Using the Photoneo 3D Sensor
Inside the Enclosure
Temperature regulation
It is recommended that the Photoneo 3D Sensors are kept within the temperature ranges explained in the device
documentation .
Cooling the Photoneo 3D Sensor
Photoneo 3D Sensors are designed for natural convection cooling. This type of cooling is significantly inhibited inside
the enclosure, therefore the scanner requires additional cooling methods.
The enclosure provides a solution for passive cooling via thermal bridges that dissipate the heat generated by the 3D
Sensor to the enclosure itself. Passive cooling is intended for an ambient temperature range of 10°C to 40°C .
Above this range, the scanner needs to be actively cooled using airflow connected to the two holes in the back panel of
the enclosure. Use clean, dry instrument air to cool the enclosure. Recommended air pressure is 35 - 70 kPa (5 - 10 psi).
Passive cooling using the thermal bridges is possible on all models except for the MotionCam-3D Gen 2 line-up due to a
misalignment of the heatsinks and the thermal bridges. In this case, only the active cooling option is available.
Heating the Photoneo 3D Sensor
Below the temperature range, it is required to heat up the 3D Sensor, using one or two electrical heaters with a
thermostat according to the wiring diagram . Besides keeping the 3D Sensor in its optimal operational temperature,
heating also prevents the lenses from fogging. The heaters and the thermostats as well as information on the required
amount of heaters are available upon request.
Additional Optical Element
Photoneo 3D Sensors use Structured light or Parallel structured light technology, that require projection of one or
multiple light patterns to compute 3D information. Inside the enclosure, the laser light passes through an additional
optical element - the glass windows of the enclosure. This causes a slight distortion of the final point cloud. The values in
the following table are theoretically calculated based on the properties of the glass. The practical implications for
applications with additional calibration (e.g. robot-camera calibration, hand-eye calibration) are minor.
