The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Dec. 15, 1992
Filed:
Aug. 02, 1991
Jeffrey J Marque, San Mateo, CA (US);
Beckman Instruments, Inc., Fullerton, CA (US);
Abstract
Method and apparatus for controlling the angular velocity of a centrifuge tube containing a solute and a solvent to obtain desirable sedimentation behavior and/or diffusion behavior of the solute within the tube during centrifuge operations. In one embodiment, the angular velocity is maintained at a near-maximum value until just before precipitation of a solute component is reached within the tube. The tube angular velocity is then reduced as a function of time so that critical precipitation is approached but never occurs in the tube as the centrifuge process continues. In other embodiments, the net flux of solute particles into a given volume element of the centrifuge tube, or the ratio of net fluxes of two or more solutes into a predetermined volume elements, is caused to be a prescribed function of time. One application of this method is minimization of the time required to obtain a desired density gradient separation by a centrifuge process.