Solvent Evaporators - Mistral RC

The Mistral from Porvair Sciences is designed to remove the traditional laboratory ‘bottleneck’ of solvent evaporation from microplates. It is our most sophisticated automation-friendly model yet, giving significant throughput advantages to laboratories looking to optimise microplate sample preparation. Faster than centrifugal evaporation for single plates, significant increases in sample throughput are achieved through advanced evaporator head technology and an innovative manifold design, which directly injects heated nitrogen into each individual well of the microplate simultaneously. Installation requires only connection to a gas supply and mains electricity. Safety of operation is ensured as this CE-marked compact unit fits into all fume cupboards and boasts full integral fume management within the unit.

The Mistral may be operated with a supply of clean, dry compressed air in place of nitrogen, if the chemistry allows. An in-line gas filter must be used in this case. The new Mistral is the latest fully robot compatible nitrogen blow-down evaporator, suitable for integration adjacent to several leading laboratory liquid handling robots. Designed with the demands of linear robots very much in mind, the Mistral offers a plate shuttle which can serve and retrieve plates from the deck of Perkin Elmer, Tecan, Hamilton and Beckman liquid handlers. The colour touch-screen controlled dry down station accepts 24-, 48-, 96- or 384-well plates and comes complete with clear safety side screens and integral fume management leading to a 4 inch duct adaptor.

Technical Specifications

Flexible programming

The Mistral has been designed to allow robots with standard gripper arms to place and remove microplates directly onto the shuttle. In comparison with previous models, the Mistral has a 10% smaller footprint, allowing better access and saving valuable bench space. The evaporation table is able to rise under the control of a stepper motor as the drying process proceeds. This can be programmed at a suitable rate for each solvent type being evaporated. In addition, gas temperature, pressure and flow rate can all be programmed individually and stored in up to thirty multistep programmes on the Mistral controller. Each programme allows the table to rise in up to five distinct ramped phases, so that a fast initial drying period can be followed by a gentler final drying phase. The new Mistral lends itself to full integration with most robotic liquid handlers, where it is usually located on the right-hand side of the deck. Control commands are sent directly from the robot controller. These standard commands are listed in the manual, but most robot manufacturers have drivers available to control the Mistral, making integration a seamless process.

Solvent compatibility

With a choice of 96 straight or 96 spiral needles, plus 24, 48 and 384 straight needles, the sphere of application for With a choice of 96 straight or 96 spiral needles, plus 24,
48 and 384 straight needles, the sphere of application for Mistral is huge. Most common chromatography solvents can be evaporated with ease, such as dichloromethane, methanol, acetonitrile and hexane. The nitrogen blow-down method is not, however, suitable for high-boiling point solvents such as DMF, DMSO and water. It is also unable to be used with acids or acid chlorides, as special corrosion-resistant systems are needed for this work. The choice of straight or spiral needles allows the user to choose between faster dry down (spiral) and better final drying in V-well plates (straight). The spirals cause a vortex to form in the solvent, increasing the surface area and thus speeding up the rate of evaporation.

Evaporator System Requirements

Gas flow rate: 28L/min minimum, 80L/min maximum at
6 bar pressure. Can be used with nitrogen or dry compressed air if the chemistry allows. Not suitable for use with strong acids or acid chlorides.

RC microplate evaporator

The new RC from Porvair Sciences is the latest fully robot-compatible version of our popular nitrogen blow-down evaporator, suitable for integration within the safety enclosure of several leading laboratory liquid handling robots. Designed with the demands of linear robots very much in mind, the RC comprises a fully microprocessor controlled dry down station for 24-, 96- or 384-well plates, together with clear safety side screens and a 4 inch fume hood duct adaptor.

Designed for heat sensitive and thermally labile samples
Nine different drying programmes can be retained in the memory
Ability to upload and download methods
Robotic plate stage automatically moves plates up in two drying phases
RS232 allows remote control via PC or LH robot
Removes most chromatography solvents in just minutes
Can evaporate 500 μl methanol in 5 minutes
Compact footprint allows the Mistral to fit into all standard fume cupboards
Choice of straight, curved & 24, 96 or 384 needles
Compatible with Tecan™, Hamilton™ and Caliper™ robotic liquid handlers

Cat No	Details
500148	Mistral fully robot compatible Blowdown Evaporator With 96 straight needles, 110/230V
500149	Mistral fully robot compatible Blowdown Evaporator Without needle head, 110/230V