Varian ProStar 400 Release note

Varian, Inc.
2700 Mitchell Drive
Walnut Creek, CA 94598-1675/USA
©Varian, Inc. 2002 03-914947-28:Rev.1
ProStar 400 Autosampler
Control
Galaxie Driver Manual

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Table of Contents
Introduction.............................................................................................. 2
General ........................................................................................................................... 2
Installation and Configuration................................................................ 3
Installing the Driver Software.......................................................................................... 3
Configuring the Communication Server.......................................................................... 6
Configuring the driver.................................................................................................... 13
Creating a New System............................................................................................. 13
Configuring the Varian ProStar 400 Autosampler..................................................... 15
Configuring the Synopsis .......................................................................................... 18
Building a Method.................................................................................. 20
Creating a New Method ................................................................................................ 20
Control Method Section for the Varian Prostar 400...................................................... 23
Injection Control......................................................................................................... 24
Starting and Viewing an Acquisition.................................................... 26
Quick Start and Sequence............................................................................................ 26
Quick Start (Single Acquisition)................................................................................. 26
Sequence .................................................................................................................. 28
Running Acquisition Status........................................................................................... 29
Viewing a Running Acquisition.................................................................................. 29
Varian ProStar 400 Autosampler Status ................................................................... 29

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Introduction
General
This document describes the installation and configuration of the
Varian ProStar 400 Autosampler driver. It also explains how to
build a control method for this driver, how to start and view a
running acquisition, and what actions are available during an
analysis.

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Installation and
Configuration
Installing the Driver Software
The Galaxie software must already be installed before installing
the driver software (refer to the Galaxie User’s Guide).
You must have administrator rights to install the driver. The
Varian drivers must be installed only on the server.
1. When you insert the Galaxie CD into your CD drive, the CD
Browser will start automatically. If it does not, you can launch
the Browser by running Install.exe from the root directory of
the CD.
2. From the CD Browser click on the Install button and then
click on the Drivers for Varian LCs or GCs button.
3. Then click on the Drivers for Varian LCs button.
The following screen will appear:

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4. Click on the Next button, read and accept the License
Agreement,and enter your driver Serial Number in the
corresponding field. The serial number is provided on your
driver serial number card and is different from the Galaxie
serial number.
Note that the serial number is case sensitive.

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Then press the Next button and click on Finish at the end of
the installation.
5. If you want to reinstall or upgrade your drivers, you will need
to run the setup (steps 1, 2 and 3) again.
The following screen will appear:
Then press Next. The drivers will be automatically reinstalled
or upgraded. Click on Finish at the end of the installation to
exit the maintenance mode.
6. To see which drivers are installed, select Tools from the
Galaxie Configuration Manager main menu and select Install
Instrument Control Drivers. The following screen containing
the installed devices appears:

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The button can be used for installing beta
or pre-release drivers. Use this button only when directed by a
technical support representative.
Configuring the Communication Server
Depending on the instrument, different hardware resources can
be used by the drivers to communicate with the chromatographic
system. The following section gives details about the
configuration of the resources used by the ProStar 400
Autosampler module.
Start the Communication Server Configuration program from
the START / PROGRAMS / GALAXIE menu.
The following information screen appears:

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Click on the button and a new
screen appears where the type of hardware used by the
instrument for communication can be configured.
In this screen, all the hardware types previously configured are
listed with their name and the name of their software protocol for
communication.

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Click on to create and configure new hardware.
The following screen appears:
In the list select the Hardware type required by the
chromatographic instrument and a new screen appears.
Following are the available choices:
CEC488 (communication by GPIB)
GPIB_INTERFACE (communication by GPIB)
NI488 (communication by GPIB)
RS232_CP3800 (communication by RS232)
RS232_INTERFACE (communication by RS232)
RS232_PC (communication by RS232)
NOTE: The Varian ProStar 400 Autosampler module uses the RS232 communication
protocol. Only this type of hardware will be detailed in this section.
Select RS232_PC or RS232_INTERFACE in the Hardware type
list. The RS232_PC protocol is used when the instrument is
directly connected to the Com port of the computer and
RS232_INTERFACE when the instrument is connected to a Star
800 MIB. One of the following screens appears depending upon
your choice:

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or
Give a logical name to the card in the Configuration Name field.
NOTE: Once the hardware has been configured, it is no longer possible to change the
Configuration Name.
If the RS232_INTERFACE type has been chosen, you must also
select the Star 800 MIB name to which the system will be

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connected. This Star 800 MIB must have been configured in the
Star 800 MIB Configuration program prior to running the
Communication Program.
NOTE: For more information about the configuration of the Star 800 MIB interface, refer
to the Configuration Manager User’s Guide.
Select the number of the Serial Port to which the instrument is
connected (on the computer or the Star 800 MIB box).
Enter the following communication parameters in the
corresponding fields, available for the ProStar 400 Autosampler
module:
Stops
1 Stop
Baud 19200
Parity EVEN
Bits 8 Bits
Flow Control NONE
Buffer Tx 4096
Buffer Rx 4096
Once the configuration of the required hardware is correctly
done, click on OK to validate (or click on Cancel to not change
the configuration).
The new hardware is now displayed in the main Hardware
Configuration screen:

