Re: Cooling lasers

(no name) ((no email))
Wed, 8 Feb 1995 07:55:50

In reply to Peter Bercz question about cooling water:
I have problems with running city water down the drain at 120 gallons
per hour just to cool a laser! In many cities, regulations prevent
this and rightly so. It is not necessary to have a cooling unit close
by. In my lab the recirculating system is mounted about 300 feet from
the most distant laser. Several filter units clean the water. It
is in the utility room for the building
air-conditioning and so uses the chilled water that cools the
building in our heat exchanger also. I would not have one of the
recirculating units in my lab - they are rather anti social peices of
equipment and a bit large!

Does anyone know how far away from your laser you can locate one of
Coherent's recirculating units?

Paul Robinson

------------------------------
Date sent: Tue, 07 Feb 1995
13:30:29 - 0500 From: BERCZ.PETER@EPAMAIL.EPA.GOV
To: cytometry
Subject: Cooling lasers

ADVICE PLEASE: As we recently upgraded or EPICS ELITE with a Coherent
Innova 5 Watt UV, plus just now installing a confocal microscope with
a 3 Watt Enterprise, I will be grateful for anyone's institutional
experience with various modes of laser cooling. e.g. city water (in
our case rather high hardness, moderate microparticulate content but
sufficient pressure) versus chiller units. The issue for us is less a
cost/benefit question, more the lack of floor space where big bodied
chillers could be located. Can I, or should I depend on municipal
water at all? One equipment manufacturer (the confocal people) voids
the warranty on the Enterprise if the ambient water temp falls below
10C, claiming moisture condensation damages the optics. However when
questioned about this, they are vague.
My questions to the user community are: Did a chiller prolong the
life of anyone's laser? Did city water cause damage to anyone's
laser? Which chiller units do you recommend, which not.

Any advice will be greatly valued and will be held in strict
confidence, should proprietary products (e.g. chillers) be named in
the discussion.
I am indebted to anyone responding,

J.Pete Bercz, PhD
U.S.Environmental Protection Agency
EMSL/EMRD/Cincinnati, OH
Tel:(513) 569 7480
Fax:(513) 569 7609

J.Paul Robinson, Purdue University Cytometry Labs


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CD ROM Vol 2 was produced by staff at the Purdue University Cytometry Laboratories and distributed free of charge as an educational service to the cytometry community. If you have any comments please direct them to Dr. J. Paul Robinson, Professor & Director, PUCL, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907. Phone:(317) 494-0757; FAX (317) 494-0517; Web http://www.cyto.purdue.edu EMAIL robinson@flowcyt.cyto.purdue.edu