Mini Centrifuge

grabcad

In the world of continuous centrifugal filtration and sepration, most, if not all current options, are heavy and expensive. We set out with the goal to solve this, using 3d printing and electronics available to the consumer market. The centrifuge was required to achieve 1000G, which is enough to both filter waste vegetable oil and seperate algae from water with chemical assistance. Other goals was to minimize the needed sample size and the waste, as well as making the centrifuge light and simple enough to be used and stored without hassle. The centrifuge is controlled by an adruino card, this in turn controlls an ESC by use of a potmeter. The arduino card also opens the door to pre programmed runs. The ESC, electronic speed controller in turn controlls the motor, a typical one found in drones, but selected for lower rpm and higher torque. The inner bowl was designed to be printed using a carbon fiber/nylon composite printer, but should work just fine with regular plastic. From extensive research we found the nearest competitor to be the Raw Power Centrifuge from WVO Designs, offered at 997 dollars. Although our centrifuge has a lower flow rate, it's also ALOT lighter and would end up at 1/9th - 1/7th of the price, depending on the materials chosen by the maker. This could make continuous flow centrifugation avaible on a much larger scale, with the added possibility of teaching students to 3D print, simple usage and wiring of arduino and how a 3-phase AC motor works. Developed by Mats Lundberg Føland and Fredrik Lie Larsen, students at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences.