What's New in viewLinc 5.1

Reliable CO₂ measurements for repeatable cell culture results

Application Note: CO2 Measurements in Life Science Incubators

 

How to achieve reliable CO₂ measurements for repeatable results

Maintaining stable CO₂ levels in incubators is essential for consistent, reproducible results in cell culture, pharmaceutical research, and IVF applications. But high humidity, temperature fluctuations, and poor sensor placement can compromise both accuracy and contamination control. In this application note, you will learn how to ensure incubators are:

  • Equipped with fast, stable in-situ CO₂ measurement for early detection of deviations that could threaten contamination control
  • Immune to high humidity and condensation, preventing conditions where contaminants can thrive
  • Measuring CO₂ levels with pressure and temperature compensations for accuracy at any altitude, supporting contamination-free environments worldwide
  • Ideal for GxP applications with low maintenance needs, reducing contamination risk from frequent handling

Whether monitoring fixed incubators or spot-checking with portable sampling tools, Vaisala offers trusted solutions for maintaining compliant, contamination-free culture conditions.

Download the full application note for best practices in sensor placement, calibration recommendations, and in-depth knowledge on NDIR CO₂ sensors—all supporting your contamination prevention strategy.

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Additive Manufacturing & Moisture

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on
3D printing a Vaisala logo
Industrial Measurements

Additive manufacturing is rapidly gaining pace as a commercially viable industrial manufacturing technology following the global trends of on-demand production, customization, and the need for savings in time, money, and materials. Whether manufacturing plastic or metal parts, some raw materials such as powders, resin, or filaments are hygroscopic, meaning they absorb moisture from the surrounding ambient air. High moisture levels within the raw material can change its chemical properties and may negatively affect final product quality.

Metal Additive Manufacturing
Additive manufacturing of metal parts is becoming increasingly popular because it can offer new solutions not available with traditional manufacturing techniques. New shapes and techniques that were previously very expensive or even impossible to design using traditional casting and machining methods are now at our fingertips. Products manufactured with a 3D printer can be significantly lighter and just as strong – or even stronger – than their equivalents produced using conventional methods. These features are especially valued in aviation-related applications where tolerances are extremely tight, with each saved gram of metal translating to big savings in the product life-cycle analysis.

Another significant advantage in metal 3D printing is the improved printing speed and production rate. This technology is already challenging traditional manufacturing methods in mass production markets. The ability to reproduce high-quality products is essential to mass production and critical end-use applications such as aerospace, automotive, or medical components. 

Moisture plays an important role in many stages of the manufacturing chain so, to ensure consistent quality, it is essential to make sure conditions in facilities throughout the production chain are stable. Manufacturing and storage facilities for equipment and materials should be temperature and humidity controlled to ensure a high-quality product. 

High-quality additive manufacturing requires high-quality raw material. The powder materials such as aluminum or titanium alloys used in the selective laser melting (SLM) process are sensitive to ambient humidity. If the powder absorbs too much water from the surrounding air, its chemical characteristics can change dramatically, leading to loss of print quality. All storage conditions, whether inside or outside of the printer, should be carefully monitored to ensure that the raw material meets the manufacturer’s specifications.

With metals, regardless of the 3D printing method used, there is a sintering or melting process that fuses metallic powder to the solid metal part. The sintering must take place in an inert environment with low levels of oxygen and moisture. This can be a harsh environment for any measurement device, but the conditions can also be monitored indirectly through dew point measurement of the inlet and outlet gasses.

Plastic Additive Manufacturing
Moisture is a well-known enemy of plastics. As many polymers are hygroscopic, they will absorb moisture from the surrounding air. As a manufacturer, you do not want your raw material to change its properties – the target is to keep it as consistent as possible. This requires high-quality moisture control throughout the production chain, from filament manufacturing to the 3D printing process itself.

Fused filament fabrication (FFF), also known as fused deposition modeling (FDM), uses a filament of thermoplastic material extruded to the printing platform layer by layer. These filaments are made from a variety of polymers such as ABS (acrylonitrile, butadiene, styrene), PLA (polylactic acid), or PA (polyamide, more commonly known as nylon). All of these polymers have the ability to absorb water, with the amount dependent on the polymer type and the relative humidity of the ambient air. The effects caused by the moisture also depend on the material. 

