SONOPLOT MICROPLOTTER Proto, Manual

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• Saturation - The intensity of the color response of the camera can also be controlled using
this setting. Low values can lead to a grayscale image and high values can cause color
bleeding.
•
White balance, Blue / U - The camera uses a color CCD and the color balance of that CCD
can be controlled by manipulating the blue and red (U and V) components of the image.
•
White balance, Red / V - The corresponding red component of the CCD color balance.
• Denoising - To improve the clarity of the camera picture, the software will perform processing
on the image frames as they come in to remove speckle noise produced by the CCD element.
This control adjusts the strength of the denoising filter, from completely off at 0.0 to
overwhelming the input image at 1.0. Lower values increase the noise displayed onscreen,
where higher values can lead to blurring of the image as the dispenser moves around. A
balanced value tends to be 0.5.
When finished, simply close the window.
Dispenser control
The core of a Microplotter instrument is a dispenser that uses applied ultrasonic vibrations to
induce a pumping or spraying action within a hollow cavity. Settings for controlling the behavior
of the dispenser can be found under
Dispenser | Show dispenser controls or the
Control dispenser toolbar item.
In the default view, the strength of applied ultrasonics when dispensing and when spraying can
be modified. These strengths are in terms of the voltage applied to the piezoelectric element
within the dispenser. Lower amplitudes of vibration lead to a pumping action at the resonant
frequency of the dispenser, with a pumping strength that increases with increasing alternating
current voltage. Above a certain threshold, the dispenser stops pumping and starts a less
controlled spraying of fluid. Spraying is not typically used for dispensing, but is employed to
empty the contents of a dispenser and clean it for use with another solution.
Typically, you will use dispensing voltages between 1-2 Vpp for 30 micron aperture dispensers.
This encourages droplets to be consistently dispensed with a wide variety of materials. Higher
voltages can sometimes be needed for more viscous liquids, but these higher voltages may lead
to irregular dispense volumes with thinner liquids. Additionally, smaller aperture dispensers
respond more strongly to the ultrasonics, so lower voltages may be needed with them.
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