Daily Maintenance. Biotek MicroFill AF1000A, MicroFill AF1000

Daily Maintenance

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45

Daily Maintenance

For all Daily Maintenance tasks, ensure that the:

• supply bottle contains at least 400 ml of rinse solution

• waste bottle is empty

• priming plate is properly inserted in the microplate adaptor.

Rinse and Soak

Daily Maintenance involves flushing the dispenser with an appropriate reagent at the beginning of the day (BioTek recommends using deionized water in the morning).

The

M_Rinse_And_Soak

program is recommended for the morning. This should be performed

on the same day the microplates are dispensed

. This procedure helps prevent the dispense tubes from clogging between uses.

The default parameters for the

M_Rinse_And_Soak

program are listed below.

Maintenance Program M_Rinse_And_Soak

Prime Program:

Prime Volume:

Flow Rate:

P_Rinse_And_Soak

40 ml

5

Soak After Prime? Yes

Soak Duration: 5 minutes

To run the

M_Rinse_And_Soak

program, follow the menu path shown below.

MAINT > Press Options until M_Rinse_And_Soak appears >

CONNECT RINSE AND PRESS <START> KEY > MAINTENANCE RUNNING

PRESS <STOP> TO QUIT

MicroFill Operator's Manual

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| Chapter 4: Preventive Maintenance

Removing Protein Residuals and Fungi Growth

Important!

Solutions containing proteins, such as bovine serum albumin (BSA), will compromise the dispenser’s performance over time unless a strict maintenance regime is adhered to.

Do not

use isopropyl alcohol to flush out BSA.

BioTek recommends performing the following additional Maintenance procedures to thoroughly flush out protein particles and other contaminants from the dispenser’s fluid path, if necessary:

Daily

Using an Enzyme-Active Detergent:

1.

2.

Mix an enzyme-active detergent according to the manufacturer’s directions to fill a two-liter supply bottle (or a one-liter bottle, for an autoclavable

MicroFill™).

Run the

M_Decontaminate

Maintenance program. When the program pauses and displays

CONNECT RINSE PRESS <START> KEY

, leave the detergent bottle connected and press the

Start

key to continue. Repeat this sequence until the bottle is empty.

3. Connect a bottle full of deionized water and run the

P_Day_Rinse

Prime program three times to flush the system.

Using Ethanol:

At the end of the day:

1.

2.

3.

Prepare a two-liter solution of 10% ethanol and deionized water (or a oneliter solution for an autoclavable MicroFill™).

Do not

use isopropyl alcohol.

Run the

M_Decontaminate

Maintenance program.

Connect a bottle full of deionized water and flush the system by running either the

P_Day_Rinse

Prime program (three times), or the

M_Overnight_Loop

Maintenance program.

BioTek Instruments, Inc.

Daily Maintenance

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47

Using Deionized Water:

If the dispenser will be idle between plates for longer than 45 minutes, flush the proteins from the system:

1. Fill a supply bottle with deionized water. Connect the bottle to the dispenser.

2. Run the

P_Day_Rinse

Prime program.

3. Enable

AUTOPRIME

for 60-minute intervals.

At the end of the day:

1.

2.

Fill a supply bottle with deionized water. Connect the bottle to the dispenser.

Run the

P_Day_Rinse

Prime program three times.

3. Run the

M_Overnight_Loop

Maintenance program.

Weekly/Monthly

1.

2.

3.

Flush the system with 0.1 – 0.5 N NaOH, followed by neutralization with an equivalent normality (0.1 – 0.5 N) of HCl.

Rinse well with deionized water to remove the HCl.

Run the

M_Overnight_Loop

Maintenance program with deionized water, or run the

P_Day_Rinse

Prime program three times with deionized water if you plan to use the dispenser immediately.

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| Chapter 4: Preventive Maintenance

AUTOPRIME

BioTek recommends enabling the AutoPrime feature to automatically prime (and optionally soak) the dispenser after it has been idle for a user-specified amount of time.

The volume, flow rate, and soaking parameters specified in the

AUTOPRIME

Prime program are used. AutoPrime is particularly useful if the dispenser is used intermittently throughout the day, to keep the fluid lines and manifold in a wetted condition. If you prefer not to enable the AutoPrime feature, BioTek recommends running the

M_Rinse_And_Soak

program periodically during the day.

™ If AutoPrime is enabled, the priming plate must be left in the microplate adaptor when the user finishes dispensing a plate. The partition dividing the trough must be placed toward the rear of the instrument.

The AutoPrime feature is disabled by default. To enable it:

1. Select

UTIL > AUTOPRIME > YES

.

2. Enter the

interval

from

10

to

600

minutes, to indicate how often you want the AutoPrime Prime program to run.

3. Press

ENTER

and then return to the Main Menu.

AutoPrime is now enabled and priming will occur each time the dispenser has been idle for <

interval

> minutes.

• To disable the AutoPrime feature, select

UTIL > AUTOPRIME > NO

.

• To

halt

the

AUTOPRIME

program when it is running, press the

STOP

key.

• To

view

or

edit

the

AUTOPRIME

program parameters, select

DEFINE >

EDIT > PRIME > AUTOPRIME

and then press the

Options

key to scroll through the parameters you wish to view or edit. The table below shows the

AUTOPRIME

program parameters and ranges.

Parameter Default Selectable Range

Interval

Prime Volume

Prime Flow Rate

10 minutes

10 ml

5

10 to 600 minutes

1 to 999 ml

1 to 5

Soak After Prime? Yes

Soak Duration

Yes/No

11 hours, 50 minutes 1 minute to 18 hours

™ See “Prime Programs” in Chapter 3 for more information on Prime programs and their parameters.

BioTek Instruments, Inc.