Some materials, like ABS, can withstand relatively high concentrations of moisture without any impact on their material strength, but problems may still emerge during extrusion. When ABS is heated above 200°C the absorbed moisture will evaporate and turn into steam. This causes issues in the print quality since the steam will affect the material flow. Some materials, such as PA (nylon) also suffer from hydrolysis. This means that water molecules damage the polymer chains during extrusion and the material loses its tensile strength.

Conclusion
Whether you are manufacturing your parts out of metal or plastic, you will need to keep a tight control over the conditions in all parts of your facility. To avoid any production quality issues caused by moisture, you need accurate measurements. 
 

Comment

immensa.io

Aug 23, 2022
Nice blog, more informative

Vaisala

Sep 27, 2022
Thank you for your comment, happy to hear!

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Field Comparison of Hydrogen Peroxide Measurement Systems for Isolators

vaporized hydrogen peroxide validation in isolators
Life Science
Founded in 1994, Ardien Consulting Services provides isolator validation for equipment used in aseptic manufacturing, sterility testing and containment applications. Rick Nieskes is the founder and principal consultant of Ardien, currently serving the validation needs of over 50 pharmaceutical companies around the world. Vaisala supplied Nieskes with a Vaisala HPP272 probe combined with the Indigo201 transmitter for testing purposes.
PDF version
 
After working with early hydrogen peroxide bio-decontamination methods in the 90’s, Nieskes decided to specialize in isolation technology and vaporized hydrogen peroxide systems for the pharmaceutical industry. In his work, Nieskes not only qualifies equipment and environments, he develops bio-decontamination cycles and protocols to help companies ensure the consistency and efficacy of their processes. 

When given the opportunity to evaluate the Vaisala Hydrogen Peroxide probe combined with the Indigo201 transmitter, Nieskes compared them to his current hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) measurement equipment. The first major difference was that his sensor gave only parts per million readings (ppm), whereas Vaisala’s HPP272 probe with the Indigo201 transmitter was set up to provide three values: H2O2 concentration in ppm, percent relative saturation (humidity) and temperature. Vaisala offers two probes for hydrogen peroxide measurement; the HPP271 probe measures only H2O2 concentration in ppm and the HPP272 probe can measure several parameters, including H2O2 concentration in ppm, relative saturation, relative humidity, temperature, dew point and vapor pressure. 
 
“With both my standard sensor (based on electrochemical technology) and Vaisala’s HPP272 (based on thin-film polymer sensor technology) placed less than a foot apart in the isolator, I began the decontamination cycle,” says Nieskes. “The electrochemical H2O2 concentration sensor initially responded quicker, but within about five to ten minutes both sensors were reading essentially the same values. But, in my experience the numerical value for H2O2 concentration isn’t as important as how relatively consistent it is from cycle to cycle. Both units were consistent throughout the validation.” 

While the concentration values were similar, the resolution of the values differed. Both display units began at zero, but for the electrochemical sensor, the first value was 10 ppm, with subsequent values in increments of five. The Vaisala Indigo transmitter, which provided the readings of the HPP272 probe, gave values in 1 ppm increments.
“This became very interesting during aeration,” recalls Nieskes.  “Towards the end of the decontamination phase, both units gave near identical readings. The electrochemical sensor was at 705 ppm, the HPP272 was at 710 ppm. Towards the end of the aeration phase, once the HPP272 was at 2 ppm, I took a reading with a different device I use for low level ppm. 

“I use two different devices to measure high and low level hydrogen peroxide concentrations. The low level device gives values between 0.1 and 3 ppm. When the HPP272 was at 2 ppm, the device reading was 1 ppm; and when the HPP272 was at 1 ppm, the device reading was at 0.5 ppm. I was interested to see the consistency between readings, but surprised that in a process that typically requires two different sensing devices for high and low level accuracy, the HPP272 was relatively accurate during all the phases of bio-decontamination.” 

Another difference Nieskes noticed was in the number of variables measured during the process. “With the Vaisala unit I’m getting humidity (in this case relative saturation values were selected to be displayed), temperature, along with H2O2 concentration. This gives a more complete picture of what’s occurring and that’s crucial in validation. Seeing the temperature and relative saturation values, along with the level of hydrogen peroxide is not only important for qualifying a piece of equipment; it could be extremely useful for troubleshooting between equipment re-qualifications.” 

