With effect from November 2010, GreCon entered into a co-operative agreement with TimberTest of New Plymouth, New Zealand, to provide exclusive worldwide sales and service for the TimberTest GA5000 gas analysis machine.
GreCon says that the GA5000 is an innovative system which has already proved itself in the marketplace and will now be backed by its comprehensive technical support.
The gas analysis method according to EN717-2 is a rapid formaldehyde emission testing procedure. In this test, samples are placed in a 60°C heated chamber and air is pumped through the chamber at a rate of 60 litres per hour.
After passing through the test chamber, the air bubbles through water ‘impingers’ and formaldehyde released from the sample is dissolved in the water. The water samples are taken over four one-hour periods and are then tested using a spectrophotometer to determine the amount of formaldehyde emitted from the sample each hour.
Due to international regulations, and requirements like CARB and IOS-MAT-0003, more and more panel processing companies demand internal quality control testing of formaldehyde emission from the panel at the time of manufacture.
Furniture factories may also test samples to ensure that panel product incorporated into their furniture meets the emission standards. This, combined with an increasing need to carry out formaldehyde testing by simple, fast and safe procedures, led to the development of the GA5000 system.
GreCon says the GA5000 is quick and easy to use and safe for operators, with negligible health and safety issues to consider and that an emission result can be produced within six hours.
With a maximum power usage of just 600 watts, the GA5000 not only saves energy but also enables operation on UPS power supplies which protect the system and results during short term power outages, adds the company. Also the system is equipped with a touch screen display which allows easy operation of the instrument.
Hourly averages for flow, temperature and pressure are automatically calculated for each test run and presented in a table after completion of the test. Extra features include a leak test and automatic system heat so the machine is ready to start a test at the required time.
The system comes with a one year subscription to LabCheck Inter-laboratory Trials. LabCheck has been used by the panel industry for more than 10 years, and the fully confidential system enables participants to benchmark their laboratory against other similar laboratories three times a year, says GreCon. “The unique LabCheck system enables an overall performance check of the laboratory to help ensure that test results are correct.”
