CASTING INNOVATIONS
Bruker’s Carbon and Sulfur Analyzer Now Features Auto Cleaning Bruker AXS, Billerica, Mass., has
added an auto cleaning feature to its G4 ICARUS CS HF carbon and sulfur analyzer, which is used by met- alcasting facilities to assess and control the carbon and sulfur content in metal. Over time and after many sample
analyses, byproducts such as metal ox- ide dust accumulate in the combustion furnace area of the analyzer, resulting in erratic results or even component failure. Prior to this upgrade, cleaning the instrument required disassembly and cumbersome manual cleaning that ate up lab time. While other self-cleaning analyz-
ers require abrasive cleaning of the quartz tube by brushes and a vacuum cleaner, Bruker designed a pneumat- ically assisted cleaning assembly to scrub and dispose of the interfering combustion properties automatically in the G4 ICARUS. A pneumati- cally-driven piston with integrated components cleans the furnace area, including a metal dust filter and the extraction nozzle with a downward stroke after each analysis.
and manual cleaning is required. Using a high frequency induction
A combustion viewing port on the front of the analyzer allows users to monitor the process in real-time.
Dust is wiped from the metal-
lic filter, and various blades on the cleaning mechanism’s plunger remove splattering particles from the inner rim of the extraction nozzle. A small pulse of oxygen flow transports the liberated particulates into the spent crucible, to be disposed along with the combusted sample material. According to Bruker, this new auto
cleaning feature allows the user to per- form hundreds of analyses, depending on the application, before disassembly
furnace, the G4 ICARUS converts solid samples into gaseous compo- nents, which are measured by infrared detectors and processed into tangible carbon and sulfur concentrations. By providing a high pressure, oxygen- rich environment in the furnace, the sample material and accelerator combust, reaching temperatures above 1,500C, while liberated carbon and sulfur compounds are oxidized to form carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide. Te G4 ICARUS features a view-
ing port on the front of the furnace to allow users to monitor the combus- tion process in real-time. Te extrac- tion nozzle directly above the furnace removes the gaseous components from the furnace to be transported downstream for eventual detection. Destructive byproducts that can splat- ter against the surrounding quartz combustion tube also are extracted by the nozzle. According to Bruker, users benefit from limited dust contamina- tion with improved analytical results
This block diagram depicts the primary components of the G4 ICARUS CS HF and the analytical flow path. 52 | MODERN CASTING August 2012
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