If you are a home-health care professional, phlebotomist, an insurance contractor who travels to collect blood/urine samples, a professional breeder or anyone in need of a compact centrifuge to ride “shotgun” and spin down samples before you get back to the lab, Stellar Scientific has an affordable solution for you.
After years of fielding calls for clinical centrifuges, we noticed a sustained interest for a portable clinical centrifuge with a capacity of between 10-15ml (or cc).
Whatever the reason, there appears to be a need for a clinical laboratory centrifuge that can prepare samples on the spot without having to wait until returning to the lab for processing.
The question of whether such a device exists is made of a few smaller questions.
- Is there a clinical centrifuge that is light enough to be easily transported?
- Is there a clinical centrifuge that is compact enough to be a good travel companion?
- Can an automobile battery deliver an uninterrupted supply of power to allow the clinical centrifuge to perform correctly?
It took just a simple phone call to our good friends at Benchmark Scientific to get the answer.
Benchmark Scientific had recently released a new clinical centrifuge series, the LC-8 and LC-8 Plus, which showed promise since they met the needs of the first two questions.
The LC-8 family weighs fifteen pounds and has a footprint of 11 x 14 inches which makes it suitable to be belted to most any passenger seat. While fifteen pounds isn’t terribly lightweight, it is an acceptable weight considering the larger eight-tube capacity as compared with the usual six from other brands.
When we presented them with the challenge of determining if it could be powered from an automobile cigarette lighter or power port, they eagerly took up the task and performed a short field test with decisive results.
Because the LC-8 clinical centrifuges are powered by 120V AC plugs, it was necessary to purchase a power inverter that converts DC to AC. One can readily find these on eBay, Amazon and hundreds of other electronic suppliers.
Here is an example of the one they used for their test.
The centrifuge performed exactly as it would when plugged into the wall outlet without spikes or dips in performance. Meaning, you will get excellent, clean results no matter where you choose to spin down your samples.
Freedom to move about as you need is now within reach, and for just under $500.
Here is a video we created to show just how easy it it:
If the demand is as high as we suspect it to be, a DC version that plugs directly into the automobile power port will be released.
Stellar Scientific – always looking for new ways to simplify your world!