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version 2.0 rev 18 Feb 2021

4.3 Cooling

4.3.1 Integral Thermal Protection

Care should be taken to ensure that the camera does not overheat, as this can cause system failure.

Overheating may occur if either of the following situations arises:

Air-cooled Models

• The air vents on the sides of the head are accidentally blocked

• The ambient air temperature is more than 30ºC (Zyla 5.5*), or 27ºC (Zyla 4.2)

*For Zyla 5.5 models manufactured prior to February 2015 max. ambient is 35ºC.

To protect the camera from overheating, a thermal switch has been attached to the heat sink. If the temperature

oftheheatsinkrisesabovepredenedlimitthenthecurrentsupplytothecoolerwillcutoutandabuzzerwill

sound.Toresetthis,itisnecessarytoexitthesoftwareandswitchothecamera,correcttheissue,letthesystem

cool then restart the camera and software.

Water-cooled Models

• The coolant system is not operating correctly

To protect the camera from overheating, a thermal switch has been attached to the heat sink. If the temperature

oftheheatrisesabovepredenedlimitthenabuzzerwillsound.Toresetthis,itisnecessarytoexitthesoftware

andswitchothecamera,correcttheissue,letthesystemcoolthenrestartthecameraandsoftware.

4.3.2 TE Cooling (Air-Cooled Models)

The Zyla sCMOS sensor is cooled using a thermoelectric (TE) cooler. TE coolers are small, electrically powered

devices with no moving parts, making them reliable and convenient. A TE cooler is actually a heat pump, i.e. it

achievesatemperaturedierencebytransferringheatfromits‘coldside’(theCMOS-chip)toits‘hotside’(the

built-in heat sink). Therefore the minimum absolute operating temperature of the Zyla sensor depends on the

temperatureoftheheatsink.ThemaximumtemperaturedierencethataTEdevicecanattainisdependent

on the following factors:

• Heat load created by the Zyla sensor (dependant on pixel readout speed)

• Number of cooling stages of the TE cooler

• Operating current

• Hot side temperature of thermoelectric cooler

Even with a fan, a heat sink typically needs to be at least 10ºC hotter than the air (room) temperature to

transferheatecientlytothesurroundingair.Thereforeduringnormaloperationthetemperatureofthe

heatsink within the camera head will be warmer than the ambient (room) temperature.

4.3.3 TE Cooling (Water Cooled Models)

For water cooled models the dissipation of heat from the TE cooler is achieved by circulating coolant liquid

throughtheheatsink.Thehighspecicheatcapacityofwaterprovidesecientheatdissipation,allowingthe

sensortobeoperatedat-10ºC.Benetsofwatercoolinginclude:

1. Reduced vibration as there is no cooling fan required, which may be useful for ultra-sensitive

measurements and

2. Improved dark current.

Andor Technology Zyla sCMOS 4.2 PLUS User Manual

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