I have often pondered these questions when writing proposals for new
equipment (and when thinking about potential changes in how
spectrometers are used). I'll stick with talking about setups where the
usage depends only on the actual time samples are in the spectrometer
running. There could be protocols where the spectrometer is signed out
to a group for a period of time, but not actually taking data for those
complete allotments of time. In the UW-Madison chemistry facility,
we've only counted time under automation that is active.
The problem in my mind is that the target of "heavily used usage"
depends on the type of research the instrument is supporting. And that
can be difficult to state in a concise way that enables simple metrics.
In general, longer experiments are simpler to get usage approaching
90%. We achieve higher usage on our 600 when it is consumed by
diffusion or 2D/3D experiments. Shorter experiments on a 400 could
perhaps get to such high usage, but only if there are large numbers of
samples being submitted regularly as batches. For synthetic chemists,
as a more difficult example, that are submitting a few samples per
student at random for mostly 1D experiments, I think of 50% as being
quite high usage. This enables samples to have reasonably fast
turn-around, a critical issue for research progress for those chemists.
Trays can be submitted with undergrad class samples and research survey
sets for overnight, etc, but we've still found it hard to get above 50%
for automated spectrometers that provide primary support for synthetic
chemists. 30-40% to me can be a quite busy piece of equipment when
trays of samples for overnights and Sundays are not in the mix.
Charlie
On 11/7/2023 12:52 PM, Kenneth Sharp-Knott wrote:
> Assuming an instrument (with automation) at 100% capacity is used 24
> hours a day, what is a heavily used instrument?
>
> We are trying to justify updating an older - heavily used instrument
> but when looked at from this statistic, it's only averaging about 30%
> of it's theoretical capacity. Do you exclude weekends bumping this
> value to an average of 40% use?
>
> Another option is # of samples run/day which is really hard to measure
> and perhaps is an even worst statistic.
>
> Curious on how you manipulate these numbers and what you consider to
> be a 'heavily used' instrument.
>
> Best
> --
> Ken Sharp-Knott
> Manager of Analytical Services and the NMR Facility
> Department of Chemistry
> Virginia Tech
>
> (540)267-6502 (Cell)
> (540)231-0885 (Office)
>
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Received on Tue Nov 07 2023 - 13:14:26 MST