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to modify the configuration of the selected hardware.
to delete the selected hardware.
to view the details of the configuration of the selected
hardware.
Click on and the following screen
appears:

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In this form, all the available hardware resources and software
protocols are listed.
NOTE: This form is dedicated to diagnostic purposes only.
Once all the hardware needed by the different kinds of
instruments have been correctly configured, click on the
button to quit the
Communication Server Configuration program.

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Configuring the driver
The driver software configuration is done in the Galaxie
Configuration Manager when a new chromatographic system is
created.
Creating a New System
1. Select the Stations/Systems tab and then select the Systems
item on the top tree view. Right click and a pop-up menu
appears.
2. Select New to open the Create / Edit System wizard.
3. Specify the system name and an optional description, then
press Next.
4. Select which station is the Acquisition/Control Server for the
system. Only one Data Acquisition/Control Server can be
named as the owner. The Sequence Engine Host option is
reserved for a particular Galaxie Chromatography Data
System application called “External sequence”, and not
provided in the standard Galaxie Chromatography Data
System software. By default accept the name of the
acquisition server as the sequence engine host. Then, press
Next.
5. In the last screen of this wizard (shown below), install the
device to be configured in the desired instrument by clicking
on .

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This button gives access to the following screen where all
the available drivers are listed. Select the Varian ProStar 400
Autosampler driver.
6. Click on the OK button. The Create / Edit System screen
shown above appears again with the name of the newly
installed device.
Highlight a device and click on to remove
a selected device from the list.
7. When all the required devices are installed, click on the OK
button to accept the list. A new screen appears and asks if

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the instrument devices should be configured. If the answer is
Yes, the instrument device configuration screens appear.
Configuring the Varian ProStar 400 Autosampler
Click on the button corresponding to the Varian ProStar
400 driver and the configuration screen appears.
The toolbar allows you to easily scroll through the configuration
windows:
to select the first configuration window.
to select the previous configuration window.
to select the next configuration window.
to select the final configuration window.

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Communication Window
Communication Settings parameter group:
In the Name field, select the name of the bus previously
configured with the Communication Server Configuration
program.
In the Autosampler Device Identifier field, enter the device
identifier of the ProStar 400 Autosampler.
NOTE: To find or set the address on the sampler itself, you must press the “F” and “4”
buttons, then the “PROG/END” button to access the device identifier setting.
NOTE: For more details about the Bus configuration, refer to the Configuring the
Communication Server section in this manual.

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Hardware Window
Options parameter group:
Check Sample tray cooling if installed in the autosampler.
Check Partial loopfill option if installed in the autosampler.
Hardware parameter group:
Tray type/Vial type:Three choices are available:
48 large vials: tray with 48 vials of 5 ml.
92 standard vials + 4 washes
96 standard vials
Loop volume (0 to 999 microliters): Enter the volume of the
installed loop. The ProStar 400 uses this value for calculating
injection volumes.

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Configuring the Synopsis
In the Overview part of the system configuration, a synopsis can
be defined for the system. This synopsis depends on the
configured devices.
1. To save the configuration of these devices, click on the OK
button.
2. Right click on the system name in the bottom part of the
Galaxie Configuration Manager screen. A pop-up menu
appears: click on Stop. Then right click on the system name
again, and click on Start.
3. Go back to the System Configuration screen (Properties
wizard). A graphic of the devices that comprise the system is
displayed in the synopsis screen. To configure the synopsis
as the real instrument configuration, move each module then
connect it appropriately. To do this, select one anchor for
each of the two modules (the selected anchors become red)
and click on the button; a connection tube will appear
between the two anchors.
Click on the to delete a selected tube, click on the
buttons to delete all the tubes.
Click on to define a background color, or on to
make the background transparent.
Click on the icon to change the grid color.
4. Once the synopsis configuration is complete, it will be
displayed in the Galaxie Chromatography Data System, in
the Systems tab. In this tab, the Overview will show the
synopsis of the system with some parameters displayed (vial
number, volume, temperature, etc.) depending on the
installed devices.

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For example, the following pictures represent the synopsis of
the Varian ProStar 400 Autosampler
Galaxie Configuration Manager screen
Galaxie Chromatography Data System screen
NOTE: Once the system has been created and correctly configured, it must be
associated with one or more projects in order to start acquisitions. Remember to check
the Control and View boxes in the Galaxie Configuration Manager’ Projects Properties.
For more details about the creation and configuration of a system, refer to the Galaxie
Configuration Manager User’s Guide.
Click on the button to print the current configuration.