An update on the RS2000 irradiator

20th of July

Dear Users,

Following up on the issue of the RS2000, we will replace the high tension cable and the X-Ray tube of the RS2000 this Thursday 23rd of July. The intervention will last a day and we will keep you updated on post-maintenance test so that you can come back to your normal routine on the irradiator. Sorry again for the inconvenience.

For people that didn’t move yet from the old Ceasium irradiator to the RS2000, please be aware that the RS-2000 is able to replace the Ceasium irradiator for mice and cells and that the irradiation on the RS-2000 is even higher and such shorter than to the Ceasium one. Moreover, it is also safer as it is not a permanent source of radiation. X-rays are emitted only when the intrument is ON.

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June 2020–

Dear IVIF users,

The RS2000 irradiator has been repaired but still requires the change of expensive parts. We can not guarantee any fault.

Indeed the reparation has been performed by ourselves as the technician in charge of the irradiator is still not able to travel.
The issue was the formation of an electrical arc at the cable linking the generator to the X-ray tube. We managed to clean up the cable and apply high tension grease to it for insulation. We could run a warm up and an exposure test. We are still waiting for the technician to come back to us to replace the defective parts.
Meanwhile and to play safe, we have set a threshold of 160 kV instead of 225 kV. This means that the dose rate is lower than usual ( 1.08 Gy/min and not 1.8 Gy/min). Please take this value into account for your future experiments. Please report to us any issue on the instrument and do not hesitate to ask for help or replacement on the Ceasium iraadiator

Thank you for your patience.

RS2000 out of order

Dear IVIF users,

Unfortunately the RS2000 irradiator showed an ARC fault again and as such we strongly discourage any further use. In case of very precious ongoing experiments we can make use of the cesium irradiator. Contact us for further information. 

Thank you for your understanding.

Info COVID-19

Dear IVIF users,

We received instructions from the Dean’s office concerning our activities. We should not come on site unless emergency or help with on-going experiments that have to be completed ASAP. Do not hesitate to contact us by phone or by email if you need help or assistance.

We will be able to trouble shoot by phone or to connect to the acquisition PCs by teamviewer. If not enough, then  we can come on site. Our visit will  be only for this particular matter. Once a week we will double check consumables and make sure you are not running out of isoflurane. If you have a particular protocol to apply that requires us, please tell us in advance so we can plan to be there. We have been asked to keep track of each move we do on site.

Thank you for your understanding.

Stay safe.