Systems and methods which obtain a uniform targeted volume of concentrated red blood cells in diverse donor populations

A blood separation system comprising

• an inlet line to draw whole blood from a blood donor selected from a population of blood donors, the whole blood of the selected blood donor having a known hematocrit value that varies within the population of blood donors according to morphology of the selected blood donor, the inlet line including a collection container to collect a volume of the whole blood for processing, after severing the inlet line, in an off-line centrifuge into a plasma constituent and a volume of concentrated red blood cells,
• a first input for receiving the known hematocrit value of the selected blood donor,
• a second input for receiving a targeted collection time value,
• a third input for receiving a targeted volume value for the concentrated red blood cells,
• an inlet pump in the inlet line to convey a volume of whole blood from the donor at a commanded flow rate into the collection container, and
• control means coupled to the input for setting the commanded flow rate to vary the volume of whole blood conveyed over time as a function of the known hematocrit value of the selected donor, the targeted collection time value, and the targeted volume value for the concentrated red blood cells to obtain, after off-line centrifugal processing, a targeted volume of concentrated red blood cells for any donor in the population of blood donors, despite variances in known hematocrit values among the donors.