New CO2 Incubator Analyser Meets Researched User Demands

The G100 gives accurate and independent CO2 verification and is easy to use and read in response to user demands.

From independent research among users, Geotech has designed its new G100 incubator CO2 analyser. The G100 is an easy-to-use, handheld CO2 analyser with increased accuracy in the 0-20 percent range and a bright, easily read display. Readings are stable thanks to inbuilt moisture removal. Timesaving twin-probes check incubator top and bottom temperatures and difference simultaneously. Increased memory holds 1000 readings. Options include O2 and/or RH analysis, temperature probes, data logging, and USB-link software to download data, analyse and export it – and to enable Internet file exchange with Geotech technical and customer support. The fully functional G100 is priced from £1000 (+VAT in UK) and is available from: Geotech G100

Research has ensured the G100 analyser is fully operable and configurable from its keypad and screen. Routine, back-to-factory service and re-calibration is recommended once a year. When due, the analyser displays a time-for-service warning but continues to work normally.

An optional ‘USB-link cable and G100 software package’ supports PC and Internet connectivity. This enables data download to a PC of the event log, user calibration and the data set for analysis, graphing, secure archiving and, if necessary, exporting to spreadsheet, word processors or e-mails. To assist users anywhere in the world, the USB-PC link and G100 software allow user settings also to be downloaded as a PC file and e-mailed to Geotech for technical support and troubleshooting. This assists remote diagnostics and service support worldwide avoiding unnecessary return to factory. It also helps ensure continued use and minimal downtime and limits time-zone lag. If necessary, the analyser firmware can be ‘flashed’ with a new Geotech software release, via website downloaded, for continuous improvement.

The Geotech G100 CO2 Incubator portable gas analyser with built in moisture removal for increased stability can optionally measure oxygen (O2), humidity and top and bottom temperatures simultaneously with twin temperature probes. The G100 can also download via a USB PC/Internet cable.

The G100 is shipped, boxed and complete with a gas sampling tube, an external water and dust filter, a mains charger and a user manual on a CD. It can also be supplied with an optional hard carry case to assist with protection and long operational life. Details, together with a Technical Specification sheet, a Product Data sheet, Operational Choices diagram, and an PC and Internet connectivity diagram , user
manual and more are available at: More: www.geotech.co.uk/g100.php

UK Design, Assembly and Export Success
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This new product is also a UK design, assembly and export success story. For this £300K development, Geotech designers identified the best components and most economic sourcing from around the world. Sub-assemblies are made in the UK, most close to Geotech’s Leamington Spa, Midlands base. From there, seventy-five percent of the completed high-value analysers go for export.

CASE STUDY:
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Pfizer double-checks CO2 incubators with Geotech G100 portable gas analyser
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Pfizer quality checks 25 medical incubators with a Geotech G100 CO2 incubator gas analyser to confirm CO2 environments are as required – taking just two minutes for each. The medical incubators, kept at 37 degrees Celsius and five percent carbon dioxide (CO2), are manufacturer-fitted to regulate themselves and display their environments. “Now we can double check and every month we do a QC check to be sure the CO2 is at five percent,” said Tim Stroud, associate scientist in the Primary Pharmacology Group at Pfizer in Sandwich, Kent.

Using the Geotech G100, supplied by GEM Scientific, Pfizer found some variations of up to three percent in CO2 concentration, mainly as a result of frequent opening and closing of incubator doors. Identifying this led to fine-tuning and ensured target CO2 concentrations were maintained.

With checks initially made every two weeks, the G100 confirmed Pfizer’s 25 incubators are all performing as set up and verifies CO2 concentration are as displayed on the front. Soon the fortnightly checks will be made monthly as repeated readings confirm each incubator’s performance. “Checking an incubator by attaching the G100 to a sample port only takes a couple of minutes so we can do all 25 within an hour,” said Tim Stroud.

“We keep notes and a log of the readings on a spreadsheet so we can track how each incubator is performing over time. If we repeatedly had to adjust the level it may indicate that there was something for an engineer to attend to on the incubator,” he said. “What prompted us to buy the G100 was some variable data we had been getting from an experiment, which we thought could be due to fluctuating CO2 concentrations and we wanted to determine if that was the case. We are also able to show colleagues, when checking any ‘strange’ experimental results, if the incubator environment was as required at the time of running their experiment,” he confirmed.

Using a portable independent incubator gas analyser is new to Tim Stroud’s department who said, “Using the G100 is very easy, so is calibration and is simply explained in the user manual.” Currently calibration is done using ambient air but Pfizer plans in future to use canisters of five percent CO2 calibration gas.