Balance Users Finally Relieved From the Burden of Integrating Environmental and Weighing Data

March 4, 2012 - PRLog -- A&D Company, Limited, a multinational manufacturer of weighing equipment for laboratory and industrial use, is proud to announce the launch of the AD-1687 Weighing Environment Logger. The AD-1687 saves mass values sent from an electronic balance while simultaneously collecting temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, and vibration data from the setup environment, all with date and time of recording.

Why environmental data for weighing?

In laboratories that use analytical balances, it is a common practice to record environmental conditions that influence the results of weighing. This is because typical analytical balances have a minimum display of 0.1 mg (1/10,000 of a gram) or less, which requires incredibly high resolutions, and are therefore very sensitive to their surrounding environments. In other words, their performance must be evaluated considering the effects of environmental disturbances, just like 100-meter sprint times have to be recorded with the current wind direction and speed.

Problems with conventional methods

However, balance users often find it troublesome to integrate data from different recording devices when they need to relate weighing results to environmental data and process or graph the values, whether it be for data analysis or documentation, or both. Moreover, conventional environment loggers measure no more than three parameters (e.g. temperature, humidity, and barometric pressure) at best, and neglect vibration, which is a major source of error for weighing instruments.

The “Weighing Environment” Logger

The AD-1687 can solve all such problems. When connected to an A&D balance, it simultaneously and chronologically records weighing data and the four kinds of environmental data with date and time. The data is stored in CSV format and can be opened using spreadsheet software such as Microsoft Excel for easy processing and graphing. PCs recognize the AD-1687 as USB storage, and no special setup or software is required. Furthermore, if the user chooses to use the real-time transmission mode, the AD-1687, by linking a balance and a PC, can transfer weighing data along with environmental data to the PC in real time (without saving the data on the device itself).

The AD-1687 has a large memory capacity of 10,000 sets of environmental and weighing data with date and time. This is about 100 days’ worth of continuous recording at a 15-minute interval, so the AD-1687 is also highly usable as a stand-alone environment logger. The interval time can be set between 1 second to 60 minutes, and the user can select either endless recording (which overwrites the oldest data when memory is full) or one-time recording (which stops recording when memory becomes full).

The AD-1687 does not require battery power when it is connected to either a weighing instrument or a PC because it can receive power directly from these devices. For connections with a weighing instrument and a PC, three types of RS-232C cables (9-pin D-Sub, 25-pin D-Sub, and 7-pin DIN) and a USB cable are provided respectively as standard accessories. On the other hand, when used alone and operated on batteries, the AD-1687 can save power by automatically turning off after a set period of inactivity. (Only the display turns off while recording with interval time setting.) The remaining battery level is also displayed to avoid unexpected recording failure due to the batteries running out.

Depending on the purpose or preference of the user, the AD-1687 can be set to display either all data items or two primary data items selected by the user for easier reading (e.g. temperature and humidity). In addition, the user can choose to display data either numerically or by trend graph. In the latter case, results are graphed using automatic scaling so that the user can grasp chronological changes quickly and intuitively.

The dimensions of the AD-1687 are 127 (W) by 90 (H) by 36 (D) mm with the protective cover, which makes it compact enough to be carried around. With the protective cover, the AD-1687 is IP65 dust and waterproof and suitable for use at various locations where the conditions are not as favorable as laboratories. Finally, since the AD-1687 measures vibration, it is useful for managing not just weighing environments but also areas like production facilities where the amount of vibration becomes an issue.

Additional details can be found on the A&D website at http://www.aandd.jp/.

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A&D Company, Limited, headquartered in Tokyo, take advantage of their world-class analog and digital signal processing technologies to produce a diverse array of laboratory and industrial measuring equipment. In particular, they are known as Japan’s top manufacturer of electronic weighing instruments ranging from ultrasensitive micro analytical balances to scales of several tons of capacity. Their innovations are always aimed at providing users with high usability and high value for the price. To find further information on A&D, visit http://www.aandd.jp/.