Patent ID: 11946902
Assignee: HEWLETT-PACKARD DEVELOPMENT COMPANY, L.P.
Field: Measurement (Instruments)
Classification: CPC G  B | IPC B  G

Claim 0:
1. An apparatus, comprising:
a dielectrophoresis (DEP) separator to separate particles in a flow, the separator comprising an inlet channel to receive the flow and a microfluidic channel to receive the flow from the inlet channel, the flow comprising two different types of particles, and two outlet channels branching from the microfluidic channel;
an electrical field generator coupled to the DEP separator to apply an electric field having a frequency to the DEP separator;
a tracking system to track a movement of at least some of the particles in the DEP separator; and
a controller in communication with the electrical field generator to control the frequency of the electric field and the tracking system to track the movement of the particles as a function of frequency into one of the two outlet channels, wherein the controller is to calculate a cross-over frequency from a cross-over frequency distribution for a first type of particles based on a frequency sweep and movement of the first type of particles into a first or a second of the two outlet channels;
wherein the DEP separator further comprises a focusing region to receive the flow from the microfluidic channel, the focusing region being tapered to narrow the flow into a separation region that is configured to separate, using the electric field generated across the separation region, the first type of particles into the first or the second of the two outlet channels.