Beckman Coulter Multisizer 4, User Manual

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PN A51387A
B
3-14
Installing and Calibrating an Aperture Tube
Calibrating the Aperture
2. In the Calibrator Size window, enter the Modal diameter of calibrator. This value appears on the
assay sheet supplied with the calibrator.
To select the appropriate calibrator for your aperture tube size, see Choosing the Calibrator Size ,
page 3-10 .
NOTE
The recommended calibrator size range is 10% to 20% of the aperture diameter; however, the
software allows entries from 3% to 50% of the aperture diameter.
3. Click
(
Start
)
.
4. On the Status Panel, verify that the Concentration index bar shows a value as close as possible
to 10%.
NOTE
Start with a low concentration and build up to 10%. It may be difficult to clean a high
concentration of calibrator beads from the system. If necessary, dilute the sample to lower the
concentration to an acceptable level.
If the concentration of calibrator beads is greater than 10%, the Concentration index bar will
display High. If the concentration of particles is too low, calibration time will increase. In either
case, stop the calibration, adjust the calibrator concentration, and recalibrate the aperture.
CAUTION
If you are using a polystyrene nano-particle calibrator, keep the concentration
level below 2%.
Pausing or Stopping Calibration
During calibration, the Multisizer 4 software displays a graph in the Viewing Area. The Status Panel
displays elapsed time, total particle count, and particle concentration.
To pause or stop calibration:
In the Instrument Toolbar, click
(
Pause
)
,
(
Stop
)
, or
(
Cancel
)
to interrupt the calibration process.