CCD Cooling and Power Supply
Regulated two-stage thermo-electric cooling is capable to cool the CCD chip up
to 50 °C below ambient temperature. The Peltier hot side is cooled by a fan.
The CCD chip temperature is regulated with ±0.1 °C precision. High
temperature drop and precision regulation ensure very low dark current for long
exposures and allow image proper calibration.
The camera head contains two temperature sensors – the first sensor measures
directly the temperature of the CCD chip. The second one measures the
temperature of the air cooling the Peltier hot side.
The cooling performance depends on the environmental conditions and also on
the power supply. If the power supply voltage drops below 12 V, the maximum
temperature drop is lower.
CCD chip cooling
Thermoelectric (Peltier modules)
TEC modules
Two stages
Maximal
∆
T
>50 °
C
below ambient
Regulated
∆
T
48 °
C
below ambient (85% cooling)
Regulation precision
±
0.1 °C
Hot side cooling
Forced air cooling (fan)
Optional heat exchanger for liquid coolant
Maximum temperature difference between CCD and ambient air may exceed
50 °C when the cooling runs at 100% power. However, temperature cannot be
regulated in such case, camera has no room for lowering the CCD temperature
when the ambient temperature rises. The 45 °C temperature drop can be
achieved with cooling running at approx. 85% power, which provides enough
room for regulation.
Power Supply
The 12 V DC power supply enables camera operation from arbitrary power
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