Malvern Mastersizer 2000, User Manual

Page: 90 / 154

Chapter 7 Handling measurement files
Page 7-2 MAN 0384
7
Records and files
The fundamental unit of storage is the “record”. A record contains all the informa-
tion for an individual measurement, including the original measurement data and
all parameters that have been set to calculate the size distribution.
All records are stored in a measurement file which may contain one or more
records.
As a practical demonstration, consider a cement manufacturer who is asked to
measure a sample from the production line every hour for five hours. They may
wish to save the measurement data in a measurement file called
Cement.mea
(measurement files always have the extension .mea ). When they make the first
measurement they can save the result as a record (possibly called “Hour1”) in the
Cement.Mea measurement file.
Once all measurements are completed the user will have a measurement file with
the following structure:
Cement.Mea
Hour 1
Hour 2
Hour 3
Hour 4
Hour 5
Alternatively they could have created five measurement files that each contain one
record.
A record can be deleted but it can never be altered. However, a record can be
re-analysed and the resultant record saved under a new record name.
For example, imagine a user who has a record called Record1 and has found out
that the refractive index they set for the dispersant is incorrect. They can select
Record1 , edit the parameters and re-analyse the result. A new record will be cre-
ated ( Record2 ) that is based on Record1 . Record1 will still exist unaltered.
To re-analyse a record:
1.
Select the record to re-analyse.
2.
Select Edit-Result (or right-click and select Edit result ).
3.
A dialogue appears allowing changes to the parameters.
4.
Make the changes and select OK .
MAN0384-1.0 Mastersizer 2000.book Page 2 Tuesday, March 20, 2007 8:56 AM