An analyser or analyzer is a tool used to analyze data. For example, a gas analyzer tool is used to analyze gases. It examines the given data and tries to find patterns and relationships. An analyser can be a piece of hardware or software.

Autoanalyser The AutoAnalyzer is an automated analyzer using a flow technique called continuous flow analysis (CFA), or more correctly segmented flow analysis (SFA) first made by the Technicon Corporation. The instrument was invented in 1957 by Leonard ...

s perform their work with little human involvement.

Operation

Analysis can be done directly on samples or the analyser can process data acquired from a remote sensor. The source of samples for automatic sampling is commonly some kind of industrial process. Analysers that are connected to a process and conduct automatic sampling, can be called online (or on-line) analysers or sometimes inline (or in-line) analysers. For inline analysis, a sensor can be placed in a process vessel or stream of flowing material. Another method of online analysis is allowing a sample stream to flow from the process equipment into an analyser, sometimes conditioning the sample stream e.g., by reducing

pressure Pressure (symbol: ''p'' or ''P'') is the force applied perpendicular to the surface of an object per unit area over which that force is distributed. Gauge pressure (also spelled ''gage'' pressure)The preferred spelling varies by country a ...

or changing the sample

temperature Temperature is a physical quantity that expresses quantitatively the perceptions of hotness and coldness. Temperature is measured with a thermometer. Thermometers are calibrated in various temperature scales that historically have relied o ...

. Many analysers are not designed to withstand high pressure. Such sampling is typically for

fluid In physics, a fluid is a liquid, gas, or other material that continuously deforms (''flows'') under an applied shear stress, or external force. They have zero shear modulus, or, in simpler terms, are substances which cannot resist any shear ...

s (either liquids or gases). If the sample stream is not substantially modified by the analyser, it can be returned to the process. Otherwise, the sample stream is discarded; for example, if

reagent In chemistry, a reagent ( ) or analytical reagent is a substance or compound added to a system to cause a chemical reaction, or test if one occurs. The terms ''reactant'' and ''reagent'' are often used interchangeably, but reactant specifies a ...

s were added. Pressure can be lowered by a pressure reducing

valve A valve is a device or natural object that regulates, directs or controls the flow of a fluid (gases, liquids, fluidized solids, or slurries) by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are technically fitting ...

. Such valves may be used to control the flow rate to the online analyser. The temperature of a hot sample may be lowered by use of an online sample cooler. Analysis can be done periodically (for example, every 15 minutes), or continuously. For periodic sampling,

s (or other devices) can be switched open to allow a fluid sample stream to flow to the analyser and shut when not sampling. Some methods of inline analysis are so simple, such as

electrical conductivity Electrical resistivity (also called specific electrical resistance or volume resistivity) is a fundamental property of a material that measures how strongly it resists electric current. A low resistivity indicates a material that readily allows ...

or pH, the instruments are usually not even called analysers.

Salinity Salinity () is the saltiness or amount of salt (chemistry), salt dissolved in a body of water, called saline water (see also soil salinity). It is usually measured in g/L or g/kg (grams of salt per liter/kilogram of water; the latter is dimensio ...

determined from simple online analysis is often determined from a conductivity measurement where the output signal is calibrated in terms of salinity concentration (for example ppm of

NaCl Sodium chloride , commonly known as salt (although sea salt also contains other chemical salts), is an ionic compound with the chemical formula NaCl, representing a 1:1 ratio of sodium and chloride ions. With molar masses of 22.99 and 35.45 g/ ...

). Various types of other analyses can be devised. Physical properties can include

(or effectively

electrical resistivity Electrical resistivity (also called specific electrical resistance or volume resistivity) is a fundamental property of a material that measures how strongly it resists electric current. A low resistivity indicates a material that readily allows ...

refractive index In optics, the refractive index (or refraction index) of an optical medium is a dimensionless number that gives the indication of the light bending ability of that medium. The refractive index determines how much the path of light is bent, ...

, and radioactivity measurement. Simple processes that use inline

determination are

water purification Water purification is the process of removing undesirable chemicals, biological contaminants, suspended solids, and gases from water. The goal is to produce water that is fit for specific purposes. Most water is purified and disinfected for hu ...

processes which test how effectively

salts In chemistry, a salt is a chemical compound consisting of an ionic assembly of positively charged cations and negatively charged anions, which results in a compound with no net electric charge. A common example is table salt, with positively c ...

have been removed from the output water. Electrical conductivity variations include

cation An ion () is an atom or molecule with a net electrical charge. The charge of an electron is considered to be negative by convention and this charge is equal and opposite to the charge of a proton, which is considered to be positive by conven ...

and

anion An ion () is an atom or molecule with a net electrical charge. The charge of an electron is considered to be negative by convention and this charge is equal and opposite to the charge of a proton, which is considered to be positive by conve ...

conductivity.

Chromatography In chemical analysis, chromatography is a laboratory technique for the separation of a mixture into its components. The mixture is dissolved in a fluid solvent (gas or liquid) called the ''mobile phase'', which carries it through a system ( ...

such as ion chromatography or

HPLC High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), formerly referred to as high-pressure liquid chromatography, is a technique in analytical chemistry used to separate, identify, and quantify each component in a mixture. It relies on pumps to p ...

often tests the output stream continuously by measuring electrical conductivity, particularly cation or anion conductivity, refractive index,

colorimetry Colorimetry is "the science and technology used to quantify and describe physically the human color perception". It is similar to spectrophotometry, but is distinguished by its interest in reducing spectra to the physical correlates of color ...

or ultraviolet/visible

absorbance Absorbance is defined as "the logarithm of the ratio of incident to transmitted radiant power through a sample (excluding the effects on cell walls)". Alternatively, for samples which scatter light, absorbance may be defined as "the negative lo ...

at a certain

wavelength In physics, the wavelength is the spatial period of a periodic wave—the distance over which the wave's shape repeats. It is the distance between consecutive corresponding points of the same phase on the wave, such as two adjacent crests, tr ...

. InlineOnline and offline analysers are available for other types of

analyte An analyte, component (in clinical chemistry), or chemical species is a substance or chemical constituent that is of interest in an analytical procedure. The purest substances are referred to as analytes, such as 24 karat gold, NaCl, water, etc. ...

s. Many of these add reagents to the samples or sample streams.

Types of analysers

Automated analyser An automated analyser is a medical laboratory instrument designed to measure different chemicals and other characteristics in a number of biological samples quickly, with minimal human assistance. These measured properties of blood and other fluids ...

* Bus analyser *

Differential analyser The differential analyser is a mechanical analogue computer designed to solve differential equations by integration, using wheel-and-disc mechanisms to perform the integration. It was one of the first advanced computing devices to be used operat ...

– early analogue computer *

Electron microprobe An electron microprobe (EMP), also known as an electron probe microanalyzer (EPMA) or electron micro probe analyzer (EMPA), is an analytical tool used to non-destructively determine the chemical composition of small volumes of solid materials. It ...

* Lexical analyser * Logic analyser * Network analyser * Protocol analyser (packet sniffer) *

Quadrupole mass analyser The quadrupole mass analyzer, originally conceived by Nobel Laureate Wolfgang Paul and his student Helmut Steinwedel, also known as quadrupole mass filter, is one type of mass analyzer used in mass spectrometry. As the name implies, it consists of ...

* Spectrum analyser *

Vector signal analyser A vector signal analyzer is an instrument that measures the magnitude and phase of the input signal at a single frequency within the Intermediate frequency, IF Bandwidth (signal processing), bandwidth of the instrument. The primary use is to make i ...

References

{{Reflist Measuring instruments