Modular Viscometer

AUTONOMA’s Automated Robotic Viscometer solution features a high-speed robot that delivers samples to your chosen viscometer. It is highly customizable and designed to integrate with a wide variety of viscometers from leading manufacturers such as Dare Instruments, PAC/ISL, Spectro Scientific, Omnitek, and Cannon.

The modular design supports easy expansion and interfacing with AUTONOMA’s full range of NextGen laboratory automation in the future.

• Compatible with all major viscometers (Dare TriVisc, Spectro, Cannon, Omnitek etc)
• 15-20 second cycle time between samples (excluding cleaning and analysis time)
• Customisable for any rack configuration/layout (e.g. 5 x 12 test tube racks, or 96 position Perkin Elmer racks)
• Drip catcher below pipette avoids cross-contamination while moving over other samples
• Sample surface height measurement minimises the contact area with the pipette tip
• Comprehensive cleaning cycle eliminates cross-contamination
• Automatic repeats – samples that time out are automatically re-run

AUTONOMA’s Lightning Viscometer can also be customized to incorporate additional analytical methods and sample preparation steps, including but not limited to:

• Camera system to photograph side and/or bottom of sample bottles/tubes
• Sample Bottle decapping
• FTIR
• PQ (Particle Quantification)
• Sample aliquoting and dilution for ICP/IC
• Aliquoting into test tubes
• Turbidity
• Colour Analysis
• Crackle Test
• TAN/TBN

The system includes several drawers designed to hold racks of sample test tubes or bottles. When bottles are used, they can be loaded with the cap on, and an optional decapper removes it prior to aliquoting. The drawers are hot-swappable, allowing one tray of samples to be removed and replaced while the other trays are being processed.

The system precisely measures the oil’s surface height before the positive displacement pipette extracts an accurate sample, ensuring that only the pipette tip contacts the liquid, minimizing cross-contamination and drips. A drip catcher moves under the pipette while the robot is in transit to prevent stray drops from falling into undesired areas.

Blind sample dosing is also available, where the pipette doses the blind sample into the drip catcher before sampling for analysis. After dispensing the sample into the instrument, the pipette moves to a cleaning station, where it is thoroughly sprayed with cleaning solvent from all sides and rapidly dried with compressed air. The duration and number of solvent spraying and drying cycles are fully adjustable.

Viscometer operation is controlled via a standalone PC or a server-based virtual machine running LabDroid software. It seamlessly integrates with other AUTONOMA automation systems and easily connects with popular LIMS platforms like CCLAS, Starlims, LabWare, and SampleManager, streamlining sample registration.

Results can be exported in CSV, XLS, or TXT formats, with customizable parameter layouts.