Antibiotic Susceptibility Testing High Throughput System

Background:

Accel Biotech developed a high throughput plate handling system that was used for antibiotic susceptibility testing.  The system quickly moves plates through the assay process, including incubating, mixing, and liquid handling. The system is currently undergoing initial testing in a hospital clinical lab.

My Contribution:

My contribution to the project was the complete design of  the orbital shaker platform that was used to drive an incubator tower and 4 place orbital shakers. I used perpendicular sets of linear guides to create an X-Y stage that could be driven in a circular orbit with an eccentric drive shaft. The design kept all parts of the orbital shaker in a consistent orbital motion and was highly reliable up to 650 RPM.

I was responsible for the assembly and integration of the system. Tasks performed included  tuning motor parameters, tuning PID control loops for the tower incubators and troubleshooting the fluid dispense manifold that had dripping problems. I quickly designed and 3D printed plate holding stations when it was discovered that we needed extra capacity to hold a counter balance plate for the centrifuge.