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Rion particle counter used to manage water purity at the Kamiokande facilityParticle counters are one of Rion’s main product categories. ese instruments are capable of making precise measure-ments of particles suspended in gases or liquids. ey’ve proven to be powerful tools for assessing cleanliness in clean-rooms for manufacturing semi con duc-tors and at panel displays (FPD); at pharmaceutical and food production sites; and at hospitals and operation rooms.A leading company in the particle measurement eld, Rion continues to pioneer the world’s most advanced tech nologies. In 1977, Rion developed the KC-01, the rst domestic airborne particle counter. A suite of aordable, high-performance, all-in-one products followed. ere are two methods for measuring minute particles. One is the light scattering method, in which parti-cles are irradiated with a semiconductor laser and the scattered light is detected. e other is the light obscuration meth-od, in which particles are passed before a light source and the reduction in light intensity detected. Rion oers models based on both methods. e most nota-ble feat of Rion’s liquid-borne particle counter to date is its application at the neutrino detection facility used by Nobel laureate Masatoshi Koshiba. e gigantic Kamiokande neutrino obser-vatory had to be lled with massive volumes of pure water. A Rion product was used to manage its cleanliness.Standalone products can’t keep up with the timesWhile Rion’s particle counters attest to our technological capabilities, unique solutions require not just a focus on hardware itself, but on soware. is area of business was driven by Kyushu Rion, originally a distributor of Rion products, which evolved as it began to respond to the needs of its customers.Kyushu Rion had sold particle counters in packages that included peripheral devices and soware. Rion was responsible for supplying the rm-ware of the measuring instruments. But it was Kyushu Rion that set out to develop PC soware as a part of its sales strategy. While it essentially served as a distribu-tor, Kyushu Rion was unique in pursu-ing peripheral device development and having an internal engineering section. “Rion itself was mainly an instrument manufacturer,” recalls Hiroki Yoshida, who is in charge of engineering. “ey mostly did sensor development. We developed interfaces, serving as a bridge to customers in our businesses.” Kyushu Rion’s Kazutoshi Kushiyama adds the following: “We would have been happy if the particle counters were all our customers needed. But, at the time, there was erce competition in terms of sales of particle counters in Kyushu.”Rion used to oer a dedicated so-ware application that operated on NEC PC-98 computers, but all future so-ware development had been put on hold. It wasn’t yet common practice at the time to connect instruments to PCs. Our foreign competitors oered so-ware that ran on IBM PC/AT computers, but no Japanese versions were available. Kushiyama was convinced the use of PCs would eventually become the norm for measuring instruments.“If we plan to increase our sales of particle counters, we need to provide PC soware to control the instruments and handle data processing.”is was Kushiyama’s proposal to Yoshida, “If the main company won’t move forward with soware develop-ment, why don’t we do it ourselves at Kyushu Rion, though it’s a very dicult task?”Moved by Kushiyama’s passion, Yoshida promptly declared, “Well then, let’s do it!”e days of developing products in the dark without sucient informationKushiyama began promoting the soware to his valued customers imm-edi ately, before its actual development, KC-01 airborne particle counterIntroduced in 1976, the KC-01 was the first airborne particle counter model. The KC-01 featured a minimum measurable particle diameter of 0.3 μm, first-rate performance for counters at the time. It cost less than 1 million yen, a price point that made the counter very popular among our customers.Hiroki YoshidaEngineering Department, Kyushu Rion. Joined Kyushu Rion in 1983. He has been assigned to the repair and maintenance, inspection, calibration, and installation of hearing aids, audiometers, sound level meters, vibration meters, and particle counters. In 1986, he began designing and producing customized products. He developed an RP Monitor in 1996. His cur-rent focus is on the education and training of his successors.Internal/external InternetK1701 Ver.3K1906Signal towerAlarm status indicatorKA-03KA-05KA-02KC-31MAlarm status indicatorConverterConverterK1813RIONPARTICLE SENSOR KA-03RIONPARTICLE SENSOR KA-02RP Monitor Evo10K1701 (Ver. 3)(for multi-point monitoring systems)RP Monitor Evo10 K1701 (Ver. 3) can simultaneously control up to 31 particle counters in serial mode or multi-mode R (up to 160 units with expanded connection).On the left is a schematic image of connections between devices.3