COMPARISON OF THE SIMPLEX AND POWELL METHODS WITH A WEIGHTED RESPONSE FUNCTION FOR THE OPTIMIZATION OF FIA SYSTEMS

An experimental comparison between the relative performances of the Powell and simplex methods for the optimization of a Flow Injection Analysis (FIA) system for the determination of nitrite in water is reported. An evaluation of the advantages of using a weighted linear combination of two variables (related to sensitivity and sample throughput rate) as the response function in the guidance of the optimization procedures towards different practical requirements is also included. Both methods proved to be effective for the optimization, none having shown definite advantages over the other. The use of a weighted response function in these optimization methods proved to be useful for assessing the versatility of FIA systems.