• Question: What machines do you use?

    Asked by M&M on 17 Dec 2024. This question was also asked by page520muon.
    • Photo: Artemis Eales

      Artemis Eales answered on 17 Dec 2024:

      I work with lots of different equipment and machines! I work with: laminar flow cabinets (sterile spaces where living material/chemicals that come into contact with living material can be kept clean), autoclaves (big machines that use high pressure and heat to sterilise glassware and chemicals), micropipettes (equipment which can measure out small volumes of liquid down to the microlitre), and balances (scales for chemicals which measure very tiny quantities!).

    • Photo: Andrew McDowall

      Andrew McDowall answered on 17 Dec 2024:

      Oh a whole range. I’m mainly involved in analytic development these days so particle size analyser, surface tension meters, texture analysers, rheometers, viscometers, low-field NMR instruments, turbidity and sedimentation meters for a start, then there’s a whole range of manufacturing equipment – pumps, dosers, driers, furnaces…….

    • Photo: Caroline Roche

      Caroline Roche answered on 20 Dec 2024:

      The main machines I work with are industrial computers called PLCs (Programmable Logic Controllers) and SCADA (Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition) systems.
      The PLCs are programmed with the logic for a control systems, sending and receiving data out to machines on site. While the SCADA system is the front end or app that the operator uses to talk to the PLC. The SCADA will show the information the PLC has in a way that helps the operator best understand what is happening. The operator can then use the SCADA to send commands via the PLC to the machines on site.

Comments

  • Photo: Blair

    Blair commented on :

    MRI scanners! Very strong magnetic fields plus smaller changing magnetic fields and radio waves. It is incredible technology and requires a lot of work to make sure it is working correctly and is safe for patients

  • Photo: Katie

    Katie commented on :

    I use the largest telescopes on Earth (which are in Hawaii) and I also use the largest telescope in space called the James Webb Space Telescope.