NON-CONTACT MICRODISPENSERS

The non-contact microdispensers are dedicated for spotting of up to few hundred different samples on different targets. The volume of the dispensed sample is controlled by the microdispenser and the spot size is determined by properties of samples and target surface. The spotting is carried out without touching the target surface, which ensures perfect reproducibility, no contamination, and no damage of the target. Our non-contact microdispensers are based on piezo driven direct displacement of the liquid or flow-based liquid displacement based on solenoid valve.

CONTACT MICRODISPENSERS

The main advantage of using contact microdispensers is enabling printing of more than thousands of samples. The sample solution is printed on the target by a pin, where a small drop is hanging at the blunt end of a solid pin, flowing out of a small gap, in case of split pin or one end of a capillary, at capillary pins. The pin is in contact with the surface for variable time, releases the requested volume and creates a spot. Size of the spot is dependent on the viscosity of the sample and duration of the contact between the pin and surface. M2 contact microdispensers are purely passive, have no electrically induced forces and are mechanically and materially different from M2 non-contact dispensers.

NON-CONTACT MICRODISPENSERS

Piezo Driven MicroDispenser (PDMD)

Piezo Driven Micro-Dispenser (PDMD) for picolitre volume ranges, in Aspiration/ Dispense (AD) or Bulk Dispense (BD) mode. The ultrafast PDMD displacement of the micro drop is caused by a short contraction of a piezo ceramic actuator bonded to a thin glass capillary, which enables ejecting drops of single volume from 20 pL up to 300 pL with high precision and frequency of 1-1000 drops per second. The liquid is aspirated into and dispensed out via tapered and polished end of the glass capillary with orifice diameter of 40-60 µm. The capillary is made of material extremely inert to any chemical and biological liquids.

 

  • Ultrafast operation: 1-1000 drops/s or up to 3200 spots/s in the "Spot-on-the-Fly" mode
  • Drop volume range available: 20-80 pL, 35-150 pL, 60-300 pL
  • Precise volume control: in 1 pL steps
  • High volume accuracy: c.v. = 1.5 - 2 %
  • Drop ejection velocity control: 0.5 - 4 m/s in 0.1 m/s steps
  • Dynamic viscosity range: 0.5-20 mPas
  • Typical spot size: >= 25 µm

 

 

  

piezo driven microdispenser

M2-MicroDispenser version 04 (M2MD04)

Non-contact microdispenser for highly accurate nanolitre volume applications, in Volume Displacement (M2MD-VD) or Flow Based (M2MD-FB) dispensing procedures with Aspiration-Dispense (AD) or Bulk Dispensing (BD) modes. M2-microdispenser version 04 is based on a new, highly flexible microdispensing technology, which makes possible fast liquid displacement. M2MD version 04 shows significantly better volume accuracy and viscosity tolerance without any sample dilution by the system liquids. The microdispenser is optionally equipped with a temperature control, which improves the variation and drops cv below 2 % with a minimum drop volume of 10nL and frequency of 20 drops per second. The dispenser supports a broad range of dispensing tips including disposable plastic pipetting tips. M2-Microdispenser version 04 is suitable for non-contact nL- dispensing of liquids, as well as spotting and dispensing cells.

 

  • Ultrafast operation: up to 50 drops/s
  • Drop volume range: 10-500 nL
  • Precise volume control: in nL steps
  • High volume accuracy: c.v. <2% (depending on the temperature control)
  • Dynamic viscosity range: 0.5 - 50 mPas
  • Typical spot size: approximately 500 µm

 

 

 

m2 microdispenser

Solenoid valve Driven MicroDispenser (SDMD)

Non-contact microdispenser for highly flexible nano- and microliter volume applications. Solenoid Valve Driven Microdispensers are small flow-based micro-dispensers dedicated for single ejection volumes from 25 nL up to hundreds of microliters with the maximum dispense frequency of 250 drops per second. The liquid is dispensed from a thin stain-less steel capillary which is tightly connected to the outlet port of the valve. The flow is driven by a constant pressure difference, the dispensed volume is determined by opening time of the small solenoid valve. The flow-based nanodispensers are very sensitive to the temperature changes due to high temperature dependence of the dynamic viscosity of most liquids. The rise of the temperature by 1 °C increases the dispense volume of water by 3-5 %. The advantage of the solenoid valve microdispensers is their small size and weight, they are dedicated for use where these properties the critical parameter.

 

  • Ultrafast operation: up to 250 drops/s
  • Drop volume range: 25 - 10,0000 nL
  • Precise volume control: in nL steps
  • High volume accuracy: c.v. <5-10% (depending on temperature)
  • Dynamic viscosity range: 0.5 - 20 mPas
  • Typical spot size: depending on target- and sample properties

 

solenoid microdispenser

 

 

CONTACT MICRODISPENSERS

Pin Driven MicroDispenser (PinDMD)

Contact microdispensers are available as solid (blunt) or hollow pins for a single drop or multiple bulk dispensing.

 

Solid pins 

Solid pins have either flat or concave tips to accommodate relatively small volume of the sample. The technology is suitable mostly for low density arrays.

 

Split pins – pins with a split end.

Split pins have a fine slot at the end of the pin for sample holding. When the split pin is dipped into the sample solution, the sample is loaded into the slot, which generally holds 0.2 – 1.0µL of sample solution. A small volume of sample (0.1 – 2.5 nL) is deposited on the target by tapping the pins onto the slide surface with sufficient force or touching the pins lightly on the surface. The split pins hold a larger sample volume than the solid pins, more than one microarray can be printed from a single sampling loading. 

 

Capillary pins

The capillary pins are dedicated for bulk dispensing within the Pin technology. The inbuild tubular capillary protects the liquid from evaporating during the printing run and allows deposition of the equal liquid amount (0.1 - 35nL) independently on viscosity and outer conditions. The volume uptake (5 – 300 nL) sufficient for generating 1000 – 50,000 spots is controlled, which saves amount of the sample. The pin is made from chemically inert material, which doesn’t contaminate the printing substance.

 

pin driven microdispenser

non contact spotting pin driven micro dispenser

pin driven microdispenser

 

Solid or Capillary Pins

Tip diameter

Capillary diameter

Number of spots for capillary pins*
80 µm 15 µm maximum 50 000
100 µm 20 µm 50 000
140 µm 30 µm 35 000
200 µm 50 µm 22 000
300 µm 60 µm 9 000
350 µm 100 µm 7 000
500 µm 140 µm 1 500
700 µm 180 µm 1000
       *the solid pins are used for single-spot delivery only