Harvard Apparatus 11 Pico Plus Elite Syringe Pump: a review

Introduction about Harvard Apparatus 11 Pico Plus Elite 

Since 1956, Harvard Apparatus offers a broad range of syringe and peristaltic pumps to suit almost every fluidic application. Harvard Apparatus Pump 11 Pico Plus Elite syringe pump is designed for micro and nanofluidic applications. As explained here, conventional syringe pumps can generate flow oscillation at low flow rates and long settling times.  Available now at Darwin Microfluidics.

Pump 11 Pico Plus Elite is an excellent example of a microfluidic syringe pump that does not generate visible flow oscillations, even at low flow rates down to the picoliter/min.

To learn more about syringe pump and microfluidics and how to optimize their performance, please read our tutorial about the use of syringe pump in microfluidic applications.

Harvard apparatus propose three microfluidic syringe pump, the PHD ULTRA advanced syringe pump, the 11 Pico plus Elite and the Elite Nanomite syringe pump. In this short review we will focus on the Harvard Apparatus 11 pico plus Elite syringe pump.

Flow oscillation, minimal flow and reproducibility

Let us come back to flow oscillation, the pump can reach a minimum flow rate of 0.54 pl/min when using a 0.5 µl syringe. The accuracy of the Pump 11 Pico Plus Elite is 0.35% with a reproducibility of +/- 0.05%.

(Note that manufacturers may use different methods to determine accuracy and reproducibility in their specifications. The Elveflow microfluidic team cannot guarantee which manufacturer is the best suited for each microfluidic situation.)

To achieve the performance required for microfluidic applications, the Harvard Apparatus Pump 11 Pico Plus Elite uses a microprocessor-controlled microstep angle stepper motor which drives a lead screw and pusher block. Advanced microstepping techniques are employed to further reduce the step angle to eliminate flow pulsation. This precision syringe pump has a step resolution of 0.031 µm/µstep and produces up to 20,480 µsteps per revolution of the pump lead screw.

Response time and setlling time

The Pump 11 Pico Plus Elite does not include a flow rate feedback loop to integrate into your microfluidic device. For additional information about how to reduce flow oscillation and increase responsiveness of your Harvard Apparatus Pump 11 Pico Plus Elite syringe pump please review our review about the use of syringe pumps in microfluidic.

Additional information about Harvard Apparatus pump 11 pico plus Elite

Front panel control

The 4.3 inch (10.92 cm) WQVGA TFT color display with touch screen coupled with the intuitive EZ PRO user interface allows programming simple to complex experiments. The touch screen interface also includes memory to save two programs directly on the pump. All programming is done on the pump interface, all without the use of a PC.

Internal and external trigger

The pump includes trigger capability for synchronization with other instruments, such as a microscope or camera. This feature is very useful as more microfluidic experiments require synchronization between several instruments.

 Back panel connections

The syringe pump includes several external interfaces for advanced connectivity. All Pump 11 Pico Plus Elite syringe pumps come standard with a footswitch, USB, RS-232, RS-485 and I/O connectors. Optional RJ-11 connections for pump to pump networking are also available.

This syringe pump can be use either horizontally or vertically to optimize bench space or to minimize tubing.

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For more information about Harvard Apparatus syringe pumps, you can contact Simon Cox from Harvard Apparatus or contact us. This review had been written with the help of the Harvard apparatus R&D team.

Discover other microfluidic syringe pumps from our review: Cellix ExiGo syringe pump, New Era 1002X syringe pump, Harvard Apparatus Phd ultra advanced syringe pump, KD Scientific Legato 180 Picoliter Syringe Pump.