Patent ID: 7503997

Claim:
A centrifugal evaporator comprising: a chamber in which sample containers are carried by a rotor, wherein the rotor is rotatable about a rotor axis and the sample containers are pivotally mounted to the rotor so as to swing up to a substantially horizontal orientation as the rotor rotates; a source of infra-red radiation mounted in the chamber so as in use to direct infra-red radiation towards the rotor and the sample containers carried thereon, to heat at least the latter and any sample material therein for the purpose of evaporating liquid in the sample material; and a non-contact temperature sensing infra-red pyrometer having a sensor with a defined field of view which is mounted in the chamber, such that while the rotor is substantially out of its field of view, each sample container at least partly occupies the pyrometer field of view for a part of each rotation of the rotor, and the positions of the infra-red source and the pyrometer sensor are selected so that the radiation from the infra-red source does not impinge on the pyrometer sensor.