I was in Tokyo recently and stopped by my friend Taro Ishikawa’s lab (of TaroTools fame). He and Misa are doing very well. They have exciting work underway and are expanding their lab. Taro’s a resourceful, clever guy and while I was there I saw some more of his handiwork. Instead of buying a Picospritzer (which costs $1500-$3000, the NPI PDES system is less expensive, but still in the 4 digits), Taro hooked a regulator (above) directly to an electric valve (below) and called it a day. The valve is actuated by a TTL pulse, and the regulator sets the pressure. Simple, elegant, saves space, and saves money.
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Thanks for the useful tips. Send Taro my greetings. I keep finding small useful devices in our lab drawers that he’s crafted.
The valve in the photo was a model that was driven by AC power supply. This had a problem that the timing of open/close fluctuated in a range up to 8 ms. Then I changed the valve to FAB31-8-3-12C-3, which is driven by DC24V. Using this, I see no measurable fluctuation of the timing.