Brief
Maddison was commissioned to design a new product range of bioreactors incorporating both industrial design and product engineering. The first was a desktop 20 litre system and the second was a floor mounted 200 litre system. Both systems used a novel, single use bag concept to cultivate the cells’ growth.
Challenge and Solution
An early challenge to overcome for the smaller bioreactor system, was to create a new mixing technique to circumvent the traditional ‘wave’ solution which was well protected for intellectual property. Our solution was a three dimensional mixing method and mechanism which actually provided superior fluid mixing properties which was tested on a proof of concept rig. Maddison developed a number of different industrial concepts for the look and feel of the bioreactor product range with careful consideration of the user needs. A preferred concept was selected and detailed product engineering undertaken to take the product through the prototyping and electronics integration phases to product specification.
We also designed and developed the large, 200 litre system with a new set of challenges to do with scale that were overcome.
Result
Both systems have been a real success in the market and bioreactors now form a key part of the client’s product portfolio.
