New Airborne Particle Counter Released by Biotest
February 5, 2012 by Jason Roth 
Revolutionary new Airborne Particle Counter Featuring easy touchscreen navigation and sampling at two flow rates in a single instrument
Biotest AG has launched its unique APC SmartTouch Airborne Particle Counter specifically designed for flow rates of both one cubic foot per minute (1 CFM) and 100 liters per minute (100 L/min), thereby significantly reducing cleanroom certification and monitoring costs. It supports fast and convenient color touchscreen handling and is equipped with two high-capacity batteries for flexible, continuous sampling. To minimize the likelihood of human sampling errors, a plan of the sample locations can be displayed on the touchscreen.
“With its exciting and unique features, the APC SmartTouch system is truly in a class of its own. For airborne particle counting in the pharma, biotech, medical device and sensitive food industries, there is currently nothing that matches its flexibility and convenience. It’s simply the smartest,” says Dr Frank Schulze, Executive Vice President Microbiology at Biotest AG.
Due to the different flow rates required for cleanroom filter testing (ISO 14644-1) and monitoring (ISO 14644-2), two different particle counters are usually employed. The APC SmartTouch eliminates the need to invest in multiple instruments, thereby also reducing the costs of the associated routine calibration events.
The APC SmartTouch features a large interactive color touchscreen with commonly used icons for easy and intuitive operation. All required actions start from the main screen, thus there is no need to access any submenus. This increases operating efficiency and saves considerable time.
For a visual representation of the sampling locations, including the designated sampling points, a graphic file is imported into the APC SmartTouch. By confirming that the proper samples have been taken, the potential for sampling errors is minimized. The instrument’s utility software stores designated sample location names for greater user convenience and allows defined parameter recipes such as counting mode, count time and initial wait time to be created.