An Introduction to Laboratory Automation (Chemical Analysis: A Series of Monographs on Analytical Chemistry and Its Applications) - Hardcover

Cerd?, V?ctor; Ramis, Guillermo

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0471618187 ISBN 13: 9780471618188

Publisher: Wiley-Interscience, 1990

Synopsis

A fully automated lab can perform miracles of elucidation–from taking objective measurements to generating massive amounts of data in a short time to drawing conclusions using multivariant statistical methods. In this technically enhanced setting, a chemist can now conduct new types of experiments, ones that require the assimilation of large amounts of data in a short time and others that require the control of a large number of parameters simultaneously or take a long time to complete. Automating a laboratory is surprisingly inexpensive–and given the basic electronics and computer know-how–relatively simple. With this text, written by two chemists who have successfully automated their own labs, you’ll be able to fully automate your laboratory, building and programming your own devices and automatic systems, using their measured, step-by-step approach. You’ll learn:

• The basic concepts of analog and digital electronics, enabling you to select components of appropriate quality and construct simple circuits
• The dynamics of the simplest electronic elements–resistors, capacitors and RC circuits–and their applications, as well as diodes, rectifiers, filters, regulators, and more
• The basic vocabulary of bit, byte, word and digital signal, gates, latches, counters, and multivibrators
• The basic parts of a microprocessor–the arithmetic logic unit, the internal registers, and the control units–as well as input/output techniques
• Analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog conversion techniques
• The way interface cards can be programmed in interpreted and compiled BASIC, complete with program examples
• The most popular communication protocols for intercommunicating computers, instruments, and other devices
• The laboratory instruments and apparatus with the necessary interfaces useful in building up an automated system
• Laboratory robotics–from motors and position detectors to articulated arms

This definitive, hands-on, and up-to-date text will allow you to smoothly automate your lab in as cost-effective and efficient a style as possible. The versatility of the tools and techniques described are suitable for professional settings as wide as the industrial lab, municipal lab, analytical services, environmental control services, and health services. An Introduction to Laboratory Automation details simply and economically–for students and professionals alike–the practical dynamics behind sciences successful mix of chemistry and computer.

About this title

From the Publisher

The increasing complexity of today's sophisticated laboratories requires chemists to have a thorough knowledge of how their equipment works. It introduces readers to the basic principles and practical techniques of automating the chemical laboratory. Shows modern-day chemists how to use cutting-edge equipment at optimum levels so that they may perform at these same optimum levels. In addition to dealing with questions of hardware, it includes techniques for connecting instruments to a computer, data acquisition, communication protocols, laboratory robotics and examples from analytic chemistry. Both control and measurement techniques are incorporated.

About the Author

About the authors Víctor Cerdá is Professor of Analytical Chemistry at the University of the Balearic Islands, Spain. He has been Professor of Analytical Chemistry at the Universities of Valladolid and Barcelona. He is President of the Association of Environmental Sciences and Techniques, Director of the Laboratory of Analysis and Assays, and Editor of Notebooks on Environmental Sciences and Techniques, and has published more than 110 papers, most of them in international journals. The author is currently directing a research project in laboratory automation, funded by the Spanish government. Dr. Cerdá received his PhD in Analytical Chemistry from the University of Barcelona in 1973. Guillermo Ramis is Professor of Analytical Chemistry at the University of Valencia, Spain. He has published more than 50 papers, most of them in international journals. He is currently directing two research projects funded by the Spanish government, the first on thermal-lensing spectroscopy and the second on the development of analytical techniques for the investigation of drug abuse in sports. Dr. Ramis received his PhD in Analytical Chemistry from the University of Valencia in 1979.

Edition details

• Publisher: Wiley-Interscience
• Publication date: 1990
• ISBN 10: 0471618187
• ISBN 13: 9780471618188
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 336