Ultraclean and germ-free processes are a key challenge facing the industrial production of tomorrow – particularly in the food processing, pharmaceutical, and medical technology industries, but also in the electronics sector. In order to keep production as contamination-free as possible, the equipment and working area should be separated from each other. An exciting concept with superconductor technology – the SupraSensor – now makes contactless and precise weighing and measuring possible.
Keeping a production line in the laboratory free of germs and contamination is not easy. The equipment used, for example test tubes, petri dishes, or measuring equipment such as a scale, is particularly problematic. They are brought into the protected working area from the outside and can introduce germs into the space. If they are put down on the work surface, tiny gaps are created underneath them that are extremely difficult to keep clean.
By using magnetic field–based levitation – for example with superconductor technology – such limitations can be circumvented in the future. Our SupraSensor concept illustrates just one of the possibilities. It demonstrates the function of a contactless scale that could be used, for example, in safety cabinets for biological or chemical analysis. The heart of the application is a cryostat with a superconductor firmly mounted on a precision scale under the work surface.
A scale pan with a permanent magnet on the bottom levitates above the surface and is coupled to the superconductor, and therefore also to the scale, entirely contact-free. This is made possible by the special characteristic of superconductors that can make magnets levitate at a specific distance when they are cooled to a certain temperature.
Translated into a laboratory environment, the surface of the workstation thus remains free of bothersome equipment and can be cleaned easily and effectively. Only the scale pan levitates above the table. If it is not needed, it can be removed and the entire work space is freely available.
Beyond simply measuring and weighing, the technology offers a wide range of other possibilities such as analytical density or viscosity determination, precise proportioning, or monitoring reactive or biological processes. At the same time, the application with superconductors is extremely rugged and stable, both physically and over time. The levitating effect intrinsic to the material does not require any control technology and remains present over a long period of time, even if the power supply is interrupted.