Laboratory equipment management and maintenance

The laboratory equipment is the right arm of the laboratory staff and is indispensable. However, due to insufficient professional knowledge, many laboratory administrators have problems with instruments and equipment that are more important than maintenance and lack of maintenance files. Today we will give you a simple problem analysis and some related suggestions.

Characteristics of laboratory equipment

1. The technological content continues to improve

The continuous development of science and technology has brought about the continuous improvement of equipment technology, and the requirements of detection technology have also increased correspondingly. As a result, advanced instruments and equipment are constantly emerging, and old equipment is continuously upgraded and replaced. At the same time, modern technology is developing towards a multi-disciplinary cross-penetration and multi-disciplinary intelligence-intensive direction. Many large-scale precision instruments are the concentrated embodiment of multidisciplinary intelligence such as chemistry, mechanics, electronics, optics, biology, and computers, such as gas-mass spectrometer, atomic absorption spectrometer and so on.

2. Miscellaneous categories and large quantities

The number of laboratory equipment is very complicated, such as oscillators, vacuum drying ovens, photometers, optical microscopes, balances. This type of instrument has low unit price, large variety and large quantity, and is suitable for basic inspection tasks. Frequent use will cause aging, which brings a lot of workload to maintenance personnel. If it is not repaired in time, it will affect the inspection. The number of professional testing equipment and large-scale precision instruments is small, but there are many varieties and high unit prices. Users need to participate in the training of the instrument manufacturer and the induction training for testing operations. If the failure occurs, it is difficult to repair only by the maintenance force of the unit, and the manufacturer must be contacted for handling This will inevitably lead to a long maintenance cycle and high maintenance prices, which will affect the completion of the inspection task.

Problems with equipment

1.Neglect of maintenance Many instruments and equipment are precision instruments, which not only require relevant operators to use them, but also understand the basic principles of the instrument, precautions for use, and the storage environment of the instrument, so that the failure rate of the instrument will be reduced. For example, common single yarn strength machines in textile laboratories and universal material testing machines used for peeling and bursting tests. The lead screws of the mechanical parts need to be oiled and maintained frequently. However, in actual use, the frequency of use is often low and neglected. Maintenance, as well as optical instruments-photometers are optical precision instruments with precise positioning of optical lenses, and the storage environment must be dust-proof, shock-proof and moisture-proof. The environment requires room temperature 15℃～35℃, no direct light, no strong vibration or continuous Constant micro-vibration, no strong magnetic field, relative humidity 40% to 80%, no corrosive gas, no organic or inorganic gas causing ultraviolet absorption, and less dust. If the optical instrument is stored in a general laboratory, in a humid environment, the mirror surface will be damp and moldy. If you don't pay much attention to the management of these instruments, it will have a greater impact on the testing and testing, and increase the workload of maintenance personnel and maintenance costs.

2. Lack of maintenance files Under normal circumstances, when new instruments are purchased, installed, and accepted for normal use, relevant materials must be classified into files and instrument files should be established. However, sometimes it may result in "re-purchase, light maintenance; heavy use, light management", and insufficient attention is paid to maintenance and repair records. For example, ultrasonic oscillators are used more in laboratories. During maintenance, it was discovered that due to improper maintenance, the operator did not dry the splashed water or chemicals in time after use, which corroded the circuit board of the instrument, resulting in the entire circuit board. Replacement not only prolongs the maintenance time, but also delays the use and increases the cost. Many instruments have been repaired. Because of the tight repair time and the many tasks, they often neglect to record the repairs, which is not conducive to the statistical utilization rate, and it is not convenient for the newly recruited maintenance personnel to troubleshoot and replace parts, which affects repetitive failures or Maintenance efficiency of related failures.

Suggestions to solve these two problems:

1. Management should be carried out when purchasing equipment;

2. Strengthen the training of operators' hands-on ability;

3. The technical files of equipment and equipment must be perfected;

4. Pay attention to the construction of maintenance team;

5. Pay attention to the purchase of consumables and maintenance spare parts.