Sentia™ Wine Analyser

Building on the successful development of previous analyser devices (Blood Analysis: Xprecia Stride™), UBI sought to extend the applications of their unique medical grade biosensor + test strip technology beyond the medical industry and into new markets. The wine industry was identified as a major sector that could benefit from niche specific applications of UBI technologies - an opportunity to revolutionise the SOâ‚‚ (free sulfur dioxide) testing process for winemakers. External validation studies of the SOâ‚‚ test technology were undertaken by two of the world's most pre-eminent wine research institutions to verify the technology and ensure that the precision and accuracy are comparable to that of current established laboratory and winery methods (i.e. Aeration Oxidation method). The challenge was to develop Sentia™ into a hand-held device enabling rapid on-the-spot testing and near-instant free SOâ‚‚ results from a single drop of post-fermentation wine. Sentia™ needed to be reliable, convenient, easy-to-use without specialist skills and eliminate the outdated approach requiring sample collection, send off and extended wait times for results.

The Sentia™ system consists of the Analyzer and the consumable test strips (sold separately) which have been developed using Universal Biosensors' pedigree of medical device expertise. Sentia™ has been refined into an ergonomic 'jet black glossy' hand-held device built tough for use in a wide range of wine production environments. Sentia™ enables anyone in the winery (no training required) to confidently perform tests and receive results in under a minute using just a single drop of post-fermentation red or white wine. Sentia™ calibrates automatically and requires no reagents; all elements are packaged into the Test Strip. In-built quality control checks (i.e. temperature monitoring, strip integrity checks, sample application checks, analyser tilt + bump) ensure reliable results. To perform a genuine 'at-barrel', tank or bottling line test: Simply insert the test strip, add a drop of wine, review your results and/or store them for long-term product quality analysis (local + export via WiFi).

Sentia™ is the culmination of over 15 years of innovation and refinement utilising the design expertise of Universal Biosensors. Sentia™ provides the world's first genuine point-of-use testing solution of free SOâ‚‚ concentrations in post-fermentation red or white wine samples in under one minute. Sentia™ eliminates the current slow and inconvenient process of manual sample collection, packaging, posting, and waiting for commercial labs to perform tests and provide results. The refined hand-held format enables genuine at-barrel/tank/bottling line testing for wine producers, an intuitive interface ensures the test can be completed by any team member, enabling rapid decisioning to improve product outputs. Sentia™ delivers significant cost savings and productivity gains to wine producers of all sizes, translating straight back to the bottom line. The system has the potential to revolutionise the process of product testing in the wine industry (Future planned platform expansions: Glucose, Fructose and Malic Acid testing capability to be added during 2021).

- Intuitive software interface that guides the test process, - Works with Sentia™ free SOâ‚‚ Test Strips (sold separately) - Measures free SOâ‚‚ levels in post-fermentation red or white wine: measuring range: 3 to 50 mg/L (free SOâ‚‚), sample size: at least 8 microlitres (a drop of wine) - Stores up to 1000 test results for reviewing or downloading - Long battery life (more than 100 free SOâ‚‚ tests per charge) - 7 cm (2.7 in) touchscreen colour display - Wireless (Wi-Fi) connectivity (2.4GHz only) - Convenient strip eject mechanism - Light and portable - 210g /15 cm x 8.4 cm x 3.2 cm (7.5 oz /5.8 in x 3.4 in x 1.3 in) - Robust: Designed for a wide range of wine production environments Unlike glucose and fructose enzymatic tests, the Sentia™ free SOâ‚‚ strip uses voltammetry instead of amperometry, which in this case means observing electrical current as a function of voltage rather than time - specifically, square wave voltammetry. When wine is added to the strip, it dissolves dried down reagents on the strip. The dried down acid automatically adjusts the pH of the sample so that the hydrogen sulphite gets converted to sulphur dioxide. This becomes directly reduced at the electrode when the square wave waveform is applied. The data obtained is analysed to generate "differential current vs voltage" data which contains a peak around 600 mV. The height of this peak correlates to the concentration of sulphur dioxide in the wine sample.