- MINIFOR control unit equipped with a high precision thermal massflow meter (0 - 5000 ml/min)
- Offers high quality regulation of dissolved oxygen (DO) by air flow rate variation in the fermentor - bioreactor
- Gas flow measurement is independent of pressure and temperature
- Precise and reproducible air flow rate with a proprietary proportional needle valve
- Build up the gas station (MINI-4-GAS) with individual thermal massflow controllers
- MASSFLOW controller for automatic control of pH and pO2 by proportional and continuous gas flow control
- Exact measurement of gas volume utilized
- The flow rate can be programmed and the transferred gas volume totalized with the optional flow INTEGRATOR
MASSFLOW principle and advantages
LAMBDA MASSFLOW is a new mass flow controller system especially designed for use with MINIFOR laboratory bioreactors and fermentors. E.g.: it allows control of the pH of a cell culture by the controlled addition of gaseous CO2, the control of dissolved oxygen by regulation of the airflow or any other gas with a suitable controller. However, it can also be used independently, since all its functions can be controlled from the front panel of the MASSFLOW.
The measuring system (mass flow sensor) consists of a heating element (H) and two temperature measurement points (temperature gauges T1 and T2). The gas flowing through the sensor draws off the heat from the heating element.
With MASSFLOW unit, a constant heating capacity ensures a flow-dependent temperature difference. When the gas flow is zero, the heating element (H) distributes the heat evenly so that the temperature difference
ΔT = T1 - T2, is zero.
The presence of a gas flow is accompanied by two effects which generate a temperature difference ΔT:
1) The temperature sensor (T1) located at the initial point of the channel measures a lower temperature, which is due to the cooling of the gas as it enters the chamber
2) The gas flowing over the heating element, transports heat to the temperature sensor (T2) located after the heating element, which results in an increased temperature T2. The hereby generated temperature difference ΔT is a direct measure of the mass flow of the corresponding gas
The high grade gas flow control allows also a high quality regulation of dissolved oxygen (DO) by air flow rate regulation and not just by variation of stirrer speed. We think that DO should be controlled at any stirrer speed! Or should one tolerate bad agitation at low DO values? The bad mixing could lead to accumulation of acid during pH control or generate other problems.
Types of MASSFLOW gas flow control and measurement unit
The flow rate is measured by high quality laminar mass flow sensor tubes and is displayed on a digital display. The mass flow cell has a very low-pressure drop (less than 1 cm of H2O) and a linearity error of less than ±3% reading (which is much better than the precision expressed as a percentage of full scale used by some manufacturers). The repeatability is better than ±0.5% reading. The flow rate is regulated by a specially developed proportional needle valve controlled by a microprocessor.
LAMBDA MASSFLOW, programmable gas flow measurement and regulation
Flow range: 0-5 l/min in 0.01 l/min steps (controller or meter)
Programmed directly on MINIFOR screen / Fnet, SIAM fermentation software
Remote control through MINIFOR fermentor
Flow range: 0-5 l/min in 0.01 l/min steps (controller or meter)
Programmable: 50 steps of flow, time & pause
Remote control: 0 – 10 V; ON/OFF; RS-485 or RS-232
Flow range: 0-500 ml/min in 1 ml/min steps (controller or meter)
Programmable: 50 steps of flow, time & pause
Remote control: 0 – 10 V; ON/OFF; RS-485 or RS-232
LAMBDA MASSFLOW, digital readable gas flow measurement
Flow range: 0-5 l/min in 0.01 l/min steps (meter only)
Meter only
RS-485 or RS-232 (optional); PC connection
Flow range: 0-500 ml/min in 1 ml/min steps (controller or meter)
Meter only
RS-485 or RS-232 (optional); PC connection
Flow range: 0-99.9 ml/min in 0.1 ml/min steps and 100-500 ml/min in 1 ml/min steps (meter only)
Meter only
RS-485 or RS-232 (optional); PC connection
Application of LAMBDA MASSFLOW gas flow meter and controller
LAMBDA MASSFLOW gas flow measurement and controller units can be used with MINIFOR fermentor and bioreactor and also as a stand-alone instrument. E.g.: MASSFLOW can be used to measure or regulate the gas flow in the laboratory; 4-gas mix for the existing bioreactor
PARAMETER CONTROL
The internal massflow with proprietary precise and proportional needle valve integrated in the LAMBDA MINIFOR fermentor and bioreactor provides precise measurement of air (or N2) gas flow.
Measurement is independent of pressure, temperature or humidity variation during the fermentation process.
The automatic control the concentration of dissolved oxygen (DO, pO2) achieved by the flow rate variation and not merely by the variation of stirrer speed
CONTROLLED O2 ENRICHMENT
O2 enrichment by LAMBDA MASSFLOW gas flow controller can extend your high cell-density bacterial and yeast cultures under optimized fed-batch fermentation processes.
AUTOMATIC 4-GAS MIX
LAMBDA MINI-4-GAS gas-mixing module allows a flexible thermal massflow controlled supply of different gases (air, O2, CO2, N2 or user defined gases) with individual gas flow paths for mammalian cell culture as well as microbial applications in the laboratory.