About the Customer

Challenge

The customer faced several key challenges in sourcing optical glass sheets suitable for their photocatalytic bioreactor prototype:  

• Optimal Light Transmission: The glass needed excellent transmission properties to maximize light penetration from LED arrays, crucial for the bioreactor's photocatalytic function    
• High-Temperature Resistance: The material had to withstand repeated autoclave sterilization cycles at temperatures exceeding 120°C.   
• Mechanical Integrity: Serving as the front seal of a hermetically sealed growth chamber, the glass required sufficient mechanical strength.

Solution

Goodfellow provided a comprehensive, customized solution to address these challenges and meet the customer’s requirements. 

How we helped: 

• Extensive Inventory: 

  By partnering with Goodfellow, the customer accessed a vast inventory of high-quality technical glass products, including soda lime glass, borosilicate glass, and fused quartz. This selection also featured unique and hard-to-find materials, ensuring that both specifications and cost-effectiveness were considered.

• Technical Expertise: 

  Goodfellow’s technical team provided in-depth guidance, considering critical parameters such as: 

  • Melting point
  • Impurities
  • Thermal shock resistance
  • Optical clarity and transmission properties
  • Chemical and corrosion resistance
  • Mechanical strength
  • Surface quality and finish

  The team supplied detailed information, ensuring the material could meet all the required specifications in order to facilitate the customer’s decision-making process.

• Prototyping Support: 

  To streamline the development process, Goodfellow facilitated rapid prototyping by supplying small-scale samples for testing and iterative design improvements.

Results

This collaboration significantly improved the development process:

• Optimized light transmission and enhanced bioreactor efficiency  

• Improved reliability and longevity of bioreactor prototype

• Accelerated development timeline 

• Achieved a cost-effective solution