Patent ID: 7416902

Claim:
An apparatus for separating, on a particle by particle basis, at least one particle from a plurality of particles contained within an input air stream, the apparatus comprising: a flow shaft for pneumatically receiving the plurality of particles, the plurality of particles transversing down the shaft, the flow of particles being focused aerodynamically by a sheath flow; a particle identification system adapted for identifying the at least one particle, the sheath flow being oriented co-axially down the flow shaft such that the plurality of particles intersect a field of view of the particle identification system; a particle charging system comprising an array of corona electrodes positioned proximate to a trajectory of said input air stream and a second electrode positioned proximate to said array of corona electrodes, the array of corona electrodes and the second electrode being positioned at a lower position relative to the particle identification system, said array of corona electrodes and said second electrode being adapted to generate a corona charge therebetween for selectively applying the corona charge to the at least one particle within said input air stream in a direction substantially one of perpendicular and parallel to the flow shaft, such that the at least one particle is separable from other particles of the plurality of particles; and a particle deposition system adapted for depositing the at least one particle upon a target surface by means of an electrostatic field, the electrostatic field being applied to the at least one particle substantially simultaneously with the corona charge.