Hamilton Heater Shaker

The Hamilton Heater Shaker (HHS) is a combined heating and shaking module that sits on a liquid handler deck. Hamilton states it occupies a single ANSI/SLAS position while still providing full access for direct pipetting, and that multiple units can be integrated on one deck.

At a glance

Heating	Up to 105 °C
Shaking speed	Up to 2500 rpm
Shaking orbits	1.5, 2.0, 3.0 and 4.0 mm, selectable
Deck footprint	One ANSI/SLAS position
Labware	Nearly any microplate type via Smart Adapters, including deep well, PCR and MIDI plates
Revolution control	Set temperature, set shaking speed, set duration, start, read status

Instrument features

The figures above are for the Hamilton Heater Shaker 3G, the generation Hamilton currently documents.

• Smart Adapters — each adapter carries an ID chip, so the unit automatically adjusts parameters for the plate type fitted
• NIST-traceable temperature system, which Hamilton describes as reaching temperatures as high as 105 °C with uniform heat distribution
• Tool-free performance verification — temperature, orbit and rpm can be checked without tools
• Heater shaker box — an option for integrating multiple HHS units on the liquid handling deck
• Compatibility mode — replaces second-generation units while retaining their previous behaviour, so mixed HHS generations can run side by side

Hamilton lists genomics, PCR set-up, NGS library prep, single cell analysis and cell biology as common applications.

Supported methods

• Set temperature — set the target plate temperature
• Set speed — set the shaking speed
• Set time — set the duration for the operation
• Start — begin heating and shaking with the values already set
• Get status — read the unit’s current state, so a schedule can wait on it

The parameters are set first and then started, so a schedule can stage a temperature and speed before the plate arrives.

Integration

Revolution talks to the HHS over a serial connection.

Prerequisites

• The unit must be cabled to the Revolution host and its COM port known before the device is initialised.
• The Smart Adapter fitted must match the labware the method uses — the adapter is what tells the unit which plate type it is driving.

Device configuration

Property	Purpose
COM port	Serial port the unit is connected on

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