Production manager Jameson Svalstedt and software manager Chris Ubaldi confer on an issue
New Year, New Instruments
by Doug Evans, President
We are very excited to announce the introduction of the SpectraStar™ XL line of NIR analyzers! The SpectraStar XL instruments are the first product developed under our TRUE NIR™ program recently initiated within Unity Scientific.
For Unity, TRUE NIR is the pursuit of the perfect NIR measurement. This goal will drive the development and de-livery of the most consistent, reliable and accurate NIR analyzers possible. It extends company-wide through our quality initiative and our process of continuous quality improvement, and in our choice of US parts, components and manufacturing.
For our customers, TRUE NIR means an accurate and reliable measurement of your samples. TRUE NIR means that your measurements are referenced to traceable standards and not any particular instrument, making your measurements future-proof and thus compatible with next generation instrumentation.
2013 Distributor Awards
President’s Award Unity Scientific Asia Pacific
Asia Science Tech Co., Ltd. ThailandEurope AMS FRANCEMiddle East /Africa ANALYTICAL SOLUTIONS – South AfricaNorth America Dan Evans, Account Manager of the Year North America Bethany Steevens, Most Improved Account ManagerSouth America Instrulab – Brazil
Our ultimate goal is to make the best NIR analyzers possible, and we are very excited to be progressing towards this end.
Our wet chemistry group is also introducing a new analyzer - the SmartChem Plus. This discrete analyzer offers system offers all the standard environmental tests performed by the average water lab at a lower entry price point.
As 2014 starts, Unity Scientific is looking forward to welcoming customers to our updated technical center in Brookfield, CT for UCal™ and other training courses. Our instructors are excited to assist you with our solutions, and we hope that our customers enjoy the area during their visit and are able to work in a visit to regional attractions such as a Broadway show while they are here.
We are very excited to bring newsolutions and ideas to our customers in2014. Please let us know your ideas!
ASK THE EXPERT
TRUE NIR™: The Research, Engineering and Manufacturing sideby Jerry Workman, Ph.D.EVP - Research & Engineering/Marketing
TRUE NIR is a Unity Scientific philosophy that relies on the tenets of metrical measurement science. This way of life requires a first-principles view of the application of spectroscopy to quantitative and qualitative analysis. Thus the highest quality components, precise tolerances and assembly practices, and atomic level traceability are required for each spectrometer and measurement.
How does this differ from today’s usual approach? These days most spectrometer manufacturers are off-shoring or outsourcing manufacturing to make their instruments cheaper; using moderate or low-cost components; and following their main competitors with just enough innova-tion to maintain their market share and reputation. Some calibrate instruments using “Master Instruments” or “home-made” reference standards; some do very little or no factory calibration. These attitudes and approaches are not true NIR.
TRUE NIR assures our customers of transferability and traceability in their measurement of quality data. It means that spectrometers produce the same results based on atomic lines and first principles science. It means that re-placed parts and lamps, or new versions of instruments will produce the same results. It means domestic manufacturing and highest quality components. With TRUE NIR there is no reliance on drifting master instruments and samples that change with time, temperature, and humidity. TRUE NIR is raising the bar for everyone; it is the pursuit of the best metrology possible.