Nieskes believes that knowing the environmental parameters along with H2O2 ppm values can save time and ensure cycles are effective. “Say that some undetected situation occurs with the HVAC system. If it’s winter, the temperature in the room might decrease. As a result, the ppm during the decontamination cycle may be lower than normal. You might have to do a lot of investigation to figure out that the root cause is the HVAC system. 

“In the meantime, there may be more condensation in the isolator, which has caused the lower reading ppm. If you run a cycle with anomalous ppm readings, without knowing the other variables in the environment, you have to take time to investigate the issue. If you can see the other parameters that impact the process in real-time, you have an immediate clue to what’s occurred: one of the variables changed.” 

From over two decades working with pharmaceutical manufacturers, Nieskes knows there is constant pressure to control costs. Every step in the process must be as efficient as possible. “If we can ensure consistent bio-decontamination cycles with a better understanding of the critical parameters that affect the process, it leads to more efficient manufacturing,” says Nieskes. “Downstream that can result not only in improved productivity for a manufacturer, but also reduced drug costs for a consumer who can still be assured that the drugs are processed in safe, sterile, and controlled conditions.” 

Working in validation, Nieskes has seen the costs associated with presuming that equipment will perform as expected, or that a changing ambient environment won’t have a detrimental impact.
 
“You use biological indicators and other equipment annually to re-qualify an isolator. Between re-qualifications, you have to assume everything is stable. But if you have a sensor monitoring the isolator for each cycle, you can troubleshoot between re-qualifications. I believe that inline monitoring is useful in isolators regardless of the application. Unfortunately, this is not always done.” 

Nieskes has learned that without an H2O2 sensor monitoring bio-decontamination cycles, ignorance is bliss. “I can’t count how many times I’ve seen companies go into a re-qualification and find biological indicator growth-positives. Then they initiate troubleshooting. With an inline sensor, they’d have historical information that can aid in troubleshooting.
Hydrogen peroxide sensor vaporized H2o2
The temperature in the center of the isolator is warmer than on the window. Because the window has a lower temperature, condensation (100%RS) occurs earlier. Relative saturation in the center of the isolator is 82%RS. The placement of the sensor within a chamber will have an impact on the %RS value.
 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 
“I have experienced a situation where the injection of H2O2 was normal (i.e. no alarm or abort), but was improperly vaporized. In this case, having an H2O2 concentration sensor would have likely identified the faulty condition. This is where knowing the relative saturation and concentration value from the HPP272 sensor can be valuable.” 
One of the parameters that was new for Nieskes was the relative saturation percentage. Relative saturation indicates the humidity of the air caused by both H2O2 vapor and water vapor. Under the conditions in this case, Nieskes noticed the onset of condensation occurred around 82%RS. Decades of experience have brought Nieskes to the conclusion that some degree of condensation is necessary for an effective bio-decontamination with hydrogen peroxide vapor. 

Prior to using the HPP272, Nieskes used a binary condensation sensor he created for this purpose; experience had taught him that a cycle where no condensation was achieved could result in growth positive biological indicators. Often the condensate is subvisible – the H2O2 vapor exists in two states, at varying degrees, at various locations during the cycle, as both gas and liquid (condensate).
 
“In the ideal biodecontamination cycle, the isolator temperature and humidity would be exactly the same each time,” says Nieskes. “Since you can’t do that, you have to ‘validate through’ meaning; incorporate room temperature during validation. This shows that you are able to destroy microorganisms through environmental variations. You change the ambient conditions and document the effect. 

“Knowing the degree of condensation – or Relative Saturation % – is important. Do you still achieve the kill rate? I look at what the client is able to control and create worst-case conditions. A lot depends on the design of the isolator, the bio-decontamination parameters and the conditions in the room surrounding the isolator.”  Nieskes notes that some equipment has its own system for controlling temperature and humidity to create consistency in the cycle. However, usually the only control is a humidity value less than or equal to a set-point prior to the start of H2O2 vaporization and the amount of H2O2 vaporized. “This is limited information, at best,” says Nieskes. “Say for example you add 120 grams of hydrogen peroxide, for a given duration; what are the other conditions in the isolator? You need to understand the humidity and temperature values throughout each cycle to understand and control it.”
 
