Patent ID: 8485958

Claim:
A centrifuge for selectively concentrating and collecting constituents of a biologic liquid mixture, said constituents having differing specific gravities and being stratifiable in a centrifugal field produced by said centrifuge, said centrifuge comprising: a) a chamber arranged to contain a liquid mixture and having a central longitudinal axis about which said chamber is arranged to be rotated to produce said centrifugal field, said chamber comprising: (i) an assembly comprising a tubular barrel and an end wall, each comprising a common central longitudinal axis, said tubular barrel comprising a side wall tapering radially inward toward said central longitudinal axis from said end wall, said side wall comprising a transparent material; (ii) an inlet for adding the liquid mixture to said chamber; (iii) a first port in fluid communication with said chamber and located in said assembly at a first predetermined radius from said central longitudinal axis; and (iv) a second port in fluid communication with said chamber; b) a motor to rotate said chamber about said central longitudinal axis to produce said centrifugal field, whereupon said constituents of said biologic liquid mixture in said chamber stratify into at least two concentric stratified constituent layers as a function of the differing specific gravities of said constituents, said at least two concentric stratified constituent layers forming an interface between immediately adjacent constituent layers thereof, said interface being visible through said transparent side wall, and wherein a first of said at least two concentric stratified constituent layers is present at said first port, said first port being selectively openable to enable at least a portion of said first of said at least two concentric stratified constituent layers to be automatically ejected from said chamber through said first port as a result of pressure built up by said centrifugal field; and c) an actuatable member arranged to be actuated in response to the observation of said interface to close said first port.