💧 Dual-Architecture Controllers in Automated Liquid Handling: Meet Festo CECC-AX! 🧪

[Erkan Teskancan]

🔬 A New Era in Laboratory Automation: Festo CECC-AX​

In laboratories, particularly in life sciences and diagnostic instrumentation, engineers constantly face the challenge of combining precise fluid dispensing with high-level data processing and script execution. Festo offers an innovative solution to this integration problem: the CECC-AX. This compact controller boasts dual programming capability, able to run both traditional programmable logic controller (PLC) routines and interpreted Python scripts directly on embedded hardware.

✨ Why CECC-AX?​

• Compact Design: Saves space in benchtop devices.
  
• Dual Architecture: Combines both deterministic machine control and flexible Python scripts in a single device.
  
• Modular and Efficient: Offers modular and space-saving solutions in areas such as automated liquid handling, in-vitro diagnostics, and pre-analytical sample preparation.
  
• Integrated Communication: Provides various communication options including digital and analog inputs/outputs, serial interfaces, Ethernet, and EtherCAT.
  

🚀 The Power of CECC-AX​

The core engineering challenge in analytical benchtop instruments stems from workflow diversity. While deterministic operations like micro-dosing valve sequencing and coordinate positioning require predictable cycle times, tasks such as dynamic test recipes and experimental data logging benefit from Python's flexibility. The CECC-AX addresses this duality with an architecture where fieldbus communication and deterministic I/O tasks can coexist with high-level script runtime environments.

Furthermore, security design principles compliant with the European Union Cyber Resilience Act are integrated into the hardware and software base. This ensures security throughout the device's operational life, focusing on secure boot mechanisms, communication integrity, and vulnerability mitigation.

🧪 Application Areas​

At the Compamed exhibition, Festo demonstrated how the CECC-AX operates a pressure-controlled fluid dispensing workstation. This system enables precise fluid dispensing with rapid pressure regulation and micro-valve activation in analytical tests. The CECC-AX executes the pressure regulation loop and valve activation with real-time control, while Python scripts process dispensing profiles, adjust dosing parameters based on fluid viscosity tables, and communicate with user interfaces.

This configuration demonstrates the CECC-AX's suitability in three main operational areas:

• Automated Consumable and Sample Handling: Moving microplates, sorting sample vials, and manipulating disposables via integrated electric and pneumatic actuators.
  
• Pre-Analytical Sample Preparation: Measuring reagents, pipetting samples, and managing mixing stations where dynamic parameter changes frequently occur.
  
• Compact Benchtop Instruments: Eliminating external IPC control cabinets in space-constrained analytical workstations and cleanroom laboratory environments.
  

By combining motion control, microfluidic valve operation, and high-level communication tasks on a single platform, the CECC-AX reduces wiring overhead, minimizes points of failure, and simplifies validation procedures for diagnostic equipment manufacturers.