Revolutionary IR Heating

Instead of internal resistance rods that cause thermal hot spots or heavy double-walled water jackets that require expensive glass vessel, heating is provided by a 150" W" IR heat source with a gilded parabolic reflector situated beneath the vessel. Half of the IR light is absorbed by the glass vessel wall and half directly by the liquid culture, mimicking natural sunlight. This delivers uniform, gentle heat distribution, fast response times, and precise temperature regulation (±〖0.2〗^∘ "C" ).

Gentle and Efficient heating

The vessel is heated from below by infrared radiation generated by a high-power spiral heating element with a very low thermal mass.

The infrared radiation is focused by a gold-coated parabolic reflector with approximately 98% efficiency onto the bottom of the vessel. Approximately 50% of the energy is absorbed by the glass vessel, while the remaining 50% passes through the glass and is absorbed directly by the culture medium. This results in exceptionally gentle and uniform heating without the formation of hot spots, even at very low working volumes.
Natural thermal convection is generated even without mechanical agitation of the culture.
Owing to the very low thermal mass of the heating element (equivalent to approximately 1 mL of water), heat input can be regulated rapidly, allowing highly accurate temperature control within the culture medium.
The integrated heating system eliminates the need for heating blankets, jacketed vessels, circulating water baths, additional tubing and external heating connections, significantly simplifying the overall bioreactor design.
The compact architecture also improves accessibility around the vessel while reducing setup and maintenance time.

More about Radiation Heating

Why are many laboratory bioreactors equipped with jacketed vessels and external circulating water baths?

The primary reason is to prevent the formation of local hot spots on the vessel walls. However, this approach also introduces several disadvantages, including increased system complexity, high thermal mass, longer sterilization and cooling times, additional tubing and connections, and the need for external circulating pumps and temperature control units.

The LAMBDA Minifor2Bio touch addresses these limitations by using infrared radiation as the heat source.

Infrared radiation is generated simply by passing an electric current through a compact heating element. The emitted radiation is reflected by a gold-coated parabolic reflector and distributed uniformly across the bottom of the fermentation vessel. Because infrared radiation is absorbed both by the glass vessel and directly by the culture medium, heat is transferred gently and evenly without creating localized hot spots.

Unlike jacketed vessels or heating blankets, the infrared heating system has an extremely low thermal mass. The heating element therefore responds almost instantly to changes in power input, allowing rapid heating and cooling with minimal temperature overshoot and highly stable temperature regulation.

Heating from the bottom of the vessel also promotes natural thermal convection within the culture medium. Even in the absence of mechanical agitation, this gentle circulation contributes to uniform temperature distribution throughout the vessel. For example, at a temperature setpoint of 30 °C, temperature deviations of approximately ±0.1 °C can be achieved in a 1 L culture vessel.

In addition, eliminating heating jackets and circulating water systems allows the use of lightweight single-wall glass vessels, improving heat transfer during sterilization and cooling while reducing overall system complexity and maintenance requirements.