Patent ID: 7294513

Claim:
A method to characterize a solution of small particles comprising the steps of a) placing an aliquot of said solution into a transparent containment means integrated into a centrifugal rotator means where said containment means i. provides visible access to said aliquot through transparent walls therein and ii. includes a range of radial distances with respect to said centrifuge axis of rotation through which said particles in said aliquot may move during said separation; b) activating said centrifugal rotator to rotate about its axis of rotation producing, thereby, a centrifugal force acting on said particles in said aliquot; c) illuminating a region of said aliquot through said transparent containment means by a fine beam of light wherein i. said light beam intersects said solution at predetermined radial distance from said axis of rotation ii. said beam enters through one transparent containment wall and exits through another, with said aliquot contained therebetween, as said solution passes through said fine light beam; d) detecting light scattered by said aliquot from said incident fine beam of light, at selected time intervals, at a plurality of angular directions thereto by a corresponding plurality of detector means each of which is collimated and so-arranged to collect light only scattered into a specific direction subtending a finite defining solid angle, and each detector producing from said detected scattered light an electrical signal e) converting said electrical signals into digital representations thereof and storing in memory means for subsequent processing; and f) processing said digital representations of said scattered light signals and said transmitted beam signal to derive therefrom characteristics of said small particles in said aliquot.