RU209729U1 - DOUBLE CHAMBER DIGITAL MICROSCOPE - Google Patents

Abstract

The utility model relates to devices for observing and video- and photographic recording of the state and behavior of micro-objects in laboratory conditions for the purposes of biological, biomedical and hygienic research and is intended for monitoring aquatic microorganisms in their habitat. A two-chamber digital microscope includes a thermal chamber formed by a spherical body and an object table, for placing the studied living micro-objects and modeling various parameters of their habitat, two webcams in housings moved by stepper motors relative to the object table, one of the webcams is placed in a cylinder inside the thermal chamber, and the second is placed in a cylinder outside the thermal chamber under the subject table. Management of webcam movements and environmental parameters, registration, storage and presentation of data are carried out using a PC. individual individuals of living micro-objects and a set of these objects; - the possibility of using not only for observing living micro-objects, but also for building models of objects and modeling their behavior.

Description

The utility model relates to devices for monitoring and video and photographic recording of the state and behavior of micro-objects in laboratory conditions for the purposes of biological, biomedical and hygienic research and is intended for monitoring aquatic microorganisms in their habitat.

It is known that the combination of optical microscopes and digital cameras made it possible to effectively solve the problem of recording the behavior of microobjects located in a laboratory optically transparent Petri dish, while the microscope stage moves in the Cartesian coordinate system.

Known digital USB microscope used to study flat micro-objects with acceptable magnification (prototype) [1]. The prototype is equipped with a digital camera that transmits images of the objects under study to a computer. Image viewing is carried out using a computer. The camera is fixed on a tripod, the object table moves in the Cartesian coordinate system. Known versions of the prototype with partial or full control using a computer and with varying degrees of automation control. Digital USB microscopes have the following main advantages over optical microscopes: smaller dimensions, the ability to photograph and video record the behavior of the objects under study, real-time image processing, the ability to perform measurements (depending on the model and purpose of the microscope). The prototype uses, as a rule, LED illumination.

The disadvantage of the prototype is the impossibility of observing living micro-objects in the real physical environment and the real social environment. Also, the disadvantages of digital USB microscopes include the impossibility of simultaneous real-time observation of the behavioral reactions of a single individual of a living micro-object and the behavioral reactions of many individuals of living micro-objects under the influence of destabilizing factors. In the current level of technology, no information has been found on digital microscopes that implement these capabilities.

A useful model is proposed, which is a device that has a thermal chamber in its design, in which the studied micro-objects are placed, and the parameters of their habitat are modeled, including two web cameras moved relative to the object table, one of the web cameras is located inside the thermal chamber, and the second is placed outside the thermal chamber under the object table, while the device is controlled using a PC. The technical result of the utility model is to provide:

- observations of living micro-objects and their behavioral reactions in the physical environment, reproducing the parameters of the real environment;

- simultaneous observation of behavioral reactions of individual individuals of living micro-objects and a plurality of these objects;

- the possibility of using not only for observing living micro-objects, but also for building models of objects and modeling their behavior.

The specified technical result is achieved by the fact that the device contains a thermal chamber in which a Petri dish with the studied micro-objects is placed, and the specified parameters of the habitat of these micro-objects are simulated - pressure, gas composition of the atmosphere, light and electromagnetic environment, radiation background; includes two webcams that are independently moved by stepper motors relative to the object stage in the horizontal and vertical planes, one of the webcams operating in micromode is placed in a cylinder inside the thermal chamber, and the second, operating in macro- or micromode, is placed outside the thermal chamber in cylinder under the glass stage (Fig. 1); at the same time, the control of the movement of web cameras and environmental parameters, as well as the registration, storage and presentation of data is carried out using hardware and software based on a personal computer.

The general scheme of the proposed utility model is shown in Fig. one.

A two-webcam digital microscope functions as follows.

The hermetic space of the thermal chamber is created by a spherical body with a valve to ensure the parameters of the medium (Fig. 2) and a glass stage. The habitat parameters of the studied living micro-objects are reproduced in the thermal chamber. Inside the thermal chamber, a Petri dish with the microobjects under study and the medium containing them is placed on an object table.

To move the webcams VK1 and VK2 relative to the object stage and, accordingly, the center of the bottom of the Petri dish, a cylindrical coordinate system is used. The position of the point M (in this case, the center of the webcam lens) in the cylindrical coordinate system is determined by the triple of numbers ρ, ϕ and z, where ρ is the distance from the point M to the Oz axis (0≤ρ<∞); ϕ - the angle formed by the projection of the radius vector of the point M on

the Oxy plane with the positive direction of the Ox axis, (0≤ϕ<2π); z - coordinate of the projection of the point M on the axis Oz (-∞<z<∞). The origin of the coordinate system is the center of the bottom of the Petri dish. Stepper motors DSh3 and DSh6 move the cameras VK1 and VK2 in the horizontal plane along the radius (set the coordinates ρ). Stepper motors DSh1 and DSh4 move the body K1 with the camera VK1 placed in it and the body K3 with the camera VK2 placed in it in a vertical plane parallel to the Oz axis (set the z coordinates). Stepper motors DSh2 and DSh5 move body K2 inside cylinder C1 with chamber VK1 and body K4 inside cylinder C2 with chamber VK2 in the horizontal plane (the coordinates ϕ are set). On FIG. 3 shows a node for moving webcams in a cylindrical coordinate system, including a panel for moving a webcam in the horizontal plane Oxy, a panel and an axis for moving the webcam in a vertical plane parallel to the Oz axis, and a gear for moving in the angular coordinate ϕ of the cylinder.

By means of electronic devices and software tools, they control the movements of webcams and environmental parameters. A personal computer is used to register, store and present data.

Implementation of the utility model

The utility model is implemented in the form of a prototype of a two-webcam digital microscope that achieves the specified technical result. The use of a two-webcam microscope made it possible to discover the presence of RGB taxis in the protozoan multicellular animals Trichoplax (Placozoa) used in biological research [2].

Sources of information

1 Digital microscope - device and principle of operation. [Electronic resource]. Access mode: https://xn---dtbchbawj2amueleii7b6i.xn--p1ai/pribory/tsifrovoj-mikroskop-ustrojstvo-i-printsip-raboty.html (date of access: 07/28/2021).

2 Kaptsov V.A., Deinego V.N., Kozyritsky D.V. Trichoplax (Placozoa) RGB-taxis as a new method of hygienic research // Occupational Medicine and Human Ecology. - 2021. -№1(22). -FROM. 6-22.

Claims (1)

A two-webcam digital microscope, including a thermal camera formed by a spherical body and an object table for placing the living micro-objects under study and modeling various parameters of their habitat, two webcams in housings moved by stepper motors relative to the object table, one of the webcams being placed in a cylinder inside thermal chamber, and the second is placed in a cylinder outside the thermal chamber under the object stage, while the device is controlled using a PC.

Images