BioShake & ColdPlate

Revolution drives two QInstruments devices. They are related but distinct: the BioShake shakes and heats, the ColdPlate is temperature control only.

Device	What it does	Revolution control
BioShake	Shaking plus temperature	Shake, lock the plate, set and read temperature
Qi ColdPlate	Temperature control	Set and read temperature, on and off

At a glance

Shaking speed	200 rpm to 3,000 rpm, fully adjustable
BioShake Q1 temperature	−20 °C to 99.9 °C, fully adjustable
ColdPlate temperature	−10 °C to 99 °C, fully adjustable
Temperature accuracy	Better than ±0.1 °C nominal regulation
Temperature uniformity	Better than ±0.5 °C at 45 °C across the heating surface

Specifications

QInstruments publishes one figure beyond the At a glance table above: on the BioShake Q1, the temperature is selectable in steps of 1.0 °C from ambient to 99 °C.

These devices go below ambient, which most of the temperature-control devices in this catalogue do not — the Hamilton and INHECO modules elsewhere here are heat-only or heat-plus-fan. If a protocol needs a plate held at 4 °C, this is the family that does it.

The temperature figures above are for the BioShake Q1 specifically. QInstruments offers several BioShake models — Q1, Q2, 3000, 3000 elm, 3000-T elm and iQ among them — and they are not identical. Confirm your model before relying on a figure.

QInstruments notes that shaped adapters fit standard tubes, lysis tubes, microplates, glass vials and other vessels, so the same unit serves more than plates.

Supported methods

BioShake

• Shake — shake with parameters
• Shake on / Shake off — start and stop shaking
• Lock — lock the plate in place
• Set temperature — set the target temperature without blocking
• Set temperature and wait — set it and block until reached
• Get temperature — read the current temperature
• Temp off — turn temperature control off

Lock is not optional at speed. At up to 3,000 rpm a plate that is not clamped is a plate that can move, and a robot should not be placing or collecting labware from a unit whose clamp state is unknown. Treat locking as part of the transfer sequence, not an afterthought.

ColdPlate

• Set temperature / Set temperature and wait
• Get temperature
• Temp on / Temp off

Blocking or not

Both devices offer set temperature and set temperature and wait. Use the non-blocking form early in a method and the blocking form immediately before the step that depends on the temperature — that way the unit comes up to temperature while the schedule does other work, rather than the schedule idling.

Integration

Prerequisites

• The unit must be reachable from the Revolution host.
• The adapter fitted must suit the labware the method presents.
• On the BioShake, the plate must be locked before shaking and the lock state known before a robot transfer.
• For sub-ambient set points, allow for the unit reaching temperature — use the blocking form rather than assuming.

If you need more of this instrument driven from a schedule, get in touch — the driver is extended on demand.