SOLICITATION NOTICE
66 -- INTEGRATING NEPHELOMETER & CONDENSATION PARTICLE COUNTER
- Notice Date
- 7/20/2006
- Notice Type
- Solicitation Notice
- NAICS
- 334516
— Analytical Laboratory Instrument Manufacturing
- Contracting Office
- Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Mountain Region Acquisition Division, 325 Broadway - MC3, Boulder, CO, 80305-3328
- ZIP Code
- 80305-3328
- Solicitation Number
- NRMJ1060126KAR
- Response Due
- 8/8/2006
- Archive Date
- 8/10/2006
- Description
- The U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), proposes to negotiate on a sole source basis contract under the authority of 41 U.S.C. 253(c)(1) with TSI Incorporated for an integrating nephelometer and condensation particle counter. The following critical specifications are required: SPECIFICATIONS FOR NEPHELOMETER 1. WAVELENGTHS: Continuous operation at three wavelengths, centered at 450, 550, and 700 nm is required. Optical filter band pass shall be less than 40 nm at full width, half maximum (FWHM). The wavelength controlling filters shall be mounted such that they can be easily removed for checking their transmission characteristics or replacing with a different wavelength. The overall wavelength response shall be measured, not just based on a composite of manufacturer's specifications. 2. ANGULAR INTEGRATION: Continuous operation in two angular integration ranges is required. As a minimum, the total scatter channel shall cover angles of 7 degrees to 170 degrees. The back scatter channel shall cover angles of 90 degrees to 170 degrees. 3. SENSITIVITY: Aerosol scattering and hemispheric backscattering coefficient at 60 second averaging time of 0.5 inverse mega meters (5E 7 inverse meters) at all wavelengths. Sensitivity is defined as two times the standard deviation of the measured value when sampling filtered, particle free air. 4. BACKGROUND DRIFT: The drift in the instrument's background signal, as determined when measuring filtered air at one hour intervals, shall be less than 0.1 inverse mega meters (equivalent signal, all six channels). 5. OPTICAL BACKGROUND: The non Rayleigh optical background shall be less than 5 inverse mega meters (equivalent signal, all three total scattering channels). 6. AIR CHOPPER: Shall allow total particle filter to be switched automatically into sample air stream at operator selected intervals for operator selected duration, to allow measurement of the instrument's background signal. 7. REFERENCE CHOPPER: Shall allow measurement of light intensity of a reference object illuminated by main lamp, as well as measurement of photo detector?s dark signal. 8. RESPONSE TIME: Sensors, measuring chamber and air pathways shall be designed to ensure a system response time of less than 5 sec. The response time is defined as the time for the signal to change by 63 percent of the total change in response to a step change in scattering coefficient, e.g., when a filter is switched into the incoming air stream. 9. PARTICLE TRANSMISSION CHARACTERISTICS: Losses of unit density particles in the size range 0.05 to 5 micrometer diameter shall be less than 5 percent when operated at a flow rate that provides the required response time as defined above. 10. TEMPERATURE AND PRESSURE SENSORS: Shall be built into the nephelometer to allow continuous corrections for changes in Rayleigh scattering coefficient of air within the sample volume. The calibration curves for the temperature and pressure sensors shall be alterable via the RS232C serial port. 11. RELATIVE HUMIDITY SENSOR: Shall be built into the nephelometer to provide a continuous record of the relative humidity inside the sampling chamber. The calibration curve for the relative humidity sensor shall be alterable via the RS232C serial port. 12. CALIBRATION: The following two calibration schemes shall be supported. The first shall use filtered air as the downscale calibration point and carbon dioxide as the upscale calibration point. The second scheme shall use helium or a vacuum as the downscale calibration point and filtered air as the upscale calibration point. 13. AVERAGING TIME: Shall be selectable from 1 to 3600 seconds via serial port. 14. VACUUM INTEGRITY: The optical unit shall be vacuum tight, determined as follows. The time for the pressure in the sealed sampling chamber to rise from 100 hPa below ambient pressure to 90 hPa below ambient pressure shall be at least 1 hour when the ambient pressure is 1000 hPa. The minimum time varies as the reciprocal of the ambient pressure if the test is conducted at other pressures. 15. OUTPUTS: Digital (RS232C) output shall be provided. The RS232C serial output shall include instrument status, temperature, pressure and light scattering coefficient (total and backscatter channels, three wavelengths each). Additional details of the RS232C interface protocol are supplied below. 16. INSTRUMENT SETUP AND CONTROL: Shall be accomplished from the front panel of the instrument or through the RS-232C serial port. Setup and calibration parameters shall be stored in non volatile memory so that they are retained when the instrument is turned off. 17. POWER SUPPLY: The nephelometer shall be capable of running on +28VDC, 120VAC at 60Hz, or 240VAC at 50Hz. 18. ENVIRONMENTAL: The nephelometer shall operate according to the preceeding requirements in the following environments: Room temperature range 10 to 40 degrees C, room pressure 100 to 1100 hPa, room air relative humidity non condensing, sample air relative humidity 0 to 95 percent. User and RS232C interface (Nephelometer): 1. The user interface shall be designed so that any command can be entered from the RS232C serial port. This requires that front panel switches, if any, shall send commands that change the operating state, rather than set the state of the instrument. Since front panel switch positions do not indicate the operating state of the instrument, another means of providing a visual indication of operating state shall be provided (LED's, or perhaps the main display) if the instrument uses front panel switches to change the operating state. 