http://confocal-microscopy-list.275.s1.nabble.com/Incubator-box-heating-mystery-tp6627357p6632108.html
It's hard to get, but really you want +/-1 degree C and humidity <35%. This
is particularly important if you have a lot of free-space optics. Most
beams are guided by steering mirrors. Temperature changes can cause the
mirror mounts to flex which misaligns your beam. Additionally, Ti:Saph
lasers used in two-photon HATE humidity. We're in Calgary, Canada, which is
very, very dry in the winter. We can run our lasers without a dry air or
nitrogen purge at 925nm. In the summer though, the humidity gets quite high
and purging becomes necessary. The building contractor just finished
how things go. Thus far it seems to be holding the humidity under about
37%. I'll wait a couple weeks and then check my datalogger. @:-)
> *****
> To join, leave or search the confocal microscopy listserv, go to:
>
http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=confocalmicroscopy> *****
>
> I agree with Craig that the temperature and humidity loggers give you
> a real insight into what's going on with the aircon in your rooms
> (particularly over the weekends in our case). I'd be interested though
> in what you think are reasonable limits for the tolerable fluctuations
> in both temperature and humidity. We are constantly battling with both
> in Singapore!
>
> Regards,
> Graham
>
> ---
> Graham Wright, PhD
> Microscopy Unit Manager
>
> Institute of Medical Biology
> 8A Biomedical Grove, #06-06 Immunos, Singapore 138648
>
> E:
[hidden email]
> W:
http://www.imb.a-star.edu.sg/imu/>
>
>
> On 29 July 2011 02:51, 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> > *****
> >
> > We had quite a bit of trouble with our room ventilation until quite
> > recently. We purchased an inexpensive USB datalogger to continuously
> record
> > temperature and humidity in the room. It picked up large swings in
> > temperature and humidity that the ventilation system was supposed to
> > prevent. The data we collected finally convinced the building contractor
> to
> > install proper humidity controls and hardware for our room. I recommend
> > that every facility should keep logs of temperature and humidity. The
> > loggers are quite cheap now, and can be programmed, detached from the
> > computer, and left unattended for months. We would move ours around the
> > room to get a feel for any gradients, heat loads from equipment, etc.
> >
> > Craig
> >
> > On Thu, Jul 28, 2011 at 11:03 AM, Zac Arrac Atelaz <
[hidden email]
> >wrote:
> >
> >> *****
> >> To join, leave or search the confocal microscopy listserv, go to:
> >>
http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=confocalmicroscopy> >> *****
> >>
> >>
> >> Esteban:
> >>
> >> Your problem might be the changing position of the termometer of the
> >> system, one interesting trial will be putting the overheating system in
> the
> >> non overheating system, to see if is that part fails or remain working
> as
> >> the trial you make the way around.
> >>
> >> If your system is failing you should consider one incubator as the one
> we
> >> have, this is not the huge box making the microscope unreachable, it is
> the
> >> size of the insert in the stage and it has 4 points heating your sample,
> the
> >> cover, the objective used, and the water heater, we have never had a
> >> temperature overshoot as the mentioned by Michael, even if we open
> doors, or
> >> change room temperature ( recorded from 18 to 27°C) the shift in
> temperature
> >> observed trough time in the incubator is about 0.5°C over a 25h period.
> In
> >> such long experiments we have people reviewing samples as you dont want
> to
> >> let the confocal working if the sample has suffered unwanted changes, by
> the
> >> way the brand of the one we have is a INU - Tokai hit incubator.
> >>
> >> I hope this helps a little.
> >>
> >> Gabriel Orozco Hoyuela
> >>
> >>
> >> > Date: Wed, 27 Jul 2011 12:01:32 -0700
> >> > From:
[hidden email]
> >> > Subject: Incubator box heating mystery
> >> > To:
[hidden email]
> >> >
> >> > *****
> >> > To join, leave or search the confocal microscopy listserv, go to:
> >> >
http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=confocalmicroscopy> >> > *****
> >> >
> >> > Hello everyone,
> >> >
> >> > I have a very strage problem with an incubator box heating up. I have
> two
> >> > live cell imaging microscopes enclosed in PeCon incubator boxes (I
> think
> >> > they are Incubator XL). The microscopes are in two separate buildings.
> >> One
> >> > microscope heats up significantly past the set temp. (above 41
> degrees,
> >> set
> >> > to 37 degrees) even though the temp. is being measured and reported
> >> > correctly to the electronics (confirmed by a glass thermometer). The
> >> other
> >> > microscope works perfectly and holds at 37 degrees for days. The
> strange
> >> > thing is that when I put the temp. control components that work well
> >> > (heater, control electronics, temp. sensor, and all cables) onto the
> >> > microscope that heats up, it still heats up, even though the
> components
> >> work
> >> > perfectly on the other microscope! Any ideas why this might be
> happening,
> >> > why the temp. control equipment works on one microscope but not on the
> >> > other?
> >> >
> >> > The temp. equipment is stand-alone, not connected to a computer or to
> the
> >> > microscope in any way. One microscope is a Zeiss Axiovert 200M (the
> one
> >> > that works) and the other is a Leica DM IRE2 (heats up) in separate
> >> > buildings; the incubator boxes surrounding them are very similar. Any
> >> ideas
> >> > on this mystery are welcome.
> >> >
> >> > Thanks,
> >> > Esteban
> >>
> >>
> >
>