Talk:DIYbio:Notebook/Open Gel Box 2.0

Open Gel Box 2.0 conference call 2009-01-30

notes by *jcline@ieee.org 16:54, 30 January 2009 (EST)

Discussion on gel box and p/s design:

Goals for gel box & related;

1. standardization; pick what we want, have everyone use it; get everyone on the same page for experimental results, etc.

2. safety; pick the best reagents & components for safety

3. Compare up front costs -vs- run rate costs --- "ease of use for hobbyist"; professional equip is meant to run 1000's of times; hobby equipment may run 100 times; different cost model. May want lower up front with higher run rate cost, if it makes sense.

(Norman) Result of gel box are going into biz plan competition

(norman) standardizing the power supply to power multiple components (gel box, thermocycler, etc.)

(mac) http://www.ponoko.com/ - open source manufacturing

(jonathan) Look at discovery channel dna explorer for business target volumes and costs

Reasons for building a custom supply:

1. (norman) wants to supply the illuminator, etc as well; peripheral support (LEDs, peltier device)

2. presumed lower cost? TBD.

3. (tito) experimenting with different voltages for those designing the gel box (however end user won't need variable voltages?)

Power requirement; 1. Norman's results show 60v, 90v, 120v 2. Norman's results show 100mA is sufficient

Why use a variable supply? Fixed supply is OK.

1. (norman) fixed supply anywhere in the range 90-120 for "FAST RUN" 2. (norman) fixed supply anywhere in the range 60v for "SLOW RUN" 3. (tito) would like to test "better faster gels" (would need 300v) -- wait on the results on this; this will "gel system 3.0", not now

(Tito) Where can I buy a supply right now w/o any electronics construction that does this? Only found this one: http://educationalscience.com/merchant.ihtml?merchantid=4&pid=3178&step=4&passwordstatus=:passwordstatus

(jonathan) At $100 seems cheap. Price makes sense because of manufacturing volume. Not a lot of volume for this voltage range ~100v supply.

(jonathan) closest other method is to use +12V supply into off-the-shelf inverter to 120VAC then use a bridge+RC to filter to ~90VDC.

What other peripherals might need to be connected?

(jonathan) Also see, the DIY spectrophotometer; possible "peripheral" to "gel system". http://www.rsc.org/Education/EiC/issues/2007Sept/BuildYourOwnSpectrophotometer.asp

(jonathan) customer wants a full set of equipment to use in the lab