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Circaflex™ Development Suite Used to Cultivate Live Cells
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Industry |
Life Science |
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Application Area |
Embedded Control |
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Date |
March 2010 |
Challenge
Controlling a system that contains all essential bioprocess components
to simplify and streamline the cell culture process, while giving
customers the ability to control dozens of the bioreactor’s processes
via the web-based GUI.
Solution
Using Circaflex to control a system with a wide variety of sensors and
devices, while taking advantage of the easy-to-use UI capabilities and
connectivity of the Circaflex system.
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Tissue or biochemical engineering can be a delicate and complex process
because the biologically active environment for cultivation remains
sensitive to chemical makeup, climate and surrounding factors. One of
the developments used for tissue or biochemical engineering are
bioreactors. A bioreactor is a system that provides an enclosed reactive
environment that is precisely controlled at determined temperatures,
pressures, chemical ingredient levels and reactions critical to the
cultivation process. Bioreactors grow live cultures such as bacteria,
viruses, cells, and tissues.
PBS Biotech is a design and
manufacturing company for bioreactor systems. PBS Biotech sought to
develop, manufacture, and distribute a single-use bioreactor for
biopharmaceutical R&D, pilot, clinical production, and cGMP
manufacturing applications.
The PBS bioreactor contains a novel
mixing mechanism called the Air-WheelTM, powered simply by the buoyant
force of gas bubbles and rotates around a fixed shaft to create a
complex, three-dimensional fluid flow pattern inside the bioreactor.
Altering the flow rate of the inlet gas through the main sparger varies
the efficiency of mixing the fluid. This new mixing mechanism would save
time and money, while still increasing accuracy; however, the mechanism
would be difficult to create, as PBS Biotech had many components to
control in order for the system to function correctly. The bioreactor
that PBS Biotech envisioned needed a system that would control airflow
and various process management devices such as:
• Dissolved oxygen probe
•
pH probes
• Stepper motor
• Peristaltic pumps
• DC motors
• Temperature
sensor
• Oxygen pump
• Carbon dioxide sensor
•
Nitrogen sensor
• Mass
flow controller
Cyth Systems’ solution was the Circaflex
Development Suite. With Circaflex, PBS Biotech could control all
necessary components of its system with an off-the-shelf product, while
maintaining the freedom to customize intricate details.
The
Circaflex Development Suite, based on National Instruments Single-Board
RIO, gave PBS Biotech the benefits of custom FPGA programming without
having to spend the time and money to custom program the system.
Circaflex brought advanced but easy-to-use GUI capabilities, as well as
connectivity for all necessary sensors and devices.
System
Configuration
Using Circaflex enabled PBS Biotech to quickly build a
bench-top unit with signal conditioning. Circaflex added device control
with PID control for temperature, process automation with PID control
loops, and proprietary control algorithms for gas and agitation control.
The system is completely self-contained and does not need an additional
computer, laptop, or cumbersome PLC control. PBS Biotech did not have to
program each sensor because the built in and pre-programmed I/O in
Circaflex gave them the ability to simply plug in applicable sensors and
instantly use them in the bioreactor.
The Circaflex Development
Suite includes an embedded computer, which gave PBS Biotech a
customizable Web-GUI that a bioprocess researcher could easily use
without extensive training in the engineering field. The embedded
computer had a clean, sleek, and attractive interface that alternative
solutions did not offer. Any laptop or smartphone via a browser window
can also control the system. Users even have the option to change
process variables or set points and receive an alert if the system
reaches predefined limits.
The next development phase of the PBS
Bioreactor was to make it ready for manufacturing, while reducing the
risk of misconnecting sensors, which would cause manufacturing errors.
With the customized connectors in Circaflex, engineers could streamline
the system to two connection cables rather than dozens of screw-terminal
connection points, making the control module easily testable for
integration.
Results
By
using Circaflex, PBS Biotech engineers have an easy-to-use system that
can accommodate a wide range of required sensors and accurately control
the PBS Bioreactor.
Customer Quote
“The
Circaflex system gave us the benefits of custom FPGA programming without
having to spend the time and money to program the system ourselves.
Circaflex brought advanced but easy-to-use user interface capabilities,
as well as connectivity for all of our necessary sensors and devices.”
– Daniel Giroux, Vice President of R&D
PBS Biotech
Next Steps
Contact Cyth Systems to learn how Circaflex can speed up your product development
See More
Circaflex Case Study - Ready-to-Use Embedded Control System for DNA
Sequencing
Circaflex Case Study - Using Circaflex Development Suite for Rapid
Medical Device Testing
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