Category Archives: pinnacle

Replacing the Over-pressure Relief Valve Cartridge

Mixing-Manifold-1a 
Cleaning and Reassembly of the Over-pressure Relief Valve

  1. Remove the tubing connections to the Mixing Manifold. Use a 3/32” hex driver to remove the 2 screws holding the Mixing Manifold to the chassis. Use a 3/8” wrench to remove the end cap and discard the old Over-pressure Relief Valve Cartridge. Ultrasonicate the Mixing Manifold for at least 30 minutes. Rinse well with DI water.
      
      
     
  2. Connect the outlet of your HPLC pump to the Mixing Manifold inlet and pump 100% water at 0.5mL/min to verify the Mixing Manifold is not clogged. If the Mixing Manifold is still clogged after cleaning in an ultrasonicating bath, replace the Mixing Manifold Assembly (PN 1452-0040).
     
  3. Turn off the HPLC flow and make sure there is no pressure on the Mixing Manifold. Insert the new OPRV cartridge, green side down, and screw on the end cap to 20”lbs of torque. To approximate this level of torque, first finger tighten, then tighten an additional 1/8-1/4 turn with a 3/8” wrench.
     
  4. To verify the opening pressure of the Over-pressure Relief Valve, plug the two side inlets of the Mixing Manifold and turn on the HPLC pump to 0.5mL/min. Allow the pressure to slowly rise. The Over-pressure Relief Valve should open around 485psi. If the opening pressure is too low, tighten an additional 1/8 of a turn with a 3/8” wrench.

David Mazawa
david.mazawa@pickeringlabs.com
Technical Support Chemist
Pickering Laboratories, Inc.
1280 Space Park Way
Mountain View, CA 94043 USA
Phone: (650)694-6700 ext. 710
Fax: (650)968-0749

 

Pickering Laboratories in 2013

By Wendy Rasmussen

In recent years, we have released several new products and applications, and with still more on the horizon, it occurred to me that now would be a great time to summarize the Pickering of today – our mindset and our wide variety of products & applications.

Acai Berries
Acai Berries

No longer are we simply the “Post-Column Company”. We are the “Automated-Sample Antioxidants” company.  Think of us as the new “super fruit.” The Acai berry, or perhaps the new Chia Seeds (incidentally, we do have a post-column application for the identification & quantitation of  Antioxidants in a variety of matrices).

We are still very active, and we as a company plan to be here for many years to come. We are still the company founded on chemistry and a desire to to teach, to spread our technical expertise, to support our customers.

It’s been a few years now since Pickering began distributing and supporting our LCTech Product line.  The products have shown an ever increasing interest here in the US and in Canada (our official Sales Territory for this product line). We are very proud to offer these products and we hope we can develop it further in the future.

Historically, we have provided the back-end of an analysis (post-column derivatization). Nowadays, we can provide the front-end of analysis as well (the sample-cleanup).

In thinking about our product offerings, I realized that a simple list does not effectively show the scope of the products we have to offer in 2013 – primarily because we have a lot of overlap between products and product lines.  We’re not a vertical company in that regard.  I suppose one could say our product offerings are more circular in that many do not fall into a single distinct category.  I am a very visual person, and for me, a Venn diagram and our overall “product scale” really helped to understand and clarify our products:

Venn Diagram of Pickering Laboratories
Venn Diagram of Pickering Laboratories
General "Product Scale" for Pickering Offerings
General “Product Scale” for Pickering Offerings
For those of who like lists, you can find one Here, on Pickering’s website, and on LCTech’s Website

For any Questions, please feel free to contact us:

Pickering Laboratories, Inc.
Mountain View, California
Email: sales@pickeringlabs.com
Phone: (direct) 650-694-6700 or (toll-free) 800-654-3330

 

Image of Acai Berries:  http://acaiberryeducation.com/

Obsolescence of PCX 5200 in February 2013

Special Note! The Pinnacle PCX and  Vector PCX instruments are available and will continue to be 100% supported for the foreseeable future!

The PCX 5200 will no longer be supported starting February 2013. This means we will no longer keep replacement parts in stock starting February 2013.  

PCX5200 will be obsoleted in February 2013

Common parts like tubing, nuts, ferrules, and filters that are used on the Pinnacle and the Vector will still be available.

Our current models, the Pinnacle PCX and Vector PCX are a great upgrade option to the PCX 5200. You can download our PCX Product Brochure from the Pickering website or find more information by clicking on the individual links.

If you have any questions, please contact support@pickeringlabs.com 

If you would like a quotation for a new system or to place an order, please contact orders@pickeringlabs.com 

David Mazawa,Technical Support Chemist

Ask Technical Support! October 2009

By David Mazawa, Technical Support Chemist

Parts Lookup for Pickering Instruments Now on the Internet:

Looking for a part number? Try out our new Parts Lookup for the Pinnacle, Vector, and 5200 models. It can be found on our website http://www.pickeringlabs.com/

Click on “Service and Support” tab and then choose the Parts Lookup from the pull-down menu. Just choose the model of your instrument, then click on the parts of interest and the part number will be displayed.

You can also use the following link: http://www.pickeringlabs.com/partslookup/default.asp

Make sure your web browser can support Flash applications before selecting your instrument. Place your mouse over the part you are looking for and the part number will be displayed. The Parts Lookup was designed to provide part numbers of commonly replaced parts. If what you are looking for is not available on the Parts Lookup, call Technical Support at (800) 654-3330 or (650) 694-6700 or email support@pickeringlabs.com.