This article defines and introduces automated freezers. It includes concepts to consider when adding automated freezers to a laboratory workflow. The list of freezers at the end of this article includes all models we are aware of on the market today with images and vendor links for each robot. We also have links to articles and reviews Rave Robot has written for each system. If you want us to add another robot or want to contribute a review, please let us know.
What is an Automated Freezer?
Automated freezers that can add add samples, track samples, and retrieve samples. The samples are usually stored in SLAS plates or SLAS racks of tubes. Most freezers include barcode readers capability of tracking samples by the plate, rack and tubes in racks. The Freezer may have the ability to pick individual tubes from a rack. There are many automated freezers on the market.
Which Automated Freezer is right for my lab?
Automated Freezers are quite expensive as compared to non-automated freezers and includes so many options that selection of the freezer needs to be based on your individual use cases are. Some good questions to ask yourself when researching automated freezers, include the following
What temperature do I need to store my samples in?
Automated freezers tend to fall into 4 general temperature control ranges. Liquid Nitrogen (-190 to -150 °C), -80°C (-80 to -40 °C), -20° (-20 to +9 °C) freezers and +4° (4-20 °C) refrigerator.
Will I be storing automation tubes in the freezer or just plates?
If you plan on storing automation tubes in racks in addition to plates, you will most likely want a freezer that has the capability to handle individual tubes to avoid multiple thaw cycles for samples when you only want 1 tube from a rack.
Is there a maximum time I want to wait for a sample to be stored or retrieved?
If you workflow includes people walking up to a freezer and requesting there sample at in front of the freezer, you will want a speedy retrieval time. If you tend to generate large amounts of samples to be stored at the same time you will want the loading time to be abbreviated as well.
What is the storage capacity I need?
This is a tricky question if you have never used an automated freezer. Vendors tend to state capacity in number of plate stored and that capacity decreases the taller the labware is that you are storing. You need to know the heights of your labware in order to accurately predict the storage capacity of the automated freezer. With that said, people tend to miss that automated freezers are incredibly efficient storage systems.
Rave Robot’s picks our favorite LN, -80 and -20 automated freezers
We have listed the 3 automated freezers we liked the most based on our needs automation needs. Below this list are other models that might be a better fit for your use case.
Brooks BioStore III
Description:
- Temp supported: -190°C
- Tube types supported: any tbe in SLAS racks
- Automated picking capability: rack picking
Manufacturing Link:
Hamilton SAM HD
Description:
- Temp supported: -80°C, -20°C, +4°C
- Tube types supported: Any SLAS rack up to 3 types of tubes
- Automated picking capability: Tube picking
Manufacturing Link:
Hamilton VERSO Q20
Description:
- Temp supported: -20°C, +4°C
- Tube types supported: Any SLAS rack up to 3 types of tubes
- Automated picking capability: Tube picking
Manufacturing Link:
A nearly comprehensive list of automated freezers
Below is the list of automated freezers we have used or found while searching for our own laboratory automation needs. We are sure that there are other systems we’ve missed especially since new systems are designed and released each year. Please comment if there are other automated freezers that should be added to the list. When you do, we will research and add them. If you have an experience with or want to review a automated freezers, write it up. When you do, we will be happy to help you format and post your review.
sptlabtech Arktic
Description:
- Temp supported: -20 or -80°C
- Tube types supported: Single tube diameter supported
- Automated picking capability: Tube picking
Manufacturing Link:
sptlabtech comPOUND
Description:
- Temp supported: -20°C, +4°C, +20°C
- Tube types supported: Single tube diameter supported
- Automated picking capability: Tube picking
Manufacturing Link:
Thermo Fisher Cytomat 6002D
Description:
- Temp supported: +4°C – +21°C
- Tube types supported: Any SLAS rack option
- Automated picking capability: barcoded racks and plates
Manufacturing Link:
Angelantoni Lifescience SMARTFREEZER
Description:
- Temp supported: -180°C
- Tube types supported: Any SLAS rack up to 4 types of tubes
- Automated picking capability: Tube picking, unclear how many types
Manufacturing Link:
Angelantoni Lifescience SMARTFREEZER
Liconic StoreX
Description:
- Temp supported: -30°C – +200°C
- Tube types supported: Any SLAS rack
- Automated picking capability: barcoded racks and plates
- Other special features: orbital shaking capability
Manufacturing Link:
HighRes Biosolutions TundraStore
Description
- Temp supported: -20°C
- Tube types supported: Any SLAS rack
- Automated picking capability: barcoded racks and plates
Manufacturing Link:
HighRes Biosolutions TundraStore
Tell us about other automated freezers
Did we miss any good automated freezers? Let us know!
If you have experience with one of the above automated freezers and want to write a review or update the list, leave a comment and we will contact you.
If you are interested in any of our other lists, check out the Rave Robot List page.
Dear Sir,
I need a -80 automatic freezer for my lab, with temperature of -80°C for main store and -20°C for input/ output area.
Can you please help me with the specifications, as I am bit confused with the ones i see online
Thanks in advance.
Najah Kunhammed
Hi Najah,
The Hamilton SAM HD has a -80 option with a -20 for tube picking. The reason for the -20 is that the SAM uses racks of tubes and picks from those racks into other racks for sample delivery. This is the freezer I have worked with and believe it is a great product. We did a series of experiments where we calculated the maximum amount of time that a sample in a rack would be exposed to -20 if it is not being picked for delivery, and the time was significantly less than a minute which was great for our needs. If you need that time to be shorter, you should talk to Hamilton Storage about that, as they indicated that rules could be set in place to limit that time further if necessary.
The Arktic also has a -80 freezer, but it does not use racks for storage of the tubes, rather it uses pneumatic storage that keeps the tubes stacked. I have seen an Arktic work but do not have personal experience with it. The only concern I have about the Arktic is the limitation of tube size.
Hope this helps,
Kelcy