Management and maintenance of laboratory equipment

In order to solveLaboratory EquipmentThere are problems in management that users neglect maintenance of equipment, attach importance to use, neglect maintenance and lack of maintenance files. Today, the contents explained by Haiyou Environment mainly introduce the contents of laboratory instruments and equipment of inspection institutions from procurement to use and maintenance, hoping to provide some reference suggestions for the management of testing laboratory equipment.
Test equipment is one of the material basis for quality inspection. This paper introduces the management and maintenance of laboratory instruments and equipment from the perspective of the selection and demonstration during the procurement of equipment to the maintenance and repair of equipment during use.
Characteristics of 1. testing equipment
2. High technology content, complex structure
With the continuous improvement of the country's requirements for product quality, testing technology is also developing rapidly, advanced instruments and equipment continue to emerge, and old equipment is constantly upgraded and replaced; at the same time, modern test technology is developing in the direction of multidisciplinary cross-penetration and multidisciplinary intelligence-intensive. Many large-scale precision instruments and equipment are chemical, mechanical, electronic, optical, biological, computer and other multidisciplinary intelligence, such as GC-MS, atomic absorption spectrometer, etc...
2. Many varieties and large quantities
For example, various ultrasonic oscillators, vacuum drying ovens, ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometers, optical microscopes, balances, etc... This kind of instrument has low unit price, many varieties and large quantity, which is suitable for basic detection tasks. Frequent use leads to aging, which will bring great workload to maintenance personnel and make it difficult to repair in time, thus affecting detection. The number of professional testing equipment and large-scale precision instruments and equipment is small, but the variety is large and the unit price is high. Users need to participate in the training of instrument manufacturers and the induction training of testing operation. In case of failure, it is difficult to repair only by the maintenance force in the unit, and the manufacturer must be contacted for treatment. This will inevitably lead to long maintenance cycle, high maintenance price and delay in the completion of testing tasks.
Main problems in 2.
2. Equipment neglect maintenance
Most chemical testing equipment are precision instruments, which not only require test operators to use them, but also understand the basic principles of the instruments, matters needing attention in use and the storage environment of the instruments, so that the failure rate of the instruments can be reduced [2]. For example, the common single yarn strength machines in textile laboratories and the universal material testing machines used for peeling and bursting tests need to be oiled and maintained frequently, but in actual use, often because the use frequency is not high, neglect of maintenance, there are a large number of optical instruments UV-visible spectrophotometer belongs to optical precision instruments, optical lens positioning is accurate, the storage environment should be dust-proof, shock-proof and moisture-proof, the environmental requirements should be kept at room temperature of 25 ℃ ~ 35 ℃, no direct light, no strong vibration or continuous micro-vibration, no strong magnetic field, relative humidity of 40% ~ 80%, no corrosive gas, no cause of ultraviolet absorption of organic and inorganic gases, less dust. If the optical instrument is stored in a general laboratory, the mirror surface will be damp and mildew in a humid environment. In some laboratories, there are equipment such as placing optical analysis instruments close to centrifuges or oscillators so that the samples can be optically analyzed after the centrifugation procedure by the operator, but the lenses may be shattered or shattered by the optical analysis instruments that run at high speeds for a long time. In the maintenance process, it is found that there are many such problems, and the instrument management does not pay attention to [2], which has a greater impact on the detection test and increases the workload of maintenance personnel and maintenance funds.
2. The instrument lacks maintenance files
After the test instrument is purchased, installed and accepted for normal use, relevant materials shall be classified into files and instrument files shall be established. The files mainly include technical data such as contracts and instructions for use. After the equipment arrives at the corresponding department, there should be corresponding equipment use records, maintenance records and maintenance records. However, sometimes it will form "emphasis on purchase and light maintenance;" Heavy use, light management ", not enough attention is paid to the use and maintenance and maintenance records. For example, ultrasonic oscillation instruments are used more in the laboratory. During the maintenance, it was found that due to improper maintenance, the operator did not wipe the splashed water or chemical drugs in time after use, corroding the circuit board of the instrument, thus causing the whole circuit board to be replaced, which not only prolongs the maintenance time, but also delays the use and increases the cost. Many instruments have been repaired, because of the tight maintenance time and many tasks, they often neglect to record the maintenance, which is not conducive to statistical utilization rate, nor is it convenient for new maintenance personnel to inquire about faults and replace parts, thus affecting the maintenance efficiency of repetitive faults or related faults.
