How to Choose a Particle Counter for the pharmaceutical industry base on the Sampling Flow rate ?

The dust particle counter is a detection instrument used to detect the size and quantity of particles in a unit volume of air in a clean environment. It is easy to operate and can detect clean rooms of Class 100, Class 1000, Class 10000, and Class 100000. It is widely used in industries such as electronics, optics, chemistry, food, cosmetics, pharmaceutical hygiene, biological products, and aerospace.Abroad, the unit "cubic foot" is commonly used, while in China, the unit "liter" is used. One cubic foot is equal to 28.3168 liters. Dust particle counters were initially produced according to foreign standards. Foreign-made particle counters have a flow rate of 0.1 cubic feet per minute, which is equivalent to 2.83 liters per minute. Therefore, it is generally recommended to use a particle counter with a flow rate of 28.3 liters per minute or higher.Currently, common flow rates for dust particle counters on the market include 0.1 cfm (2.83 liters per minute), 1 cfm (28.3 liters per minute), 50 liters per minute, and 100 liters per minute. The higher the flow rate, the more air data is collected per minute, and the more accurately it can reflect the true cleanliness level of a clean room.

In the pharmaceutical industry, due to the GMP regulations which require detecting dust particles in 1 cubic meter of air during mobile testing, using a laser dust particle counter with a flow rate of 2.83L/min is inappropriate because it would take continuous detection for 350 minutes. At the very least, a laser dust particle counter with a flow rate of 28.3L/min should be used, which allows the detection to be completed in just 35 minutes of continuous operation. If conditions permit, laser dust particle counters with a flow rate of 50L/min (continuous detection for 20 minutes) or 100L/min (continuous detection for 10 minutes) can also be chosen. If it is only for daily online monitoring, in accordance with the requirements of the sterile annex, the sampling volume and frequency can be appropriately adjusted, and in this case, dust particle counters with a flow rate of 2.83L and 28.3L are recommended.

At present, the mainstream 28.3L/min Particle counters from LASENSOR PHOTOELECTRIC TECHNOLOGY  include the LPC-110A, LPC-310A, LPC-510A online particle counters, and the LPC-S550, LPC-S350, LPC-S310 portable particle counters. The main 100L/min particle counters are the LPC-S5100 and LPC-S3100 portable particle counters.

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