Separation apparatuses for the separation of a mixture of two fluids, such as a water-in-oil emulsion, via electrocoalescence, are provided. A separation apparatus may include a series of flow conditioners each having a different permittivity, such that the flow conditioner having a permittivity that is similar or equal to the permittivity of the flowing medium is selected. Another separation apparatus may include a flow conditioner having a frequency-dependent permittivity, such that the frequency of the electric field generated is selected so that the permittivity of the flow conditioner is as similar as possible to or equal to the permittivity of the flowing medium. Another separation apparatus may include a replaceable flow conditioner that may be replaced with a flow conditioner having a permittivity that is as similar to or equal to the permittivity of the flowing medium.

Multi-domain electrostatic filters and methods, systems and computer readable media for control thereof are described.

The electric dust collecting apparatus comprises a plurality of discharge electrodes that are disposed in an exhaust flow passage, a ground electrode that constitutes at least a part of an inner wall surface of the exhaust flow passage, and a voltage applying device that is configured to apply voltage selectively from a common power supply to each of the plurality of discharge electrodes. The plurality of discharge regions, each of which includes at least one discharge electrode, are provided in the exhaust flow passage and an electrode-to-electrode distance between the discharge electrode and the ground electrode is different in each of the plurality of discharge regions. The voltage applying device applies voltage to the discharge electrode for each discharge region, and changes the discharge region where voltage is applied to the discharge electrode in accordance with exhaust gas temperature.

Methods of exerting magnetic forces to collect and manipulate magnetic particles disposed in a portion of subsurface vasculature using a wearable device are provided. The wearable device is configured to change the exerted magnetic force over time. For example, the exerted magnetic force could be sufficient to collect the magnetic particles during a first period of time and low enough to release the magnetic particles during a second period of time. The exerted magnetic force could be changed over time to vary some effect on the magnetic particles, for example to control a rate of release of collected magnetic particles. In some embodiments, the magnetic particles are configured to bind to an analyte of interest. The collection and manipulation of the magnetic particles can enable detection of one or more properties of the analyte, modification of the analyte, and/or extraction of the analyte bound to the magnetic particles.

A method for designing one part of an electrostatic separating device of a mixture of different material granules, the method including providing a sorting performance value to be met by the device when at least one predefined mixture is introduced into the device to be sorted, optimizing a value of at least one parameter of the set of parameters relating to the device part by using an optimization technique, the optimization technique including the use of a sorting performance model of the device, and the optimization technique occurring under the constraint that the sorting performed by the device has the given sorting performance value.

A system for measuring an in-ash unburned combustibles concentration includes: a storage that stores therein the pieces of characteristic data; and an arithmetic processor including a selector and an in-ash unburned combustibles concentration calculator. The selector selects, from among the pieces of characteristic data stored, a piece of characteristic data whose first reflected light intensity index is the same as, or similar to, the first reflected light intensity index of subject ash. By using the correlation information contained in the piece of characteristic data that has been selected, the in-ash unburned combustibles concentration calculator calculates an in-ash unburned combustibles concentration corresponding to the second reflected light intensity index of the subject ash as the in-ash unburned combustibles concentration of the subject ash.

A portable electronic device with a smart air purifier is provided with an electronic device body having a display surface, a back surface and a side jointed with the surfaces. The smart air purifier is embedded in the electronic device body. The smart air purifier includes a container, a fan, an air cleaning device, an air quality receiver, a tracking device, an adjustable opening, and a control panel. The container includes an air inlet formed on the back surface, an air outlet formed on the display surface, and an opening formed on the side. The fan draws air from the inlet to provide an airflow. The air cleaning device filters the airflow. The air quality receiver detects quality of the airflow. The tracking device tracks the user. The adjustable opening is disposed at the air outlet of the container. The control panel controls the fan and the adjustable opening.

An air purification apparatus (100) for purifying air in a target space external to the apparatus is disclosed that comprises at least one pollutant removal structure (130; 131, 132) for removing a pollutant from the air in fluid connection with a major vent (110) and a directional vent arrangement comprising a directional inlet (112) for drawing air into the air purification apparatus from a region of the target space in an aiming direction of the directional inlet; and a directional outlet (114) for expelling air in a further aiming direction towards the region. An air movement device (120; 121, 122) configured to move air from the directional inlet to the major vent in a first configuration and to move air from the major vent to the directional outlet through the at least one pollutant removal structure in a second configuration responsive to a controller (150) is also present, as well as a sensor (140) arranged to determine a concentration of the pollutant in the air in said region when the air movement device is in the first orientation, wherein the controller is responsive to the sensor and is adapted to switch the air movement device from the first configuration to the second configuration upon the concentration of the pollutant exceeding a defined pollutant concentration threshold.

According to one embodiment, a cell sorter includes a flow channel which supplies a sample liquid containing particles, a plurality of branch channels connected to the flow channel, an image sensor which has a pixel region covering the flow channel and the branch channels, a determination unit which determines the characteristics of the particles in the sample liquid from a measurement signal of the pixel region, and a separation unit guides the particles in the sample liquid to any of the branch channels based on the determination result of the determination unit.

The invention relates to a cleaning device for cleaning a gas, in particular air, comprising: a first electrode which is populated with at least one element, preferably a plurality of elements, said at least one element having a surface with a plurality of tips and/or protrusions in order to generate a non-homogeneous electromagnetic field, a second electrode which preferably lies opposite the first electrode, and a voltage source which is electrically connected to the first electrode and/or the second electrode and by means of which a voltage can be built up between the first electrode and the second electrode.