3. Old equipment cannot meet the requirements of capability verification
The capability certification program of CNAS laboratory has different projects almost every year. The strength of the unit is tested through inter-laboratory comparison. Usually, large-scale laboratory instruments are expensive and are usually the key objects in maintenance, so their service life is also relatively long. Therefore, there is a problem that they can meet the requirements of the inspection standards for the instruments, but for the data after the capability verification, old equipment usually leads to outlier unsatisfactory conclusions.
3. Cause analysis
2) The user despised equipment maintenance
When repairing equipment, it will be found that many faults are caused by man-made reasons. There are two reasons for man-made faults:
The operator is not familiar with the use of instruments and equipment procedures or violates the operating procedures;
② The operator's sense of responsibility is not strong, and the latter often accounts for the majority of these two situations. For example, when repairing the constant temperature and humidity treatment box, it is found that some failures are due to the operator's weak sense of responsibility during use and did not observe carefully. The water in the heating tank starts to heat without passing through the heating pipe, resulting in dry burning of the heating pipe or burning of the circuit. The same problem exists with magnetic stirrers.
2) It is particularly necessary to establish equipment maintenance files
With the continuous increase of testing items, the type and quantity of test equipment are increasing year by year, and the value of equipment is getting higher and higher, but because the number of equipment maintenance personnel is limited to the establishment or employment cost, it has not increased. How to get familiar with these various types of equipment as soon as possible, understand the principles and operation methods of the equipment, and be able to quickly deal with various failures, is a difficult problem for each equipment maintenance personnel. Establish and improve equipment maintenance files, file each equipment, maintenance personnel according to the requirements of the maintenance application, through the archives data to understand the situation of the instrument, timely handle the failure and the cause of the failure phenomenon, processing methods, the amount of money required and other information to do text file. It is convenient for laboratory administrators to check equipment usage and maintenance costs when needed. The maintenance record file can provide reference basis for the technical transformation and scrap identification of the instrument.
3. Presence of pressure to update equipment in different laboratories
Different from scientific research and testing units, pure third-party testing laboratories often do not have the support of scientific research projects and cannot use scientific research funds to purchase advanced testing instruments, resulting in a longer service period of large-scale equipment. However, at the same time, capable laboratories often update advanced equipment with higher precision and carry out capability verification to check whether the test data of multiple laboratories are discrete, often equipment purchased many years ago can easily deviate from the average data due to the mismatch between the previous production process and the current inspection in terms of data accuracy and precision.
4. Countermeasures and Suggestions
2. Management during procurement of test equipment
The procurement of test equipment is a purposeful purchase based on the needs of the test, not a large purchase of equipment. According to the needs of laboratory tests, on the basis of adding basic test equipment, carefully select the equipment to be purchased. Parameters of test equipment. This is a hard indicator when purchasingThe technical parameters and accuracy of the test equipment are related to the final result of the test. If an accident occurs during the test due to the test equipment, the test will fail. Therefore, in the procurement of test equipment, they must be required to meet the relevant national parameters in quality before the next operation.
The performance parameters of equipment selection are determined in the following three aspects:
① Comparison and selection with the common models on the market. Whether the parameters of the general model meet the testing requirements can be obtained through market research.
② Select the type according to the technical parameters of the instrument specified in the inspection standard. The requirements for instrument performance and accuracy in the standard are important parameters for inspecting purchased equipment.
③ Comparison and selection of instruments purchased from similar quality inspection institutions.
You can consult the instruments purchased by peer laboratories with similar testing projects, because with a period of experience, you can have a more comprehensive understanding of the performance and after-sales of the instruments. In addition, you can also consult the measurement and verification institutions, because such units often issue calibration reports, such institutions can provide more accurate data support for the performance of certain products. 
Choose the reputation and quality of excellent manufacturers, in the case of conditions permitting, the two sides can reach a long-term cooperative relationship. Choosing such a manufacturer not only ensures the quality of the product, but also finds the supplier independently when there are some problems in the product, and the two parties negotiate to solve the problem amicably and reduce the probability of problems in the test. In the laboratory general equipment, such as constant temperature water bath, balance and other instruments, choose excellent dealers to supply products, such products due to the large supply, manufacturers in the laboratory local dealers are responsible for supply and after-sales problems. Through such channels, better price discounts can be obtained by using the sales volume of dealers. In addition, in the after-sales maintenance, the larger dealers usually have a spare parts warehouse in the local area, which can solve the instrument failure quickly. When purchasing higher-priced instruments, they are usually purchased directly from the manufacturer, eliminating unnecessary middlemen. When purchasing expensive imported instruments, institutions such as scientific research and public welfare institutions often have tax-free qualifications, and generally entrust professional instrument import and export companies to handle relevant procedures to improve work efficiency.
