When BG Research decided to develop a compact centrifuge with market leading performance they turned to Printed Motor Works to provide the motor. As existing centrifuges were too large and too slow to accelerate and spin down, the company needed a motor with low inertia and exceptional acceleration and deceleration.
The model chosen was PMW’s GPM9 brushed pancake motor, which has an iron-free armature, giving it very low inertia. This helps produce impressively high acceleration, reaching 3000 rpm from rest in less than half a revolution. The motor also brings the centrifuge to back rest very rapidly, enabling fast throughput of samples.
A further advantage of the motor is its low profile, which allows it to fit directly under the sample holder without the need for gears or drive belts. It is also very quiet with a low level of vibration as the iron-free armature means there is no torque ripple.
Named the XF Spin, the innovative centrifuge was designed by BG Research to safely and efficiently process and prepare DNA and RNA samples for analysis using the quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) process. Possible uses include the preparation of blood samples in COVID-19 research.
