Hinds Instruments EXICOR 150AT, User Manual, Page: 76 / 95

Chapter 5: Maintenance and Cleaning
66 Exicor 150AT User Manual
Consumables
Exicor systems are designed so that the downtime due to component failures is very
low. The items in the system that do have fixed lifetimes are the laser and the
detector filters (¼ wave system only).
The laser intensity will decrease over a period of time and the detector filters will
degrade over time, resulting in decreased light to the detector. The typical
replacement schedule in most applications is every 2-3 years and the procedure
should be done by a Hinds Instruments engineer or a factory trained representative.
This schedule may vary according to the amount of time the system is powered on
and the operating environment. Regular system evaluations should be performed so
that the system measurement repeatability does not fall outside of the specified
tolerance.
The first point of feedback for the laser and detector filter condition is the DC level at
the detectors
with no sample in the beam path . The DC levels are shown as
vertical bar graphs in the main user interface (see figure below). ½ wave systems
will show 1 DC level while ¼ wave systems will show 2 DC levels.
Figure 5.2 DC Level Indicator
Compare these values to the values before shipment of the system as provided on
the ATP document. If either of these values falls below 1.5V (¼ wave system) or 0.3
V (½ wave system), the laser and/or detector filters need to be changed. To
determine if the decreased DC level is caused by the laser or detector filters,
measure the laser power at the stage and compare it to the power stated on the ATP
document. The laser should be replaced when the power falls below 1 mW. If the
laser power is still above 1 mW then the detector filters are the probable cause of
low DC levels. For a ½ wave system, there are no detector filters so if the laser
power is OK but the DC level is low, the laser may have become misaligned.