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:
Oct. 01, 2002
Filed:
Jun. 30, 2000
Melvin Dorin, Mountain View, CA (US);
Patrick Q. Moore, Gilroy, CA (US);
Beckman Coulter, Inc., Fullerton, CA (US);
Abstract
A removable conformal liner for a centrifuge container is described. The liner has a flexible or semi-rigid body with an opening for introducing a sample. When the liner is inserted into an internal cavity of a centrifuge container, the body of the liner conforms to the interior cavity. The liner body may be made of a material that is sufficiently resilient to allow a reversible deformation of the body by folding, twisting, collapsing, rolling, or pleating. Also disclosed is a centrifuge container assembly, including a container suitable for centrifuging and a removable liner with a flexible or semi-rigid body placed into the container. The centrifuge container assembly of this invention may also have retaining-means for retaining the liner in a fixed position within the container. Also provided by the present invention is a method for separating solids from suspensions by centrifugation. In this method, the removable conformal an liner of the present invention with a flexible or semi-rigid body is placed into a centrifuge container. Once inside the container, the liner body conforms to the shape of the interior cavity of the container. The step of placing the liner may include deforming the liner body to reduce its dimension, and fitting the deformed liner through the container opening. The method may further include a step of immobilizing the liner with retaining-means. When centrifugation is completed, the liner is removed from the container with the pelleted solids contained in the liner. The pelleted solids on the liner may be either harvested or discarded.