Implementation of light-scattering instrumentation: Innovation, design and development

Product design invokes a complex process which integrates technical issues with user needs, finance and marketing within a product development strategy for the short, medium and long terms. Failure to understand these issues and their integration will significantly impact on the success of the resulting product or system. This implies that non-technical issues, which can sometimes be afforded a lower status, are given an equal weighting from the initiation of the design process.The chapter looks at this process in the context of a novel form of light-scattering instrument targeted at aggregation analysis. It considers the nature of the application and the need for an instrument of the type proposed along with generic considerations associated with the progression from idea through concept to product and beyond. It then uses the development profile for an advanced protein aggregation monitor, the Norton NS4910 PAM, as an illustrative example.