Hardware calibrations
Hardware calibrations serve as a method to get accurate performance from your Pioreactor.
Stirring calibration (optional)
You'll need the following:
- Pioreactor HAT
- Pioreactor sleeve
- Vial and stirbar
Internally, the Pioreactor will vary the amount of voltage to apply to the stirring motor to reach the desired RPM, however, this can take a few minutes. We can significantly improve this by asking the Pioreactor to create a "map" between voltage and RPM beforehand. Then the Pioreactor only needs to perform a lookup in the map to hit the desired RPM.
This is optional, but can really help stirring performance. Creating a stirring calibration is also very easy, so we recommend it.
Calibrating the stirring in the UI #
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- Start by filling a Pioreactor vial about 3/4th with water, and place the stirbar inside. Close with lid. Place into the Pioreactor.
- We'll perform this routine through your computer's command line. Need help accessing it?
- Enter
ssh pioreactor@<insert unit name>.local
.- For example, to calibrate on our Pioreactor named worker3, we typed
ssh pioreactor@worker3.local
. - The default password is
raspberry
.
- For example, to calibrate on our Pioreactor named worker3, we typed
- After SSHing into your Pioreactor, enter
pio calibrations run --device stirring
. - The Pioreactor will increment the voltage applied to the motor, and record the RPM. After it's done, it will collect this data into a calibration curve, and store it locally.
- At the end, you'll be prompted to set this as the "active" calibration. Select "Yes".
You're done! Your stirring RPM should be much more responsive now.
Pump calibration
Calibrating a pump, like a low-volume peristaltic pump, is very important to accurately dispense or remove a target volume. There is no liquid feedback loop in the Pioreactor (unlike in the stirring & RPM relationship), so this calibration curve is important.
There are three pumps on the Pioreactor: media, alt-media, and waste. You don't need to have all three available, and can calibrate them one at a time. For calibration, you'll need the following:
- A pump, with power connection to Pioreactor's PWM outputs
- An accurate weighing scale, with accuracy of 0.1g or better.
- Container of water
Supplying external power? Make sure to plug in your external power before pump calibration!
Calibrating the pumps #
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- We'll perform this routine through your computer's command line. Need help accessing it?
- Enter
ssh pioreactor@<insert unit name>.local
.- For example, to calibrate on our Pioreactor named worker3, we typed
ssh pioreactor@worker3.local
. - The default password is
raspberry
.
- For example, to calibrate on our Pioreactor named worker3, we typed
- To calibrate the
media_pump
, enterpio calibrations run --device media_pump
. Likewise forwaste_pump
andalt_media_pump.
- Follow the prompts to calibrate your pump.
- At the end, you'll be prompted to set this as the "active" calibration. Select "Yes".
Managing calibrations
From both the UI and the command line, you can manage your Pioreactor's calibrations.