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Medical / Bioprocessing

Protein Filtration Control Library

Bioprocessing TFF system

The Windows control library behind a tangential-flow-filtration system for a US bioprocessing-equipment manufacturer — real-time monitoring and control of 50+ parameters, with a PID rewrite that reached steady state 3× faster at 2× lower error.

50+
Parameters in real time
3× faster
To steady state
2× lower
Steady-state error
Client
A US-based bioprocessing-equipment manufacturer (name withheld — NDA)
Delivery
Delivered by our founder at Lattice Innovations
Role
Firmware/software developer — control library, API and control algorithm
Timeline
2019

Stack

Java (multi-threaded) Windows PID control Real-time instrument comms

help The problem

Tangential-flow filtration concentrates and purifies biologics — proteins, vaccines, therapeutics. The system runs filtration, diafiltration and intermediate steps as a profiled process, not a single fixed operation, while continuously watching flow and pressure at both input and output. The instrument needed a control layer the product's backend and frontend could drive.

build What we built

  • A multi-threaded Java control library for Windows that talks to the instrument and monitors and controls 50+ system parameters in real time — the engine the rest of the product's UI is built on.
  • A clean API surface exposed to the front end, so operators drive the machine through a GUI without touching the low-level instrument protocol.
  • Process profiling for filtration and diafiltration, sequencing the stages that turn raw fluid into a purified product.
  • Continuous flow and pressure monitoring at input and output — the feedback that keeps the process inside safe operating bounds.
  • An advanced PID control algorithm proposed and implemented to replace the original loop: steady state reached 3× faster with steady-state error cut 2×.

check_circle The result

  • done Delivered the control library the TFF product relied on for monitoring and control, with measurable improvement over the original algorithm.
  • done The same instrument line was later used in COVID-19 testing.