Patent ID: 8459464

Claim:
An apparatus for sedimentation field-flow fractionation for the discrimination of particles in a fluid medium, comprising: a channel having an inlet port adapted to receive said fluid medium into said channel, said channel further having an outlet port adapted to pass said fluid medium out of said channel, said channel further having a width substantially greater than a thickness thereof which causes said fluid medium traveling through said channel to travel in a laminar flow fashion at different velocities according to a velocity profile across the thickness of said channel; a stationary frame and an axis, said axis being positioned at a predetermined location on said stationary frame; means for rotating said channel about said axis at a predetermined angular velocity thereby creating a sedimentation force across a thickness of said channel normal to a direction of flow of said fluid medium through said channel, said sedimentation force displacing said particles in said fluid medium to various positions across said velocity profile based on the strength of an interaction between said sedimentation force and said particles; an inlet tube having a movable end and a stationary end, said movable end of said inlet tube being connected to said inlet port and further being rotatable about said axis coincidently with said channel, said stationary end of said inlet tube being motionless and non-rotatably connected to said stationary frame; an outlet tube having a movable end and a stationary end, said movable end of said outlet tube being connected to said outlet port and further being rotatable about said axis coincidently with said channel, said stationary end of said outlet tube being motionless and non-rotatably connected to said stationary frame; and means for configuring said inlet tube and said outlet tube to allow fluid communication between said movable and stationary ends of said inlet tube and between said movable and stationary ends of said outlet tube.