TA Instruments data files (Universal Analysis, .001)

TA Instruments’ Q-series control software (Thermal Advantage) writes numbered data files (.001, .002, …) that Universal Analysis opens. OpenReadout returns every stored signal as one trace against time, with the instrument, operator, sample and method steps.

Derived from public DSC Q20 files of two depositors and their Universal Analysis exports. Provenance: docs/provenance/ta-universal-analysis.md. Crate: openreadout-thermal.

format id	files	reads	confidence
ta-universal-analysis	.001, .002, … written by TA Instruments’ Q-series control software (Thermal Advantage), read by Universal Analysis	every stored signal, instrument, serial, operator, sample, size, date, method steps	evidence rubric (docs/assurance.md)

Not read: TRIOS .tri files (a different container).

Layout

UTF-16LE with a byte-order mark. A header of key value lines (CR LF), beginning CLOSED (a finished run) or OPEN: VERSION, Instrument (model and firmware, DSC Q20 V24.11 Build 124), Module, Operator, File, InstSerial, Sample, Size (value and unit), Method, Comment, Xcomment, calibration lines (Kcell, Calib, TempCal, …), Nsig, Sig1 … SigN (Time (min), Temperature (°C), Heat Flow (mW), …), Date, Time, OrgMethod (one per method step). A form feed (U+000C) ends it.

Then one byte, the signal count (equal to Nsig; a file where it differs is refused), and records of Nsig float32 values (little-endian) in Sig order, until the end-of-data record (first value −100.0). A file without that record is read to its last whole record with a warning (no_end_record); a run without records is read as empty (no_records).

What the reader returns

• One trace run: channel 0 time (s; the file stores minutes), then every signal in file order, named from its label (temperature, heat_flow, weight, rev_heat_flow, sample_purge_flow, …: lower case, words joined by _) with the unit in its label; the label itself in extra.label. Values as stored (float32).
• Experiment: vendor TA Instruments, model and firmware from Instrument, serial, operator, sample name, sample_mass (from Size in mg), comment, the start (Date and Time, the instrument’s local time), method_steps, duration; technique DSC, thermogravimetry or thermal analysis from the model (DSC …, TGA …, SDT …).
• Vendor tree ta: every header line.

Validation

tests/series_oracle/mod.rs: the depositors’ Universal Analysis exports of six runs: every exported signal (matched by label) at 256 rows equals ours to the export’s printed precision (rows matched by time; the modulated run’s export is resampled, compared by interpolation within 0.3 % of the column’s range), and the sample, operator, size and start in the export header.

Vocabulary (public API of openreadout-thermal, TA Instruments)

identifier	meaning
TaReader	reader of TA Instruments data files (.001, …)
TA_FORMAT_ID	ta-universal-analysis

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How this reader was derived, file by file: provenance log.