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TECHNOLOGY
NIOSH Updates Permeation Calculator Tool
The NIOSH National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory (NPPTL) released a new version of the Permeation Calculator, a software program for analyzing chemical permeation test data. The tool works for both closed-loop and open-loop permeation testing, and is intended to help industrial hygienists avoid performing labor-intensive permeation parameter calculation by hand. According to NIOSH, the Permeation Calculator can also help prevent inconsistency among different experimenters and ensure identical permeation parameters from a particular permeation test data file.
The latest version of the Permeation Calculator, available for download from NIOSH's
website
, is capable of reading data files in the latest Excel format and features an updated graphical user interface.
“Data analysis for chemical protective clothing permeation testing involves a number of equations and experimental factors,” NIOSH’s website reads. “Experimenter bias and possible calculation errors are critical issues when determining permeation parameters, including various breakthrough times, steady-state permeation rate, cumulative permeation, [and] average permeation rate.”