The Look of a Champion: Rotary Evaporator from IKA®-Werke Wins iF Product Design Award for Outstanding Design Achievement

IKA®-Werke GmbH & Co. KG has received the iF product design award for its innovative RV 10 rotary evaporator.

The evaporator, which is used for distilling a wide range of liquids, impressed the jury in a total of ten criteria: degree of innovativeness, safety, functionality, ergonomics, branding, design quality, universal design, choice of material, environmental compatibility and visualisation of use. The iF product design awards are presented on an annual basis to products which succeed especially well in combining functionality with convenience and aesthetics, as well as in satisfying the requirements for innovation. For decades now the iF product design awards have represented a kind of ‘seal of quality’ for design excellence.

"IKA® currently manufactures the most innovative rotary evaporator in the world. The award shows that advanced technology can be visually attractive too," said Andreas Reichert, Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the IKA® Group, with a note of pride which is quite understandable, given that the award-winning product was designed in-house. The advanced design also underlines the international pre-eminence of IKA® in the field of laboratory equipment. Products manufactured by the German company also look very different from those of their competitors in the market.

The attractive appearance is backed up by innovative features in the areas of safety, functionality and ergonomics. For instance, the evaporator automatically lifts the receiving flask out of the heating bath if the power cuts out. This means that the ongoing test and any distillate already produced are unaffected by the stoppage. Products from other manufacturers do not include this safety feature, and this can result in ongoing tests being aborted. In addition, the receiving flask can in many cases no longer be used and has to be changed and discarded by the operator.

The patented geometry of the IKA® distillation condenser also provides a larger cooling surface area for distillation. In terms of operator safety too, the IKA® rotary evaporator is setting new standards. The associated heating bath is the most ergonomic and the safest on the market. The carrying handles are located on the side of the heating bath, so the operator does not come into contact with the heating medium. Thus, the risk of painful burns is avoided. This thoughtful safety feature is in remarkable contrast to the design of other manufacturers’ products, on which the handles are located directly on the heating bath, greatly increasing the chances of receiving a burn.

It is clear that IKA®-Werke has caused quite a stir in the market with its new rotary evaporator. Now the accolade of the iF Award confirms that sophisticated technology can be visually attractive too.