Instruments price

The previous discussion has concentrated on major factors likely to be important in choosing the best mass spectrometer for a given defined purpose. Clearly, there are likely to be other issues that need to be considered, and instrument price will be one of these. The major considerations are listed in Tables 39.1-4. 

Instrument Price a range Frequency range, Hz Approximate modulus range, Pa Manufacturer... 

As might be expected, performance specifications vary considerably among instruments and arc related, at least to some degree, to instrument price. I ypically, bandwidths vary from 2 to 8 nm wavelength accuracies of 0.5 to 2 nm are rcporicd. 

This data, from the WPA survey, needs interpreting with care since the prices for general machinery may have fallen relative to instrument prices. 

What is the available budget for instrumentation Prices of apparatus can range from several hundred dollars, for a basic manual synthesis system, to several million dollars for a fully integrated custom designed robotic synthesizer. 

SIMS has experienced extensive growth and sophistication over the past few decades with its commercialization resulting in the availability of numerous stand-alone instruments (price tags range from several hundred thousand to several... 

Finance capability in financial institutions refers to their ability to source projects to invest in (investment capability) analyse the risks structure the finance instrument, price the debt instrument and loan duration followed by monitoring and control and eventually repayment of the debt by the borrower. Various players within the financial institution interact in the process of financing a project. The internal staff identify and analyse risks that include but are not limited to business, industry, management, country, political and foreign currency risks. The risk management process is closely tied to loan structuring, documentation, disbursement and monitoring and control procedures. 

In order to be able to reduce prices, even more and more test- and measurement systems are integrated on PC-boards. The powerful and inexpensive PC eomponents can be directly u.sed for these (virtual) instruments. The limited dimensions of the PC boards require a reduction to the absolute necessity of the electronic components. Analogue signal proeessing must carried out by software as far as possible. 

Time, Cost, and Equipment In comparison with competing methods, potentiome-try provides a rapid, relatively low-cost means for analyzing samples. Commercial instruments for measuring pH or potential are available in a variety of price ranges and include portable models for use in the field. 

Time, Cost, and Equipment Analysis time can vary from several minutes for samples containing only a few constituents to more than an hour for more complex samples. Preliminary sample preparation may substantially increase the analysis time. Instrumentation for gas chromatography ranges in price from inexpensive (a few thousand dollars) to expensive (more than 50,000). The more expensive models are equipped for capillary columns and include a variety of injection options and more sophisticated detectors, such as a mass spectrometer. Packed columns typically cost 50- 200, and the cost of a capillary column is typically 200- 1000. 

An added consideration is that the TOF instruments are easily and quickly calibrated. As the mass range increases again (m/z 5,000-50,000), magnetic-sector instruments (with added electric sector) and ion cyclotron resonance instruments are very effective, but their prices tend to match the increases in resolving powers. At the top end of these ranges, masses of several million have been analyzed by using Fourier-transform ion cyclotron resonance (FTICR) instruments, but such measurements tend to be isolated rather than targets that can be achieved in everyday use. 

Liquid-in-glass thermometers measure the thermal expansion of a liquid, which is placed in a solid container, on a length scale. The mercury thermometer is one example of liquid thermometers. Alcohol is also used with this type of instrument. The temperature range is -80 to a-330 °C depending on the liquid. The quality, stability, and accuracy vary considerably. The advantages are a simple construction and low price. A disadvantage is that they are not compatible for connection to monitoring systems. 

Point-of-use infrared thermometers are commercially available and relatively inexpensive. The typical cost for this type of infrared instrument is less than 1,000. Infrared imaging systems will have a price range between 8,000 for a black and white scanner without storage capability to over 60,000 for a microprocessor-based, color imaging system. 

Note that a number of complicating factors have been left out for clarity For instance, in the EMF equation, activities instead of concentrations should be used. Activities are related to concentrations by a multiplicative activity coefficient that itself is sensitive to the concentrations of all ions in the solution. The reference electrode necessary to close the circuit also generates a (diffusion) potential that is a complex function of activities and ion mobilities. Furthermore, the slope S of the electrode function is an experimentally determined parameter subject to error. The essential point, though, is that the DVM-clipped voltages appear in the exponent and that cheap equipment extracts a heavy price in terms of accuracy and precision (viz. quantization noise such an instrument typically displays the result in a 1 mV, 0.1 mV, 0.01 mV, or 0.001 mV format a two-decimal instrument clips a 345.678. .. mV result to 345.67 mV, that is it does not round up ... 78 to ... 8 ). 

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