Equipment
>Evaporators
>Matcapper & decapper
>Heat sealers
Evaporators
The Evaporators are targeted to remove the traditional laboratory `bottleneck` of solvent evaporation from microplates prior to analysis or reconstitution in buffer.
These evaporators provide the edge to laboratories looking to optimise microplate sample preparation productivity. Significant increases in sample throughput are achieved through advanced evaporator head technology and an innovative manifold design, which directly injects heated nitrogen into each individual well of the microplate simultaneously.
The evaporators have been designed to be simple to install, operate and maintain. Installation just requires connection to a gas supply/cylinder and standard mains socket, safety of operation is ensured as the CE marked compact unit fits into all fume cupboards.
Minivap™
The MiniVap is purpose designed for the low usage research and development departments where low numbers of individual plates need drying.
The MiniVap is simple to operate and maintain and installation just requires connection to a gas supply and standard mains socket.
With manual controls of the needle depth, gas temperature and flow rate it allows fine controls and so quicker drying times than other standard methods.
Features
- Quicker dry down times than standard methods
- Tests have shown that the MiniVap can evaporate 500µl of methanol in less than 6 minutes
- Designed for any SBS/ANSI 96 well plate
- Simple to install and operate
- Easy adjustments of temperature, gas flow rates and needle depth into the wells
- Compact footprint, will fit into all standard fume cupboards
Ultravap™
Where the MiniVap™ is a manual system the Ultravap™ is an electronically sophisticated unit which can be used as a stand alone or driven by a computer.
After empirical data for dry down has been produced, this then can be entered into the Ultravap’s memory for future use.
The Ultravap will then evaporate plate contents quickly, by keeping the heated gas needles close to the liquid surface at all times in the concentration process, without manual intervention.
Features
- Designed for heat sensitive and thermally labile samples
- 9 different drying programmes can be retained in the memory
- Ability to upload and download methods
- Robotic plate stage automatically moves plates up and down
- RS232 allows remote control via PC
- Removes most stubborn solvents in just minutes
- Can evaporate 500µl methanol in 5 minutes
- Compact footprint allows the Ultravap to fit into all standard fume cupboards
- Choice of straight or curved dry down needles
- 110 volt or 240 volt application
Matcapper & Decapper
Matcapper
For laboratories having to seal medium numbers of microplates the MatCapper offers an affordable solution.
The MatCapper being a compact and portable instrument is very easy to use.
Requiring only one operation of the system to produce an accurate and tight seal on a wide range of both collection and shallow well microplates.
The seals used are EVA or silicone mats which work by friction fit.
Decapper
Porvair Sciences has developed the drain mat decapper for the safe removal of the drain spout sealing mats from filtration plates after combinatorial chemistry procedures.
In combinatorial chemistry organic solvents need to be released from the filtration plates after agitation and incubation, leaving the relevant resins retained by the filters in the microplate for further analysis.
The decapper is designed to remove the drain mat safely in one easy action avoiding spillage of any organic solvent which is collected in a reservoir and discarded.
Heat sealers
Of the various methods for sealing microplates, heat sealing has become the preferred option.
It allows an air tight seal without the complications of adhesives being applied to a plate.
Porvair Sciences has developed different units which are for heat sealing.
Thermobond® II Heat Sealer
The Thermobond II manual heat sealer has been designed to seal polypropylene collection plates, PCR plates, microplates and deepwell blocks with a specially prepared pierceable film or foil.
This prevents sample evaporation and leakage during storage and transportation. The Thermobond II applies heat through the surface of the film, creating a fine ‘melt’ of the coating to the plate being sealed. No adhesives are used.
After sealing, the plate can be pierced and the liquid easily pipetted. The new Thermobond II features greater ergonomic design to reduce RSI risk whilst creating a reproducible seal every time.
Features
- Plane parallel action gives even sealing across the plate
- Reciprocating handle design reduces the risk of operator fatigue
Digital timer for reproducible sealing
Digital temperature display for optimal sealing
Smart industrial design combines ruggedness with ease of use
Interchangeable sample mounting blocks and spacer/locator plates, which allow a very wide range of sample plates to be sealed from 384-well plates to storage blocks and bioblocks
Miniseal® Plate Sealer
Ideal for low to medium throughput plate sealing, the MiniSeal offers convenience with versatility by operating on electricity only, overcoming the need for air compressors.
All types of microplate can be sealed on MiniSeal using the simple to set-up console.
Features
- No compressed air required
- Dual voltage 110v & 220v
- Semi-automatic operation
- Compact 181mm x 270mm footprint
- Versatile Seals standard, deep well and PCR plates
- Seal time from 1 - 9.9 seconds
- Seals plates from 3mm to 62mm high
- Temperature control up to 200˚C
- Constant, factory set pressure for reproducible seals
- Unique twin button safety system
- Weighs only 8.5kg
- Move to any area for operation
TriSeal™ Heat Sealer
TriSeal is an automated plate sealer that can produce an accurate and tight seal on any SBS standard plate to a maximum height of 45mm. Its average sealing time is 20 minutes for 100 plates.
This is achieved using a unique turntable design, which allows simultaneous loading, unloading and sealing giving higher throughput than any other sealing machine.
Features
- Automatically adjusts height no adjustment required
- Multi-station turntable design
- Easy foil or film loading
- Adjustable sealing temperature from 50şC up to 195şC
- Adjustable sealing time from 1 to 30sec
- Universal power supply, no transformer needed
- Only 80bar of compressed air needed
- Software facility for automation via RS232 port
- Stand alone keypad for operation and programming
- CE/UL marked
- Fault diagnosis software