The microscope was composed of several units: a substage phase
contrast condenser; a microscope objective immediately adjacent
to the well base (on which the cells are to be cultured); a prism
to bend the light path through ninety degrees; and a 'microscope
camera'.
If we assume that the spectrophotometer (right) remains in
position, we can eliminate a substage condenser (coloured red) if
we opt instead for dark-ground illumination. This results in a
saving of one-third of the volume of the entire module. The
substage prism (coloured purple) could be eliminated were we to
position a sensor vertically below the stage assembly. Finally,
the microscope camera (blue) could be reduced in size and
re-positioned beneath the stage and normal to the light path. In
essence, the 'camera' is rendered superfluous: of the components
of a camera, the lens is subsumed into the microscope lens, and
the image sensor is positioned in the ray path beneath tne stage.
Let us reconsider the design components and re-examine their
rôles. It is proposed to utilise a lateral light source, ducted
to provide semi-annular illumination. A concave reflector (here
coloured purple, like the light source) further contrates the
light and provides more even illumination. A corrected 6mm lens
is sited some 11mm below the well base and project a direct image
onto a substage sensor (blue), The effective image magnification
is >2x - note the provision of space for the sensor regulator
unit to the right (red). This could be incorporated beneath the
spectrophotometer, if the carousel carrying the culture wells is
raised in order to increase the well-lens separation.
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