Camera Cooling Issue

[Claire Brown]

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We are having an issue with liquid cooling of two Evolve EMCCD cameras.

We were told that the cameras need to be cleaned. This would mean sending the cameras to the company to clean them.
This would take a great deal of time and energy and system down time would not be ideal.

The instrument technicians tried a new camera because it was thought that the camera was no longer working and they saw the same problem. A new camera should not require any cleaning.

I'm pretty sure it is a problem with the chiller but I wonder have other people had trouble with liquid cooling of the Evolve EMCCD cameras?

Sincerely,

Claire

[Craig Brideau]

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Hi Claire, have you tried blowing out the supply lines? If so do you see
any gunk? How is the coolant flow in and out of the cameras? It's possible
you just have something growing in your lines that have clogged things up.
I've had similar issues with Coherent Chameleons until I started playing
around with different coolants to discourage growth of algae and mineral
'gunk' in the lines. Note the gunk could be in the chiller, or it could be
in the water block in each camera, or both.

Craig

On Wed, Sep 6, 2017 at 3:54 PM, Claire Brown, Dr. <[hidden email]>
wrote:

> *****
> To join, leave or search the confocal microscopy listserv, go to:
> http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=confocalmicroscopy
> Post images on http://www.imgur.com and include the link in your posting.
> *****
>
> We are having an issue with liquid cooling of two Evolve EMCCD cameras.
>
> We were told that the cameras need to be cleaned. This would mean sending
> the cameras to the company to clean them.
> This would take a great deal of time and energy and system down time would
> not be ideal.
>
> The instrument technicians tried a new camera because it was thought that
> the camera was no longer working and they saw the same problem. A new
> camera should not require any cleaning.
>
> I'm pretty sure it is a problem with the chiller but I wonder have other
> people had trouble with liquid cooling of the Evolve EMCCD cameras?
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Claire
>

[Benjamin Smith]

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One other consideration is that the pump may be wearing out on the
recirculator, so that the flow rate isn't as high as anticipated.  Most
recirculating chiller pumps have a PTFE washer as the bearing. As this
washer wears down, the impeller in the pump starts to rub against the
housing, decreasing the flow rate.  As Craig pointed out, this will also
start dumping plastic debris into the system.  To flush the system,
disconnect the return line from the pump, and connect an exit port to it
(the connectors are self-sealing, so you need both the male and female
connectors to get liquid to flow).  Put the return line in a container to
collect the waster water, and start the chiller while pouring distilled
water into the pump reservoir.  Be sure the pump is never allowed to run
dry!  Once the liquid in the return line looks clear, shut off the
chiller.  Then raise the chiller above the height of the return line, to
allow the pump reservoir to drain.  Finally, start pouring coolant solution
into the reservoir, using gravity to push it through the system (or the
pump if you want things to go faster), and keep going until you see the
color of the coolant fluid coming out of the return line.  Connect the
return line back to the pump and top off the reservoir and you are good to
go.

If the flow rate looks low with the pump on, the pump may indeed be the
issue.  Every chiller unit is different, but often it is a simple matter of
getting the pump out, measuring the dimensions of the PTFE washer, and
ordering a few new washers (making sure to order ones a bit thicker
assuming the old one has been worn much thinner than it's original
dimensions), and then replacing the worn out washer with a new one.

Cheers,
  Ben Smith

On Wed, Sep 6, 2017 at 4:00 PM, Craig Brideau <[hidden email]>
wrote:

> *****
> To join, leave or search the confocal microscopy listserv, go to:
> http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=confocalmicroscopy
> Post images on http://www.imgur.com and include the link in your posting.
> *****
>
> Hi Claire, have you tried blowing out the supply lines? If so do you see
> any gunk? How is the coolant flow in and out of the cameras? It's possible
> you just have something growing in your lines that have clogged things up.
> I've had similar issues with Coherent Chameleons until I started playing
> around with different coolants to discourage growth of algae and mineral
> 'gunk' in the lines. Note the gunk could be in the chiller, or it could be
> in the water block in each camera, or both.
>
> Craig
>
> On Wed, Sep 6, 2017 at 3:54 PM, Claire Brown, Dr. <[hidden email]>
> wrote:
>
> > *****
> > To join, leave or search the confocal microscopy listserv, go to:
> > http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=confocalmicroscopy
> > Post images on http://www.imgur.com and include the link in your
> posting.
> > *****
> >
> > We are having an issue with liquid cooling of two Evolve EMCCD cameras.
> >
> > We were told that the cameras need to be cleaned. This would mean sending
> > the cameras to the company to clean them.
> > This would take a great deal of time and energy and system down time
> would
> > not be ideal.
> >
> > The instrument technicians tried a new camera because it was thought that
> > the camera was no longer working and they saw the same problem. A new
> > camera should not require any cleaning.
> >
> > I'm pretty sure it is a problem with the chiller but I wonder have other
> > people had trouble with liquid cooling of the Evolve EMCCD cameras?
> >
> > Sincerely,
> >
> > Claire
> >
>

--
Benjamin E. Smith, Ph. D.
Imaging Specialist, Vision Science
University of California, Berkeley
195 Life Sciences Addition
Berkeley, CA  94720-3200
Tel  [phone]
Fax [phone]
e-mail: [hidden email]
http://vision.berkeley.edu/?page_id=5635 <http://vision.berkeley.edu/>