Nieskes has learned that knowing the other dependent variables allows better control of biodecontamination cycles. “If you run a cycle in a room with fluctuating temperature or humidity, it may have an impact on the isolator’s bio-decontamination cycle, in terms of its microbiocidal efficacy or aeration time.”

In his comparison of the electrochemical sensing equipment and Vaisala’s HPP272 probe combined with the Indigo201 transmitter, Nieskes identified several advantages in the Vaisala system, especially the superior resolution of ppm measurement  and the relative saturation value. It was also helpful that the HPP272 was relatively accurate during all the phases of biodecontamination.

Rick Nieskes received no compensation from Vaisala for his testing of the HPP270 probes or Indigo200.
 
Read more about the comparison of sensors used during a cycle development validation of an isolator on Rick Nieskes’ blog “Inside the Isolator” 
 

New Webinars

Join us for two new webinars for life science applications:

From Monitoring to Controlling with vaporized Hydrogen Peroxide Sensors:  Why, How & a Case Study

We are joined by Cleamix, a provider of Vaporized Hydrogen Peroxide generators, to provide a case study on bio-decontamination. The focus is hospital decontamination, but the process and principles are applicable to any vaporized hydrogen peroxide applications.

Learn more...

 

The Benefits of Refractive Index (RI) in Development and Production of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs)

In this webinar we present customer cases on how an in-line process refractometer can be used as a PAT tool for standardizing and scaling-up APIs production. You will learn how Refractive Index measurement technology is applied in pharmaceutical reaction, separation and purification, solvent swap, and crystallization operations – first in laboratory and pilot scales and finally in full-scale commercialized production.
Learn More...
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Indigo500 Series Transmitters

The Vaisala Indigo500 series transmitters are host devices for Vaisala Indigo-compatible, stand-alone smart probes. The Indigo500 series include multi-functional Indigo520 transmitter and Indigo510 transmitter with basic features.

New 3-in-1 PEROXCAP® Sensor for H2O2 Bio-Decontamination Processes

 

Bio-decontamination processes are now easy to validate, even in high humidity conditions. The Vaisala PEROXCAP® HPP272 is an intelligent 3-in-1 measurement probe developed for original equipment manufacturers, service providers, and end-users who use vaporized H2O2 for bio-decontamination processes.
 
Watch the video or read more!

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Labtechnology

Oct 01
Laboratory work
Jaarbeurs Utrecht, hall five
Netherlands

Welcome to visit our booth #D01 in Labtechnology congress and exhibition which is a large tradeshow of cutting-edge laboratory technology and products supporting R&D professionals in laboratory environme

The benefits of refractive index (RI) in development and production of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs)

A crucial step in scale-up and to increase production capacity of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) is the selection of appropriate Process Analytical Technology (PAT) tools. This webinar presents real customer cases on how in-line process refractometer can be implemented in a PAT project to develop process understanding and standardize various production steps.

Give Your Climate Chamber a Boost

Submitted by kirsi.linsuri-… on
Environmental Chamber
Industrial Measurements

The requirements for testing different products, materials, and components can vary a lot depending on their intended application and other performance criteria. Demanding end uses such as automotive and mobile devices require components that are comprehensively tested to prove their performance and safety. These tests are usually done in the climate chambers. The climate chamber being used for testing must be capable of accurately replicating the required extreme climate conditions. Repeatability is another important factor in terms of ensuring that all test batches are subject to exactly the same conditions.

Precise control is crucial when moving from a standard test setup to an extreme one, and in order to have this level of control accurate measurement is needed even in condensing conditions. Traditional humidity measurement equipment cannot cope with the conditions inside a climate chamber because when the sensor gets wet, it needs time to dry out in order to start measuring accurately again. However, using a measurement module with warmed-probe technology ensures precise control over conditions inside the chamber even in the most demanding tests, such as dew cycle tests and humidity-based HALT (Highly Accelerated Life Testing).

One other factor which may also cause challenges is that the specimen are tested in elevated temperature. Plastic parts in the specimen may vaporize volatile organic compounds that can end up in the capacitive humidity sensor. This can cause drift in the humidity measurement. This issue can be avoided by heating up the humidity sensor rapidly up to 180 °C. This temperature treatment, called as chemical purge will vaporize the organic compounds away from the sensor and the drift effect is cancelled.

