Gold Award

IBO’s 2009 Gold Design Award winner for lab equipment is Genevac’s Rocket. Eschewing a boxy exterior for smooth curves, the centrifugal evaporator’s coiled form lends it a futuristic look. The originality of the system’s design matches its technical novelty. The Rocket is the company’s first centrifugal evaporator that features a low-temperature, low-pressure steam-heating evaporation method. This allows the system to automatically dry and concentrate up to six 450 mL flasks at extremely high speeds.

The Rocket’s dimensions are 72 x 64 x 53 cm (28.3 x 25.2 x 20.9 in), it weighs 75 kg (165.3 lb) and it costs $40,000–$50,000. It was built with the assistance of Design Edge, a UK-based design firm. According to Robert Darrington, Marketing and Business Development manager at Genevac, the company “just approached [Design Edge] to, in effect, design the packaging, the exterior look and feel.” In describing the importance of the Rocket’s exterior, Mr. Darrington stated “I think we discovered with some of our earlier products that having a good look and feel to a system is pretty important . . . When you’re at trade shows, and such places, people do look at [your product] and recognize it, having seen it only once. It’s not just another gray box in a lab.”

The Rocket’s multicolored user interface is straightforward and easy to use. In addition, its buttons provide a whimsical contrast to the system’s solid colors. The rectangular section of the system, containing the screen, is made dynamic with a downward slope. The system’s plastic coated glass cold trap, which collects evaporated solvent, rests within the system’s rectangular arm, taking no additional space while on display.

The design also communicates durability. According to Mr. Darrington, the Rocket was designed to be “robust and easy to build, service, and maintain.” For maintenance, he explained: “Access for engineers is important. You need to keep the styling clean and good, and not put little access panels everywhere.” Specifically, he pointed out the trouble that extra design features can pose. “Seam lines and joint lines are messy because in a busy lab environment if someone spills something, [such lines] are a place where you can get solvent where you don’t want.”

Silver Award

The 2009 Silver IBO Design Award for laboratory equipment goes to Metrohm’s automated titration system, the 862 Compact Titrosampler. The 862’s exterior comes in Metrohm’s distinctive teal and white color scheme, and its stylishly angled digital screen offsets the system’s verticality. In addition, the screen’s size is large enough for researchers to follow a live titration curve.

The design of the 862’s base sets it apart from other automated titration systems. Building the titrator into the autosampler allowed for a compact footprint while leaving it accessible and open. The 862’s dimensions are 26 x 47 x 43 (10.2 x 18.5 x 16.9 in), it weighs 9.09 kg (20.0 lb) and costs $11,600. It is available in customized packages for food and beverage testing, and salt testing.

Bronze Award

IBO’s 2009 Bronze Design Award for laboratory equipment goes to HTA’s HT800L HPLC autosampler. The HT800L measures 30 x 34.6 x 54.6 cm (11.8 x 13.6 x 21.5 in) and weighs 19 kg (41.9 lb). A departure from the company’s previous HPLC autosampling systems, which were bulkier and open, the HT800L is sleek, enclosed and compact.

The HT800L’s façade is unadorned, allowing for OEM exterior customization. Nevertheless, the system’s inverse-hourglass face and keypad pleasantly contrast with HT800L’s cube-like shape and distinguishes it from similar systems. The HT800L’s size also allows for HPLC systems to be stacked on top to save lab space. The keypad controls extra washing, setup and alignment, and a computer is used for method and sequence editing.

The system’s striking blue internal lighting allows researchers to view samples within the chamber. The system’s door opens horizontally from the front so inserting a tray through the system’s door is an intuitive process.