Symbion Systems has announced the availability of its technical note, SN-504.
This is a preprint of a paper by Drs WM Doyle and MA Power, prepared for delivery at the International Society of Automation Analyzer Division Spring meeting.
The paper describes a software approach designed to accelerate process-analytical-technology (PAT) development and deployment by standardising the interactions with diverse analytical instruments, sampling systems, chemometric (multivariate analysis) programs and enterprise data systems, and by integrating all required functionality at the analyser level.
In addition to the required control and data-analysis functions, the system provides local displays in various formats, including statistical information and real-time trend plots, as well as database storage, alarms and remote communications.
The package can be implemented on a standard PC or integrated into a dedicated process-analytical appliance for locked-down deployment.
The result of analytical integration at the analyser (or process) level is to create an 'autonomous analyser system', which can be developed, validated and deployed independently of all other systems.
When properly locked down, it becomes, in effect, a series of dedicated smart sensors.
Its primary function is to output predictions of process variables measured at predetermined locations within a chemical process.
Raw data can also be stored locally and transferred to the plant network as required.
In addition to describing the overall approach to analytical integration, the technical note describes two specific implementations.
The first involves a complex sampling system, which is integrated with an FTIR analyser to provide a standalone measurement system that operates 24/7.
The second system involves the multiplexing of 13 near-infrared probes to instrument an integrated chemical-production facility.