TRUE NIR
Precise Mechanical Tolerances
Highest quality optical design and materials
Ultra Quiet and Quality Electronics
USA-based Manufacturing and Control
First Principles Alignment
State-of-the Art Components
and Capabilities
Rugged and Sealed All Metal Casing
For our initial offering applying True NIR principles, we proudly introduce the SpectraStar XL instrument. The following features reflect our TRUE NIR philosophy:
• The highest throughput optics available for improved signal at high and low spectral regions
• Super quiet detector electronics and electronically ultra- cooled detector for improved signal-to-noise
• Sampling system with higher precision sampling• Referencing system with more repeatable (higher precision)
reference measurements and quieter mechanism• Special internal black optical coatings for mechanical
mounts giving lower stray light and higher dynamic range• Higher mechanical tolerances throughout• Tech I lamp with improved replacement functionality • Top window with dust- and moisture - proof seal• Upgraded PC board: more than 3 times faster clock speed
and 4 times RAM along with expanded USB ports• Solid State Hard Drive - no more HD mechanical failures,
silent operation, longer life, faster boot• Thin and ruggedized 17 inch high resolution touch display
with new mechanical mounting, less wire clutter. • InfoStar™ XL New Software Release• Blue power light and dust-proof bright white casing with
thicker gauge for better vibration absorption and heat dissipation
• Made and designed in USA, including electronic boards
With True NIR the instrument performance and calibration transfer procedures and physics are related to first principles and reference criteria maintained by known physical constants and national laboratories. The main features of this approach include:
1. Use of primary and secondary reference standards as the basis for instrument calibration 2. All Instruments are corrected to factory transfer specification tolerances using primary and secondary reference standards. These tolerances involve multiple test criteria for instrument performance and may exceed those of manufacturer’s standard or routine performance criteria.3. All calibration file predicted values are corrected using reference standards for qualified measurements on original and transfer instruments4. Instrument and product model calibrations are transferred using stable reference samples5. Use of best possible components (i.e., mechanical parts, electronics, and optics) and manufacturing processes.
We are serious about quality and accuracy. Please send us your comments on what you would like to see in the new advanced True NIR technology.
PAGE 2
WET CHEMISTRY SOLUTIONS
EasyChem Plus
Near Infrared Spectra-Structure Correlation Poster
NIR Reference Poster Available!!!
NIR Spectra-Structure correlation poster adapted from J. Workman and L. Weyer, “Practical Guide and Spectral Atlas for Interpretive Near Infrared Spectroscopy”, CRC Press, FL 2012.
This multi-colored poster graphically demonstrates the relationships and properties of the various absorbencies across the NIR spectrum from 690 - 2632 nm. The poster is printed on high quality stock and is suitable for framing or just hanging in your laboratory or office.
Please contact your local Unity Scientific sales professional or re-quest a copy at www.unityscientific/contact/request_poster.asp.
by Steve Stadlmann Product Specialist
The Wet Chemistry division has introduced the EasyChem Plus into the product portfolio of the company’s automat-ed discrete chemistry analyzer line joining the SMARTCHEM® 170 and SMARTCHEM° 200. The EasyChem Plus is offered by our sister company Systea and is manufactured in Italy.
The system offers all the standard environ-mental tests performed by the average water lab and is attractively priced.
The EasyChem is designed for smaller laboratories and has a capacity to hold 60 samples and 18 reagent containers. This introduction will allow Unity Scientific to offer a discrete analyzer under $40,000 for smaller labs but providing a wide range of flexibility.
Please contact us for more information on the EasyChem Plus and the applications available for this analyzer.
EasyChem Plus Discrete Analyzer
PAGE 3
NIR SOLUTIONS
by Jan-Ake Persson, Business Unit Manager
Unity & Aunir - Spotlight on Flour
Near Infrared Technology (NIR) is an ideal solution for the flour mill as it has capability to rapidly control the quality of incoming wheat as well as it is suited to control the milling process and final flour quality.
The first obvious advantage with this technique is the speed - results can be obtained within 30 seconds enabling plant operators to take immediate action whether it is to redirect incoming wheat or to adjust the milling operation. Near Infrared analyzers like Unity SpectraStar™ XL can easily be operated at line by the same staff that is running the production line. Full 24 h service is obtained; thus eliminating the need to run a regular analytical laboratory during night shifts.
The second big advantage of NIR is that all key parameters for a flour mill are obtained simultaneously with one sample analysis.
For those who want to benefit from the NIR advantages without having to care for calibration development and maintenance Unity has partnered with Aunir offering Ingot® calibrations. The Ingot calibrations are developed with UCal and are part of a complete Flour Analyzer package that covers a wide range of wheat, flours and by-products.
The package comes with full support, guaranteed performance and a money back guarantee if specifications are not met.
