International Business Machines Corporation

Alfred P Mulzet

Robert Melroy Kellogg

Gary A Trudgen

Victor Robert Kruger

James Louis Sirico

A continuous flow centrifuge system having a disposable fluid container of constant cross-section mounted in a circular channel. The channel, defining a separation region, has a constant height and side walls of divering spirals to increase the cross-sectional area from inlet to outlet. The container expands dynamically to conform to the claimed geometry and the collection chamber is attached to the container to obtain the separated fluid fractions. The channel may be in an insert, defined between the walls of the insert and the rotor bowl or in a rotor head assembly.

Continuous flow centrifuge assembly

The disclosure is a disposable low-mass processing channel and multilumen tube system for operation with a 2.omega. sealless centrifuge in which the centrifuge rotor rotates at 2.omega. axially to a platform rotor rotating at 1.omega. and to a fixed axial clamp on the multilumen tube. The blood processing channel is equipped with several tube lumens for access to different blood fractions to be separated by the centrifuge action. The plastic lumen tube is supported at each end by plastic reinforcing tubes clamped at clamp ends and ending in thrust drive bearings at the free ends. The thrust drive bearings are arranged for rotation about the multilumen tube and for fixation with respect to slotted conical reinforcing tube receivers on the 1.omega. rotor. Centrifugal force fixes the thrust bearings in place within the slotted conical reinforcing tube receivers. The low-mass central portion of the multilumen tube is unsupported; in operation it flies free in a wide bend. The multilumen tube is easily placed in position in the slots of the reinforcing tube receivers of the centrifuge rotor, by side-entry, and are subsequently held in place by the beam strength of the flexed reinforcing tubes and by centrifugal force.

Sealless centrifuge processing channel and tube system

An improved centrifuge assembly comprising a channeled rotor assembly and a ring-like fluid container disposed in the channel, whereby the centrifugal separation effects in the fluid container are determined by the geometry of the channel in the rotor. The fluid container is preferably formed from semirigid plastic material in the form of a tube having a rectangular cross section and is considered a disposable item to be discarded after a single use. The rotor assembly preferably includes a removable filler piece or center piece formed from a single piece of material, such as rigid plastic, as by molding, dimensioned to form, with the wall of the centrifuge bowl, a circular channel having dimensions appropriate to receive the semirigid container, which is suitably bent and placed in the channel. Fluid connections are provided from each end of the container to an axially located multichannel rotating seal. The connections lie in a plurality of radial slots in the filler piece. Alternatively the entire assembly may be molded as a single entity, with a suitable channel and fluid line grooves being cast therein.

Centrifuge assembly

An improved centrifuge assembly comprising a channeled rotor assembly and a fluid container disposed in the channel, whereby the centrifugal separation effects in the fluid container are determined by the geometry of the channel in the rotor. This arrangement is particularly useful for two-stage blood platelet separation. The fluid container is preferably formed from semirigid plastic material and is considered a disposable item to be discarded after a single use. The rotary assembly preferably includes a removable filler piece or center piece formed from a single piece of material, such as rigid plastic, as by machining or molding, and having therein an open-topped channel having dimensions appropriate to receive the semirigid container, which is suitably curved and placed in the channel. Fluid connections are provided from each end of the container and an intermediate point to an axially located multichannel rotating seal. The connections lie in a plurality of radial slots in the filler piece. The channel is divided into two distinct portions, the first portion of the channel being circular with a constant radius, and the second portion being spiral and having a plurality of radiuses, each measured from a different center, the spiral increasing radially outward from its juncture with the first stage. The intermediate fluid connection is established near the junction of the first stage and the second stage. The spiral portion of the channel and container may have an outward slope from bottom to top.

A centrifuge assembly useful for two stage blood platelet separation by counterflow comprising a channeled rotor assembly and a fluid container disposed in the channel, whereby the centrifugal separation effects in the fluid container are determined by the geometry of the channel in thr rotor. The fluid container is preferably formed from semirigid plastic material and is considered a disposable item, discarded after a single use. The rotor assembly preferably includes a removable filler piece or center piece formed from a single piece of material and having therein an open-topped channel having dimensions appropriate to receive the semirigid container, which is suitably curved and placed in the channel. Fluid connections are provided from a multi-chambered cavity attached to the ends of the container to an axially located multichannel rotating seal. The channel is divided into two distinct circular portions, the first portion of the channel being spiral-like and the second portion having a plurality of radiuses, each measured from a different center. The spiral increases radially outward from its juncture of the first stage and the second stage. A transition section connects the two portions, and forms a spillway between the two portions.

A pressure monitoring system especially suitable for use with extra-corporeal circulation systems such as dialyzers, blood cell separators, oxygenators and the like, in which the internal system pressure must be monitored at one or more locations in the blood circuit, and appropriate warnings provided of pressure increases or decreases within defined limits. An initial pressure measuring cycle is provided and must be completed successfully before the main operating cycle of the overall system can begin. A pressure transducer provides signals to a digital closed-loop system which provides a suitable compensation during the initial or primary cycle and then holds that compensation value during the machine running cycle. Excursions of pressure beyond upper and lower limits of the stored reference or compensation value, in either direction, will cause the running cycle to terminate automatically.

Pressure monitoring system

An improved collecting chamber for use with centrifuges for separating particles of different density suspended in a fluid, especially for separating the various fractions in human blood. The chamber is provided with a partition or dam and a plurality of outlet tubes. These tubes are positioned so that they can draw off the various separated components of the blood. The divider prevents the mixing of the fractions after they enter the chamber. By properly regulating the output flow of the lines containing the packed red cells, and the plasma and red cells, the content of the buffy collect line is defined and can be maintained constant over relatively long periods of time without operator intervention.

Centrifuge collecting chamber

Positioning apparatus is disclosed which positions an object with respect to two predetermined lateral positions. In addition, the object is indexable by the apparatus in a step-by-step manner in an incidental direction with respect to each of the two lateral positions. It includes an endless sprocket chain entrained about two sprocket wheels. The chain carries a first member which is pivotably connected to the chain. A second member is affixed to the first member and is adapted to support the object. The second member is slidably mounted to a movable third member which in turn is guided by guiding means such as rails that guides the third member means in a predetermined aligned relationship with the reaches of the chain. In addition, chain guide means guide the chain along the first and second reaches. Driver means are coupled to one of the sprocket wheels to drive the endless chain. In response to the movement of the chain, the first member is capable of movement to and along each of the chain's first and second, i.e., two, reaches. The object in turn is thus positionable with respect to the first and second positions when the chain carries the first member along the first and second reaches, respectively. In the preferred mode of operation, the chain is driven in one direction to move the object from the first position to the second position and in the reverse direction when the object is returned from the second position to the first position.

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Endicott, NY, United States of America

Alfred P Mulzet