BINDER C 150 - Manual (Page 17)

C 150 (E2) 12/2012 page 17/90
Always use proper protective equipment (clothing, gloves, safety glasses, etc.).
Always follow good hygienic practices according to GLP/SOP protocols.
Each individual operating the C 150 incubator is responsible for his or her own safety
2. Unit description
The CO
2
incubators C 150 are equipped with a microprocessor controller for temperature and CO
2
levels
and a digital display accurate to one-tenth of a degree resp. 0.1 vol.-%
The inner chamber, the pre-heating chamber and the inside of the doors are all made of stainless steel
(material no. 1.4301 (V2A) in Germany). The inner surfaces are smooth and therefore easy to clean. The
inner chamber is deep-drawn from one piece, polished (suitable for pharmaceutical applications) and has
no welds or inaccessible corners. The hinges and the seal of the inner glass door are glued from the out-
side to aid cleaning of the inner chamber. When operating the chamber at high temperatures (steriliza-
tion), the impact of the oxygen in the air may cause discoloration of the metallic surfaces (yellowish-brown
or blue) by natural oxidation processes. These colorations are harmless and will in no way impair the
function or quality of the unit.
The perforated shelves are made of stainless steel. You can insert a maximum of six shelves.
The housing is RAL 7035 powder-coated. All corners and edges are also completely coated.
The heating system of the CO
2
incubator permits hot-air auto-sterilization at 190 °C / 374°F. Thus, a tem-
perature of at least 180 °C / 356°F is maintained on all internal surfaces, resulting in sterilization of the
entire inner chamber.
Thanks to the standard safety device (class 3.1 according to DIN 12880), the set temperature is main-
tained in case of failure.
The gas enters the chamber via a fine filter (aseptic filter) with a high filtration efficiency that also filters
the smallest particles.
A highly precise, drift-free CO
2
infrared measuring system in combination with the permanent mixture of
CO
2
gas through a special proprietary gas mixing head developed by BINDER allows precise and con-
stant CO
2
concentrations for long periods. This creates optimum growth conditions for cultures. The CO
2
sensor can be removed from the inner chamber by hand and cleaned with suitable detergents if needed.
The CO
2
incubator can be operated in a temperature range from 7 degrees above ambient temperature
up to +50 °C / 122°F and a CO
2
range of 0 vol.-% up to 20 vol.-%.
2.1 The CO
2
measuring principle
Fast reaction times, as well as the highest accuracy and selectivity, characterize the CO
2
measuring pro-
cedure of the C 150 incubator series. The accuracy of the CO
2
measuring system is based on a single-
beam infrared measuring cell, which measures in differential mode using the permanently alternating
transmission feature of its semi-conductor filter.
Due to this highly developed single-beam principle with Fabry-Perot interferometer (FPI), disturbance
variables and aging phenomena in the measuring system are almost completely eliminated, so that this
measuring system, in contrast to other measuring procedures, remains practically drift-free between cali-
brations and is absolutely selective for CO
2
.
The CO
2
measuring cell contains a measuring section inside, in which the absorption of infrared light
depends on the number of CO
2
molecules in the beam path. This number of CO
2
molecules changes with
the ambient pressure in relation to a constant volume. The distances between the molecules are conse-
quently pressure-dependent. The collision frequency of the IR-beam with CO
2
molecules increases there-
fore by increasing pressure. For this reason, the ambient pressure must be compensated in order to cor-
rect the display reading of the CO
2
concentration in vol.-%. This is achieved by entering the altitude of the
site above the sea (chap. 8.1).