LiquiPlate - Development, construction and testing of an automated system for concentrating and plating liquid samples in culture dishes with automatic incubation and inspection

Although the automation of laboratory processes is becoming more and more important, especially with regard to increased throughput, complete documentation and traceability, the analysis of drinking water samples is still only characterized by manual process steps. If the number of water suppliers (> 2,400 in Germany alone) and the legally prescribed sampling intervals (depending on the flow rate up to several times a day) are also considered, the potential for partial or complete automation of these routine analyzes becomes obvious.

LiquiPlate Design — Fig. 1: Design study for the planned system for automated concentration (a), plating (b), transport and clearing (c) of water samples (d) with integrated incubation (e) and subsequent optical analysis (f).

In the LiquiPlate project, a new type of automated system for handling and testing drinking water samples for legionella infestation is being developed. This includes the transport and handling of culture dishes and sample vessels, the automatic concentration and plating of the water samples, the incubation of the samples and the optical analysis of the overgrown culture dishes with a quantitative recording of the identified colonies. The result is a compact, integrated system for automatic drinking water analysis for a wide range of users.