Adopting SiLA drivers into a Lab-of-the-Future lab digital network - The ‘Deft’ Digtial Enabled Formulation Toolkit – Anton Paar DMA501 Density Meter

Another milestone in the Deft ,Lab-of-the-Future series from AST and the integration of another Anton-Paar analytical instrument for formulation groups in the chemical and material sciences industry.

Figure 1: Anton Paar DMA501 Density Meter alongside Deft

The Digital Enabled Formulation Toolset (Deft) is a scalable, laboratory digital network product to connect and integrate bench-top instruments together in chemical formulation and R&D labs https://www.appliedst.co.uk/DEFT . Aimed specifically at the bench scientist, Deft provides the ‘information gap’ when comparing manually made bench formulations or lab methods using common laboratory instruments and has a host of additional features such as experimental design, workflow control, remote access, data and audit trail and as a Laboratory Asset Management tool worthy of a fully digital Lab-of-the-Future program.

Deft can work as a stand-alone system using on-board user access rights or as part of an existing LIMS or ELN connected infrastructure. At the heart of the system is the Deft Gateway which combines Bluetooth instrument connectivity with Wi-Fi protocol to connect the lab instruments to any secure in-house or cloud-based server network.

SiLA (Standardisation in Lab Automation) enables Lab-of-the-Future technology through free and open communication protocols and data standards. Applied Scientific Technologies (AST) have implemented the SiLA 2 communications protocol into a wide range of standard laboratory bench equipment linking them to Deft automatically allowing many experimental protocols and applications to be integrated including balances, stirrer/shakers, pH and conductivity meters, Rheology and particle counters found in most formulation and R&D labs. The adoption of industry-leading SiLA standards helps to future proof lab equipment by enabling end-to-end integration with LIMS or local area networks via a control App for Android or iOS devices and to share data seamlessly. www.sila-standard.com/

AST are the global specialists for SiLA 2 integration and development and the latest addition to our growing library of laboratory instruments includes a custom SiLA driver for an Anton Paar DMA501 Density Meter.

The Anton Paar DMA501 Density meter is designed to accurately measure density up to 3 decimal places and then sends this data directly to the Deft system. The density meter offers bi-directional communication via RS232 / USB and provides a range of transmittable commands and defined responses for remote operation. Deft calls the features of block temperature and density reading and can instruct the instrument to measure the actual value from this, converting to any units of measurement needed. Density measurement is a common requirement for many intermediates / final product in production and new product formulation research.

Implementing SiLA 2 drivers for this technology provides many benefits such as digitalisation information capture and standard Deft benefits which include specific user experimental design and workflow integration via an Android Tablet or mobile phone App. The Tablet App GUI is intuitive and requires no formal training. The App allows many functions that are not possible when using the device alone such as capturing all communication and data digitally, allowing the device to be controlled wirelessly and automatically run multiple experiments in sequence under user control. Deft is cloud-ready to allow Asset Management, remote access and Over-The-Air updates seamlessly integrating into any digital laboratory or Lab-of-the-Future environment.

Applied Scientific Technologies (AST) is an emerging, innovative spin-out company founded in 2017 based in Stokesley, North Yorkshire. Founded by two directors from Applied Integration UK Ltd, a company celebrating its 15th working anniversary. AST are innovative specialists in laboratory robotics, digital Lab-of-the-Future connectivity and hardware integration for the chemical, pharmaceutical, physical and life science industries supporting your laboratory digitalisation journey.