Which heat source is right for which type of sample?

To cover a broad range of applications, Sartorius offers infrared moisture analysers with various heat sources. By helping users select the right source for heating their samples, Sartorius enables users to achieve reproducible and accurate measurements more rapidly.

For many users, an incandescent heat source, a halogen lamp, on an IR moisture analyser is the non-plus-ultra for rapid sample heating. By virtue of their low mass, halogen lamps heat up very rapidly. This benefit, however, is counteracted by the fact that drying of the sample is relatively inhomogeneous. That makes halogen lamps best suited for samples that show very high thermal stability.

Ceramic heating elements are currently the most commonly used type of heat source. Ceramic heating elements can be used for practically all types of samples. With a 0.1-mg resolution in its weighing system, the MA100C offers the ideal combination for sensitive samples with a low moisture content, such as freeze-dried foods or plastics.

As set forth in the HACCP requirements adopted by the American FDA and the European Directive 93/43/EEC for the food sector, no equipment used in the production of foods or pharmaceuticals may contain any breakable glass components. Otherwise, there is the danger that tiny glass splinters might get into the production cycle and cause harm to people when they eat food or take medicine.

In all analysers in the MA series equipped with ceramic heating elements, the glass viewing windows can be replaced with aluminium panel inserts. This feature makes the analyser glass-free and thus compliant with FDA/ HACCP requirements. Therefore, the ceramic heating element is always the right choice whenever this kind of work has to be done directly in the production room.

The third type of heat source that Sartorius has been offering since the end of 2004 is the CQR heating element. This moisture analyser contains a single heating element coiled into a spiral and embedded in a heat-conducting mass. This coil technology produces a large surface area with exceptionally homogeneous heat distribution that enables the CQR element to heat up as rapidly as a halogen lamp, while distributing heat rays evenly over a sample, just as efficiently as does the Sartorius ceramic heating element! The CQR heat source is suitable for most samples.