This project illustrated here is part of an on-going collaboration between the Penn State Center for Cell Research and the CEDCC to develop a NASA Space Shuttle payload experiment.
This picture shows USCEPS with the Collection Canister, EMI shields, and sample cartridge removed to show the internals of each of these parts. Needles can be seen in the recessed portion of the injector housing. These needles penetrate the sealed sample cartridge and permit in-flight withdrawal of the six individual samples for processing.
This is the side view of the Collection Canister with
the top seals in place. The entire canister may be autoclaved. This canister
holds 594 individual 6.5ml product samples or one product sample for each
of the 99 tubes of the electrophoresis column. This design provides for
collection of the separated products from six individual samples. Other
designs which allow greater volumes of product collection are possible.
This photo demonstrates Penn State's capability to produce
high quality, prototype quantity command and control electronics. These
boards were designed, assembled, and tested at Penn State. Each board features
on board computers with self-diagnostics. The use of individual on-board
computers for control functions relieves the command computer from this
task and results in an efficient and less complex design. The boards seen
here are complete and functional except for conformal coating required
for flight.
The
USCEPS assembly team. Joe Stewart (left) and Ray Smitley.
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