The Cage

In a remote corrosion laboratory works a lone scientist. He spends weeks polishing samples, preparing cells, mixing electrolytes and analysing metals. Come the day of the testing he wires in his potentiostat expecting perfect results. The results are disappointing, too much mains pick-up. So he shortens his salt bridge, adds a noise reducing electrode and turns off the laboratory lights. Sitting in the dark his data still looks poor and he knows in his heart he should have used a Faraday Cage. But Faraday Cages are hard work. Where does the instrument go? How do the cables fit through? Which ground do you use? Where do you get them?

Here at ACM Instruments we like to help. Imagine if you always had a Faraday Cage ready and waiting for that crucial test, so that it was just as easy to use a Faraday Cage as not to use one. Your data would shine. With this exciting but practical prospect we designed The Cage. Quite simply a perfectly sized Faraday Cage with an inbuilt, state of the art, potentiostat. Complete with potentiostat, galvanostat, ZRA, frequency response analyser and sweep generator The Cage performs exactly as our Gill ACs.

Using our external power supply and internal shielding guarantees no mains enters The Cage. Your cell is connected via short screened wires to the internal connection panel. As the cables never leave the Faraday Cage there is no chance of mains pick up. At the back of the instrument is a shielded connection for an external cell, to allow it to function as a normal Gill AC and connect to any cell that does not fit into The Cage.

The size of The Cage is a generous 305mm x 305mm with a height of 480mm. That's more than enough for most cells whilst not taking up too much precious bench space. With its silver body and dark blue door it will not look out of place in the most futuristic of laboratories. If blue is not to your taste we can supply a wide range of colours to match any corporate scheme.  Also available in large sizes.

For data without equal The Cage is ready when you are, every time and everywhere. 

Femto Cage

The ACM Femto Amp is a very sensitive instrument, able to measure currents down at the level of femtoamps and offering incredibly high input impedance. We use short double screened ptfe leads of the highest standard from the Femto Amp to the cell but if the cell is not screened from electrical interference a noisy signal can be picked up in the cell and reference electrode. The way to eliminate this is by placing the Femto Amp, cell and leads into a Faraday cage. This we have done with the Femto Cage. A standard, bench standing Gill AC is used to interface to the Femto Cage where the additional potentiostat, ZRA and Electrometer are placed within the protective Faraday shield. Mains (power line) pick up is virtually eliminated. This solution can be purchased as a complete package with a Gill AC, Femto Amp and Femto Cage together, or if you already have a Gill AC or Gill 8/12 it can be ordered as a Femto Cage alone.

If the electrochemical cell is picking up electrical noise from the environment, the additional use of The Cage or Femto Cage is strongly recommended.

To invest in The Cage or Femto Cage please contact Andrew at ACM HQ, you'll be very pleased with the prices too...

Faraday Cages

Faraday cages are suitable for any setup where electrical noise pick up needs to be eliminated. We can supply faraday cages of various sizes.  Please contact us for more information.

For more information on noise pick up in your system, see Application notes.