Lab balances play a critical role in workflows, due to the foundational data for downstream analytics.
Accurate weighing results depend on:
- Selecting the right balance for your lab, due to its highly sensitive mechanisms impacted by the environmental factors
- Cleaning and maintaining the balance to rid of debris and sample spills/ leakages that affect weighing accuracy
- Securing data integration to support data integrity and compliance
- Ensuring hardware and software configurations are modular for changing needs and to future-proof purchases
Download this infographic now to learn more about ensuring accurate weighing results.
How to Ensure
Accurate Weighing
Results in Challenging
Conditions
Best practices for achieving reliable data from
high-capacity analytical balances
Lab balances play a critical role in workflows, due to the
foundational data for downstream analytics.
Accurate weighing results depend on:
?
Selecting the right balance for your lab, due to its highly sensitive
mechanisms impacted by the environmental factors.
?
Cleaning and maintaining the balance to rid of debris and sample spills/
leakages that a?ect weighing accuracy.
?
Securing data integration to support data integrity and compliance.
?
Ensuring hardware and software con?gurations are modular for
changing needs and to future-proof purchases.
To learn more about the Cubis II Ultra-High Resolution balances, visit
www.sartorius.com
Environmental factors that a?ect
accuracy
Drafts
Can interfere with
balance mechanisms
or cause subtle air
pressure changes.
Vibration
From other equipment
or systems can change
sample distribution or
disrupt mechanics.
Humidity
Changes can cause
evaporative water loss
or condensation in the
sample or vessel.
Temperature
Changes can alter
properties of materials
and mechanics and/or
a?ect humidity.
Static electricity
Can contribute positive
or negative forces
leading to inaccurate
and/or unstable
readings.
Magnetic interference
From nearby
equipment or magnetic
samples can cause
inaccurate readings
due to magnets in the
weighing system.
Proper cleaning and maintenance is
crucial in order to protect performance
and lengthen the instrument’s lifespan.
Balances must be cleaned regularly
due to:
?
Small debris particles, like dust and hair.
?
Spills, whether liquid or particles, a?ect
accuracy and pose a contamination risk.
How to clean balances and why
Extensive
Cleaning
Steps:
Performed quarterly or
whenever larger spills occur.
Daily
Cleaning
Steps:
To remove particulates
and residues.
Important! Use caution to prevent particulates
or liquid from entering any opening. Avoid
compressed air, as it can lodge suspended
particles within the mechanisms.
Wipe base plate and
weighing pan with a
soft brush or tissue wet
with water or cleaning
solution.
Wipe the balance
and disassembled
components with
brushes, wet tissue,
and other cleaning
supplies as needed.
Important! Reassembling damp components
can lead to instrument damage or drift from
evaporation.
When dry, reassemble
pieces in reverse order:
base plate, weighing
pan, draft shields and
display.
Reassemble pieces
once they are
thoroughly dry.
Remove weighing pan
or sample holder.
Remove components
as the instrument
permits: display, draft
shields, weighing pan
or sample holder, and
base plate.
Turn the balance o? or on standby, unless using the
cleaning app. Gather cleaning supplies: tissues, soft
cloth, soft brush, sti? brush, forceps, water, and/or
70% ethanol or other mild cleaning solution.
Important! Check the manual to con?rm
compatibility of cleaning solution with surfaces.
Run appropriate
checks and tests to
con?rm function,
including draft shield
operation, leveling, and
calibration.
Maintaining compliance requires
additional software considerations
that center improved data handling
and traceability:
?
Audit trail.
?
Access control with personalized user and role
management.
?
Electronic signatures.
?
Data backup.
?
Secure data transfer options for laboratory
system integrations like LIMS and ELN.
Lab digitalization requires full
connectivity between analytical
equipment and systems to realize
the bene?ts:
?
Paper-free workflows that eliminate manual
data entry, transcription, transfer errors, and
data falsi?cation.
?
Improved data security with fully electronic
data handling.
?
Streamlined workflows and operational
e?ciencies.
?
Increased workflow automation, removing
data breaks.
Lab balance connectivity and
data integrity
Data integrity measures work to further.
?
Accelerate key timelines, e.g. discovery time and time to market.
?
Eliminate repeat work with reliable data and reporting.
Cubis
®
II Ultra-High Resolution
A new generation of premium modular balances
The modern balance design o?ers flexible solutions to these challenges. The
new Cubis
®
II Ultra-High Resolution adapts to changing lab conditions, allows
disassembly for simpli?ed cleaning, and is modular for future upgrades for software
and hardware.
Engineering upgrades compensate
for changes in temperature,
humidity, and air flow, as well as
static and magnetic interference to
ensure measurement stability.
?
Draft shield designs minimize electrostatic
and disturbances by drafts
? Optional inner draft shield
? Conductive glass coating
?
Next-generation monolithic weighing
system
?
Intelligent temperature management
? Optional climate module to track
environmental conditions
?
Licensable built-in ionizer
?
Non-magnetic titanium weighing pans and
sample holders
Software-guided cleaning
processes simplify cleaning with
both basic and advanced options.
?
Intuitive, tool-free disassembly and
assembly
? Removable display, baseplate, weighing
pan, draft shields, and front glass panel
?
Cleaning kit with helpful tools
?
Detailed guides walk users through each
step with clear illustrations
?
Built-in contamination prevention design,
e.g., base plate with 50 mL retention volume
?
Cleaning events recorded in the audit
trail to support compliance with optional
electronic signature
Data integrity compliance is
supported directly from the balance,
which ensures correct recording,
archival, and sharing of data.
Full integration with LIMS and IT
systems via connectors facilitates
fully connected workflows.
NTP Server
LIMS System
Lab PC
Printer
Directory Server
File Server
Lab workflows and processes evolve
over time as throughput changes, new
workflows are developed, or protocols
are retired. Needing new features
often means having to purchase a new
balance.
Upgradeable or modular hardware and
software for balances allow more flexible
use, providing investment security.
Planning for future needs
Balances can ensure 21 CFR part 11 compliance through:
?
Technical control features.
?
Full user management capabilities including access control with
personalized user and role management.
?
Customizable password and login security measures.
?
Electronic signatures tied to con?rmation by password entry.
?
Comprehensive audit trail features.
?
Full traceability to tamper-protected raw data saved on the balance in
immutable records.
?
E?ective, secure connections to IT systems.
?
Maintains integrity of exported data, veri?able with software-integrated
mechanisms.
