Paying attention to domestic instruments starts with the potential value of deep instrumentation

"Science began with measurement," said the famous scientist Mendeleev. Driven by modern science and technology and productivity, the instrument that was originally used as a measuring instrument has developed into a relatively complete discipline and has played an increasingly important role in the development of today's national economy and science and technology. The experts summed up their role: Instrumentation is the "predecessor" of scientific research, the "multiplier" of industrial production, the "combat capability" of the military, and the "materialized judge" of national activities. Despite the rapid development of instrumentation in China in recent years, the overall state of development is far from satisfactory. What are the reasons?

The Vice President of the China Association for Science and Technology, Academician Wang Dazhao, an applied optics expert, has devoted himself to the development of instrumentation in China for many years and considered the future path of China's instrumentation business. On several occasions, he joined other scientists in writing to the relevant state departments and proposed that China should increase its research and development of scientific instruments and revitalize the instrumentation industry.

Scientific instruments have always been a topic of concern, and instrumentation is often seen as a 'support role' for scientific research and industrial production. However, it has long been a core component of China’s scientific and technological development and improvement of the quality of industrial products, and plays a decisive role. Facts have proved that the "throat" of China's scientific and technological strength and economic development has been partly blocked by instrumentation.

The concept is confused and misunderstood

The development of instruments must first of all clarify a concept. “Instruments” are not “machines”. However, people often think that the instrument is only mechanical, and the instrument industry is an integral part of the machinery industry. This concept may be due to the state's management of the instrument industry under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Machinery. At the same time, in the discipline, instrument technology is only a branch of the mechanical discipline. As a result, people have misunderstood the understanding of the instrument for a long time, leading to a serious lag in the development of this field.

In fact, instruments and machines are very different. Machines are tools that transform the world and are based on understanding the world. The development of instruments is based on understanding the world. The correct concept should be: Instruments are tools to understand the world, and machines are tools to transform the world. Instruments are scientific tools for understanding the unknown world and are tools for controlling the production process.

"From this point of view, the instrument belongs to the information technology science, and it is the source of the original information data to understand the world."

We should put instruments and machines in the same position and treat the instrument industry and the machinery industry equally. The instrument is a high-tech product under the combined effects of mechanics, electronics, optics, computer technology, materials science, physics, chemistry, biology, and other advanced technologies.

Propeller for Scientific Research

Without advanced instruments, it is difficult to achieve innovative results in contemporary scientific research. After decades of development, scientific instruments have changed from supporting equipment to core components.

From the domestic situation, taking the successful development of "two bombs and one star" as an example, scientific instruments are the flagships of open doors. Because the necessary equipment and equipment were not available at the time because of the international blockade, we could only rely on our own research and development.

According to records of the Changchun Institute of Optics and Mechanics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, during the development process of “two bombs and one star”, before the first nuclear explosion test in China, Wang Dazhao directed and modified the instrument used for dynamic observation of fireballs—the high speed camera; In the 1980s, China launched a long-range carrier rocket to the South Pacific, and the Yuanwang spacecraft measurement vessel successfully completed its tracking and measurement mission for the reentry phase of the rocket. One of the advanced equipment used by the Yuanwang monitoring and control system was Wang Dazhao’s leadership. The optical equipment developed by the Changchun Institute of Optics, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

From an international perspective, about one-fourth of the Nobel Prize-winning physicists work on instrument development. For example, after the birth of a practical laser, Professor Xiao Luo, professor of physics at Stanford University, led the team to work on laser spectroscopy and conducted in-depth research with partners on complex compounds to create saturated absorption spectra and two-photon spectroscopy. This method effectively improves the resolution of the instrument. As a result, he shared with the collaborators the 1981 Nobel Prize in physics. Currently, high-end scientific instruments, such as electron microscopes, mass spectrometers, CT tomography scanners, X-ray material structure analyzers, etc., are not only used to explore natural laws, accumulate scientific knowledge, but also major achievements in science and technology and new areas of scientific research. The opening up has played an important role.

While developing scientific instruments in our country should attach importance to independent innovation and self-reliance, it does not mean that all instruments must be manufactured by themselves. It is understandable to purchase advanced foreign instruments and equipment to carry out scientific research. However, it should avoid dependence on imported instruments or blind worship.

