Ethos Design - Milestone Inc.

ETHOS DESIGN FEATURES

Construction and Safety

The ETHOS is the most rugged closed vessel microwave system available. Unlike other systems that are designed around an open steel frame inside a molded plastic cabinet, the ETHOS features an 18/8 stainless steel cavity surrounded by a cabinet of solid 18/8 stainless steel, fitted with a heavy duty, spring mounted door for optimum operator safety and long operating lifetime. The door and cavity have a multi-layer PTFE plasma coating, applied at 350 °C, with a 5 year warranty against corrosion. Unlike other systems, the user control electronics and user display have been moved out of the mainframe into a separate control module, protecting them from corrosion caused by acid vapor.

The ETHOS is constructed with a self-sealing, all stainless steel door, which is mounted on spring-loaded high impact steel bars on both sides of the mainframe. Although Milestone’s unique vent-and-reseal vessels and unmatched cavity volume means that a sudden over-pressurization of the cavity itself is extremely unlikely, should it occur, the self-sealing door will release pressure via its spring mounts and instantly reseal, protecting the operator. No other manufacturer offers a self-sealing door: other designs rely on simple latches housed in plastic to hold the door closed under normal operation.

With a redesigned cavity of over 70 liters, the ETHOS is capable of accommodating larger rotors to improve productivity and throughput. The SK-15, MAXI-24 HP and MAXI-44 rotors provide high pressure and high throughput capabilities. The larger cavity is inherently much safer since a larger volume can better contain any gases escaping from vessels in the event of a sudden over-pressurization.

The ETHOS UP is equipped with SafeVIEW, a high definition digital camera interfaced with the instrument terminal. It enables observation of the digestion while fully protected by the all-stainless steel door of the instrument. The terminal displays the video of the entire run in real time alongside the digestion parameters.

Additional Features

The ETHOS features powerful dual magnetrons combined with all new rotors, allowing for digestion of the toughest samples. The dual 950-watt magnetrons are capable of outputting a total of 1900 watts. This makes the UP the most powerful microwave digestion system on the market.

Additionally, the system employs a rotating diffuser that uniformly distributes microwaves throughout the cavity. As a result, samples are heated evenly, resulting in complete, reproducible sample digestions.

To match its impressive power, the ETHOS is equipped with the most advanced and easy-to-use reaction sensors for complete control of digestion conditions.

Milestone’s easyTEMP contactless sensor directly controls the temperature of all samples and solutions without the use of a physical probe, providing accurate temperature feedback to ensure complete digestion in all vessels. This technology combines the fast and accurate reading of an in-situ temperature sensor with the flexibility of an infrared sensor.

With easyTEMP, every vessel becomes a reference, allowing for flexibility in digesting differing matrices simultaneously and enhanced safety.

In combination with our ‘vent-and-reseal’ vessel technology, these sensors ensure complete and safe digestions without any loss of volatile compounds. Additionally, contact-less pressure monitoring allows for control of all vessels simultaneously preventing any leaking or venting. Direct pressure control is also available in a single reference vessel. These sensors ensure complete, safe, and reproducible, digestions without the loss of volatile elements.

The ETHOS UP software provides digestion history traceability and temperature measurement for every sample. Temperature diagrams and profiles are displayed in real-time and can be saved on the ETHOS UP terminal.

Pressure control is much more critical in systems that use burst disk technology. To ensure the highest quality control possible, Milestone has designed pressure sensors that are the most advanced available. The direct pressure sensor is a transducer design while indirect pressure control is via a unique P2 sensor, which is a highly sensitive electronic nose that can detect minute quantities of NOx vapors that diffuse through the vessel walls at high pressure. The P2 pressure sensor effectively measures pressure in all vessels and will reduce microwave power when NOx levels exceed the set concentration.