PCON_Housing_Construction

Housing, construction

For technicians and partly for sales managers!

This chapter handles the construction and components of the housing as well as the construction of the entire scanner. Mainly mountings of the units and components, relations of the units to each other and the construction of mechanical units are introduced.

· Description is based on the software version 1.19 and the scanner “Pannoramic Confocal”.

Housing

The housing of the scanner PCON consists of:

· Base (mounting) frame with 6 rubber feet; and 4 handles (for movements of the scanner).

· Housing Switch with power LED on the left sided side wall

· Lock mechanism to open the right handed side wall and for other covers.

· Tray's insert opening to insert or remove the slide tray from the scanner.

· Motorized front door, to reach and fill the Immersion liquid feeder

· Rear cover with power input, cable entry guide for the camera and other cables.

· Illuminated logo in the front door

Construction of the PCON. 4

Housing switch

· Switch on the Mains Switch on the rear of the scanner

· Push the Housing Switch on the left side to switch on the scanner

· The housing switch is also used to switch off the entire scanner if any emergency situation occurs.

· If the scanner was switched off while the software is running, the running processes has to be finished, before the software can be started again; see also: “Shut down processes”

Front door

To reach the immersion liquid feeder quickly, the front of the scanner can be opened by a motorized upper front door.

For service purposes, the lower door may be opened manually.

· By pushing the upper door on the position, where a switch is located, the door will be opened by a motor driven mechanics.

· If the door is open, easily push one of the switches to close the door.

Remark

The door can only be opened, if the scan software allows it. In not allowed states of the SlideScanner.exe the power is not supplied to the motor and so, the door can not be opened.

Watch video: “Front door open and close”

See also: “Aventos servo drive unit”

Scanner base

The scanner base contains the following components:

· Base frame, with the mountings for components.

· The cover plate; it defines also the distance of the frame stiffener to the right frame part.

· Handles with mounting plates; the mounting plates increasing the stability of the frame also

· 6 rubber feet to reduce noise and vibration

· Air filter with mounting; for the power tower fan

· Mountings for the housing and the power tower (not shown)

Air filter

Side wall (right)

· By pushing the button, the lock will release and the side wall can be opened by pulling the latch

· If the tray opening door is moved upward, the tray can be inserted or removed

Construction; PCON

The scanner Pannoramic Confocal consists of the following main components:

1. Mounting (Base) frame; with rubber feet and handles

2. Scanner unit

3. Image path with objective changer and tube lens

4. 60N Photo port with Spinning disk unit and scan camera PCO.edge 5.5Mp (not shown)

5. Tilting table with immersion liquid feeder, objective changer and entire image path

6. Mounting for the FL illumination unit table; for Lumencor SPECTRA light engine

7. Power tower; with power supply and main control electronics

· For safety regulations regarding human health and scanner functionality please refer to: Precautions

Scanner unit

The scanner unit consists of:

Scanner plate with the mounting to the truss

Focus unit

X-Y-stage unit

Preview unit

Preview illumination unit

RGB brightfield scan illumination

Tray holder with conveyor unit

Slide loader unit

Scanner plate mounting

The scanner unit consists of:

· Base plate with mounting and height adjustment related to the objective’s focus point

· Truss with mounting clamps for the Scanner plate

Scanner plate

The scanner plate contains the mountings for the units

· Truss, with Locating surfaces

· Focus unit’s dovetail mounting

· Focus unit’s dovetail fixing

· X-Y-stage unit’s dovetail mounting

· X-Y-stage unit’s dovetail fixing

· Preview unit’s horseshoe mounting

· Preview illumination unit’s mounting

· Brightfield scan illumination mounting (RGB_BF_Illumination)

· X-Y-stage unit bumper with mounting

Locating surfaces

To define the plane of the scanner unit in relation to the tilting table and to ensure the straightness of the optical axis, locating surfaces are used.

See also: “Scanner unit mounting” and “Tightening sequence”

Shutter mechanics

The mechanical shutter keeps a condenser cover while fluorescent scan sessions and it avoids so reflections of the condenser; the excitation of the stained tissue is done via the objective.

The shutter mechanics was removed from the focus unit (in relation to previously developed scanners) and the shutter motor is placed onto the scanner plate from beneath.

The shutter guide is driven by a stepper motor and the positions shutter on and shutter off are defined by the sensor flag and the defined number of steps; the sensor flag defines the home position also.

The limiter does not allow the rotation of the shutter guide in wrong direction.

The driver electronics of the shutter motor is mounted onto the scanner plate from beneath, close to the shutter motor.

Further information can be found in the chapter: “Mechanical shutter”, “Shutter motor”; and “Shutter sensor”

X-Y-stage unit

The X-Y-stage unit can be removed or mounted only, if the entire base plate with scanner plate is removed!

Dismount the X-Y-stage unit

Remove the condenser unit
Remove the Focus unit
Remove the X-X-stage unit

Mount the X-Y-stage unit

Mount the X-X-stage unit
Mount the Focus unit
Mount the condenser unit