Testing equipment/products

Bosch and co-workers devised laboratory reactors to operate at high pressure and temperature in a recycle mode. These test reactors had the essential characteristics of potential industrial reactors and were used by Mittasch and co-workers to screen some 20,000 samples as candidate catalysts. The results led to the identification of an iron-containing mineral that is similar to today s industrial catalysts. The researchers recognized the need for porous catalytic materials and materials with more than one component, today identified as the support, the catalyticaHy active component, and the promoter. Today s technology for catalyst testing has become more efficient because much of the test equipment is automated, and the analysis of products and catalysts is much faster and more accurate. 

The development of a continuous grinding index was the focus of work in the late 1970s (59). The laboratory test equipment used is similar to that for the Hardgrove test but permits classifying the product and recycling the oversize material. An improved correlation is obtained that may, however, need to be corrected for the relative sizes of the test grinding balls versus those used in commercial-scale equipment. The continuous grinding index is especially useful for lower rank coals. 

The other common objective for calculating the number of countercurrent theoretical stages (or mass-transfer units) is to evaluate the performance of hquid-liquid extraction test equipment in a pilot plant or to evaluate production equipment in an industrial plant. Most liq-uid-hquid extraction equipment in common use can oe designed to achieve the equivalent of 1 to 8 theoretical countercurrent stages, with some designed to achieve 10 to 12 stages. 

I strongly recommend that your company engage a third-party EMI testing house to test your products. The minimum-level of test equipment required to test for the discussed factors is very expensive and there is a long learning period involved. 

New equipment, tooling, and facilities requirements Statement of special product and process characteristics Gages and testing equipment requirements Feasibility review report... 

In addition to products and service which are incorporated or which form part of the products and service supplied to customers, there are tools, test equipment, contract labor, facilities, calibration services, computer services, and many other items which, if not of adequate quality, may adversely affect the quality of the products and service you supply. These items should also be governed by these requirements. 

The standard requires the supplier to calibrate inspection, measuring, and test equipment used to demonstrate the conformance of product to the specified requirements. 

Use is controlled by specifying the software by type designation and version in the development and production test procedures or a register which relates products to the test software which has to be used to verify its acceptability. You should also provide procedures for running the software on the host computer or automatic test equipment. They may of course be menu driven from a display screen and keyboard rather than paper procedures. 

This requirement hides an important provision. It not only applies to inspection, measuring, and test equipment but to the measurements that are performed with that equipment. Anywhere you intend performing product verification or monitoring processes you need to ensure that the environmental conditions are suitable. By environmental conditions is meant the temperature, pressure, humidity, vibration, lighting, cleanliness, dust, acoustic noise, etc. of the area in which such measurements are carried out. To avoid having to specify the conditions each time, you need to establish the ambient conditions and write this into your procedures. If anything other than ambient conditions prevail, you may need to assess whether the measuring devices will perform adequately in these conditions. If you need to discriminate between types of equipment, the ones most suitable should be specified in the verification procedures. 

How do you identify whether an item of inspection, measuring, and test equipment can affect product quality ... 

A nonconformity exists only when product has been inspected against an acceptance standard and found not to comply. Prior to this the product is either serviceable or unserviceable. Unserviceable products are not necessarily nonconforming - they may simply lack lubrication or calibration. A piece of test equipment, the calibration date of which has expired, is not nonconforming - it is merely unserviceable. When checked against a standard it may be found to be out of calibration and it is then nonconforming, but it could be found to be within the specified calibration limits. 

They mainly apply to products as most of them are concerned with protecting the product from damage and deterioration. They apply to the end product and any items that either form part of the product or are used to produce the product, including any tools, test equipment, and processing materials. Although it is possible for some types of services to deteriorate, this use of the term preservation is covered by the process control and auditing requirements. The only requirements that do apply to services are those for identification, unless product is used in the delivery of a service. If the servicing is done to a product, whether or not the product is owned by the supplier, protection of that product is important. 

Test equipment for the study of erosion-corrosion by liquids with sand content, as met in formation waters in oil and gas production, has been described by Kohley and Heitz ... 

Direct oxide reduction (DOR) is presently being tested on production equipment. Eventually, it is hoped to eliminate the fluorination and bomb reduction processes and replace them with DOR. 

Until about the 1970s, much of the CVD equipment for semiconductor applications was designed and built in-house and a CVD equipment industry was still embryonic. Since then, there has been a considerable shift to standardized systems built by specialized equipment manufacturers particularly for the semiconductor industry, and today sophisticated production and test equipment is readily available. 

When all equipment has been listed, the total number of running feet needed can be added up. How much more will be required This will vary from one laboratory to another. In an industrial laboratory where both routine testing and product development work are to be performed, this figure can safely be multiplied by four for a realistic estimate. In some laboratories used exclusively for specific types of work with no other types contemplated, this figure may be lower. It should be kept in mind, however, that expanding an existing laboratory is an extremely expensive... 

The first key factor, energy, is involved in the production of any chemical. Design of a safe process requires an understanding of the inherent energy (exothermic release/endothermic absorption) during chemical reactions. This information can come from the literature, from thermochemical calculations, or from proper use of testing equipment and procedures. The potential pressure that may be developed in the process is also a very important design consideration. 

Advanced testing for extensive evaluation of selected catalysts and feedstocks was carried out in a fixed fluid bed of about one liter cracking catalyst capacity. This provided us with representative yields and large volumes for product quality testing including octane numbers. In construction and operation, this test equipment was similar to that used much earlier to develop the semisynthetic catalysts of the 1950s.(7)... 

Facilities and Equipment The technical experts who have an understanding of pharmaceutical science, risk factors, and manufacturing processes related to the product are responsible for defining specific facility and equipment requirements. The equipment must be qualified, calibrated, cleaned, and maintained to prevent contamination and product mix-ups. It is important to remember that the GMPs place as much emphasis on process equipment as on testing equipment while most quality systems focus only on testing equipment. Control Outsourced Operations Quality systems call for contracts with outside suppliers that clearly describe the materials or service, quality specification responsibilities, and communication mechanisms. 

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