As an international trade fair for the medical supplies industry and product development, Compamed 2017 in Düsseldorf from 13 to 16 November offers plenty of scope for both innovations and classic products. As a leading solution provider, partner and manufacturer, SMC responds to challenges in analysis technology, laboratory automation and medical devices technology in a forward-looking way. The automation expert will present a selection of its extremely broad product range—including liquid handling, valves, sensors, temperature control and static electricity elimination solutions—in Düsseldorf in hall 8B, stand H04.
 
Precise Dosing Across the Entire Life Cycle
"Small but impressive" is perhaps the most fitting description of the dosing pumps that SMC will present at Compamed. The LSP series offers a wide range of dose sizes from 5 µl to 200 µl/stroke. The small pumps work with an extreme precision of ±1 percent and provide dose size stability throughout their entire life cycle, so readjustment is unnecessary. Being extremely compact, easy to use and deployable in many different mediums, they are particularly suitable for analysis and diagnostics systems in the field of clinical chemistry and biotechnology applications.
 
Withstands Aggressive, Corrosive Mediums
In medical technology applications, components come into contact with a wide range of mediums, including some that are particularly aggressive, such as DI water or chemicals. SMC developed the LVP valve series specifically with this in mind. The diaphragm valve, controlled by compressed air, is equipped with a rigid PVC-C casing and a diaphragm made from PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene), meaning that it withstands even corrosive mediums such as hydrochloric acid and hydrogen peroxide. The compressed-air-activated diaphragm valve offers a flow rate that is easy to regulate and boasts a significantly reduced water hammer—50 percent less than in conventional valves. The compressed-air connection of the two-way valves can be selected from four sides. They also have a flexible connection piece made from PVC-U with a glue socket for tubes made from rigid PVC. Both the medium temperature and the ambient temperature can lie between 0 and 60 °C.
 
Clean Mediums for at Least 10 Million Switching Cycles
If, in sensitive applications, gases and liquids are to be switched without cross-contamination, the medium-separated 2/2- and 3/2-way shut-off valves from SMC's LVMK20/200 series are suitable. They are fitted with an isolating seal that separates the coil casing from the medium area. The medium remains free from pollution by oil, grease, metal or dust, for instance. The materials in the LVMK series that come into contact with the medium have a high chemical resistance. Depending on the medium, the user can choose between EPDM and FKM for diaphragms; the valve casing is offered in PPS. Valve wear and error susceptibility are reduced considerably because the medium-separated design prevents the adherence of the anchor and corrosion. Their service life is also extremely long: tests show that the valves in the LVKM series can operate for at least 10 million cycles.
 
"Reliability, robustness in the face of aggressive mediums, no cross-contamination of mediums—these are just some of the requirements that components have to fulfil in life science applications. We provide support in this through individual customer assemblies for specific solutions based on our global development expertise from five technology centres”, says Jamal Hamim, Manager EU Life Science Instruments at SMC.
 
Trade fair guests can find SMC at Messe Düsseldorf in hall 8B, stand H04.