HTA HT4000A Sample Prep Workstation for Chromatography

HT4000A Chromatography Sample Prep Workstation

Sample prep workstation for chromatographic routines

WHY MOVE TO AUTOMATION?

There are a number of reasons why you should automate the sample prep procedures you currently run manually. Through automation you can:

• increase productivity by running 24/7;
• improve repeatability and traceability;
• lower operator’s health and safety risks by reducing exposure to hazardous chemicals and reduce crosslab CV by increasing method robustness and facilitating method transfer.

HT4000A - sample preparation workstation - allows automation of sample preparation procedures by taking care of a large number of operations such as liquid handling, purification or filtration, tracking and further sample processing such as vortex, automatic uncap/ recap, and weigh. The modular design allows easy configuration and affordable costs. The liquid handling module is included in each configuration, while all other modules are included, according to your requirements. You get your HT4000A instrument tailored and designed to fit it to your lab workflow: furthermore, by adding or removing modules, you are quickly able to deploy an additional or different sample prep procedure.

Provide your HTA’s sales rep with your sample prep procedure: an automation consultant will take care to configure your HT4000A workstation so that you can make a proper evaluation of the benefits it can bring to your lab.

KEY FEATURES

LIQUID HANDLING

HT4000A's liquid handling head is equipped with a syringe that ranges from 500 nanoliters to 10 milliliters: for larger volume requirements, multiple dispensation cycle or peristaltic pump modules can be integrated. HT4000A definitively allows a wide range of sample volume to be handled. HT4000A offers aspiration, dispensation, sample displacing, serial and parallel dilution, single and multiple derivatisation, pH spiking, reagent and standard addiction. Regardless of whether your sample or solvent is extremely volatile or viscous, we provide you with the capability you need to perform the tasks effectively.

TRACKING

Barcode information can be acquired in automated (integrated barcode reader) or operator-assisted (bar-code gun) mode. Equip HT4000A with a barcode reader module to confirm sample identity, to add this information in an execution report or to the store information in a database or LIMS. Handling the barcode is, typically, advisable when the same sample vessel needs to be reprocessed several times, such as with weight application: in such a case, an empty sample vessel is processed first, to acquire the tare information and then - even days or weeks later - reprocessed to acquire the gross weight. By storing the barcode information in the database, it is possible to automatically recover tare information and calculate the net weight. For enforced GLP requirement, HT4000A can be equipped with SyringeID that provides automatic identification of the used syringe to process samples.

CLEANING & SOLVENT MANAGEMENT

HT4000A cleaning procedures are chromatographic grade. Besides standard functionalities, carry-over can be further contrasted by equipping the unit with the external needle cleaning module or with the active washing module whenever an excess of solid impurities may be present in the sample to be processed. No compromise in terms of solvent capacity and solvent selection: HT4000A has a wide capacity to accommodate the most challenging requests. Solvents can be located in vials (for accurate micro-volume dispensing) or in bottles (for large-volume dispensing).

VORTEX, UNCAP & RECAP

Vortex station is used to help perform effective mixing of solvents and standards, to assist solubilisation or to avoid stratification and therefore to avoid the lack of representativeness of the sample. Uncap & Recap station is designed for screw cap vials allowing HT4000A to remove and hold the cap, while solvents are added or a sample is aspirated from the vessel. At the end of the liquid handling operation, the cap is put back and the vial can be therefore be replaced on the rack.

MOVE OBJECTS

By including gripping capability, sample vessels can be moved across modules or positions allowing further automation. Some stations, such as micro balance, vortex and barcode readers require samples to be processed one at a time in a different place to the rack in which they have been prepared. HT4000A features several types of gripper: the passive gripper, used for crimped vials and centering handles, and the active gripper, for more complex objects, such as unsealed and screw cap tubes.

CONDITIONING

You have been offered with several options to perform the thermal conditioning. When the whole sample rack needs to be conditioned, it is available the cooling option: it allows to preserve samples from thermal degradation and to avoid undesirable phase changes. When the sample should be treated individually, the reaction cell and the vial heater modules are available: the sample is transferred in such modules and the reaction can take place.

PURIFICATION

Purification and filtration are common steps in many sample prep procedures. HT4000A supports several of them: we have automated Micro Extraction by Packed Sorbent (MEPS) and liquid/liquid extraction (LLE); if you need SPE or filtration automation check HT4000E brochure.

INJECTION

Most of our sample prep workstations are used offline, without automatic sample loading/ injecting into the analyser. They are, in fact, typically feeding samples for more than one analyser. However, in several other scenarios they are directly connected to the analyser by the use of an injection valve (for LC and IC applications) or by an injection port. In such cases, HT4000A also takes care to pass the information about data acquisition start to the analyser, by the usage of external trigger or CDS direct link.

WEIGH

HT4000A can be integrated with a micro balance. In such a scenario, the sample vessel is moved onto the weighing platform in order to collect weight information and then back to its position in the rack. Typically, applications include the gravimetric dispensation (sample is weighed before and after adding a solvent); automatic tare/gross weight acquisition (in order to calculate and save net weight information); check sample quantity or to check if the sample quantity is inside the window of validity to be further processed.

SAMPLE VESSELS

The most common sample vessels are supported: vials (2/4/6/10/20/40ml), test tubes, tube blocks, plates, Vacutainers and several more. More than one type of vessel can be placed on the same rack at the same time: in fact, typically, sample preparation procedure requires some sample reformatting steps that HT4000A can perform very well. Open vessels are supported as per those that are sealed. In the latter case, they may be used with pierceable septa/seals or with screw caps: in fact, HT4000A can be equipped with an uncap/recap module when piercing a septum is not advisable. In terms of sample capacity, 1 sample deck is the standard configuration. However, a 2 sample deck version is also applicable for the most demanding applications.

THE SOFTWARE

HTAPREP – lab automation software – offers powerful method development by a simple drag & drop approach and smart sample processing: complex routine and experiments can be defined in a few easy steps. Learn more on the brochure dedicated to HTAPREP.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

1 Most common modules accounted
2 Additional power supply may be required depending on the modules

Uncap & recap, object displacement

Vortex, reaction cell, liquid handling & LC injection