AwTherm – Temperature-Controlled Water Activity Measurement

When Temperature Becomes the Critical Factor

In many laboratory and production environments, maintaining a constant temperature during measurement is challenging.

At the same time, water activity is highly temperature-dependent. If temperature fluctuates during measurement, the instrument may interpret changes in humidity as changes in water activity.

In practice, this means:

• Measurement uncertainty increases
• Results become difficult to compare
• Documentation may not meet internal or regulatory requirements

AwTherm addresses this by providing a controlled and stable measurement environment.

Stable Conditions from 0 to 60 °C

AwTherm allows you to perform water activity measurements at a defined and controlled temperature.

• Temperature range: 0–60 °C
• Stable chamber conditions throughout the measurement
• Ability to measure at temperatures different from ambient conditions

This is particularly relevant when:

• Your process operates at elevated or reduced temperatures
• You need comparable results across different environments
• You want to simulate real storage or production conditions

In practice, this gives you more reliable data and better decision support.

Faster Results with Predictive Measurement

Water activity measurement typically requires waiting for equilibrium between the sample and the surrounding air.

For some products, this can take a long time.

AwTherm introduces a different approach.

Using Rotronic’s accelerated measurement function, the system:

• Observes the initial part of the stabilization curve
• Applies a mathematical model
• Predicts the final equilibrium value

This means you no longer need to wait for full equilibrium in every case.

In practice, measurements that previously required up to one hour can often be completed in as little as 5 minutes.

AW Quick – Predictive Water Activity Measurement

The fast measurement capability in AwTherm is enabled by Rotronic’s AW Quick algorithm, which fundamentally changes how water activity measurements are performed.

Instead of waiting for full equilibrium between the sample and the surrounding air, AW Quick analyzes the initial stabilization phase of the measurement. Based on this early data, the system applies a mathematical model to predict the final water activity value.

This approach allows you to significantly reduce measurement time while still working with results based on actual measurement data.

In practice, this means:

• Measurements can often be completed in minutes instead of up to an hour
• High sample throughput becomes easier to manage
• Bottlenecks in laboratory workflows are reduced

When combined with AwTherm’s controlled temperature environment, AW Quick ensures that both speed and measurement stability are maintained – giving you fast results you can rely on.