Our open hardware flow microscopy platform is a more comprehensive version of our open-source strobe-enhanced microscopy stage (build instructions here), including the control of pressure, flow and temperature in 4-channels. The platform is controlled by "Rio", our modular microfluidics controller boards and firmware. Woring with pressuriesed gas, regulators and flow-sensors allows for a compact, faster, and more precise flow control compared to syringe pumps, such as our 3D printed syringe pumps with controller. In contrast to other open-source platforms and some commercial platforms, our implementation is capable of handling high-pressures (up to 6bar) in order to process gels and more viscous liquids.
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The platform consists of a number of differnet functinoal modules that are connected to each other:
We are currently arranging the modules with a cable management plan. Simply spreading the modules out on the table looked like this during previous experiments:
One use od our heater modules is the tip-heater for injecting agarose gel into microfluidic chips:
We also designed a pressure vial holder with individual manifold caps for easy transfer of samples:
You're free to fork the project and enhance it. If you have any suggestions to improve it or add any additional functions make a pull-request or open an issue. For interactions in our team and with the community applies the GOSH Code of Conduct.
CERN OHL 2W © Tobias Wenzel, Christie Nel, Eduardo Honeyman, Matías Hurtado, and Pierre Padilla-Huamantinco. This project is Open Source Hardware - please acknowledge us when using the hardware or sharing modifications.