The Raykol DRQ-B platform is an advanced robotic system designed to fully automate the final stage of sample preparation: nitrogen blowdown concentration and filtration.
Traditional manual evaporation methods require constant and continuous monitoring by the operator to avoid overshooting the endpoint. The DRQ-B eliminates this critical issue by integrating evaporation, internal standard addition, final volume adjustment, and filtration directly into the chromatographic vial within a single, unmanned protocol.
Whether used in stand-alone mode or coupled in series with the Raykol DRQ extraction module, the instrument minimizes human error, slashes sample handling times, and protects laboratory personnel's health by completely eliminating exposure to organic solvent vapors.
Key Features
- Unified Integrated Workflow: fully autonomous execution of nitrogen concentration, internal standard dispensing, volume reconstitution, and filtration.
- Smart Endpoint Control: dedicated optical sensors to monitor evaporation with millimeter precision, ensuring maximum repeatability of the final volume.
- Following Blowdown Needles: nitrogen needles descend in a coordinated manner following the liquid level in the tube, maximizing evaporation efficiency and reducing gas consumption.
- Online Automated Filtration: a robotic system that channels the purified extract through disposable syringe filters directly into the final 2 mL vial for GC or LC.
- Zero Carry-Over: use of dedicated dispensing lines and rigorous automated needle-washing protocols between different batches.
- Modularity and Expandability: perfect software and hardware integration with the DRQ workstation to create an end-to-end automated workflow for the QuEChERS method.
Fields of Application
The Raykol DRQ-B platform serves as a fundamental building block for automation in accredited laboratories across the following sectors.
- Pesticide Residue Analysis: optimization of clean-up and concentration of fruit, vegetable, and cereal extracts prior to mass spectrometry injection (GC-MS/MS, LC-MS/MS).
- Veterinary Drug Testing: automated management of the delicate solvent evaporation step and exact mobile phase reconstitution for matrices of animal origin.
- Toxicological and Forensic Analysis: controlled and standardized concentration of biological extracts containing thermolabile or volatile compounds susceptible to analytical degradation.
Technical Specifications
- Evaporation Technology: nitrogen flow coupled with controlled dry block heating.
- Volume Accuracy: high-precision sensors for final volume adjustment.
- Filtration Module: automated management of standard syringe filters.
- Final Containers: direct transfer into standard 2 mL chromatographic vials.
SagaCity OS Software
Both the Raykol DRQ and DRQ-B modules are powered by the intuitive SagaCity OS software platform, an advanced graphical environment developed to simplify method configuration and ensure real-time monitoring of every single stage of the preparation process.
- Drag-and-Drop Interface: visual method programming that allows users to drag and chain individual operating modules (dispensing, shaking, centrifugation, evaporation, filtration) into customized logical sequences.
- Graphical Rack Editor: real-time visualization of the sample map, featuring color-coded progress status for each vial (e.g., processing, completed, error).
- Critical Parameter Control: continuous monitoring and time-graph visualization of cooling module temperatures, centrifuge speed (rpm), and nitrogen flow pressure.
- Traceability & Data Integrity: automated generation of system logs and unmodifiable, detailed run reports, ideal for meeting the compliance requirements of accredited laboratories.
- Pre-installed Standard Method Library: immediate access to pre-optimized protocols for official QuEChERS methods (EN 15662, AOAC 2007.01) and main screening applications for pesticides and veterinary drugs.
- Diagnostics & Remote Monitoring: smart alert system that notifies the operator of anomalies (e.g., low solvent levels or pressure deviations) and allows instrument status checks via the local network.