BHA01.08 Peristaltic & Injection pump

How can we deliver or extract any substance to our bioreactor, without contamination and if possible, in an automated manner? Well, we could build an injection system using a servo motor and either a syringe or a peristaltic system to pull the liquids from a reservoir and push it to the bioreactor. The WAAG has proposed a good system with both options available.

Peristaltic pump

In this case, a rotating gear system creates an alternating compression and relaxation cycle in the tube, similarly to our gut or throat. This way the system can suck whatever is in the reservoir and push it to the bioreactor. This method has the advantage that the medium to be pumped does not get into contact with any moving part and it is easy to change the source of the medium to be injected.

Syringe pump

In the case of a syringe pump, we need a motor that can push the syringe. To do so, an infinite screw is controlled by the step motor and this way we can push the content of the syringe. In this case, there are movable parts in contact with the medium and you will need to unplug the syringe, then load it, and push the sample again.