BAMRitchies, is using an Ion Science handheld Tiger photoionisation detector (PID) for nightly monitoring of volatile organic compound (VOCs) concentrations during on-site headspace testing of contaminated soil samples on railway contracts.
Supplied as a replacement for one of the company's older models, BAMRitchies chose the Tiger for its portability and long battery life between charging. As it is being used in all weather conditions and environments, the instrument's market-leading humidity and contaminant resistant PID technology was also a key factor.
BAMRitchies provides fully integrated ground engineering services, including 'design and construct, for government organisations, local authorities, main contractors, utilities and public / private companies. The company's worldwide reputation is based on innovative solutions to complex geotechnical problems with reliable delivery by a large, highly skilled and well-equipped workforce.
"Our consultant engineers specify prompt information on contamination levels on a very regular basis making it essential that we quickly found a replacement for our old instrument which had started to fail," Stuart McQuade, Senior Geotechnical Engineer at BAMRitchies commented. "Consistency of performance was a key requirement as it is being used to test approximately five to ten soil samples per night. The Tiger is in use during the most severe weather and in the harshest environments so a robust design together with humidity and contamination resistance was also very important to us."
Providing a dynamic detection range of 1 parts per billion (ppb) to 20,000 parts per million (ppm), the Tiger offers the widest measurement range of any other VOC instrument on the market.
Ready to use, straight out of the box, the instrument requires no complex set up procedures via a PC to perform basic functions and provides the best available VOC detection and software features available.
The device also has the fastest response time on the market of just two seconds and can be connected directly to a PC via the USB offering extremely fast data download capabilities.
It has been designed for the safe replacement of batteries in hazardous environments and is intrinsically safe (IS) - meeting ATEX, IECEx, UL and CSA standards.