Aunir has more than 30 years’ experience of reference analysis and global support of near infrared technologies. Aunir – Ingot calibrations include a total database of more than 300 000 samples, collected over decades throughout the world, all analyzed in an accredited reference laboratory and are thus applicable throughout the world.
The Deluxe Flour Analyzer with Ingot calibrations produces reliable data out of the box, allowing users to understand and control their processes better and thus save money from the day one. Contact us today to find out more information on this or any Deluxe analyzer package.
Producing flour with optimum quality for each specific end-use at a competitive price is a challenge. Whether producing multipurpose flours for the consumer markets or highly specialized flours for industrial users it is always a tough game to run a mill in a profitable way. Mistakes at grain intake, mixing or shipping can rapidly turn profit to loss.
Wheat for milling is usually selected based on a combination of factors such as hardness, protein content and some measure of protein quality such as the gluten extensibility characteristicsof the wheat. The single parameter that has the highest correlation to end use properties is protein. It is also crucial to eliminate the possibility for weather damaged wheat having high alpha –amylase activity measured as Hagberg Falling Number to enter into the mill. Weather damaged and sprouted wheat has low falling number values and is disastrous to use for bread.
Nanning CaoNew Hire
Nanning (Nancy) Cao received her PhD. Degree in Agricultural Engineering from Iowa State University (ISU) in 2013 with a minor in Statistics. She has broad knowledge and extensive experience in near infrared (NIR) instrumentation, and its application development on agricultural and food products.
Nanning joined the Grain Quality Laboratory in ISU in 2009. During this time, she focused on calibration optimization on whole grain products using NIR spectroscopy and has contributed to professional conferences at SciX, IDRC, Pittcon and 2103 International NIR con-ference in France.
Nanning is also the author of over 15 posters and publications and has taught sections on the use of near infrared spectroscopy for grain analysis as part of an Agriculture and Biosystems Engineering course. Specializing in vibrational spectroscopy and chemometrics, Nanning is responsible for developing applications and preliminary analysis to support business development and data analysis solutions in areas of food and agriculture industry. Nanning will be working both with our customers as well as our distributors and R & E group to assist in the development and delivery of NIR solutions.
PAGE 4
by Bob SchumannDirector of Product Management, Marketing
NIR SOLUTIONS
Unity Scientific is now offering UCal training in our recently updated Technical center in Brookfield, CT. The training class is taught by Bill Brown, an experienced NIR calibration developer with over 25 years of experience with several NIR vendors and is 2 1/2 days in length. Depending on the class, a guest lecturer or two will also be featured. The UCal training course covers all aspects of calibration development include NIR theory, sample management, regression development, validation and maintenance and includes exercises and time for hands-on practice of the concepts learned. We also encourage students to bring in any calibration problems or situations they are working with and they will be addressed at the end of the course, time permitting.
Brookfield, Connecticut is located approx-imately 1 hour from New York City, 2 hours from Boston and other regional attractions. We would be happy to give you suggestions for your visit! Please contact your Unity Sales professional for more information.
While the release of the new SpectraStar™ XL analyzers is our big news item for the beginning of 2014, the software group at Unity has also been hard at work developing new products for calibration developers. Unity Scientific was recently awarded two US patents for unique algorithms found in the UCal Chemometric software package.
The first patent is entitled “Method and system for increasing optical instrument cali-bration and prediction accuracy within and across different optical instrument platforms” and describes the use of the TRANS instru-ment transfer function, MIN minimization file and Unity Check cell to optimize calibration transfers across multiple instruments. The MIN file helps the software model in unwanted variation such as instrument differences or temperature variation without having to include these variations in the calibration samples, keeping your calibration set clean and making this modeled variation easily available for multiple calibrations.
The second patent is an extension of the first and covers CONDENSE. Condense is a proprietary algorithm found in UCal that mathematically reduces large calibrations to smaller representative sample sets using the neighborhood H concept. This results in calibration sets that are much more manageable and readily updated with local calibration samples yet still contain all of the sample and constituent variation found in the original sample set.
