Incubated Shaker

Overview

An incubated shaker grows liquid cultures. Microbes and cell lines need two things at once: a steady warm temperature and constant gentle motion that keeps the culture mixed and aerated so the cells stay suspended and gas exchanges at the surface. The instrument delivers both, holding a chamber full of flasks at, say, 37 °C while swirling them in a small circle hour after hour through a fermentation or expression run.

The motion is orbital. Instead of rocking or stirring, the whole flask platform travels in a small circle, which sweeps the liquid around the inside of each flask and pulls fresh air in across the broth. Combined with a tight temperature loop, that is the standard environment for shake-flask microbiology, protein expression and seed cultures feeding a bioreactor.

How it works

The flasks ride on the Orbital Platform. A brushless motor spins an eccentric on its shaft, and that offset crank drives the whole platform in a small circular orbit; a counterweight cancels the swing so the bench does not walk, and clamps hold each flask while bearings carry the moving load. Speed is set in rpm and held by the drive.

Everything sits inside the Insulated Chamber, a double-wall stainless box with foam insulation and a gasketed, often windowed door that holds the heat in. Temperature is the job of the Heating & Circulation group: a resistive heater warms the air, a blower circulates it for an even temperature corner to corner, an RTD closes the loop, and a thermal fuse cuts the heater if it ever runs away. On cell-culture units the CO2 & Humidity Control control adds a CO2 valve and infrared sensor to hold the gas phase and a water pan for humidity.

Coordinating temperature, speed and atmosphere, the Control Electronics run the PID loops and commutate the shaker motor, while the operator sets and watches the run on the Operator Display.