Case Study: University of Adelaide achieves 60% lower costs and 67% faster wine research with Carbon

Carbon parts make wine research 60% more economical and 67% faster

The University of Adelaide, led by Professor Vladimir Jiranek and Dr. Tommaso Watson, needed to automate robotic sampling and completely redesign a decades-old water-filled airlock so many flasks could fit on a static test platform. After testing machined stainless steel and traditional layer-by-layer 3D printing, the team partnered with Carbon (via contract manufacturer The Technology House) and adopted Carbon’s Digital Light Synthesis™, M Series printers, and CE 220 cyanate ester resin to meet autoclavability, sealing, and miniaturization requirements.

Carbon’s solution produced isotropic, autoclavable airlocks with superior surface finish and reliable seals, delivered in under a week and at the lowest development cost. The redesign enabled 364 flasks (well above the original 96 target), cut development cost by over 60% and development time by over 67%, and positioned the University of Adelaide to scale production of thousands of CE 220 airlocks for faster, more economical wine research.

University of Adelaide

Vladimir Jiranek

Professor