Assembling the bioreactor
Introduction
This manual describes how to assemble a functionnal bioreactor once the PCB plate has been readied and the pieces for the casing have been laser cutted.
The bioreactor is composed of three distinct layers, as can be seen on the following image:
- The base: It is the piece on which the bioreactor stands. It contains the main PCB, as well as the peristaltic pumps and the LCD screen.
- The heating plate: Placed on top of the base, it heats the recipient in which are placed our materials of interest.
- The recipient: It contains the solution in which will be placed our cultures and materials of interest.
Material required for reactor assembly
[To be completed]
Assembling the casing
The first step to assemble the bioreactor is to put the casing together. In this part, we will discuss the base only. Explanation on how to assemble the heating plate will come in a dedicated section.
First, identify the parts you are dealing with. In the following image are shown all the parts required do build the base, numbered from 1 to 7. The red lines show how the different parts connect.
Tape all parts together except for the lid and glue them with dichloromethane. Wait about 10 minutes until the solvent has dried out. When assembling, please beware of the following details:
- On the bottom part, the small holes designed for the screws that will support the PCB and the LCD should be on the left when looking from the front of the reactor.
- The part containing the two big circular holes for the pumps should be on the right side when looking from the front and the holes should be in the back
- On both the back part and the small front part, the holes should be on the left when facing the bioreactor.
The result should look like this:
Once this is done, screw the support-screws for the LCD screen and the PCB-plate with 2 times 4 M3x14mm screws attached to 2 times 4 M3x14mm fasteners.
The screws before assembly:
How it should look:
Inserting the peristaltic pumps
After finishing the assembly of the base, it is time to start adding the important parts. Take two peristaltic pumps and insert them in the holes made for them in the right wall of the base. Screw them with 2 M3x14cm screws each as shown on the following picture.
Take two cables 2 pins KF2510-2P and solder them to the pumps as follows:
This completes the assembling of the bases body. We will now work on the bases lid (top part).
Adding the stepper
First, we will fixate the stepper motor that will control the agitation.
Take the base top part and insert the stepper motor in the middle. Fixate it with four M3x14mm screws. Place four M4 bolts between the lid and the motor to create some space between them.
Take one cable 6 pins KF2510-6P and solder it to the stepper motor as shown in the following pictures:
The stepper motor and the cable before soldering
The stepper motor and the cable after soldering
Detail of the connexions between the stepper motor and the cable
When the cable is properly soldered, place the magnets on the stepper motor as follows:
[To be completed]
Adding the loading cells
Once the stepper motor is properly in place, you will have to place the loading cells.
Take three loading cells and one cable 5 pins KF2510-5P.
Solder the wires of the loading cells to the 5 pins cable as shown in the following picture. The length of the wires from the loading cells to the cable head should be approximately 20cm.
Do not solder the black cable from the KF2510-5P. Bare it for a couple of centimeters. You should now have all three loading cells attached to each other as follows:
On the top part of the base, you will find three big rectangular holes each followed by two small circular ones. In each big hole, pass one loading cell from the bottom of the plate (the magnets from the stepper motor are on the top of the plate).
Screw each loading cell from below the plate with two M4x14mm screws (through the small holes), and on the extremity of the loading cell located above the hole, insert two M5x14 screws.
The following drawing sums this up:
It should now look like this (one screw still missing on the picture):
Insert a plastic screw cover on the outest M5 screw of each loading cell.
You will now need to connect all loading cells to each other. To do so, cut two pieces of wire of a length of approximately 20cm each and bare both of their ends. Connect the two loading cells on the sides to the central loading cell by wrapping the end of the wires around the central M5 screw as shown below. In a similar way, connect the remaining black wire from the KF2510-5P to one of the loading cells on the sides.
The following drawing shows how the loading cells should be connected to each other:
Add a bolt on the end of each M5 screw to tighten the connexions and keep the cables in place.
This final step completes the assembly of the loading cells. The top part of your bioreactors base should now look like this:
Preparing the heating cell
[To be completed]