Esempi di
applicazioni
Pharmaceutical Company automates
data collection from over 200 different types of instruments into
their UNIX based LIMS
A pharmaceutical company
headquartered in Raritan, New Jersey with additional facilities in
Pennsylvania, California, Canada and Switzerland is using the
SoftwareWedge to automate its laboratory instrumentation data
collection.
Lab Automation
The company purchased Hewlett
Packard's CHEMLMS LIMS product. The LIMS operates from a UNIX
environment and is accessed from workstations running Windows or
System 7 (MACs) using an X-Windows terminal emulator. The network
operating system is DEC's Pathworks. The LIMS workstations are on an
Ethernet under the network protocols DECNET and TCP/IP stack for DOS
nodes and ETHERTALK and TCP/IP for Macintosh nodes. (A thick wire
Ethernet splits into thin wire Ethernets to access each workstation).
The Lab Automation Group at the
company has written a Visual Basic application that incorporates the
SoftwareWedge for Windows Pro version (WinWedge Pro) to acquire data
from all the different laboratory instruments. The raw data
collected by WinWedge is then transferred via Net DDE and FTP's
PCTCP (network software from FTP Software) into the UNIX server to
be utilized by HP ChemLIMS (Hewlett Packard's LIMS).
Basically WinWedge collects data
from 200 various instruments and makes the data available over the
network. HP's LIMS software then interfaces the data through the
network.
LIMS Configuration
Workstations are set up throughout
the research facility to collect data from all the different
laboratory instruments into the LIMS running under Windows. These
are not full blown LIMS stations. They are not configured with
Pathworks but with TCP/IP to collect and transfer data into the LIMS
only. The 386 or higher desktop workstations are configured with
RS232, TCP/IP, FTP PC/TCP (network software from FTP Software), and
a DEPCA card (network card from DEC) 486 laptops are provided to
labs where space is very limited and these are configured with
RS232, TCP/IP, FTP PC/TCP, and a PCMCIA card.
Lab Instruments
Researchers collect data from a wide
array of sophisticated laboratory instruments into their LIMS. They
use WinWedge and FileWedge (a utility that comes free with WinWedge
Pro) for real-time data acquisition from all the instruments that
are interfaced to the LIMS, including:
- Electronic Balances Threshold
Systems
- PH/ion meters/analyzers
Titrators
- Spectrometers Hardness Testers
- Plate Readers and Scintillation
Counters Bubble Surfactometers
- Particle Measuring Systems ....and
many other instruments....
- In fact they collect data from
over 200 instruments in all using WinWedge and from various data
files using FileWedge.
The WinWedge Solution
The Lab Automation and Engineering
Group at the company tested WinWedge and FileWedge and found great
versatility in creating different and sophisticated parsing schemes
to manipulate the data from all the different instruments. FileWedge
was also very useful as some of the raw data for the LIMS originated
from files or from contract labs (external labs) not directly from
instruments at the research center.
Some features of the WinWedge that
the engineers at the company say they were particularly pleased with:
- The ability to run multiple
instances of WinWedge to collect data from instruments though
multiple serial ports.
- The advanced DDE capabilities
that enabled them to create sophisticated data collection and
device control interfaces.
- It is user-friendly making their
job much easier.
- It takes up very little in the
way of hard disk space and RAM to operate and store.
- It has low maintenance
requirements.
An engineer who was part of the
LIMS task force, adds that "WinWedge and File Wedge have performed
consistently and smoothly for our application. I highly recommend
them for similar laboratory data collection applications".
Benefits
- Ability to interface over 200
different types of instruments to a UNIX based LIMS (Laboratory
Information Management System).
- The ability to run multiple
instances of the WinWedge to collect data from instruments though
multiple serial ports.
- The advanced DDE capabilities
that enabled them to create sophisticated data collection and
device control interfaces.
- It is user-friendly making their
job much easier.
- It takes up very little in the
way of hard disk space and RAM
- Minimal maintenance requirements.
- User friendly, versatile, fast
and accurate data collection
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