US 4,285,463 A · Decanting centrifuge

Abstract

A decanting centrifuge particularly useful for clinical laboratory procedures requiring the washing and packing of red cells or other particles. An electromagnet having upper and lower planar pole faces rotates to drive a removable rotor head assembly and, during the decant cycle, holds a plurality of magnetically-attractable tube carriers in substantially vertical positions against its planar pole faces so that supernatant liquid is centrifugally discharged from the open upper ends of the tubes. Each tube carrier comprises a tube-holding member and a contact member, both of which have their upper end portions pivotally suspended from a support ring which is provided by the rotor assembly and which is coaxial with the rotatable magnet. The planar surfaces of the contact members engage the planar pole faces when the centrifuge is at rest and also when the electromagnet is energized and the rotor assembly is rotated to decant the liquid contents of the centrifuge tubes. Each tube-holding member has two outer side walls which meet along converging planes so that such walls will engage a centrifuge tube along a pair of spaced parallel lines during centrifuge operation, thereby permitting centrifuge tubes of different selected outside dimensions to be supported within the open-topped cavity of such tube-holding member.

Claims23

Dependent claims

A decanting centrifuge comprising a base housing a motor having an upstanding drive shaft;

and electromagnet coaxially mounted upon said drive shaft for rotation therewith;
said electromagnet having lateral pole faces;
a rotor head assembly secured to said drive shaft for rotation therewith;
said rotor head assembly including an annular support member coaxial with said shaft and a plurality of magnetically-attractable open-topped tube carriers pivotally suspended from said member about said electromagnet;
said tube carriers being adapted to support centrifuge tubes and being pivotally movable between substantially vertical decant positions wherein said carriers rest directly against the pole faces of said electromagnet and outwardly inclined spin positions wherein the carriers are spaced outwardly from said pole faces under the influence of centrifugal force;
said electromagnet being selectively energizable for magnetically holding said carriers in said decant positions during rotation of said rotor head assembly for decanting under centrifugal force the liquid contents of the tubes supported by such carriers.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Decanting centrifuge

Life of this patent

Decanting centrifuge

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims23