Detailed Requirements for the Installation Environment of Microscopes
The floor of a microscope room should not be susceptible to dust accumulation due to static electricity, and can be coated with emulsion paint to prevent dust adhesion. In such rooms, a sufficient amount of dust removal equipment should be provided. The microscopes in this laboratory are placed on granite slab benches produced locally. The granite slabs are painted with oil-based paint, and their outer walls are made of white ash paint. Long-term testing has shown that, under the climatic conditions in northern China, the dust collection effect of white ash paint walls is significant.
The floor of a microscope room should be covered with carpet to prevent dust from being carried in during installation, adjustment, and replacement of accessories. During installation, attention should be paid to avoiding hand contact with objects such as colorless glass slides, coverslips, gratings, and optical filters when wearing gloves, as these items are much heavier than carpets.
The importance of dust contamination prevention in a microscope room cannot be overstated. The air contains active ions, such as those in the Liaohe River Basin, where pedestrians walking at night can cause friction and generate sparks, which can ignite flammable dust. These dust particles can enter the electron gun of an electron microscope and cause a discharge voltage, potentially leading to serious consequences. Although optical microscopes are not as dangerous as electron microscopes, dust can still affect image quality, for example, by causing stray light. Excessive dust can also form dust plaques during Fournier transform (Fourier transform) observation. Dust prevention measures should be implemented carefully.
In general, the doors of a microscope room should be kept closed, and the entrance should be equipped with a wind-screen type entrance. Because the leaves are prone to causing dust, the room should be kept closed when the wind is strong. Although a pull-cord switch is used for opening and closing the entrance, it still requires frequent manual operation, which can easily introduce dust.
Instruments containing precision electronic components and other sensitive devices should be placed in a room with air conditioning to maintain a constant temperature and humidity, so that temperature fluctuations will not adversely affect optical components, electronic equipment, precision mechanical components, and other parts.
The installation site of a microscope should avoid direct sunlight and maintain a certain distance from walls. Microscopes equipped with sensitive electronic devices should be installed away from areas exposed to strong interference from electric welding. Instruments with sensitive light-induced electrical devices should be protected from external light interference. When observing fluorescence, polarized light, or phase contrast, optical microscopes should avoid non-optical interference from the surrounding environment.
Precision optical instruments such as microscopes should be placed in a room separate from those containing corrosive substances such as sulfuric acid, hydrochloric acid, nitric acid, and detergent solutions, and there should be no air circulation between them.
