Month: August 2020

High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) separates and identifies mixtures of substances in a solution and measures individual components of a mixture.  Most common applications include drug analysis for pharmaceutical labs, quality control for food industry & clinical diagnosis of disorders and diseases to name a few.

In HPLC applications, small changes in the fluidic path can cause dissolved gasses to occur in a solution. When this occurs, bubbles can form, which can affect performance and produce unstable, inaccurate baselines.

To further improve instrument precision and reliability in HPLC applications, IDEX Health & Science (IH&S) recently announced the release of a Constant Performance Degassing Pump (CPDP) system, that enables a new method of in-line degassing to remove dissolved gases from fluids before they outgas and create problem-causing bubbles.

Equipped with a dual stage pump and an integrated microprocessor, the CPDP system offers an enhanced user experience with a patent-pending algorithm that allows advanced control to select the optimal degassing efficiency

With optimized vacuum based on method flow rate you can maintain a constant degassing efficiency. By operating at a flow rate defined vacuum levels, significant control of pervaporation and minimal mobile phase concentration changes can be achieved.

The resulting calibration data produces a mathematical model of degassing channel performance that allows the HPLC system to operate the vacuum degasser at the highest possible pressure (minimal vacuum level) to degas with minimal mobile phase concentration changes and reduced solvent loss to the laboratory atmosphere.

To learn more, click here

With the 2020 hurricane season underway in the eastern and southern United States, BAND-IT® clamps are needed to safely secure signs and utilities to poles and towers. And with the pandemic making supply chain issues more challenging, the BAND-IT® team is working to ensure suppliers have ample stock to avoid challenges after storms hit.

A leader in quality engineered band clamping and fastening solutions, Denver-based BAND-IT® manufactures stainless steel bands, buckles and clamps designed to clamp wires, manage cables, keep electricity lines secure, hold signage in place, and much more. Municipalities and utility providers use our clamps to affix electricity lines, 5G transmission equipment, traffic signs, among other critical applications.

Founded in 1937, BAND-IT has a storied reputation for designing and producing fastening solutions that stand up to the harshest conditions in applications where failure isn’t an option – including on spacecraft, bridges, and vehicle assemblies.

Popular products that are being stocked regularly during the hurricane season include:

• Ultra-Lok band and buckle

• Standard band and buckle

• ​SIGNFIX® Universal Channel Clamp

Whether our customers need help keeping items affixed to a pole, or need help keeping signage intact, BAND-IT’s distribution network continues to support customers before and after the storm clears.

To learn more about BAND-IT’s product offering, click here

Sewer inspections are becoming significantly more efficient in Pittsburgh (USA) thanks to innovation in crawler technology from iPEK. Sulzberg, Germany-based iPEK, which manufactures wastewater inspection systems, recently partnered—through iPEK’s long-time master distributor in North and South America, Envirosight—with the Pittsburgh Water & Sewer Authority (PWSA) to help make processes easier, more efficient, and drive productivity with the ROVION SAT II crawler.

In the past, PWSA team members have had difficulty examining inclines in pipeline systems. The Authority, established in 1984, is responsible for the entire city of Pittsburgh’s sewer system, roughly 12,000 miles of mostly combined sanitary and storm sewer lines. And there is no shortage of slopes around the historic city.

Using feedback from some of their most important customers, iPEK equipped the ROVION SAT II inspection system with 8-wheel drive and a new and improved belt drive for improved speed and power.

“We are constantly trying to climb hills with our equipment, which we used to find really difficult,” says Jason Auge, CCTV specialist and 13-year-veteran of PWSA. “Since purchasing the SAT II systems, we are doing it effortlessly.”

PWSA team members also face several other challenges in the city’s system, including increased debris due to the combined systems, sinkholes and frequent pipe junctions.

In the past, if the sewer pipe diameter of the sewage pipe changed, it would require the inspector to take the crawler out and adjust the setup, making the process time consuming and tedious.

“The number of lines that run junction to junction in our system is a unique challenge for us,” Auge said.

To improve the system’s flexibility, iPEK team members included a push rod and tv-cable, which allows the crawler to conduct lateral launches in a sewer system (Pictured Below)

 

“With the lateral launch on the SAT II, we are able to drive up one sewer main and launch the camera into other mains running perpendicular. And, using the carbon fiber antenna for the camera head, I’m able to lift over a lot of joints and steer through junctions that I wasn’t able to before,” Auge said.

In addition to developing a much more agile crawler, iPEK also added an automatic cable reel, which extends to about 300 meters of cable for camera use and 45 meters for lateral launches.

To see the Crawler in action, Click here

With the help of iPEK’s SAT II system in each of its three inspection vehicles, PWSA has already seen an improvement in productivity.

“There’s definitely been an increase in efficiency with the SAT II,” says Auge. “We are getting more done. It’s crawling faster and we’re getting to our problem spots quicker. It’s clear the technology has improved significantly.”