The central hole goes right down to an area of the heat sink foil that is in direct contact
with the metal plate on the back of the sensor chip module and this is held there with an
internal spring and makes contact with it via a layer of thermal transfer compound.
Figure 3.8 The AF51 passive double heat sink system. The steel spring has a dual action - to keep the
aluminium radiator firmly applied to the hot back plate of the CMOS sensor and to act as a heat sink in its
own right, conducting heat up to the second aluminium foil radiator under the central vent holes. These
components are held in place by the pressure of the spring so the casing must not be opened or they will
come apart. Yellow = aluminium heat sink foil.
There are no user-serviceable parts or adjustment controls inside this enclosure.
Under
no circumstances should this casing be opened otherwise the spring holding
the heat sink system against the back of the sensor chip will come loose and the
heat sink will loose its effectiveness resulting in malfunction of the camera
. For
this reason also
avoid handling the camera roughly or pulling at the back of the
camera
(e.g. when trying to remove the camera from an eyepiece) –
always hold the
camera system from the eyepiece clamp or the translation adjustable mount
(both to be described below).
Likewise,
under no circumstance should any of the vent holes be blocked and do
not poke any instruments in through the holes or this may damage the heat sink
foil (which is very thin in places) and/or risk short circuiting the camera
OptArc AF51 Camera Page 35 of 99 User Guide v1.02
