Spectrophotometer helps prevent sunburn

Edited by the Laboratorytalk editorial team Mar 28, 2008

The UV-2000S is a dedicated UV spectrophotometer that measures the diffuse transmittance of a sunscreen sample applied to a transparent substrate material in the UVA and UVB bands, from 280 to 400nm

Pro-Lite Technology has released the UV-2000S from Labsphere, a dedicated sunscreen, in-vitro ultra-violet transmittance analyser which has been designed to exceed the requirements of the COLIPA (the European Cosmetic Industry Association) UVA Protection Factor (UVA-PF) method and support the development of higher protection factor sunscreens.

The UV-2000S is an evolution of the original Labsphere UV-1000S launched in 1997.

It retains the speed and ease of use that made the UV-1000S so popular, but incorporates improvements that ensures that it exceeds the requirements of the Colipa UVA-PF method.

The UV-2000S still employs high speed spectrometers with diode array detectors for instantaneous spectral acquisition, as well as a Spectralon integrating sphere with xenon flashlamp for diffuse illumination without sample heating.

Furthermore, Labsphere has responded to feedback from UV-1000S users and incorporated features into the UV-2000S that make the operator's job much easier.

As an example of this, the UV-2000S comes as standard with a sample positioning stage that allows the user to repeatably position slides for multi-point measurements both before and after solar irradiation.

The UV-2000S builds upon the success of the original UV-1000S instrument which became the de-facto standard for in-vitro sunscreen SPF and UVA ratio measurements.

The popularity of the UV-1000S was as a result of Labsphere's technical innovation combined with well-regarded applications support provided by Labsphere itself and by Pro-Lite.

It then calculates the sun protection factor (SPF), UVA to UVB transmittance ratio, critical wavelength, the Colipa UVA-PF and the 2008 Boots Star Rating factor.

In-vitro sunscreen testing as facilitated by the UV-2000S allows sunscreen formulators to bring products to market quickly and at reduced cost.