The Openspritzer - Open-Source PicoSpritzer
The ability to precisely deliver picolitre volumes has always been a vital part of Biological research, until now this has required a significant investment of up to £4,500 into an established brand.
The Openspritzer (developed, described and published by Forman et al., 2017) serves as an alternative open source micro-ejection/puffer system with similar performance and reliability that you would expect from leading brands, but at a fraction of the cost. NeuroGig has done some modifications to the design as seen in the mock-up image above.
As with the more familiar models on the market, the Openspritzer is a self-contained system that has been designed to be intuitive, with simple functionality. Featuring a built-in ejection control system which is easily adjusted using a rotary switch you have complete control of the ejection duration; you also have the option of controlling the duration via a remotely generated TTL pulse. Ejection pressure is adjusted via the built-in regulator along with an accurate monitoring gauge. The Openspritzer is also supplied with a foot switch for added ease of operation.
NeuroGig's Open-Hardware Support now offers the Openspritzer, to order as a complete unit (component kit, plus assembly and testing). We can further leave the purchasing of the components to you, and have it delivered to our workshop to handle assembly, testing and installation/support.
Openspritzer Order Options
NeuroGig offers you various options to fit your budget and expertise.
You can opt to purchase the NeuroGig Openspritzer Kit only, where you handle the assembly. Additionally, you buy the Kit and let us handle the assembly and testing with optional installation. And yes, we do provide a warranty on our workmanship!
Alternatively, with time constraints, we can provide you with the complete product, fully assembled, tested and a one year warranty for added peace of mind.
Please visit our Store for more information or contact us for a formal quote on your preferred choice.
Openspritzer versus PicoSpritzer
1) A lateral offset between normalised peak intensities, where e.g. the Picospritzer can deliver smaller doses for a given puff duration
*this difference could also be due to small differences in pressure - whilst both instruments were set to 1.4 bar, there could be internal pneumatic differences in the complete systems
2) Variability of the dosage on repeated puffs. The Openspritzer sometimes delivers slightly higher doses at the same settings as the Picospritzer, but this could also be an artefact
*Openspritzer puffs were set at one second delays in between pulses whilst Picospritzer pulses were set and triggered manually
3) Absence of intermediate pressure to prevent back filling in the off state*this function could easily be added with another regulator at port 3 of the solenoid valve
4) Vacuum holding capacity to hold cells in place
*this could easily be accomplished with another Openspritzer in tandem
5) Complete access to the source code for the control of the Openspritzer
*this provides users with an increased range of parameters for controlling timing and puff duration
Read more in Forman et al., 2017