Automated Water Jet Apparatus

A custom, automated water-jet apparatus was designed and fabricated at NDSU for screening microbial adhesion to coatings prepared in 24-well plates. The main apparatus design is predicated upon a 10-positon carousel that rotates a series of well plate carriers into proper position for water jet treatments. Well plate carriers are inverted by an actuated ‘flipping’ mechanism over a mobile, spinning nozzle that exposes the coated well bottoms to a pressurized stream of water at a precisely controlled pressure and duration. Well plates are subjected to water-jet treatments after bacterial or microalgal cell attachment/biofilm growth to facilitate removal of adherent biomass.