Optical methods like UV/Vis-, NIR-, IR- or Raman spectroscopy are applied in
many areas in chemical, pharmaceutical and food industry for a long time,
mainly in off-line applications.
The biggest hurdle to use optical methods
online is the problem of “window fouling”. The observation window is covered
with material (bulk solids, sticky, pulpy type products etc.) and needs to be
cleaned from time to time.
After assisting multiple tests with various customers and suppliers of
optical measurement techniques in its labs, GEA Pharma Systems has recognized
this and developed the lighthouse Probe in cooperation with J&M Analytik
AG. The combination of GPS’s expertise in containment, automation and
pharmaceutical processing and J&M’s expertise in optics has resulted in a
robust and reliable probe with in-line calibration and cleaning capabilities.
The Lighthouse probe is the only probe on the market that can
clean its observation window online.
The lighthouse platform ranges from manual to fully automated design,
suitable for (and upgradable from) R&D up to (continuous) production. It
stretches from a stand-alone on-line LOD sensor to a complete integrated
solution capable of using online multivariate models.