Only 4% of the total industry, but the impact of 66%

The instrument is of great significance to ensure product quality and standardized production. If something goes wrong at any point in the production process, it will lead to major disasters. This is the case of the accident at the Soviet Chernobyl nuclear power plant. In short, the instrument plays an important role in ensuring product quality and safe production.

Take the change in iron and steel production technology as an example: “In the past, our country’s iron and steel production relied on experienced old workers—they used their experience to observe the changes in the color of the molten steel in the hearth and to confirm the time at which the steel was released. The production workshop is mainly operated by young people. This is precisely because of advanced instruments and instruments that accurately measure and control the temperature and composition of the iron and steel smelting process."

In the modern industry, oil refinery, chemical industry, metallurgy, and electric power, if they do not have advanced instruments and instruments to perform their functions of detection, display, and control, they will not be able to continue safe production. Even if it was originally thought that the wine-making industry can be produced by indigenous methods, it is still necessary to strictly control the temperature process through instrumentation to create brand names.

According to the National Institute of Industrial Technology (NIST), the United States has to complete 250 million inspections per day for quality certification and control, automation, and process analysis. To complete these tests requires a large variety of analytical and testing instruments. In the early 1990s, the US Department of Commerce’s National Bureau of Standards (NBS) surveyed the investigation of the effect of the instrumentation industry on the gross national product (GNP) value of the United States: the total output value of the instrumentation industry only accounted for 4% of the total industrial output value. However, its impact on the national economy reached 66%.

Multidisciplinary integration requires coordinated operations

The connotation of instrumentation has changed a lot compared to the past. Its own structure has evolved from a purely mechanical structure to a system that combines sensor technology, computer technology, electronic technology, and other high-tech technologies. Its use has also evolved from simple data acquisition to data collection, signal transmission, and signal processing. And control in one of the monitoring and control process. Especially since the beginning of the 21st century, with the development of computer network technology, software technology, and micro-nano technology, measurement and control technology has presented the development trend of virtualization, networking, and miniaturization, thus making multidisciplinary and multiple systems of instrumentation disciplines. The attributes of integrated and formed edge disciplines have become increasingly apparent.

However, at present, domestic instruments and instruments are relatively confusing in the development organization. Many types, the same quality, lack of advanced technology. At present, China’s scientific and technological undertakings are in a new period of opportunity. Instruments and meters are integrated interdisciplinary subjects. In order to revitalize the instrumentation industry, it is necessary to give full play to the enthusiasm of all parties. The most critical issue now is how to organize experts from different industries together and realize each The coordination of operations.

Where are the gaps in domestic instrument technology?

At present, this phenomenon is commonly found in the analytical instrument industry: domestic instruments are despised and credulous to foreign instruments. The small editors of China Chemical Instrument Network have compiled some data and hope that from the perspective of liquid chromatograph developers and manufacturers, a simple comparison analysis of domestic and foreign instruments can be expected to prejudice the whole country. Domestic scientific instruments have a more accurate understanding. For our practitioners, they are also "knowing oneself and knowing oneself and being able to fight each other." And I hope to improve the confidence of users, industry, industry and decision makers in the analysis.

About 80% of the domestic liquid chromatograph market is occupied by foreign products, and the scientific and technological forces emphasize theory and application and neglect the research and development of the instrument. In addition, the development speed of theory and application is often faster than the development speed of the instrument. China started late, causing many users to prefer foreign instruments. This is one of the reasons why many theories and applied papers are based on foreign instruments. This further exacerbates the user's prejudice against domestically produced instruments. As an instrument developer and manufacturer, we admit that there is a gap with advanced imported instruments, but we can't afford it. Foreign instruments are "good, medium, and small", as are domestic instruments. Can not be generalized, foreign countries are good, home-made is not acceptable. Therefore, I hereby use the analysis of the first technical indicators to compare the indicators announced by several popular models.

