From: bob piatek <bobtek@fishcamp.com>
Date: August 12, 2005 5:28:13 PM MDT
To: Astro_IIDC@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [Astro_IIDC] Cooled Flea Camera Shots
COOL! :)
I like the ingenuity on the design of the 'chernobyl protection' with the rubber bands.
Too bad you have to cool the entire camera. If there were some way to just cool the image sensor chip, you could use a MUCH smaller Peltier cooler.
You should take some dark frames with the setup and post the results.
Bob
fishcamp engineering
105 W. Clark Ave.
Orcutt, CA 93455
TEL: 805-937-6365
FAX: 805-937-6252
On Aug 12, 2005, at 4:15 PM, Milton Aupperle wrote:
Hi folks;
I put two images of my experimental Peltier Cooled Flea FireWire
Camera in the Other folder in the File section, "Cooled_Flea_Front.jpg
" and "Cooled_Flea_Right".
The "Cooled_Flea_Front.jpg" is annotated and points out the major
features of it. The Rubber bads are temporary until I figure out a few
things and are just stop gap. I'll eventually have to come up with
some sort of strapping method to secure the cold peltier plate to the
camera.
The Pentium CPU Heat sink is attached to the Hot side of the Peltier
cooler plate using 3 philips screws and a copious amount of white
thermal CPU paste. The heads of the screws fit over the rim of the
ceramic plate and firmly hold them together.
The Fan is a neccessary evil and I don't know if it will cause any
vibration yet - something I may actually get a chance to try out
tonight. I may add some rubber washers for dampening between the Fan
and the heat sink, if neccessary.
Without the Fan running, you can get one of those "chernobyl" type
thermal meltdowns of the peltier cooler (an camera), which happened
initially when I tried it out. The heat sink was hot enough to burn
flesh, but once I added the fan it is just "warm" to the touch. One
good thing about using rubber bands is that if I do get a "chernobyl"
going, the rubber bands will melt off and the Peltier cooler unit will
fall off the camera (LOL).
Eventually I will add some sort of cloth insulated bag that enfolds
the cold peltier plate and the camera chassis, to trap as much of the
cold as possible.
Have a Nice Weekend..
Milton Aupperle
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