High Resolution 
Automatic Lab Refractometers

Features of ATR-SW Automatic Refractometers

• Measurement of liquids from low to high viscosity
• Irrespective of opacity and colour
• Electronic and measuring devices separate
• Single and continuous measurements
• Different sample room doors
• Date and time function
• 10 user-defi ned scales programmable

Introduction to Automatic Digital Refractometers

Refractometers are widely used to measure the amount of dissolved substances in solutions containing mainly sucrose. The relationship between refractive index and the amount of dry substance content is well known for sucrose and is the basis of the Brix scale which is measure of the number of grams of sucrose present per 100 grams of aqueous sugar solution. (50 Brix means 50 grams of solid per 100 gms of solution) This relationship holds for a large number of similar substances and so the Brix scale is widely used in the food industry. The refractive index of a sugar solution changes with temperature while its solid content remains the same. ( The same refractive index at different temperatures correspond to different Brix values.) Manual "Abbe" refractometers do not compensate for this temperature effect and manual correction tables are used to adjust the readings to a standard temperature.

The Schmidt and Haensch range of automatic Refractometers supplied by Topac measure both the refractive index and the temperature of the sample in order to evaluate the Brix value. They read out both the actual refractive index and the actual sample temperature, but they automatically correct the Brix value to what it would be at 20 degs C. regardless of the actual sample temperature. ( In the range 5 - 50 C)

The new ATR-SW is designed for measuring the refractive index of liquid media for applications in the quality control of production and laboratory. It consists of an electronic unit and a measuring head and can be used for single and fl ow through measurement. The separate measuring head permits to work vertically as well as horizontally. It’s new housing for the electronic offers more space for a bigger LCD display and an alphanumeric foil keypad. Batch numbers can be entered directly and also simple forms can be created and printed out. 10 special scales, one of them beeing programmed as Bx scale by the factory, provide a wide range of application possibilities in production and laboratory. The software of the ATR-SW, designed close to the practise, allows to determine mean values and standard derivation as well as to adjust a measuring delay for special measurements with high dependence of the temperature. All functions may also be controlled via PC using he remote control program. Various sample room doors complete the versatile possibilities to apply the ATR-SW.