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iQ Series Gas Analyzers FAQs
The Thermo Scientific iQ Series of Gas Analyzers is our newest platform offering predictive diagnostics, proactive communication, and personal device connectivity. Here are some frequently asked questions and answers about iQ gas analyzers.
Communications:
In addition to the wireless and ethernet communications protocols, digital and analog I/O communications are still supported. All supported methods to connect to the instrument can be found in the iQ Series Communication manual.
Currently wireless connectivity to the iQ series platform is capable via a wireless ethernet bridge. A wireless ethernet bridge is a commercial off-the-shelf intelligent network device that can be utilized to provide wireless ethernet capabilities to Thermo Fisher Scientific’s instruments that have only a wired ethernet port. A single bridge may be used to provide wireless ethernet to one or more instruments and may be mounted indoors or outdoors at a location up to 300 feet away from the instrument to provide optimal wireless coverage.
A VPN server would have to exist within the network that the instrument is expected to operate. Local IT would need to ensure a VPN server is set up and available to facilitate the connection of multiple instruments. All supported methods to connect to the instrument can be found in the iQ Series Communication manual.
A total of 11 email addresses can be saved in the instrument; 1 primary contact and 10 courtesy copy (CC) contacts. You can not discriminate what content goes to which email contacts. All emails generated by the instrument will be sent to the primary contact as well as any CC contacts listed.
The iQ Series analyzers are both dynamic and static IP address capable. Choosing the desired operating configuration can be set in the ‘Communications’ menu within the ‘Settings’ menu.
Graphical user interface (GUI):
There is no screen lock. There is password protection for any configuration and settings changes.
The title and status bars are fixed. They remain in their locations regardless of where the user navigates to in the GUI. The icons and buttons on the title and status bars are fixed however the Favorites icon that is represented by an orange star in the status bar allows the user to create 9 GUI shortcuts
Currently there is only a single level of password protection for the instrument. If the instrument is locked, access is at a ‘read only’ level. If the instrument is unlocked, configuration and settings changes are possible.
Operations:
There is a start up protocol that the iQ Series analyzer runs through with each power cycle. Alarms will be thrown with any issue as a result of the start up protocol and notification and troubleshooting of those alarm notifications is identical to any alarm notification generated under normal run time.
Dual Range mode for the iQ instruments is identical to the comparable iSeries analyzer. However as opposed to discrete range setting selections that exist in iSeries, the iQ user can enter any value within the acceptable range for that instrument.
Mobile app:
The mobile app connects to the instrument using the instrument’s IP address. When you connect the instrument to a network the instrument is given an IP address. Connect your mobile device to the same network, open up the iQ Monitoring app on your mobile device and select Add. You will be prompted for the IP address which can be found by navigating to the Communications menu on the touch screen display on the instrument. Select Add Instrument.
Yes, some customers choose to connect the app and the instrument to the company VPN, which provides the iQ app with the same stringent security levels as other devices on the VPN.
Yes, remote monitoring is a powerful feature of the app but you can still utilize the Contact Us and the Resources tab even if you choose not to connect to an instrument. All iQ series instrument and its corresponding iSeries instrument documentation will be available in the Resources section of the iQ Mobile App.
No, the iQ Mobile App refreshes automatically upon opening the app. All notifications will be visible at any point when the iQ Mobile App is open but the app does not currently support ‘push’ notifications.
The iQ mobile app is currently available for Apple iOS and Android operating systems. Download today at thermofisher.com/iqapp
Service:
The measurement technology is fundamentally the same so many of the mechanical parts of the measurement benches are the same between iSeries and iQ. The iQ DMC modules contain electronic/PCBA control which is different than iSeries. The components that are interchangeable/backwards compatible between iSeries and iQ on any given measurement bench are identified by part number in the manual.
There is no alarm history table created by the instrument. Similar to iSeries, you can log alarm history by configuring your data logging parameters to capture individual alarm states.
There is no prioritization to the assignment of alarm or maintenance notifications by the instrument, however, the way that those events generate email notifications is different. Upon power up, the analyzer waits 2 hours to clear any alarms prior to sending any email notifications. Post start-up sequence, an alarm needs to be active for 5 continuous minutes at which time an email notification will be generated and sent. The instrument will reflect an alarm condition on the status bar at any point that the instrument meets those alarm conditions, but an email will not be generated until any single alarm condition has existed for 5 continuous minutes. Maintenance notifications generated by either predictive diagnostics or the embedded preventive maintenance schedule behave in the same manner, except that the alert must be active for 24hrs prior to an email notification being sent.
The instrument configuration settings can be downloaded from the analyzer to USB.
There are a couple ways to uniquely identify each instrument. The ‘instrument ID’ or Modbus device ID is a user editable, numeric string. The instrument ‘host name’ is a user editable alpha-numeric string for mobile search functionality. The ‘host name’ can be used to access the instrument over TCP/IP but data download file names and reports will only reference the instrument serial number.
The embedded preventive maintenance schedule provides a warning when an item gets within 2 months of the replacement date. At that time, the line in the schedule will turn yellow and throws a ‘gear icon’ notification to the status bar. The line will change from yellow to red once the item gets within 1 month of the replacement date. The ‘gear’ icon will remain in place unless some activity is done to clear it.
The serialized DMC’s are unique to your analyzer and it’s configuration. To understand which DMC’s are serialized within your instrument, navigate to the ‘Health Check’ menu via the ‘Settings’ button on the home screen or the health check button on the status bar. From the ‘Health Check’ menu, click on ‘Status and Alarms’. The analyzer’s serialized DMC’s can be found by clicking on the ‘Serial Numbers’ button.