MEDIACLAVE – Media Preparator

Main features 

High Operational Safety
An automatic tightness check at the beginning of each sterilization cycle prevents the instrument from starting if the system is not tight – avoiding incomplete sterilization and subsequent media rejection. Furthermore, MEDIACLAVE is equipped with several independent monitoring systems for pressure and temperature, guaranteeing highest safety standards for the user and the working environment. The vessel lid is equipped with an autonomous overpressure safety valve and a burst disc in case all other electronic monitoring systems fail.

Fast Heating
Powerful heating elements permit fast media processing. This minimises thermal stress and ensures high fertility of your culture medium. Pressure and temperature controlled deaeration guarantees saturated steam in the vessel.

Reliable Sterilisation
The large and strong magnetic stirrer with adjustable speed and reversing rotation direction ensures homogenous media preparation over a wide viscosity range. A Pt-1000 temperature probe and microprocessor control of process parameters allow reproducible and complete sterilization of culture media.

Rapid Cooling
Rapid cooling is enabled by an efficient plate heat exchanger. The separation of the cooling water system and the sterilization chamber makes it unlikely that culture media gets contaminated by cooling water. The built-in support pressure system prevents a delay in boiling during the rapid cool down phase, allowing an extraordinary fast and gentle cooling.

System block diagram

1 Media cuvette
2 Sterilisation vessel
3 Temperature probe
4 Adding port
5 Overpressure safety valve
6 Dispense port with decanting tubing
7 Lid seal
8 Magnetic stirrer bar
9 Sterile filter
10 Support pressure pump
11 Flow heater
12 Deaeration outlet
13 Air inlet
14 Quick connection for cooling water inlet
15 Heat exchanger
16 Quick connection for water outlet
17 Quick connection for coupling water
inlet (MEDIACLAVE 30 only)
18 Circulation pump
Valve

MEDIACLAVE guarantees gentle and rapid sterilization of standard and highly sensitive culture media. Efficient heating, cooling and homogenous mixing minimize thermal stress and guarantee maximum medium fertility.

Operation modes

MEDIACLAVE is quickly set up. Insert the cuvette (container for media), fill in the coupling water (water jacket between the cuvette and the vessel for efficient heat transfer) and you are ready to prepare your culture medium.

Culture medium can be suspended and dissolved directly within the MEDIACLAVE. The strong magnetic stirrer guarantees homogeneous mixing within the vessel and prevents coagulation. Alternatively, culture medium can be dissolved and pre-swelled using the WATER BATH operation mode prior to sterilization.

The intuitive, multilingual graphical user interface makes it very easy for everyone to use MEDIACLAVE – no special training of the staff is required.

Up to 50 programs with user-defined parameter settings such as sterilization temperature, sterilization time or dispensing temperature
can be saved and recalled.

Operation modes:

Two main operation modes for media preparation, plus two extra modes can be selected and the parameters set to your needs:

1. STANDARD mode: For the preparation of standard and highly sensitive culture media. Sterilization temperature/time and dispensing temperature can be set.

2. CHOCOLATE AGAR mode: A special two-step program that allows the preparation of complex media. After the first sterilization phase, supplement, e.g. blood, can be added through the adding port. Subsequently, a second heating phase is performed.

3. WATER BATH mode: For pre-swelling culture media prior to sterilization within the temperature range 30 – 80 °C. In combination with an autoclave cuvette (only MEDIACLAVE 10), liquids in glassware can be thermostatted.

4. AUTOCLAVE mode (MEDIACLAVE 10 only): MEDIACLAVE 10 can be used as a benchtop autoclave to sterilize culture medium in glassware such as Erlenmeyer flasks or test tubes.

Standard mode: Heating up, sterilization and cooling down to dispensing temperature.

Chocolate Agar mode: After the first sterilization phase, blood is added and the medium heated up again

Dispensing

The wide adding port facilitates safe addition of supplements such as antibiotics or blood prior to dispensing. The automatic in-process sterilization of the dispense port minimizes the risk of medium contamination during dispensing.

The vessel and the dispensing system of the MEDIACLAVE were designed to avoid dead volume and to have maximum medium yield.

MEDIACLAVE can be quickly and conveniently connected to the dispensing tubing of the automated Petri dish filler MEDIAJET. Up to 540 Petri dishes can be filled with Agar medium at the touch of a button.

Alternatively, the peristaltic pump DOSE IT can be used to fill containers of more unusual volumes or shapes, e.g. quadrangular Petri dishes, bottles or flasks.

Large containers such as bottles can be filled by pressure dispensing. Medium is dispensed by automatically building up pressure inside the sterilization chamber. Requires optionally available Pressure Dispense Kit.

Process documentation and validation

MEDIACLAVE supports individual needs in process documentation and validation. The sterilization process can be monitored and stored using a PC. A digital signature according to FDA (21 CFR Part 11) / EU (GMP Annex 11) is automatically added to the electronic process file.

All logfiles can also be stored using the MEDIACLAVE USB port.

If equipped with an optionally available dot matrix printer, high quality printouts insusceptible to fading can be archived. To minimize paper consumption, the printout intervals can be increased