Omni International, Inc.

Karl Jahn

Voya Alex Vidakovic

John Hancock

Thomas Gray

William Z Todd

Trevor Williams

An active/resilient grinding media inside a tube containing a sample is oscillated rapidly by a homogenizer so that the active media is driven in a first direction until it impacts a first end of the tube, which causes it to deform and store an energy charge as it decelerates and stops, and it then accelerates rapidly in the second opposite direction under the discharging force of the stored energy toward the opposite second end of the tube. This cycle of the active media decelerating/charging and then discharging/accelerating is repeated throughout the entire oscillatory processing of the sample. The result is much higher velocities of the active media and therefore much greater impact forces when the sample and active media collide, producing increased efficiency in disruption and size-reduction of the sample particles.

Active grinding media for processing samples

A flow disrupter in a tube chamber of a tube assembly for homogenizing sample materials includes a flow-disrupting body that extends generally transversely into the tube chamber and divides the tube chamber into two sub-chambers. The flow-disrupting body includes at least one narrowed flow passageway through which the sample flows back and forth in both axially reciprocating directions as the tube assembly is vigorously shaken at high speeds faster and more reliably than what can be accomplished by hand shaking. And the flow-disrupting body includes at least two flow-interrupting surfaces facing generally in opposite axial directions and against which the sample impacts in each respective axially reciprocating direction as the tube assembly is vigorously shaken. In this way, the vigorous high-speed shaking of the tube assembly including the flow disrupter results in significant particle-size reduction of the sample by mechanical shear, fluid shear, cavitation, and/or pressure differentials.

Flow disrupters for use with homogenization tubes for beadless interrupted flow

Homogenization tubes with flow disrupters for beadless interrupted flow

A combination fin-type mixer and rotor/stator-type homogenizer provides the ability to perform low-shear mixing or high-shear homogenizing by a single device without changing attachments or hardware. The low-shear mixing fins extend outwardly from the stator of the high-shear rotor/stator homogenizer, and the rotor rotates within the stator. For high-shear homogenizing, the rotor is rotated within the stator. And for low-shear mixing, the finned stator is selectively interlocked to and rotated with the rotor. A method of combining components includes resetting the device from low-shear mixing mode to high-shear homogenizing mode, and vice versa, without changing attachments or hardware.

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Kennesaw, GA, United States of America

Karl Jahn