Patent ID: 7998052

Claim:
A centrifuge system comprising a rotor and having means for spinning the rotor and a plate that spins with the rotor, the rotor having an axis of rotation and being readily mountable to and dismountable from the centrifuge system, the rotor comprising: a fixed portion including a conduit assembly, a chamber of varying volume rotatably mounted around the fixed portion and the axis of rotation, the chamber having a base, said base having a periphery circumscribed by a continuous impermeable stretchable side wall, wherein the wall is seamlessly joined to the periphery of said base, the chamber including a cover spaced axially apart from the base, the wall extending axially from the periphery of the base to and around a periphery of the cover to which the wall is joined, the wall being stretchable to form a chamber of variable volume between the cover and the base; the rotor being mountable to the centrifuge system such that the base is captured by the plate for rotation together with the rotor inside the centrifuge system, said plate being controllably movable by the centrifuge system to move along the axis of rotation, the base of the rotor being fixedly held by said plate and movable along with the plate along the axis of rotation, the volume of the chamber increasing upon stretching of the side wall when the base is displaced axially from the cover, the volume of the chamber decreasing upon contraction of the side wall when the base is displaced axially closer to the cover, the side wall maintaining its joinder to the periphery of the base and the cover on stretching and contraction.