2. Commands issued to the nephelometer via the serial port shall follow a simple protocol: a short command identifier (2 to 3 letters), a numeric parameter (if needed by the command), and a carriage return to terminate the command. The instrument shall accept commands at any time and shall acknowledge command receipt with a short message (e.g., "OK" or "Invalid command "or "Invalid parameter"). 3. Three types of reports shall be transmittable by the nephelometer, in either a polled or unpolled mode (user selectable). In unpolled mode, data reports and status reports shall be sent at the end of a user specified time period (default value is the same as the instrument averaging time) or whenever the operating state of the instrument changes. In polled mode, reports shall only be sent in response to a specific command issued by the user. 4. Reports shall consist of printable ASCII characters, with the various parameter fields separated by commas or blank spaces. A status field shall indicate the position of the zero air valve and the current operating state (purge, count ambient, count background). When the instrument is counting ambient air, then the data values shall be the ambient light scattering coefficients. When the instrument is counting background, the data values shall be the background "scattering coefficients". Each report shall be terminated by a carriage return and line feed pair of characters. 5. Data reports shall consist of the measured values of aerosol scattering coefficient and aerosol hemispheric backscattering coefficient for each wavelength, plus the temperature, pressure and relative humidity in the sampling volume. All values shall be output in SI units. 6. Status reports shall be transmitted in response to a user command, and shall include the current values of all parameters which define the operating state of the instrument. Critical status information shall be included in the status field of data reports. SPECIFICATIONS FOR CPC 1. OPERATING MODE: The instrument shall provide a continuous measurement of the particle number concentration. 2. DETECTION LIMIT (PARTICLE SIZE): The instrument shall have a counting efficiency of at least 50 percent for 10 nm diameter particles, and at least 85 percent for 20 nm diameter particles. 3. DETECTION LIMIT (PARTICLE NUMBER CONCENTRATION): Single particle counting is required. False background counts, when the instrument is sampling filtered air, shall be less than 1 particle per 100 seconds. 4. WORKING FLUID: Water. The CPC shall have a liquid level sensor that initiates automatic filling from an external bottle, when needed. 5. RESPONSE TIME: Sensors, measuring chamber and air pathways shall be designed to ensure a system response time of less than 2 sec. The response time is defined as the time for the signal to change by 63 percent of the total change in response to a step change in particle number concentration, e.g., when a filter is switched into the incoming air stream. 6. OUTPUTS: Digital (RS232C) output shall be provided. The RS232C serial output shall include instrument status, operating temperatures, and particle number concentration. Additional details of the RS232C interface protocol are supplied below. 7. INSTRUMENT SETUP AND CONTROL: Shall be accomplished from the front panel of the instrument or through the RS232C serial port. Setup and calibration parameters shall be stored in non volatile memory so that they are retained when the instrument is turned off. 8. POWER SUPPLY: The CPC shall be capable of running on 120VAC at 60Hz, or 240VAC at 50Hz. 9. ENVIRONMENTAL: The CPC shall operate according to the preceding requirements in the following environments: Room temperature range 10 to 40 degrees C, room pressure 500 to 1100 hPa, room air relative humidity non condensing, sample air relative humidity 0 to 95 percent. User and RS232C interface (CPC): 1. The user interface shall be designed so that any command can be entered from the RS232C serial port. This requires that front panel switches, if any, shall send commands that change the operating state, rather than set the state of the instrument. Since front panel switch positions do not indicate the operating state of the instrument, another means of providing a visual indication of operating state shall be provided (LED's, or perhaps the main display) if the instrument uses front panel switches to change the operating state. 2. Commands issued to the CPC via the serial port shall follow a simple protocol: a short command identifier (2 to 3 letters), a numeric parameter (if needed by the command), and a carriage return to terminate the command. The instrument shall accept commands at any time and shall acknowledge command receipt with a short message (e.g., "OK" or "Invalid command "or "Invalid parameter"). 3. Data reports shall be transmittable by the CPC, in either a polled or unpolled mode (user selectable). In unpolled mode, data reports and status reports shall be sent at the end of a user specified time period (default value is the same as the instrument averaging time) or whenever the operating state of the instrument changes. In polled mode, reports shall only be sent in response to a specific command issued by the user. 4. Reports shall consist of printable ASCII characters, with the various parameter fields separated by commas or blank spaces. A status field shall indicate the current operating state. Each report shall be terminated by a carriage return and/or line feed character. All values shall be output in SI units. This procurement is being conducted per FAR Part 13.1, Simplified Acquisition Procedures (under $100K). This notice is for information purposes only. No competitive solicitation is planned. Based on product research and professional knowledge, TSI is the only vendor who can meet our critical specifications. Information submitted in response to this notice will be used solely to determine whether or not use of competitive procedures to fulfill this requirement would be in the Government's best interest and must address qualifications pertinent to this requirement. Anticipated award date will be August 10, 2006.
- Place of Performance
- Address: 325 BROADWAY, BOULDER, CO
- Zip Code: 80305
- Country: UNITED STATES
- Zip Code: 80305
- Record
- SN01093658-W 20060722/060720220459 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
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