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Old-school and _extremely_ crude, but in past labs I've seen forced air cooling work well if the fan is mounted remotely (off the vibration-isolated table), with the airflow directed to the camera via a suspended length of dryer hose. Duct tape may (ahem) have been involved to force the airflow through the camera case. The first time I saw this was with an intensified vidicon camera, and the cooling was sufficient to keep the black-level and gain constant on a strictly analog device not intended for microscopy.

The dryer hose isolates the microscope from any fan vibrations, and the setup can provide consistent if limited cooling. 

Kevin Ryan
Senior Project Manager
Media Cybernetics, Inc.


-----Original Message-----
From: Confocal Microscopy List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Kellie Beicker
Sent: Thursday, June 12, 2014 12:48 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Cooling Hamamatsu ORCA Flash 4.0

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Hi all,  

We have a Hamamatsu ORCA Flash 4.0 (C11440-22C) that is currently mounted on to a combined microscope and AFM setup.  The on-board fan creates too much noise in both fluorescence imaging and AFM force data so we would like to cool the camera with either water cooling or forced air cooling.

I am curious if anyone has done this and has knowledge of the nuances of this process.  For water cooling: What type of refrigerated circulation unit was used? At what temperature was the system was operated? Did you use water or antifreeze? etc.  Any possible details that may not be specifically stated in the manual or that you learned from cooling your camera would be appreciated.

Additionally, the AFM support recommended forced air cooling for the quietest data acquisition, but I have even less information on this.  So if anyone has air cooled this type of camera or similar, I would appreciate any details.

Thank you in advance for your advice,
-Kellie

----------------------------------------
Kellie Beicker

Physics Research Assistant
Physics & Astronomy, CB 3255
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Email: [log in to unmask]