Comparing the accuracy of syringe pumps, peristaltic pumps and pressure controllers
- Reviews
- 08 Mar, 2021
Since microfluidic systems are used in many fields such as biology, chemistry and medicine, the stability and accuracy of fluid flow control is very important for microfluidic system applications. Depending on your needs, there are several ways to bring flow into a microfluidic system. The most widely used and best-known system is the syringe pump. However, periodic fluctuations in flow rate can occur. They come from the pump source and are mainly induced by mechanical oscillations of the pump motor. This can, in some cases, disrupt the operation and evaluation of the microfluidic system. Therefore, for greater flow stability, it will be preferable to go to a pressure controller. Finally, peristaltic pump will be useful if you wish to recirculate the flow in your system, or multiplex your experiments. In this review we have compared different flow generating instruments in terms of flow accuracy and stability using a flow sensor.
Among these instruments we have selected the Elveflow OB1 pressure controller, the New Era NE-300 and NE-1000 syringe pump and the Ismatec Reglo ICC peristaltic pump with 2 tubes of different diameters.
Features of the instruments
OB1 Mk3+ Flow controller from Eleveflow
This pressure controller is one of the most accurate pumping solutions on the market. It uses a piezo technology to increase the system's stability as much as possible and generate a pulseless flow.
| Pressure stability | 0.005 % |
| Settling time | 40 ms |
| Response time | 9 ms |
| Outlet pressure range | 200 mbar, 2 bar, 8 bar, -900 mbar/+1 bar, -900mbar/+6 bar |
InfusionONE Syringe pump NE-300 from New Era
The InfusionONE syringe pump is the simplest and cheapest pump available on the market. Unit, speed, and direction of flow are programmable.
| Type of syringe | up to 60 ml (140 ml partially filled) |
| Syringe inside diameter range | from 0.100 to 50 mm |
| Flow range | from 0.73 µl/h to 1500 ml/h |
| Flow accuracy | +/- 1 % |
SyringeONE Syringe pump NE-1000 from New Era
The SyringeONE pump is fully programmable standalone or through a computer using the SyringPumpPro software. In accordance with the user's needs, the SyringeONE is available in different versions depending on the type of syringes and the flow rate range used.
| Type of SyringeONE | 6 (Standard, Microfluidics, 100, 200, 80 and 173) |
| Type of syringe | up to 60 ml (140 ml partially filled) |
| Flow range | from 8pL/h to 1961 mL/min |
| Flow accuracy | +/- 1% |
Reglo ICC peristaltic pump from Ismatec
The Reglo ICC peristaltic pump allows independent control of 4 channels. Easy to use, it is easy to create your own program using all the following operations: start, stop, dispense, reverse, aspirate, calibrate.
| Motor type | Stepper motor (1 per channel) |
| Speed range | 0.1 to 100 rpm, 0.01 rpm resolution |
| Flow rate | 0.001 to 35 ml/min (per channel) |
| Accuracy | +/- 1% |
| Channels | 2, 3 or 4 |
| Rollers | 6, 8 or 12 |
Only 3-stop tubing is compatible with the Reglo ICC. Their inner diameter can range from 0.13 to 3.17 mm. For our tests, we used 2 tubes with inner diameters of 0.25 and 1 mm.
Flow rate accuracy
For this study, we used the Elveflow MFS sensor. Its accuracy is 5% on most of the operating range. Each of the records was made during 12 seconds in order to obtain a significant number of points. For each instrument, several flow rates were tested from 50 to 500 µl/min.
For a flow rate of 50 µl/min, all the instruments appear suitable to microfluidics. In fact, except for the peristaltic pump used with the 1mm ID tubing, all of them indicate a deviation from the value that is globally less than 5%.
This also shows that the tubing size has a huge impact on the overall accuracy of a peristaltic pump.
In the case of an intermediate value, i.e. 200 µl/min in our case, we encounter quite similar profiles as for 50 µl/min. Here, all instruments are capable of providing deviation values of less than 5%, apart from the peristaltic pump used with the 1 mm ID tubing (which provides deviation values of 20%). The OB1 pressure controller and the NE-1000 syringe pump provide less pulsatile profiles than the others, with particularly low pulsatility for the OB1.
The evaluation of the instruments for a high flow rate (500 µl/min) shows that the OB1 pressure controller stands out from other devices with a deviation profile of less than 2%. The NE-1000 syringe pump is in second position with a deviation value of less than 5%.
The choice of a suitable pumping system will depend on your needs and applications. Contact us to discuss your application, we'll be happy to suggest the best pump for your application!
Follow these links to explore our catalogue of syringe pumps, peristaltic pumps and pressure controllers.
