Ultrasonic Homogenizers: Advanced Features That Add Efficiency and Consistency

Ultrasonic homogenizers or sonicators have applications in diverse fields, including pharmaceutical, biotechnology, clinical research and analysis, and medical instruments manufacturing, among others. The major applications range from cell disruption, dispersion, and sample preparation, to homogenization, atomization, and emulsification. Sonication experts place immense importance on selecting appropriate generator and probe tip to match the volume, viscosity and intensity required for a particular application.

Irrespective of the settings where these sonicators are applied, it is important that the sonication system has some value-added features, as a minimum, for it to be able to offer reproducibility, reliability, sample-to-sample consistency, and processing efficiency.

Firstly, the ultrasonic homogenizer should have an ability to let the user completely control the probe tip’s amplitude so as to suit the sample being processed. Amplitude is the longitudinal distance the probe’s tip travels after it receives mechanical vibrations from the piezoelectric converter. The amplitude control (1-100%) has the direct bearing over the intensity of sonication.

Additionally, the ultrasonic probe sonicator should support programmable operation to ensure processing consistency and elimination of inter-sample variance. Whilst some homogenizers allow users to program a single variable (processing time or amplitude), other advanced systems let users schedule the sequence of several programs and store them in memory. As a result, you can set the sonication system to run at 65% amplitude setting for 5 minutes, pause it for 3 minutes, and then again start sample processing at 30% amplitude for 7 minutes. This entire program can be saved in memory for rapid access during next scheduled operation.

The next feature which is extremely important is some kind of a temperature-monitoring mechanism and the unit’s corresponding response during sonication. In such systems, a temperature probe monitors the sample’s temperature. When the temperature reaches a certain limit, the sonicator shuts off to avoid overheating and unnecessary gain in sample’s temperature. This automatic cut-off feature is essential for highly temperature-sensitive samples.

Another essential function which avoids temperature build-up in heat-sensitive samples is the adjustable pulse mode. It allows the user to set a pulse (on and off) time that suit the required samples. Besides temperature monitoring and pulse mode setting, the ultrasonic homogenizer should have a built-in cut-off function designed to shut down sonication when a fault is detected hence protecting the internal circuit from damage due to power overloading.

Lastly, the sonication unit should have an automatic frequency tuning function wherein the ultrasonicator always works at a maximum electrical efficiency by continuously tracking the frequency variance caused due to power load and temperature fluctuations.

Paresh Shah is a Director at Life-Care Equipments Pvt. Ltd., a leading manufacturer and distributor of a wide range of ultrasonic cleaning systems.