Matchbox sized pump drives super-sensitive analyzer

After already supplying Biosensor Applications Sweden with Watson Marlow Alitea pumps, a new project that had considerable market potential in the field of explosives and drugs detection was in the planning stage. This equipment is designed to work in difficult, contaminated environments. The key criteria was that the sample delivery be extremely accurate and repeatable and that there were no chances of sample contamination upstream of the detector. This specification was fulfilled by the Alitea 400F/A peristaltic pump – a matchbox sized unit that is capable of precision dispensing at volumes down to one microliter.

But Watson-Marlow Alitea’s involvement didn’t stop there. The company studied the application requirement more deeply, including the flow rates expected, the amount of space available for the pump and it’s mounting restriction, as well as it’s drive requirement. Biosensor was used to working with stepper motors, so Alitea ensured that the units were supplied coupled to stepper motors. The modular construction of the 400F/A, moreover, allowed additional tailoring without incurring extra costs.

The pump transfers the test samples in a carrier fluid to a “biocell”, where it is made to vibrate at a high frequency. Drugs in the sample act to change the biocell frequency. This ability to detect tiny traces in the field can save both time and money. Instead of pulling out all of the boxes in a shipped container and manually inspecting each one, a single sample of the air in the container drawn accurately by the pump can be taken and used to give and indication of the present of a narcotic or explosive substance.

More information about the Watson-Marlow OEM pumps range.