Spectrex PC-220 and PC-2300 laser particle counters

The Spectrex PC-2200 in-situ laser particle counter and PC-2300 portable laser particle counter are both designed to permit thorough inspection of bottled and flowing liquids without consuming the sample.

The sample is placed in a specialised glass bottle or beaker and inserted into either of the instruments for counting - eliminating sample flushing and making handling clean and simple. Oil immersions and other liquids can be counted by adjustments made by SuperCount software. The PC-2200 can also count particles in line using a flow-through cell.

Using the principle of ‘near-angle light scatter’, a revolving laser beam passes through the walls of a glass container or flow-through cell. When it is directed through a central ‘sensitive zone’, the particle counters not only count the particles in suspension, but tabulate their size as well, from 0.5 to 100 µm in diameter. The analog signals generated by the light pulses are routed to a computer and digitised.

With the PC-2300, a scanning laser beam automatically quantifies small particulate matter and the results are presented on a digital display. A minimum size selector is provided for this quantification measurement and is normally set to 1 µm. The direct connection to a computer with the company’s interface card, cable and software gives full, automatic sizing and counting of particles. The product is ruggedly constructed with all the optical members mounted on one solid aluminium base plate, so it should never go out of alignment.

The company provides three sealed calibration standards with each unit, each containing a precise number of NIST traceable polymer spheres of known concentration. The suspensions are sealed with inert Argon gas and have proven stability. A specially designed fixture of the PC-2300, the V Block, automatically holds in correct alignment any standard 150 mL beaker or calibration standard. The spring automatically pushes the bottle up into the ‘V’ position. It is easily removed for small vial or flow-through cell attachment.