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Advancing Cell Cultivation Through Innovation

“Shaken, not stirred” is one of the most famous quotes in film history. What is standard for James Bond also applies at Adolf Kühner AG in Birsfelden. For the leading manufacturer of shaking machines for the international market, however, the focus is not on martinis but on the cultivation of microbes as well as animal, human, insect, and plant cells. The shaking machines are used in a wide variety of scientific and industrial fields and are often employed in cleanrooms. Their range of applications is broad, spanning from food technology and medicine to industrial biotechnology. Depending on the application and customer needs, the shaking machines come in different sizes – from benchtop shakers and stackable incubation shakers to so-called orbitally shaken bioreactors. In the latter – put simply – optimal conditions for cultivating cell cultures are created and monitored, with parameters such as temperature, pH, and oxygen supply being regulated.

Easy Handling Thanks to Single-Use Bags

The orbitally shaken bioreactor systems from Adolf Kühner are ideal for the cultivation of all types of cell cultures and are available in four sizes for different working volumes ranging from 1.5 to 2500 liters. They thus align with the scale of microtiter plates and shake flasks and represent a key component in the so-called scale-up process from laboratory to pilot to large industrial scale. A major advantage of combining microtiter plates, shake flasks, and shaken bioreactors lies in the consistent hydrodynamics that connect these shaken systems. This ensures reproducible cultivation conditions throughout the entire scaling process and simplifies it.

Cell cultivation is a demanding process. The clearly structured control panel allows the current state of the cells to be monitored at any time.

Cell cultivation is a demanding process. The clearly structured control panel allows the current state of the cells to be monitored at any time.

The value of the bioreactor contents can easily amount to several hundred thousand Swiss francs. A redundant control system ensures the successful execution of the multi-day cultivation process.

The value of the bioreactor contents can easily amount to several hundred thousand Swiss francs. A redundant control system ensures the successful execution of the multi-day cultivation process.

Long-Term Available Quality

Siemens stands for long-term reliable quality, which aligns with the values of Adolf Kühner. For this reason, and because customers repeatedly request machines with Siemens components, Adolf Kühner has been using Siemens products for many years. Up to now, Siemens panels have primarily been integrated, as the electronics of the machines were usually in-house developments.

For a large system such as the SB2500-Z bioreactor, which can weigh over five tons when fully loaded, the company decided to rely on standard Siemens components for the entire engineering process. Siemens components are well established and popular in the demanding pharmaceutical and food industries, and, thanks to the TIA Portal, they are also available within a seamless overall ecosystem.

Technical Overview

The redundant SIMATIC S7 control system, complemented by flexible Remote IO ET200SP peripheral modules, ensures an uninterrupted process. With SIMATIC WinCC OA, customized, manufacturer- and platform-independent operation and monitoring of technical systems is possible, particularly for applications with high customer-specific adaptation requirements. This allows WinCC OA to fully demonstrate its strengths even in Adolf Kühner AG’s machines in an industrial environment.

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