 (Formerly Class 1000) clean room. Even if you allowed people to
come an go in street clothes/shoes, keeping a fresh sticky mat at the
entrance would keep street dirt to a minimum and the filtering implied by a
ISO 6 would help a lot too. Of course this would up the cost a bit...
Chris Tully
Microscopy and Image Analysis Expert
[log in to unmask]
240-888-1021
http://www.linkedin.com/in/christully
On Mon, Oct 26, 2009 at 9:45 PM, RICHARD BURRY <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Based on my experience with a new building, and electron microscopes, watch
> for the building electrical substation and major trunk electrical lines.
> These will generate huge magnetic fields! I had all the bases covered for
> vibration, cooling water and power supply, but did not think that the
> architect would put the electrical substation for a 10 story building next
> to the EM rooms.
>
> Dick
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Julian Smith III <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Monday, October 26, 2009 9:21 am
> Subject: Re: New building options - feedback request from facilities NOT
> located on ground floor/basement
> To: [log in to unmask]
>
> > Second-floor lab here, with microscopes located less than 75m
> > from a
> > mechanical room. No unexpected complications. No
> > problems with our
> > TEM, but it's used mostly at medium magnification. We have
> > a pretty
> > stable building, but use vibration-isolation platforms in
> > several places
> > where that's important (currently under our SEM and a couple of
> > our
> > research microscopes). We're about to get a platform for
> > the confocal,
> > as we have our first users doing colocalization this fall, and
> > the
> > non-suspended optical table with the little cone-shaped feet
> > doesn't
> > provide enough isolation at the highest mag on our
> > instrument....
> > I chaired the building committee, and I was sort of surprised
> > during
> > design/construction that the architects seemed completely unable
> > to
> > predict building vibrations. Hallway foot traffic during
> > class changes
> > turns out to be far more of a source of vibration than building
> > mechanicals.Julian
> >
> > Adrian Smith wrote:
> > > Hi all,
> > >
> > > The University with which we are affiliated is currently
> > planning a
> > > large new research building which will incorporate an
> > (optical)
> > > cellular imaging facility.
> > >
> > > The design brief expressed a preference for a ground
> > floor/basement
> > > location for the imaging facility but the current plans have
> > the
> > > facility located on the 4th floor.
> > >
> > > The plan is that the facility will house a mixture of optical
> > > microscopes, ie confocal, multiphoton, widefield etc, and (by
> > the time
> > > the facility is built), super-resolution.
> > >
> > > (At this stage there is also plenty of room for future
> > expansion/new
> > > technologies)
> > >
> > > I'm interested to hear experiences/feedback from people about
> > just how
> > > important it is to have such a facility on the ground
> > floor/basement -
> > > ie just how much is that a consideration in a new, purpose-
> > built
> > > building? I know of many places (here included) where advanced
> > > microscopes are NOT on the ground floor but I'm keen to hear
> > if there
> > > are locations where that has been a failure or there have been
> > > unexpected complications etc.
> > >
> > > All feedback gratefully received.
> > >
> > > Regards,
> > >
> > > Adrian Smith
> > > Centenary Institute, Australia
> > >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Julian P.S. Smith III
> > Director, Winthrop Microscopy Facility
> > Dept. of Biology
> > Winthrop University
> > 520 Cherry Rd.
> > Rock Hill, SC 29733
> >
> > 803-323-2111 x6427 (vox)
> > 803-323-3448 (fax)
> > 803-524-2347 (cell)
> >
> >
> > --
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> > ------------------------------------------------------
> >
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>
> Richard W. Burry, Ph.D.
> Department of Neuroscience, College of Medicine
> Campus Microscopy and Imaging Facility, Director
> The Ohio State University
> Associate Editor, Journal of Histochemistry and Cytochemistry
> 277 Biomedical Research Tower
> 460 West Twelfth Avenue
> Columbus, Ohio 43210
> Voice 614.292.2814 Cell 614.638.3345 Fax 614.247.8849
>
>
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