This invention concerns a centrifuge having a rotor and a rotor chamber in which the rotor is arranged and rotatably mounted, wherein the rotor has a receiving region for receiving a reaction vessel unit, and the centrifuge being provided with a loading and unloading device comprising a rigid sliding rod for positioning a reaction vessel unit in or for removing a reaction vessel unit from the rotor, wherein the sliding bar is movably arranged in such a way that it, between a discharge position in which it extends through the rotor in the rotor chamber and a loading position in which it is pulled at least out of the region of the rotor chamber, which is stressed by the rotor during one revolution, and a linear drive for moving the sliding rod between the discharge position and the loading position.

A separation container for extracting a portion of a sample for use or testing and method for preparing samples for downstream use or testing are provided. The separation container may include a body defining an internal chamber. The body may define an opening, and the body may be configured to receive the sample within the internal chamber. The separation container may further include a seal disposed across the opening, such that the seal may be configured to seal the opening of the body, and a plunger movably disposed at least partially inside the internal chamber. The plunger may be configured to be actuated to open the seal and express the portion of the sample.

A centrifugal separator for separation of at least two components of a fluid mixture which are of different densities includes a frame, a hollow spindle rotatably supported by the frame, a centrifuge rotor mounted to a first end of the hollow spindle to rotate together with the spindle around an axis of rotation, wherein the centrifuge rotor includes a rotor casing enclosing a separation space in which a stack of separation discs is arranged, a duct arranged to be through-flown by process medium during operation of the centrifugal separator and extending through the hollow spindle and in fluid contact with said separation space, at least one liquid outlet for discharging a separated liquid phase from the separation space, and a plurality of peripheral ports extending from the separation space through the rotor casing to a surrounding space for discharging a phase from the periphery of the separation space. The centrifuge rotor includes a sliding bowl bottom movable between a closed position, in which the peripheral ports are closed, and an open position, in which the peripheral ports are open, an inlet channel for supplying hydraulic fluid to a closing chamber between the sliding bowl bottom and the rotor casing in order to hold the sliding bowl bottom in the closed position. The centrifugal separator further includes at least one hermetic seal at a second end, other than the first end, of the hollow spindle and the inlet channel for supplying hydraulic fluid to the closing chamber extends through the hollow spindle and is further arranged such that the hydraulic fluid is in thermal contact with the at least one hermetic seal when the hydraulic fluid is being supplied to the closing chamber.

A centrifuge to which sample tubes can be introduced while the centrifuge is in motion. The centrifuge comprises a carousel having an upper portion and a lower portion. The upper portion of the carousel has a plurality of positions for sample tubes for a centrifugation operation, a plurality of drive mechanisms attached to the upper portion of the carousel, a movable element mounted upon each drive mechanism, the movable element capable of traversing the length of the drive mechanism when the drive mechanism is actuated, a sample tube-holding assembly comprising a sample tube holder and a bearing attached to each movable element, and at least one balancing element capable of contributing to a force vector that cancels an imbalance vector generated by rotation of the centrifuge.

A rotor assembly includes a rotor plate to rotate around a first axis; a bucket rotatably attached to the rotor plate and to rotate around a second axis; and a stop plate to rotate around the first axis relative to the rotor plate between an open position and a closed position, when in the closed position, the stop plate is to engage the bucket to fix an angular position of the bucket relative to a plane of rotation of the rotor assembly.

An automatic cell isolation and collection system for sorting out target cells from a sample includes a crush module, a centrifuge module, a transport module, and a control unit. The centrifuge module includes centrifuge tubes and a magnetic mechanism providing a magnetically attractive force to at least one of the centrifuge tubes. The control unit electrically communicates with the crush module, the centrifuge module, and the transport module, and controls operation of the crush module, transport of the sample via the transport module after the sample is crushed by the crush module, centrifugation of the centrifuge module, and operation of the magnetic mechanism for providing the magnetically attractive force.

A sample preprocessing system is capable of reducing centrifuging time, which accounts for the majority of time required for a preprocessing step, and at the same time, performing centrifuging under various conditions. A system management unit ascertains the states of a plurality of centrifuge devices, particularly comparing centrifuging start times and centrifuging termination times for the respective centrifuge devices, and selects the centrifuge device for which the processing time is shortest. Specifically, the system includes an adapter that forms a plurality of batches, a gripper to transfer a sample to the adapter, a plurality of centrifuge rotors that centrifuge the adapter in batch units, and a computer programmed to calculate, in advance, a start timing and a termination timing of the centrifuging in batch units, and the batch, into which samples are transferred, is controlled on the basis of at least one of the calculated start timing and termination timing.

A loading apparatus and system is adapted to load unprocessed sample containers in a centrifuge and provide improved balance thereof. The apparatus has a staging platform containing at least two bucket inserts, a weight scale operable to determine a combined weight of each of the bucket inserts, a centrifuge configured to receive the bucket inserts as pairs, a robot operable to insert an unprocessed sample container into the bucket inserts, and a controller operable to command the robot to carry out placement of the unprocessed sample container into a highest priority empty receptacle of a lowest combined weight bucket insert. Methods of operating the system are provided.

A loading and unloading system loads/unloads a sample processor (e.g., a centrifuge). The system includes a staging area containing inserts, at least one being a common insert, the sample processor having locations receiving inserts containing unprocessed sample containers, one or more robots operable to move unprocessed and processed sample containers to and from the common insert as well as move the inserts between the staging area and the sample processor, and a controller commanding the one or more robots to carry out a sample container movement sequence to load and unload unprocessed and processed sample containers to and from the common insert at the staging area, wherein the common bucket insert contains both processed and unprocessed sample containers at a same time. Methods of operating the system are provided.

A sample container cap is disclosed. The sample cap container includes a sample cap body capable of covering an opening of a sample container and a centrifugation status indicator device in the top of the sample cap body. The centrifugation status indicator device includes: a first substance having a first density and a first color, and a second substance having a second density and a second color. The centrifugation status indicator device displays the first substance when the sample container has been centrifuged. The first substance can be a gel, and the second substance can include a plurality of particles. The second density is higher than the first density and the second color is different from the first color.