TEGAM, Inc. has announced its membership in the PXI Systems Alliance (PXISA), an industry consortium that promotes and maintains the PXI (PCI eXtensions for Instrumentation) standard. PXI has become the industry standard for modular measurement and automation applications.

According to Adam Fleder, president of TEGAM, “We enthusiastically support the PXI standard and are actively developing PXI-compliant products.”

TEGAM is currently preparing to launch the Model 4040A Fast PXI Instrumentation amplifier. The Model 4040A is designed to work with PXI digitizers and oscilloscopes. The Model 4040A offers 100 V differential inputs with 70 dB of CMRR. The bandwidth ranges from DC-50 MHz with programmable gain, attenuation, offset and filters.

TEGAM, Inc., headquartered in Geneva, OH, is in the business of improving measurements.

TEGAM helps customers to be more productive by making instrumentation easier to use, more accurate and faster. TEGAM’s specific areas of expertise include waveform generators, precision amplifiers, RF power calibration and low level measurements.

Freeman Technology wins Queen’s Award for Enterprise in Innovation

Freeman Technology received the Queen’s Award for Enterprise 2007, considered to be the UK’s most prestigious commercial prize. Freeman Technology’s award is in the category of Innovation and recognizes the development, commercialization and sales success of the company’s FT4 Powder Rheometer.

The FT4 is a unique universal powder tester that is used to measure the flow properties of an extremely wide range of materials. Freeman Technology has an established base of customers in Europe, the US and Japan, where the FT4 is used in manufacturing industries as diverse as ceramics and pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and powder coatings.

Using patented technology, the FT4 allows manufacturers to characterise powders in ways that relate directly to their processes, giving a sound basis for process management, optimization, efficiency, increased productivity and improved profitability.

Freeman Technology’s founder and managing director, Reg Freeman, said, “Since we introduced the first powder rheometer in 1999, Freeman Technology’s pioneering approach has been to work with our clients to increase our understanding of powder behaviour and help resolve processing issues by developing new ways of testing powders.”

“What most excites me is that our clients are recognizing that powder characterization is now viable – that powder processing is being transformed from an art into a science by measurements that are differentiating and highly reproducible.  We can provide the instrumentation and the know-how to help them meet these challenges. This is a strong foundation for the future growth of our business as we continue to develop with and serve the powder processing industries.”

Powders are tested in a consolidated, conditioned and aerated state to fully characterize flow behaviour and the factors influencing it. This facilitates the rapid identification of properties with a critical impact on performance. The FT4’s patented dynamic methodology and unique conditioning step, coupled with automated test programs eliminate operator-to-operator variability and deliver precision and reproducibility. As a result the instrument is highly differentiating. Testing is fast, typically complete in around 5 minutes, while the latest software delivers rapid data analysis, remote from the laboratory where necessary. 

Wyatt Technology’s MALS Instruments Characterize Novel Malaria Vaccine Candidates

Wyatt Technology, a provider in absolute macromolecular characterization products, has been chosen by the Malaria Vaccine Development Branch (MVDB) of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) for its instruments to characterize the recombinant protein vaccines it produces. Wyatt’s novel Multi-Angle Light Scattering (MALS) instruments were found to facilitate MVDB’s understanding of purity, identity and aggregation states of recombinant protein vaccine candidates after they were separated by Size Exclusion Chromatography (SEC).

Malaria remains one of the world’s deadliest diseases for people living in the tropics, particularly in Africa. Globally, malaria causes more than 1 million deaths each year with approximately 60 percent of these deaths occurring in the poorest 20 percent of the total global population. Malaria kills one child under five years of age every 30 seconds. Unfortunately, malaria parasites have developed a variety of mechanisms to evade host immune responses, thus making the development of a successful vaccine very challenging. The Malaria Vaccine Development Branch of NIAID was established in 2001 at the Institute’s Rockville, Maryland research facility. MVDB is an 8,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art biotechnology laboratory designed to develop, produce and characterize pilot lots of promising malaria vaccine candidates based on recombinant proteins. Those vaccine candidates are intended for use in Phase I and II human trials.

For this particular application, the solution profile of a candidate antigen was analyzed using analytical SEC with on-line MALS, Refractive Index (RI) and UltraViolet (UV) detection. A High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) and a PhotoDiode-Array PDA detector were connected in series to Wyatt’s DAWN EOS and Optilab RI detectors run by Wyatt’s ASTRA software suite.

The SEC-MALS results clearly demonstrated that the solution state of the vaccine candidate was comprised of three populations, namely monomer, dimer and tetramer. This fact was later verified by boundary sedimentation equilibrium studies.

McPherson Instruments Help Calibrate Cosmic Origin Spectrograph

McPherson, Inc. instruments helped calibrate space flight systems for the Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS.)

Now McPherson instruments are called to work on the Hubble Space Telescope’s new eye in the ultraviolet, the Cosmic Origin Spectrograph (COS.) COS is undergoing extensive pre-flight test and characterization, in preparation for a ride on the space shuttle during service mission 4 to the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope. The COS optics and sub systems are being tested on the ground, at deep ultraviolet wavelengths normally only accessible in the vacuum of space. The team doing the work comes from the University of Colorado Center for Astrophysics and Space Astronomy (CASA.)