When purchasing instruments, attention should also be paid to their service life and precautions, corresponding records should be made, and verification or calibration should be carried out before putting into use. For large-scale test equipment, their maintenance may have some troubles. When purchasing these instruments and equipment, we should pay attention to their precautions and send people to carry out corresponding learning and training to reduce the damage to them in future use and prolong their service life. Some test equipment can not be put together, for example, some equipment will be magnetic, and some measuring equipment for accuracy requirements are higher, therefore, in the placement of equipment should pay attention to whether they affect each other. For the service life, managers must have a clear record, which is of great significance to the accuracy of the test. Therefore, the test equipment should be regularly checked and maintained, and the use of files and manuals should be established.
Actively make use of the preferential policies for the introduction of advanced equipment promulgated by the local Science and Technology Commission and the Science and Technology Bureau, and apply for tax exemption for the purchase of instruments from the local customs authorities for qualified scientific research institutions, so as to reduce the cost of purchasing advanced imported instruments.
2. Reasonable allocation of laboratory process layout
Laboratory construction includes: the renewal of testing instruments and equipment, in the upgrading of equipment, has been widely valued, in the maintenance process found in the environment and space use of investment can not be ignored. The summer weather is humid, the instrument is easy to mold and damage, especially the optical instrument in the configuration at the same time, need to be placed in the constant temperature and humidity laboratory or to purchase dehumidifier, air conditioner and other basic instruments to reduce air humidity, reduce maintenance and management costs. In addition, it is often found that a large number of instruments are piled up in a laboratory during maintenance, and the importance of interference between instruments is not paid attention. In addition, affected by the layout of the house, the distribution of laboratory space is unreasonable, and some laboratories have limited space, so they have to put the test instruments, pools and precision electronic instruments of a certain testing project in a laboratory, which can easily lead to serious corrosion of electronic instruments. Some laboratories originally had sewer pipelines, which were relatively humid and placed electronic balances and other test equipment, which had too much influence on the accuracy of the balances. Another example is that some laboratories will use mechanical and electrical equipment in a row, between the instruments"Close contact" without considering interference and heat dissipation. Therefore, the equipment should be placed in the placement of space to prevent the impact of equipment and the environment, reduce maintenance costs.
Safety, efficiency and comfort are the three elements of an ideal laboratory environment. The construction of a laboratory is not only a simple construction of the laboratory and the purchase of reasonable instruments and equipment, but also a consideration of the overall planning of the laboratory, a reasonable layout and graphic design, as well as water supply, power supply, ventilation, safety measures, material transfer and other equipment and basic conditions. Precision instruments can be considered to face north to avoid the sun, and can save air conditioning cooling capacity. Precision instruments should be placed perpendicular to the windows on the north side to prevent shadows or glare; the operating platform should be built on the east side; chemicals should be placed on the west side to avoid direct sunlight. Instruments with shock-proof requirements, such as mechanics room, balance room and precision instrument room, can generally be placed on a console. Precision instruments should reduce interference such as vibration and dust... The arrangement of the laboratory shall be convenient for the tester to operate and fill in the original records conveniently and quickly.
3. Strengthen the training of operational ability of operators
There are generally three reasons for instrument and equipment failure, operator misoperation, poor storage environment and poor quality of instrument products. From the author's experience, the actual situation is mainly caused by user misoperation in equipment operation, and the remaining two are controllable factors. Therefore, the training of the operator's hands-on ability is an important factor to reduce the failure of the instrument. In order to improve the operator's practical ability, the laboratory manager should first organize the after-sales engineer or maintenance management personnel of the instrument supplier to carry out practical training before operation. Before the test, carefully check the main parts of the instrument and equipment, carefully observe and operate whether the connectors of the instrument and equipment are well connected, loose, worn, etc., and remove dirt, dust, corrosion, liquid leakage, etc. on the key parts of the instrument and equipment to prevent faults. Secondly, the operator must master the contents of the manual and various technical data and data brought by the instrument, and carefully operate it again as required. Professional engineers should train the operators in the use of the instrument, and explain in detail the use method and precautions of the instrument, as well as the structure of the instrument, so as to prevent the instrument from malfunctioning due to misoperation.