1) Comparison of basic pump specifications

Flow Range Flow Accuracy Flow Accuracy Maximum Pressure

A domestic company LC-1000.001-9.999ml/min, in 0.001ml/min step adjustment flow Sr <0.3%

(0.5,1,2 ml/min water, 5-10 MPa room temperature) Ss<±2%

(1 ml/min water, 5-10 MPa room temperature) 42 MPa (0.001—9.999 ml/min)

A US company 5150.001—9.999 ml/minRSD<0.1% (1 ml/min) 6000 psi

A company in Japan LC-10ADVP 0.001 - 5ml/min (1 - 39.2MPa) 5.001 -9.999ml/min (1 - 19.6MPa) within ± 0.3% (RSD <0.1%)

0.1-5ml/min, 1.0-39.2MPa, water, step ±2% (0.01-5ml/min, 1.0-39.2MPa, water, room temperature 20°C) 39.2MPa

From the point of view of the pump's technical indicators, the pressure resistance of domestically produced instruments is not as low as that of foreign instruments. The technical indicators released by several domestically produced instruments from the market are also basically 40-42 MPa, so there is no case of domestic pump infusion with low pressure resistance. Several other indicators are comparable. In particular, a certain Japanese company’s products are inferior to domestic ones in certain indicators.

2) UV detector comparison

Wavelength Range Wavelength Indication Error Wavelength Repetitive Baseline Noise Baseline Wander Minimum Detection

A domestic company LC-100190-600nm ≤ ± 2nm ≤ 0.2nm ≤ 5 × 10-5AU

(methanol, 1 ml/min, 254 nm, 20°C) ≤ 5 x 10-4 AU/h (methanol, 1 ml/min, 254 nm, 20°C) 2 x 10-8 g/ml (naphthalene/methanol solution)

US company 486190-600nm±2nm±0.25nm±1.0×10-5AU (1 second filter time, 210nm-280nm, empty tank) 1.0×10-4AU/h (after warm-up)

Japanese company LC-10ADVP190-600nm±1nm±0.1nm±0.35×10-5AU or less (254nm, empty tank) 2×10-4AU/h or less (at room temperature)

From the comparative analysis of the above technical indicators, we can see that our domestic instruments are not worse than foreign ones, and even exceed certain foreign instruments. We hope that people in the industry will correctly understand and report on domestically produced instruments. The excessive exaggeration of the advanced foreign products and the backwardness of domestic instruments will only lead to the blind purchase of foreign products by users, which will cause a large number of foreign low-end equipment to intrude into the domestic market and inhibit the development of excellent domestic instruments. For example, a liquid chromatograph produced by a foreign company's Suzhou plant was developed in the early 1990s. No matter how advanced or non-advanced it is, there are plenty of domestic markets. Of course, as a developer and manufacturer we should see the gap with foreign companies. Only by correctly understanding the gap can we reduce it more quickly. However, I believe that this gap cannot be explained simply by the technological gap. This technological gap should be extended to: management technology and market application technology.

Future development focuses on the transformation of consciousness

This is a very real problem for domestic instruments. After-sales service has restricted the development of domestic instruments to a considerable degree. Pre-sales low-price competition has left many manufacturers with no profit margins reserved for after-sales services and has not been able to establish their own after-sales service network. In addition, when the customer-provided home-made equipment is provided for service (including home visits), it often feels so expensive, as if the Chinese people's labor is worthless. But it became generous when paid to foreign brands.

There are also inseparable instruments and users, many of which are mostly due to improper user operations. However, when using a foreign instrument, even if it is a failure of a foreign instrument, it still feels that it has not been used properly. It is its own problem. However, when using domestic equipment, the opposite is true. Obviously it is the operator's problem. However, it is considered that domestic instruments are not good. Some people even worse, they wear colored glasses before use, and they always say: How do I use imported instruments? how about it. . . !

The materials and accessories used in domestic instruments are equivalent to foreign ones. The production costs should be similar, but the prices are only half, one third, or even lower. This inherent manufacturer's brand awareness is not strong enough, and what is more important is that we must adopt a more developed mentality to truly change the traditional concepts, attach importance to domestically produced instruments, and respect domestically produced instrumental people.

Regarding imported instruments and homemade instruments, Xiaobian thinks that comparing the two instruments must begin with understanding the value of instrumentation. Under the influence of eliminating brand effects, it is simply to compare the technical parameters given by the manufacturers. It is difficult to distinguish between good and bad, and only practical use is the only touchstone.