Both of these patents are the result of our work with Dr. John S. Shenk and reflect some of his unique insights that made him a visionary pioneer in NIR. Paolo Berzaghi, Billl Brown and John W. Shenk also contributed to this work.
New UCal™ Patents and Training Course
Unity Scientific has just published a whitepaper describing a standard set of diagnostic and instrument calibration evaluations and then applying these tests to the SpectrStar XL and three competitive instruments. The whitepaper was put together by Jerry Workman and colleagues and is an attempt to provide NIR users with a reference set of diagnostic tests and an im-partial evaluation of current instrumentation based on those tests. In commercial brochures and literature, each manufacturer has specific methods and interpre-tations of these diagnostic tests, which makes a true comparison difficult for the NIR consumer. We have thus provided this study as a guide to evalu-ating NIR instrumentation. Click the whitepaper to the right to download a copy.
Training
Near-Infrared Spectrometers: How to Evaluate Their Performance
PAGE 5
Follow Us!Click on the links below to contact us in your favorite social site or come visit us at a trade show listed below!
White Water Associates, Inc.by Diane VillanuevaApplied Technology Manager, Wet Chemistry
White Water Associates, Inc., located in Amasa (Iron County, Michigan), is celebrating its 30th anniversary in a newly expanded laboratory and office facility and with an increased staff of professionals. In January 1985, Drs. Bette and Dean Premo co-founded the company and began to provide consulting and lab services. Today, White Water has 24 employees and serves a nation-wide clientele seeking environmental lab testing, research and development, field sampling, natural resource planning, ecological surveys, lake and stream studies, and other technical services. The company’s clients include industries, municipalities, professional service firms, State and Federal governments, Native American tribes, and individuals. White Water’s new website describes the firm’s technical services and offers more information to clients. Visit www.white-water-associates.com to see first-hand what this company is about.
The White Water laboratory analyzes water, soil and waste materials for many kinds of environmental tests. Examples of these tests include coliform bacteria and heavy metals in drinking water, nutrients like phosphorus and nitrogen in surface water, and organic solvents in industrial wastewater. White Water’s laboratory undergoes rigorous State and Federal laboratory certification required by many of its clients and ensuring accurate analyses and reporting. White Water consulting scientists address natural resource issues such as lakes and streams management and restoration. Projects include work with invasive species and plant and animal surveys.
In 2010, White Water purchased a SMARTCHEM® discrete analyzer, as they couldn’t keep up with the work load using existing equipment. Previous co-workers recommended the system and they were encouraged that the instrument would be easier to maintain, since there weren’t a lot of pump tubes involved. The instrument is easy to use in that it requires little to no monitoring once a test is set up. Also, the analyst does not have to be present upon the completion of a test to shut the instrument down, which was the case with the old equipment. They like the fact that the instrument uses less reagent and has less waste. Other improvements because of SMARTCHEM use include faster analysis and the ability to run more methods in house; however, Bette says that the most helpful part about having a Smart Chem has been the customer service. Every time they’ve needed help because of maintenance or trying to learn a new method, the staff have been so generous with their time and knowledge. Good technical support makes all the difference.
In 2013, White Water Associates undertook a long-planned expan-sion. The new construction more than doubles the original foot-print of White Water’s lab and office complex. This expansion was completed in September and provided much needed space for laboratory instrumentation and staff as well as offices, conference room, and employee commons area (lunch and lounge). During 2013, White Water also added six new employees, increased the variety of services, and improved its customer service. They plan to continue this expansion into the future.
The tests run on the SMARTCHEM® include: Alkalinity, Ammonia, Chlorides, Ortho phosphates, Total Phos-phates, Nitrates, Nitrites, TKN’s, Silica, and Sulfates. During the busiest season, they run 100-120 samples per day, sometimes having to switch tests 3-4 times. Future analytes they’d like to test include sulfides, phenols and cyanide.
New laboratory space featuring SmartChem and other equipment
Article by Bette Premo, with contributions by Nikki Kuzak, Tony Haag (White Water) and Diane Villanueva (Unity). Photo by Zolton Cohen
