Almelo, The Netherlands, May 2, 2002 -- Philips Analytical BV, headquartered in Almelo/The Netherlands, and OBLF GmbH, headquartered in Witten/Germany, have announced the first system resulting from the formal cooperative agreement between the two companies announced several weeks ago.
On CETAS, the 6th Workshop on Progress in Analytical Chemistry in the Steel- and Metals Industry in Luxembourg (May 14-16, 2002) Philips Analytical presents the first Hybrid Spectrometer "TEAMworks" to the market. This system is the first result of the cooperative agreement between the leading Dutch manufacturer of X-ray spectrometry systems and its well-known German partner OBLF, renowned for its expertise in Optical Emission Spectrometry technology.
"TEAMworks" (Total Element Analysing Module) has been designed specifically for the steel- and metals market. It analyses metal and oxidic samples through almost the entire periodic table, with detection limits within the ppm-range.
"This new development allows customers in the steel and metals market to take advantage of two analytical techniques at the same time," comments Jan van den Bosch, product manager for the metals market segment at Philips Analytical. "The unit allows for combined (even simultaneous) XRF/OES analysis, saving handling time and therefore cutting the sample processing time so important for the target markets. The unit, however, is not limited to full automatic operation. In manual-mode, both sub-units can still be manually operated independently, without compromising performance."
The design of the "TEAMworks" system is based on the MagiX spectrometer series of Philips Analytical with a standard OBLF spark-based Optical Emission Spectrometer and an industrial manipulating robot - all mounted in a safety enclosure. "TEAMworks" is built from off-the-shelf components which have proven their value in over hundreds of spectrometers in various industries. That makes it a robust and reliable system especially suited for the often harsh environmental conditions of the steel- and metals industry.
Intelligent software modules control the data exchange between the instruments of the intermediate analysis, thus achieving optimal inter-element correction and best analytical results . The integrated functionality also enables time-optimised analysis to run in parallel, a very worthwhile feature especially when analysis time is a critical issue.
"With all its various features, the "TEAMworks" system is one of the most effective spectrometer systems on a small footprint," comments Bringfried Overkamp, General Manager of OBLF. "The sample handling is completely executed by the handling robot. Its analytical quality is automatically monitored through an SPC-controlled run of check- and recalibration samples. The unit can be extended with labelling- and/or sample storage and is thus perfectly suited for integration into an automated laboratory."
For more information, visit www.analytical.philips.com .
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