[RASMB] How to run an AUC in an earthquake...

[Susumu UCHIYAMA]

Hi Ren,

Beckman has no guarantee about the trouble by earthquake.
As John mentioned, what Beckman says is, even if some trouble happens in the chamber, the rotor or
crushed rotor will never scramble out of the chamber.

Japanese guideline to overcome the trouble from earthquake is, (1) buildings are designed as strong
enough against a great magnitude earthquake, this is strictly regulated by the Japanese law.
Actually earthquake this time, most of the buildings are not collapsed by the tumbling, (2) Tall
shelves in the room are tightly fixed to the wall. (3) Shelves are all equipped with a bar to
protect small staffs tumbling down.
Japanese tall building is designed as seismic isolation structure in this case higher floor
experiences higher magnitude.

Overall, at first, for the protection against shaking up and down, the building itself should be
reinforced.
You can protect instrument against horizontal oscillation by fixing the instrument to the floor.

In the case of Big earthqukake in 1995 (magnitute 7.), AUC in Osaka University (Osaka University is
50 km from the earthquake center), upper part of one Model-E slink aside and laser-attached Rayleigh
optical system of another Model-E become unaligned but XL-As and XL-Is have no damage.

Susumu

///////////////////////////////////////////////////
Susumu Uchiyama, Ph. D., Assistant Professor
Department of Biotechnology,
Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University
2-1 Yamadaoka, Suita 565-0871, Osaka, Japan
TEL: 81-6-6879-4215
FAX: 81-6-6879-7442
E-mai : suchi at bio.eng.osaka-u.ac.jp
http://www.bio.eng.osaka-u.ac.jp/cl/
///////////////////////////////////////////////////




(2011/05/18 10:11), John Philo wrote:
> Ren,
> First, I'm sure Beckman will tell you that the centrifuge is designed (and tested) to totally
> contain a complete rotor failure even at 60K rpm. I've seen the 'block house' lab where they do
> this testing, and believe me the guy who does this loves his work! Some of the prep rotors have
> significantly higher total kinetic energy than the analytical, so really if one is going to make a
> fuss about this they are the bigger worry.
> Further, my XL-A was actually running when the LA area was hit by a magnitude 6.7 earthquake (in
> '94 if my memory is working). No damage whatsoever (just a lost run due to lack of electricity). I
> don't recall clearly what the rotor speed was at the time but it was likely 60K and almost surely
> 40K or higher. Amgen was 15-20 km from the epicenter of that one, and there was significant damage
> to the labs and buildings in the area.
> So, as your Aussie neighbors say, "no worries".
> John
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *From:* rasmb-bounces at rasmb.bbri.org [mailto:rasmb-bounces at rasmb.bbri.org] *On Behalf Of *Renwick
> Dobson
> *Sent:* Tuesday, May 17, 2011 5:19 PM
> *To:* rasmb at rasmb.bbri.org
> *Cc:* HRoberts at beckman.com
> *Subject:* [RASMB] How to run an AUC in an earthquake...
>
> Hi All,
>
> Some of you may know that there has been a lot of seismic activity around Christchurch, New
> Zealand in the past year, and this is predicted to continue for some time.
>
> I'm in the process of purchasing an AUC for my new lab at the University of Canterbury,
> Christchurch, but this has now stalled because of safety concerns, i.e. I've been asked whether it
> is safe to run an AUC in a 6.0 magnitude aftershock. There are AUC instruments in other areas of
> the world where earthquakes occur, for instance Japan or California, and I wondered how others
> have overcome this problem. Are there any particular safety procedures that are implemented? What
> are the real risks? Could the rotor come through the shielding at 45K if it did move?
>
> The issue has evolved largely from running preparative ultracentrifuges, which often run at higher
> speeds. However, it seems that people are happy to run bench top centrifuges at to say 20K without
> major safety concerns. Perhaps the best argument is simply to state that we run the AUC at lower
> speeds compared to preparative ultracentrifuges? Or perhaps only do runs overnight? Or have the
> AUC on the ground floor, where ground movement is lower compared to upper floors?
>
> Any advice to overcome this issue would be welcomed!
>
> Cheers
> Ren
>
> ********************************************************************
> Dr Renwick Dobson
> Lecturer
> School of Biological Sciences
> University of Canterbury
> Christchurch
> New Zealand
> E: renwick.dobson at canterbury.ac.nz
> T: ++64 (03) 364-2987
> F: ++64 (03) 364-2590
> http://www.biol.canterbury.ac.nz/people/dobson.shtml
> ********************************************************************
>
>
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