IBO’s laboratory equipment design awards recognize creative and function industrial design of lab equipment, which is defined as receiving an electrical current, operational for a minimum of one year and unable to analyze a sample characteristic.

Gold Award

ELGA’s PURELAB Chorus laboratory water system is the winner of IBO’s 2014 Gold Industrial Design Award for laboratory equipment. The system’s clean surface and sleek curves communicate sophistication and quality, while guiding user interaction and enabling versatile configuration. The base, excluding the dispenser, is 375 x 435 x 340 mm (15 x 17 x 13 in) and weighs 19 kg (42 lb). The list price is $2,500. LA Design Consultants worked with ELGA on the industrial design.

The Chorus’s modularity offers multiple options for configuration, dispensing, water type and budget. For example, the dispenser module can be placed on top or below the unit or independent of the unit, such as on the wall. The tank, unit and dispenser can be positioned separately for customization and to save lab space. “Delivering all grades of purified water, it can easily adapt to application changes and scale to meet volume requirements. Through its smart link feature, modular elements can be easily connected or detached from each other allowing ultimate flexibility in today’s space-challenged labs,” said Natasha Zarach, ELGA Global Marketing manager. The display provides an attractive interface and light cues.

Silver Award

The 2014 Silver IBO Industrial Design Award for laboratory equipment goes to Thermo Fisher Scientific’s Thermo Scientific VersaCool Refrigerated Circulating Bath. The revolutionary design does away with the pumping and control head of standard water baths and removes the heating coils from the bath area, allowing safer and easier access. Those functions are engineered into the unit, making it more space efficient. A front-panel touchscreen control provides a familiar interface and wave-patterned vents are a distinctive touch.

The VersaCool measures 254 x 559 x 483 mm (10 x 22 x 19 in) and weighs 36 kg (80 lb). The US price is $5,997. “[W]e have more internal open bath space to the size of our footprint than any other 7 L bath out there, and we have the work area of a typical 15 L bath,” said Bob Given, product director of Temperature Control at Thermo.

Other “firsts” are global-voltage and Bluetooth capabilities. Multiple design features increase functionality, including the lid that can be adjusted to be hinged on the right or left and is dripless, and the tube rack, that when removed from the bath, can sit above the rim rather than take up space on the lab bench.

Bronze Award

Hta’s HT4000 L HPLC Autosampler is the winner of IBO’s 2014 Bronze Award for lab equipment design. The product measures 310 x 705 x 690 mm (12 x 28 x 27 in) and weighs 15 kg (33 lb). Pricing starts at €8,230 ($11,274 = €0.73 = $1). Hta worked with Rezzonico Design on the system.

The HT4000 L’s compact vertical footprint allows up to 176 2 mL vials to be processed per run. The design emphasizes versatility as it works with vials, test tubes, tube blocks or plates. The configuration also can be easily changed in the field. Manufacturability was another priority. As Enrico Marchini, PhD, Sales and Marketing manager at hta, told IBO, specifically, this was the ability “to manufacture a large number of models, each one different from the others.”

The streamlined design also enables rapid assembly and visible plumbing connections for easy monitoring and maintenance. Also visible are the sample-reservoir bottles.

Honorable Mentions

EST Analytical’s Flex Autosampler

KNF Lab’s RC900 Rotary Evaporator