We are a student team from different disciplines of the RWTH Aachen University and have created this project in the context of the 2017 iGEM competition.

After all the work that went into our pump, we would like to share our results with you!

We built this peristaltic pump as generally applicable liquid handling solution for any project which requires transportation of liquids. Our pump is capable of precise dosing and pumping, providing a wide range of dosing volumes and flow rates to maximize possible applications. Through 125 dosing experiments we were able to demonstrate and quantify the accuracy of our pump. For a tubing with 0,8 mm inner diameter and any flowrate or dosing volume within the specifications we could show an accuracy better than 2% deviation from the set value. Given the results of the measurements, the accuracy can be improved even further if the speed of the calibration is adjusted to the required flow rate.

The pump can be controlled without programming knowledge via the built-in LCD display and a rotary knob. In addition, the pump can be remotely controlled via USB by serial commands. This simple way of communication is compatible with common software and programming languages (MATLAB, LabVIEW, Java, Python, C#, etc.).

The pump is simple and inexpensive to manufacture, with all the parts totaling less than $100 compared to $1300 for the cheapest comparable commercial solution we could find. Besides a 3D printer, only common tools are needed. Our project is open source in terms of hardware and software. We provide the CAD files for the 3D printed parts, a complete list of all required commercial components and their sources, and the source code used in our pump.

Please visit our official wiki for further information: http://2017.igem.org/Team:Aachen/Hardware

In addition to our wiki, we have also published a construction manual at instructables: http://www.instructables.com/id/Open-Source-Peristaltic-Pump/

You can find the software for the Arduino at GitHub: https://github.com/iGEM-Aachen/Open-Source-Peristaltic-Pump

Addendum: @clydefrog suggested not pulling down the enable pin from the stepper motor to zero and instead using an analog pin. This prevents the stepper motor heating up