Applied Analytics Turns Thirty: A Look Back at Our Milestones

This year marks Applied Analytics’ thirty-year anniversary. In those thirty years of operation, we have shipped thousands of analyzers around the world and made numerous developments in the fields of optics, spectroscopy, and sampling. Founded in 1994, Applied Analytics was built from the ground up to disrupt how the chemical industry did process control.

In the early nineties, most measurements were conducted through offline analysis and what few online systems that did exist were large, cumbersome, and expensive. To resolve these issues, Applied Analytics combined clever design principles and time-tested technologies from other industries when developing the OMA-300.

The result of this was a system that incorporated a dispersive spectrometer—something that was common in analytical laboratories but not process analyzers at the time—with fiber optic cables—a technology that had been used by the telecom industry since the seventies. All of this was packed into a convenient form factor thanks to the inclusion of a PC which ran the entire system.

This setup enabled enhanced analytical and operational flexibility compared to other systems on the market. For example, the fiber optic cables which connect the analyzer to the flow cell, allowed the analyzer electronics to be completely separated from the sample fluid. This is in stark contrast to other systems which require the sample to be supplied through the analyzer’s enclosure. Such an arrangement not only increases cost and complexity but also makes maintenance challenging.

During the OMA-300’s design, the team carefully selected and optimized every part in the system. No part was considered too small or mundane. A great example of this at work is the design of the analyzer’s optical windows. Most other systems on the market rely on large windows. This necessitates the use of heavy-duty mechanisms with countless bolts to resist massive forces placed on the window by a high sample pressure. The OMA solves this problem by shrinking the size of the optical window and installing it inside a threaded metal housing. This allows the flow cell to handle pressures of up to 3000 psi but also enables the window to be removed with a turn of the wrench.

But perhaps the most useful feature of the system was the software employed by the OMA-300. At its core, the software allows the system to be both a process instrument and a diagnostic tool. Because the analyzer employed a dispersive spectrometer, the entire spectrum of a sample could be observed. If a process was not operating as intended, the process engineer could review spectra and identify contaminants in the process that were previously unknown. This feature was simply not found on other systems at the time, which were designed to provide information on only the component of interest. The original OMA-300 system was able to do all of this with software that fit onto a 64KB floppy disk. For perspective, the average IOS app on an iPhone is 35MB, or nearly 550 times larger.

Other achievements include our introduction of the xenon light source. Prior to this, deuterium bulbs were the go-to standard for analyzers. Unfortunately, these bulbs had the habit of dying only after a few months—much to the chagrin of the plant staff who had to change the bulbs. In comparison, xenon bulbs had the capability to last for five years or longer before requiring replacement. Like any great product, the xenon bulb had its share of stories while being developed, but perhaps the best is the curious case of “ghost printing” that occurred in the office. During the design of the bulb, the printer next to the electronics test bed would begin to spontaneously print due to the interference produced by the bulb. “It could definitely be a little scary, especially after everyone had left for the evening,” recounted cofounder Dr. Yael Barshad. Funny stories aside, the team eventually perfected a design that would become the industry standard for light sources.

But by far the product with the best origin story is Applied Analytics’ TLG-837 DEMISTER probe. This product shares its origin like countless other famous inventions—on the back of a cocktail napkin. The quick sketch that was made became the basis for AAI’s steam cooled DEMISTER probe. A heat exchanger located in the center of the probe would cause elemental sulfur to condense out of the sample gas as it rose up the probe. This simple but powerful feature enabled measurements to be made without fear of sulfur plugs.

However, at the core of all of these accomplishments is a commitment to excellence. Applied Analytics has stopped at nothing to hire the best talent and take on some of the toughest challenges in the industry. Many of the employees who were with the company in its early days are still with the company today. With talent and expertise like that, it’s no wonder that so many of the company’s oldest analyzers are still in operation today.