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2009 Annual Design Review
Equipment
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Best of Category
NANOPOINT
cellTRAY
FLUIDICS
SYSTEM
&
FLUKE
TI-25/10
THERMAL
IMAGER
FOR YEARS, PHARMACEUTICAL researchers who wanted to test chemicals on a cellular level were stuck in the bleachers, peering at a field full of cells, unable to single out and study any one in particular. The Nanopoint cellTRAY is a third base–line press box, giving scientists unprecedented close-ups of cells in action. Running along both sides of the specially designed slide are about 8,000 wells, fed by a web of irrigation channels. Each well holds a handful of cells in place as they’re kept alive on a diet of chemicals from pumps on the tower. This structure lets scientists test different chemical solutions on different cell groups all on the same slide and—most importantly—helps them know exactly where to point their ultra-high resolution cameras to film the cells up close. The revolutionary technology is nearly invisible—micro-liters of solution sent to a piece of real estate only a few cells wide—but the design makes it clear that something special is going on. The pump’s assembly is organic and mechanical at the same time, somewhere between a flower and the engine of the Spirit of St. Louis. Raw machinery blossoms out of a sleek aluminum case, like the Terminator’s gears poking through his skin. A mix of consumer styling and specialized tech, the system is power and elegance, unadorned. “It’s exciting, but it doesn’t use any crutches—it lets the mechanism show it,” Moeslinger said. “From an outsider’s point of view, it fits its environment. Intuitively, it feels right,” said Damon.
Design Carbon Design Group
(Bothell, WA): Fernd van Engelen, principal,
Peter Bristol, lead designer
Client Nanopoint, Inc.
NOT LONG AGO, THERMAL IMAGERS were fragile, complicated, expensive, and big. “In 1991, it was as big as the case is now,” Montalbano said. Today, the Fluke looks like a hand tool and feels like a Wii controller: simple and light with only a trigger, focusing knob, and three buttons. It’s an infrared camera for engineers that takes LCD images of machines, building walls, and (as the judges discovered) people, showing the precise heat of any spot at the pull of the trigger. The Fluke costs a fraction of what similar machines used to cost, it’s water resistant, and as the judges’ tests show, it’s drop-proof. The judges, gleefully taking aim at each other, agreed: It’s perfect. “I’m taking this home,” Montalbano, 87.3 degrees, said. “They took a scientific product with all its optics and made it totally rugged and ergonomic. It has an ease of use on the level of consumer products: Just point and shoot.” 84.3 degree Moeslinger summed it up, pun no doubt intended: “It’s just so cool.” “Hell yeah,” agreed Damon, 86.5 degrees. “Play with it and you’ll understand.”
Design Fluke Corporation (Everett, WA):
Ferdinand Laurino, industrial designer; Chris Lagerberg, corporate design
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