CHRONECT Workstation FTIR

Fully automated detection of used technical oils

Replacing oils in gearboxes can affect the uptime of technical equipment and be a major cost factor. Determining oil quality based on a smaller sample of the used oil reduces downtime and prevents premature lubricant replacement.

FTIR analysis shows changes in oils and lubricants

Changes in oil can be easily determined by FTIR analysis. Typically, this involves comparing a known IR spectrum with a measured oil IR spectrum. If, for example, oxygen groups appear, this indicates aging of the oil. With changes in the hydroxyl groups, the % water content in the sample can be determined. In addition, spectrum comparison can identify adulterated oil to ensure that only a specific organic or synthetic oil is used. The same is true for identifying the composition of oil blends.

This analysis is becoming more and more important, so that the number of samples is also increasing. Automated sample handling enables a high and efficient utilization of the FTIR.

Chromatogram of oil samples showing antioxidant degradation and oxidation.

Fully automated workflow for Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy

The XYZ robot CHRONECT Robotic and the control software CHRONOS enable automated sample preparation.

Air bubble free aspiration of the oil sample without droplets
Injection into the injection port of the flow cell and subsequent FTIR measurement
Washing of the injection port with fresh solvent
Generation of a solvent spectrum free of additional peaks or additional washing with solvent if the spectrum is not free of additional signals
Optional reminder to clean a contaminated flow cell after a defined number of wash cycles via SMS or e-mail

Different operating modes - Day and Night Mode

In some laboratories it can be advantageous to use different operating modes. The CHRONECT Workstation FTIR supports this with a day and night mode. For example, in day mode, sample containers can be provided and analyzed in racks of 20 places each. The next rack is then set by the user. For night mode, for example, the instrument can be equipped with six racks of 80 plastic tubes each. This creates a capacity for 480 oil samples. The higher capacity gained in this way means that the sample run can be started for the night without supervision. CHRONECT Robotic then runs the samples automatically during the night. The sample lists can be imported directly from LIMS.

The configuration of the operating modes is customer-specific and depends, among other things, on the vessels used.

High sample throughput for IR spectrometry

CHRONECT Robotic and CHRONOS enable the intelligent and efficient integration of washing steps as well as the overlapping of individual steps into a fully automated workflow. This allows a high sample throughput of approx. 650 samples per day to be achieved.