Enabling Tehnology Enhances Performance

Festo displayed its modular automation subassemblies for laboratory equipment which are designed to lower manufacturer engineering costs, boost machine speed and performance, reduce inventory and improve uptime.

The EXCM Mini-H gantry is a compact handling system for laboratory automation featuring plug-and-play for quick and easy start up. This desktop system moves on a planar X/Y axis with an absolute positioning accuracy of + .05 inches (1.27 mms) and a repetition accuracy of + .01 inches (.254 mms). These can be integrated with a microfluidic dosing head ranging from individually controlled valves to multiple heads controlled by a single valve. In addition to dosing, the EXCM with Z axis can be used for barcode-based sample identification and liquid dispensing/pipetting.

Key Festo components of a demo that simulated the transfer of whole blood from the specimen to an analysis chip within a small footprint device, included the handling andsoftware modules, as well as the company’s CPX system for control and communication integration. Also new was the Festo Single Axis Variable Pitch Module (SVPM) an ideal solution for applications such as lab sample preparation and for automating sample diluting or concentrating methods.