i-Control

The PLC Bio Console supports auxiliaries (pumps, gas supply, temperature actuators, and additional inputs) and needs a 3-phase power supply. When applied in combination with SIP/CIP bioreactors, the controller will be incorporated in a cabinet on the bioreactor skid and called i-Control and can be configured for highly automated sterilization and cleaning procedures. The control system is based on an Allen Bradley PLC or a Siemens PLC.

i-Control human interface is a color touch screen. The dedicated bioreactor control system displays the most important functions available on the main controller page: calibration, alarm signals, starting/stopping of control loops, changing controller setpoints, viewing trend graphs and of course a synoptic overview of the process. Other screen views include sterilization view, Clean-In-Place view, alarm history, and many others.

i-Control is developed to be used by biotechnologists and cell biologists. One of the key features is the simplicity of operation. The system can be operated by cell biologists and configurations can be adapted to changing process demands without the need for a control engineer on site.

The console communicates with any industrial SCADA systems via OPC and is designed to comply with GAMP.

The main functions of the i-CONTROL are:

• Process control
• Data collection
• Alarming
• Authorization
• Sterilization
• Calibration
• Data presentation

i-Control is an easy-to-operate bioreactor control system and utility console. This scalable control solution is used to control processes in bioreactor systems from laboratory scale to pilot plant and production scale. The seamless scaleability saves time and money by offering a simpe scale-up of the control strategy starting from research to pilot-plant to production. The i-Control is available in a Single, a Dual bioreactor set-up as well as in a Quad (4 bioreactors) configuration.

Software features

The i-Control offers advanced control features like:

• cascaded DO2 using pressure, agitation and gas flow,
• total constant flow,
• up to 4 user-definable control loops,
• balance addition control loops based on flow setpoint,
• balance addition control loops based on constant weight.

Furthermore the i-Control software offers fully automated and customizable SIP and CIP routines with an option of up to 10 temperature sensors in the bioreactor for continuous temperature mapping during SIP and CIP.

The sterilization recipe is completely customizable. The user can define the automatic pressure hold test acceptance parameters, sterilization temperatures and sterilization hold times for the different parts of the bioreactor. The same is true for the Clean-In-Place procedure. Both routines are completely customizable by the end-user without the need for a PLC-programmer.