PCO.IMAGING pco.1200 hs, Руководство пользователя

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Chapter 3
‚
Camera Functions
page 12
User Manual pco.camera status 12/2004
3 Camera Functions
More detailed information on the pco.camera system, its
multiple exposure control options, integrated image me-
mory, and various operating modes is contained in the
following chapters.
3.1 Components and Data Flow
The pco.camera system consists of the camera and the
pco.power supply and exposure control unit:
pco.power
digital
control
power unit
trigger unit
analog
digital
control
camRAM
interface
pco.camera
CCD
Peltier cooler
PC
Figure 3.1: Structural overview of the pco.camera system components
Inside the camera, photons are converted into charges by
the image sensor (see Figure 3.1, CCD or CMOS). De-
pending on the type of camera, the image sensor is
cooled by a thermo-electrical Peltier cooler, to reduce the
accumulation of dark charges (only relevant for long ex-
posures) and to prevent thermally induced changes in the
offset of readout images.
After multiple shift processes (in case of the CCD image
sensor) these charges are analog processed (see Figure
3.1, analog) and converted into digital signals. They are
then transferred at very high data rates into the primary
image memory of the camera (see Figure 3.1, camRAM,
CCD – 160MB/s). In the memory, they are stored as im-
age data. Depending on the selected operating mode (see
Figure 3.1, pco.camera - digital control), they are stored
or transmitted via a data interface to a PC (see Figure 3.1,
interface).
The power supply (see Figure 3.1, pco.power) provides
the required energy. This power supply also has other
functions (see Figure 3.1, power unit):
•
The power supply has all of the external connections
for exposure control (see Figure 3.1, trigger unit), and
•
The power supply controls the pre-set temperature at
the image sensor (see Figure 3.1, pco.power – digital
control).
The structure of the system makes it possible to set the
camera into recording mode via a PC, disconnect the PC