4. Improve the technical files of instruments and equipment
① Establishment and storage of archives
The equipment manager shall assist the data manager to establish the equipment file, and the data such as the preliminary purchase survey data, purchase contract, equipment acceptance form and random instructions handled by the equipment manager shall be handed over to the file management department in time to ensure that the procedures in the file are complete. Do a good job in the corresponding management and sound analysis of the file, in order to better use of these equipment, extend their service life. Therefore, after each test is completed and the test equipment is cleaned, corresponding records must be made. This approach is not only a kind of equipment maintenance, in the future to find the cause of the problem also provides a convenient. After the establishment of the file, the need for management personnel to manage the category, to facilitate the search for relevant information in the future.
② The file should have content
Technical files of large-scale precision instruments, including project demonstration materials, instructions, operation steps, daily operation of accessory instruments, etc. In order to ensure the normal operation of large-scale instruments and equipment, we must first do a good job in the file management of instruments and equipment. Large-scale instruments shall be used normally after purchase, installation and acceptance. Relevant materials shall be classified into files. The establishment of instrument files mainly includes technical files, instrument use record books, maintenance records, etc. This is the basis for ensuring the efficient operation of instruments and carrying out technical transformation. In order to ensure that the instrument is in the best technical condition, the details of each instrument use shall also be registered in a special book, recording the user, use content, startup hours, use and operation, maintenance, troubleshooting, damage and causes, etc. The test data shall be kept in the file. Only strict file management can ensure the integrity rate of the instrument and equipment and improve the use efficiency. The borrowing of files must have written records, and the responsibility lies with the person to avoid loss.
③ Equipment files shall have maintenance records
For each maintenance and repair, written records should be filed, such as the problems found during equipment maintenance, the failure phenomenon during equipment maintenance, the solution ideas, and the final diagnosis conclusion and treatment methods. Pay attention to the study of electrical and mechanical principle drawings of equipment. For drawings with frequent calls, film coating treatment is required to ensure that they are clean and can be seen without being polluted by oil pollution from on-site maintenance. Each instrument and equipment shall also be equipped with an instrument maintenance record book and an instrument use record book. When and what faults and repairs have occurred in an instrument, records shall be made on the instrument maintenance record to provide detailed archives for the normal operation and daily maintenance of the instrument in the future.
5. Construction of maintenance team
In order to ensure the normal operation of test instruments and equipment, it is necessary not only to have sufficient maintenance funds, but also to ensure the timeliness of equipment maintenance. Relying on manufacturers to maintain, it is expensive and time-consuming. Therefore, the unit should gradually cultivate its own maintenance team and carry out regular maintenance of equipment. The equipment competent department should formulate the annual equipment maintenance plan according to the actual situation every year, which not only saves money, but also ensures the real-time of maintenance, therefore, based on the unit, the formation of a refined and efficient maintenance team is a necessary condition to ensure the normal operation of the instrument. Regular technical training for technical personnel and management personnel, improve maintenance skills and management level, through practice, continue to accumulate maintenance experience.
6. Pay attention to the procurement of consumables and maintenance spare parts
Consumables purchased with imported instruments are often imported original consumables. Under the premise of ensuring the accuracy of test data and unaffected, domestic consumables and spare parts can be used to reduce testing costs. For example, the elemental lamp used in atomic absorption and the sample tube in the thermal desorption instrument used for sample injection of analytical instruments have domestic alternative consumables with stable performance, and the price is much lower than that of imported consumables. For frequently used maintenance spare parts, there should be spare parts to reduce the time cost of purchasing when problems occur. 
The management and maintenance of laboratory equipment can not only improve the standardization of laboratory equipment management, further improve the effective utilization rate of laboratory equipment, but also strengthen the safety management of laboratory equipment, which plays an important role in the successful completion of the test. It is of great significance to establish strict rules and regulations for the management and maintenance of laboratory equipment and instruments to ensure the quality of the test. Comprehensively improve the overall quality of management personnel, strengthen the sense of responsibility of operators, and improve instrument maintenance files, which not only solves the problems of high maintenance requirements, heavy tasks, and tight time, but also saves costs and improves the use of test instruments. Efficiency provides a strong guarantee for the construction of a scientific, fair, accurate and efficient testing service platform.