Warmed-probe and chemical purge technologies are available with the Vaisala HUMICAP® Humidity and Temperature Module HMM170. This module can measure humidity in conditions from 0 to 100 %RH and has a heated probe that can tolerate pressures from vacuum up to 10 bar. The circuit board footprint is designed to enable easy integration with your climate chamber’s existing configuration: the HMM170 includes three configurable analog outputs and one digital output (RS-485/MODBUS RTU). The chemical purge function can be initiated via contactor or Modbus. This is an easy way to ensure that the sensor is contaminant free before the next test patch. Configuration and calibration is done via a USB cable using the Vaisala Insight PC software.

For more information, visit www.vaisala.com/HMM170.

 

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Vaisala’s wireless viewLinc Monitoring System received Quality Innovation Award

Submitted by feed-importer on
Vaisala received the international Quality Innovation Award in Peking
Press Releases

Vaisala                                                                                                                                                                                               
Press Release
February 27, 2019

Vaisala’s wireless viewLinc Monitoring System received Quality Innovation Award

Vaisala, the global leader in environmental and industrial measurements, has won the annual Global Quality Innovation Award 2018 with its wireless viewLinc Continuous Monitoring System. Vaisala’s viewLinc was awarded for its usability and reliable system design, which is utilizing the latest technologies in an innovative way. The international award was announced on February 27 in the award ceremony in Beijing, China. 

Released in April 2018, Vaisala’s state-of-the-art wireless monitoring system was designed to ensure storage conditions of critical assets in the strictly regulated life science industry like pharmaceutical warehouses, laboratories, freezer rooms and cleanrooms, and provide a gap-free, reliable and easily auditable data of the conditions. Even though designed for regulated environments, the system can be used to monitor variety of applications where the continuous condition monitoring with reliable recorded data play an important role.

The awarded system consists of the viewLinc software, wireless data loggers and access points, and it utilizes Vaisala’s proprietary wireless protocol. The innovative technology allows wireless indoor signal range of over 100 meters between the measurement point and access point even in buildings with concrete walls, metal shelves, and other typical building structures. Due to its flexibility and high quality wireless technology, the system is easily expandable to fit any customer need.

Superior customer experience as the key driver
The wireless data loggers and access points are easy to connect to the system, extremely energy efficient, and provide very accurate measurements for temperature and relative humidity. The viewLinc software collects and saves the measurement data from the data loggers, sends automatic alarms if the monitored parameters deviate from permitted values and generates automatic reports for different users.

The complexity of a large system is hidden by simplified interactive, intuitive, and informative user interface. Extremely clear visual design together with the unique on-time user support form an exceptionally user-friendly experience. 

“Superior customer experience was the key driver in optimizing our system into a delightful, seamless combination of hardware, software, and services. We equipped the data loggers and access points with informative displays and the interactive software tours were co-created with users. The tours are like having a personal guide to walk you through the system. They assist users to make tasks with the help of on-screen tips,” comments Vaisala’s Product Area Manager Jan Grönblad from Industrial Measurements.

From national winner to international innovation champion
The Quality Innovation Award is an annual, international competition for innovators. The competition has been organized since 2007 and grown from Finnish national to widely respected international challenge, with eight categories. The competition enables the innovators to get assessment and feedback for their innovation, benchmark their innovation against others and increase the visibility of the innovations.

Vaisala’s monitoring system was previously awarded in the Finnish national Quality Innovation Award competition in December 2018 for the Monitoring System’s innovative technology and collaborative approach. Each national winner was listed in the global Quality Innovation Award competition, in which the Quality Innovation Award jury of all participating eighteen countries voted for their favorites. The criteria for the international innovation competition were the product’s novelty value, usability, learning, customer orientation, and effectiveness. A quality innovation needs to correspond to stakeholder's current and future needs and has improved technical, social or commercial performance.

More information for the media:
Vaisala Media Desk
+358 20 6198800
[email protected]

Vaisala is a global leader in environmental and industrial measurement. Building on over 80 years of experience, Vaisala contributes to a better quality of life by providing a comprehensive range of innovative observation and measurement products and services for chosen weather-related and industrial markets. Headquartered in Finland, Vaisala employs approximately 1,850 professionals worldwide and is listed on the Nasdaq Helsinki stock exchange.
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