Introducing A Quick, Easy Way To Implement Daily And Periodic Pipette Checks

TOKYO, Japan - May 7, 2015 - PRLog -- What with GLP and ISO standards, today’s laboratories are expected to manage the quality and performance of their pipettes in a readily accountable manner. However, only having the pipettes inspected and calibrated by a third-party facility once a year – as is the case with many laboratories – may well not be sufficient. Just imagine what would happen to a year’s worth of data when such an annual calibration showed that the researcher may have been using inaccurate pipettes all along.

To protect research results from various forms of nonconformity, laboratory/QA managers therefore have an increasing need to find sustainable ways to verify pipette quality and performance in-house, since outsourcing everything would be too costly and impractical. Nevertheless, many of them would be at a loss as to what exactly they should put into actual practice.

Here comes the AD-1695 “Pipette Professional” to their rescue. Equipped with a 7-inch color touch-panel screen, it is a device that can help users perform both daily and periodic pipette checks in the manner already laid out by A&D.

Daily check (basic check) function

A&D recommends that for everyday inspection, quick appearance and function checkups as well as a test for air leakage will suffice for most laboratories.

First, Pipette Professional will simply ask users to touch the screen and check whether the condition is “met” or “not met” for each item. The items to be checked include those which A&D recommends as the most basic for confirming that the pipette meets proper conditions for use.

After checking of exterior appearance and functions, Pipette Professional moves on to an air leak test. Pipette failures typically occur due to deteriorated parts in the lower section of the pipette, for example the o-ring, piston, and tip holder, compromising the pipette’s air-tightness.

While it is possible to perform the leak test in the traditional, time-consuming method of aspirating water and waiting to see if it leaks out of the tip, A&D encourages use of the separately sold, the AD-1690 Leak Tester. By depressurizing (to –20 kPa) the inside of the pipette, it can determine whether an air leak exists only in a matter of seconds. When connected, Pipette Professional can control and capture the result from Leak Tester to make the met/not met decision promptly and automatically.

Periodic check (volume test) function

In addition to the daily check, users are advised to inspect the pipettes’ actual performance from time to time. Pipette Professional enables them to easily test for pipette volume accuracy (i.e. systematic error) and precision/repeatability (i.e. random error) by connecting it to one of A&D’s balances. The test procedure follows the gravimetric method, which obtains the pipette volume based on the mass of purified water dispensed from the pipette, and allows compliance with ISO8655.

As a balance to be used for this purpose, A&D strongly recommends one of A&D’s Pipette Accuracy Testers (AD-4212B-PT / AD-4212A-PT / FX-300i-PT), or alternatively, the BM series of micro analytical balances with their optional pipette accuracy testing kit (BM-014). These testers come with various useful accessories, including an evaporation trap, which maintains high humidity inside the device and thereby minimizes the evaporation of the test liquid that causes measurement errors.

Pipette Professional automatically determines the Z (conversion) factor based on the entered test liquid’s (i.e. purified water) temperature and barometric pressure. This Z factor is then used to calculate volumes from the mass values transmitted from the balance, and make pass/fail decisions in compliance with ISO8655 standards, or the user’s own preferred criteria (e.g. the pipette manufacturer’s specifications, their internal standards, etc.) The test specifications of ISO8655 for each pipette volume can be recalled with a touch of the screen.

With these functions, users can avoid having to manually perform troublesome calculations and making possible errors in those calculations. Additionally, users will no longer have to begrudgingly accept calibration reports that often use much stricter criteria than they actually require when they commission the volume test from an outside facility.

Reporting results and other useful functions

For documentation requirements, the daily and periodic check results can be output to a USB flash drive in PDF report formats, with a reference number, location name, and operator name added as necessary. It is also possible to output the results directly to a standard mini printer in simplified formats.

To realize efficient, organized management, up to 300 pipettes’ information (manufacturer, model, serial number, and maximum volume) with volume test conditions and specifications can be registered in Pipette Professional, which users can select and readout when conducting daily and periodic checks. The registered information of the pipette checked will be reflected automatically in the output reports.

Finally, users can quickly call up on-screen explanations of terms that are relevant or used on Pipette Professional. There is also an on-screen instruction manual available for each of the daily check, periodic check, and pipette registration/selection operations. It will tell users what to do as they touch the number in the respective section. With these functions, users should not be required to look for or refer to any other resource for understanding and operating Pipette Professional.

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, takes 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 practical utility and high value for the price. To find further information on A&D, visit http://www.aandd.jp/.