Most of our light sources produce UV radiation; the arc and deuterium sources produce very intense ultraviolet. Exposure, even for short periods of time, can cause severe skin and eye burns. It is best to shut off the source when it is not in use. When this is impractical because of frequent use, these safety shutters provide a reliable alternative. The shutter enclosure mounts to the condenser output of any Oriel® Light Source, and closes off the beam. You can also use these shutters for timed exposures (the shutters do not have "bounce" problems).
Fig. 1 The open and close times depend on the shutter speed and the beam power distribution. For this figure we used a 1.5 Inch Series, F/1.5 condenser on the output of our arc lamp housing. The second trace shows the open and close characteristics of the same 71445 Shutter with a ~ 1 mm HeNe laser beam.
What Makes up an Electronic Safety Shutter?
There are two components to our shutters:
- Enclosure that houses the blade
- Stand-alone shutter drive for 115 and 220 V operation
Enclosure
The enclosure has a female-flange on one end and a male-flange on the other. The male end couples directly to the light source condenser and the female end accepts any male flanged accessory. The clear aperture for a through beam is 1.3 inches (33 mm) for 1.5 Inch Series condensers, 1.9 inches (48 mm) for 2 Inch Series condensers and 2.7 inches (69 mm) for 3 Inch Series condensers. You can also rod mount the shutter in the light path. A 1/4-20 tapped hole in the bottom accepts our optical rods.
Stand-Alone Shutter Drive
The shutter drive has an open/close switch and a TTL or contact closure input so you can control the shutter via a PC. Note: a computer cable is not supplied - a standard LPT cable is needed for interfacing. These shutters also have an interlock socket adapter so you can wire one to your lab door and have the shutter close every time the door opens. The rise/fall time of the blade is ~0.1 second (see Fig. 1), but there is a delay before the blade starts to close the aperture. The front of the supply has an LED to indicate whether the shutter is open or closed. A 5 ft. (1.5 m) power cable connects the shutter to the driver.
Faster Open/Close Times
For faster open and close times, use the shutter at the focus of a lens and with a small aperture (the aperture helps to clean up the beam). You can then recollimate the output with a second lens. To maintain an enclosed beam path, use the setup shown in Fig. 2. If output intensity is not critical, you don’t have to focus and then recollimate the beam, just use an aperture between the condenser and the shutter.
Fig. 2 Secondary focusing lens is used to focus the output from a Research Source onto the 71445 Electronic Shutter. An aperture is used to clean the beam.
Specifications
| Input |
95 - 130 VAC/0.25 A, max
190 - 260 VAC/0.125 A, max |
| Output Hold, Open* |
12 VDC, nominal
0.5 A, nominal |
| Output Hold, Close |
0 V, 0 A |
*Initial opening V and A are higher.
