The Drive for Portable Analytical Instruments

Many benchtop instruments are now available in a compact version either for portability or simply to save on space. The recent availability of portable versions of analytical eqnipment brings many advantages to analytical science, some of which are  

The drive to reduce the size of conventional instrumentation has come about from a need to take equipment out of the laboratory to the sampling site. This requires an instrument that can be transported easily and that can work in the field, ideally from batteries for at least a few hours. The batteries may be disposable or rechargeable. Some portable devices have the option that they can work from mains electricity consequently, they can also be used back in the laboratory, where they save space due to their smaller footprint and often cost less to run and maintain than their benchtop counterparts. Where equipment may need to be moved from one location to another, even for coupling to another instrument, a smaller footprint and portability is again advantageous. Compact instruments usually require less sample and reagent volumes, which in turn reduces waste. Often, portable equipment is more user-friendly than the benchtop version as it is designed for use by nonscientists as well as scientists. 

However, in reducing the size, there can be some disadvantages too. Trade-offs are usually made when optimising for weight, power and performance. This is application-specific but may, for example, result in the portable version of an instrument being less sensitive than the benchtop version. However, if the limits of detection are adequate for the field measurements, this may not be an issue. 

Analytical Instrumentation A Guide to Laboratory, Portable and Miniaturized Instruments G. McMahon 

Many portable instruments have been made possible by the use of clever designs incorporating smaller components, for example optical fibres, light emitting diodes (LEDs), liquid crystal displays (LCDs) and miniature gratings for use in spectrometers, each of which are discussed below. These developments, amongst others, have contributed immensely to the development of the whole area of portable analytical instruments. They have seen particular use in portable electrochemical and spectrometric instruments. 

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