Single Action Push to Tilt Mechanism for Cell Culture Media Change within Incubators for Screw Cap Flasks

Cell cultures are used in a wide variety of research and development areas. This often requires a scaling of the production of cells and the associated economical production of the cells in quantity. In this paper, a mechanism is presented that enables the emptying of T75 flasks within an incubator by means of a push-to-activate device, in addition to the previously mainly manual media change. Therefore, showing a low cost and efficient solution for potential tailor-made lab automation. It was further shown that the developed system can empty the media of the culture flasks with sufficient accuracy. In the automated process sequence, the flask is tilted at the beginning so that the old media can drain off. After this, a rinsing process is also provided, after which the target medium quantity is finally filled in. These additional process steps further reduce the remaining quantity of old medium.