MicroSpin

The HighRes Biosolutions MicroSpin is a compact automated centrifuge with an easy-access door that allows a robot to load the plate nest from the top or the side, so it can work with SCARA arms, articulated robots and top-load arms alike.

At a glance

Maximum speed	3000 x g (4729 rpm)
Capacity	Up to two plates or racks at once
Labware height	Up to 65 mm, ANSI/SLAS-compliant footprint
Imbalance tolerance	Up to 75 grams
Configured in	rpm or x g
Revolution control	Spin by force with ramp control, bucket and door access, abort, home

Specifications

Rotor	Permanently attached; not interchangeable with any other rotor type
Door	Easy-access design, robotic loading from the top or side of the plate nest

Supported labware

HighRes lists microplates, deep-well plates, stacked plates, filtration assemblies, and racked tubes and vials.

The 75 gram imbalance tolerance is what makes the mixed cases workable — HighRes states it explicitly as allowing one or two microplates, racks or tubes of different capacities to be spun together, rather than requiring matched loads.

Two constraints worth noting early: the rotor is permanently attached, so there is no changing it for a different labware class; and the 65 mm height limit governs what fits, which matters for deep-well blocks and filtration assemblies stacked with a collection plate.

Supported methods

• Spin — spin at a given force, with acceleration, deceleration and a spin time, bounded by a timeout
• Open bucket 1 / Open bucket 2 — present either position for robot access
• Open door / Close door — door control for the handoff
• Abort and clear — stop a spin in progress and clear the state
• Home — return the rotor to its home position

Revolution’s spin takes force directly, which lines up with HighRes supporting configuration in x g — so a protocol specified in g maps across without conversion. That is not true of every centrifuge in this catalogue: the VSpin is driven by velocity percentage instead.

Abort and clear is the operation to have in an error path. A spin that has to be stopped leaves the instrument in a state a schedule needs to clear before it can present labware again.

Integration

Prerequisites

• The instrument must be reachable from the Revolution host.
• Labware must be within the 65 mm vessel height and on an ANSI/SLAS footprint.
• Loads must be within the 75 gram imbalance tolerance relative to each other. Revolution does not verify balance — an unbalanced centrifuge load is a physical hazard, not merely a failed run.
• The robot must be taught the door and nest access the unit is configured for, top or side.

If you need more of this instrument driven from a schedule, get in touch — the driver is extended on demand.