Robust and efficient inline instrument for fully automated analysis of the metal concentration of up to 4 electroplating baths with X-ray fluorescence radiation
Advantages
- Market-leading precision: Combination of measuring cell and software ensures best measurement performance and safety
- Absolutely unique: No need to change the measuring cell
- Maximum service life: High availability of ≥ 1 year* due to innovative design and material selection
- Intelligent self-monitoring: Fully automatic, preventive rinsing and monitoring processes prevent contamination and ensure maximum technical availability
- No time-consuming spot checks and information gaps: Stay continuously in the picture about your electroplating process
- Extremely low maintenance: Robust construction and service-friendly design
- Safety in real time: Live measurement results as well as simple and fast documentation
*Dependent, among other things, on rinsing and cleaning cycles as well as composition of coating baths
Features
- Fully automatic sequential measurement of up to 4 plating bath solutions
- 1-channel to 4-channel solution
- Measuring method: Energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence measuring instrument (EDXRF)
- Microfocus tube with tungsten anode
- Silicon drift detector 50 mm2 for highest precision
- Digital Pulse Processor DPP+ for minimizing measuring time and optimizing repeatability
- Fieldbus interface enables connection to higher-level control systems as well as equipment to equipment communication
Applications
- Meeting all challenges: Measurement of a wide range of metallic bath solutions, such as zinc, nickel, zinc/nickel, gold, chromium and palladium
- Other metallic bath solutions on request
Automated inline quality control for electrolyte solutions
Electroplating baths are subject to process fluctuations which can have a considerable influence on the deposition behavior and the resulting coating thickness. Continuous monitoring of the solutions is therefore essential.
The FISCHERSCOPE® XAN® LIQUID ANALYZER is a fully automatic X-ray fluorescence measuring device that allows you to keep an eye on the metal content of electrolyte solutions or electroplating baths 24/7. You can dispense with time-consuming and costly wet chemical analyses of your baths. Our patented flow cell with an availability of around one year is extremely low-maintenance. Fully automatic rinsing and monitoring processes work preventively, avoid contamination and thus ensure maximum technical availability of your measuring device.
The device can be used with maximum flexibility as a simple inline measuring device for the industrial production environment up to a complex multi-channel inline measuring system with full integration into a local manufacturing execution system (MES). The provision and documentation of the measurement data is fast, easy and in real time via fieldbus interface as well as csv file, so that your MES can use it for process control. The data can be visualized centrally on the device and at the control station or decentrally at the workstations. The measuring device is controlled via an integrated Siemens PLC with 24" touch screen integrated in a standard control cabinet.
How does the solution analysis work?
The FISCHERSCOPE® XAN® LIQUID ANALYZER is directly connected to the plating bath via a tube. There, the solution is taken from the bath by a pump and directed to the flow cell inside the measuring device.
In the measuring cell, the solution analysis takes place by X-ray measurement. In this process, high-energy X-rays - the primary radiation - are sent from the X-ray tube to the sample. These X-rays strike atoms in the solution and ionize them. This means that an electron close to the nucleus is removed from the atom. Since this state is unstable, an electron from a higher shell fills the gap, emitting fluorescence radiation. The energy level of this radiation is like a fingerprint - characteristic of the element in question.
A detector captures the fluorescence and digitizes the signal. After the signal has been processed, a spectrum is created: the energy of the detected photons is plotted on the x-axis, and their frequency, the so-called count rate, is plotted on the y-axis. From the position of the peaks in the spectrum, the elements present in the solution can be identified. The height of these peaks provides information about their concentration.
After successful measurement, the solution is collected in a wastewater treatment tank or returned to the sampling point.