CASA contracted McPherson, Inc., a manufacturer of vacuum compatible instrumentation for measuring wavelengths of light, to provide a system to perform spectral test and calibration on the COS optical train. The McPherson system helps characterize and document the spectral and radiometric response of COS to specific wavelengths, a critical step to interpret the resulting imagery. The instrumentation includes a vacuum monochromator and beam delivery optics for work in the 115 to 300nm wavelength region. The CASA teams Instrument Specialist, Dr. Steve Osterman, uses the McPherson system. The Cosmic Origin Spectrograph is being deployed for efficient observation of faint extragalactic and galactic ultraviolet targets, these efforts complement instruments currently on the Hubble Space Telescope.

Thermo Fisher Scientific’s New Range of Specular Reflectance Accessories Provide Comprehensive Capabilities for its UV-Visible Spectrophotometers

Thermo Fisher Scientific has developed a new, comprehensive series of Specular Reflectance accessories to complement the Thermo Scientific Evolution 300 and 600 UV-Visible spectrophotometers. The new accessories provide a wide range of capabilities for material science laboratories interested in measuring the specular reflectance of solid materials with mirror-like or glossy surfaces.

The range includes the new VN Absolute Specular Reflectance accessory, a selection of fixed angle specular reflectance accessories and a variable angle specular reflectance accessory. The VN Absolute Specular reflectance accessory is capable of providing absolute, single-bounce measurements at 10 o angle of incidence. The Fixed Angle Specular Reflectance accessories are ideal for a variety of military, solar, routine and research applications at 15 o, 20 o, 30 o, 45 o and 60 o angles of incidence. The grazing angle of 85 o is also supported, thus enabling material science laboratories to meet the strict ISO 2813 requirements regulating applications such as the determination of specular gloss of non-metallic paint films.

For customers performing polarization studies, all of the fixed angle specular reflectance accessories can be also used in conjunction with Glan-Taylor or Glan-Thompson polarizers and depolarizers. The new variable angle specular reflectance accessory covers a range of angles from 30 o to 80 o, ideal for routine measurements. Specular reflectance of large or irregular shaped samples is possible, since this accessory can be operated with the sample compartment lid open.

SUI Announces New, Compact InGaAs Video Camera for SWIR Imaging

VICI Valco's new Cheminert C52 Series Injector presents their first integrated motor/valve assembly designed specifically to be built into an OEM system.

Using the Cheminert HPLC injector design and the 24 volt motor from their microelectric actuators, the C52 needs only to be connected to the instrument's power supply. Control is simplified to require a single contact closure; the injector's position is determined by whether the closure is held high or low. There's even an easy way for the instrument to confirm the valve's position by sensing the output from a built-in sensor.

All these features are built into a compact and lightweight package, available in 4, 6, 8 and 10 port configurations, stainless or PEEK. The C52 can simplify instrument designs, trim costs and minimize time to market.

Measurement Specialties Inc. (MEAS) has introduced its Models 4425 and 4426 PC board-mountable pressure sensors. Models 4425 and 4426 are temperature compensated, piezoresistive silicon pressure sensors packaged in dual-in-line configurations. They are intended for use in cost-sensitive medical devices in which excellent performance and long-term stability are required, such as respirators, gas monitoring, oxygen conservers and sleep apnea machines. In addition, they are appropriate for altitude/airspeed measurement, process control, factory automation and leak detection.

"The 4425 features dual pressure ports on the side and offers differential or absolute pressure measurement," says Sharif Al-Sharif, pressure applications engineer. "The tubes are parallel to the printed circuit board to allow clearance above the sensor." The 4426 features a single, top-mounted vertical pressure port, and it offers gage or absolute pressure measurement.

The company's proprietary Ultrastable die technology delivers stability improvements over competitive sensors. Adds Al-Sharif, "We incorporate a special resistor ion implant process in the monolithic silicon pressure chip. Even our package design features a thick film alumina ceramic substrate for die mounting that eliminates stress from mounting and package-related calibration."

The pressure sensors are available in ranges from 0-1 psi to 0-100 psi. Integral temperature compensation is provided over a range of 0-50ºC using laser-trimmed resistors. Non-linearity is +/- 0.25 percent. The pressure ports are 1/8-inch barbed ports that mate with 3/32-inch ID tubing.

Battery Power 2007 is Only a Few Weeks Away – Register Today
Battery Power 2007, June 6-7 in Denver, Colo., will feature more than 35 presentations on the latest innovations in portable, stationary and automotive applications. The conference will focus on new battery designs, manufacturing techniques, battery materials, power management, charging, testing and monitoring systems, power conversion, as well as the latest market trends affecting the industry. Attendees, including vendors, distributors, OEMs, design engineers and power integrators, will learn the latest capabilities, design issues, trends and market forecasts in batteries and battery-powered products and systems.

Use these two days to network with peers, professionals and potential business partners involved in technology solutions serving a variety of applications. Learn the latest products, services and technologies available and discover what is on the horizon.

Register today at www.batterypoweronline.com/bp07_registration.htm.

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