A graph $G=(V,E)$ is $delta$-hyperbolic if for any four vertices $u,v,w,x$, the two larger of the three distance sums $d(u,v)+d(w,x)$, $d(u,w)+d(v,x)$, and $d(u,x)+d(v,w)$ differ by at most $2delta geq 0$. Recent work shows that many real-world graphs have small hyperbolicity $delta$. This paper describes the eccentricity terrain of a $delta$-hyperbolic graph. The eccentricity function $e_G(v)=max{d(v,u) : u in V}$ partitions the vertex set of $G$ into eccentricity layers $C_{k}(G) = {v in V : e(v)=rad(G)+k}$, $k in mathbb{N}$, where $rad(G)=min{e_G(v): vin V}$ is the radius of $G$. The paper studies the eccentricity layers of vertices along shortest paths, identifying such terrain features as hills, plains, valleys, terraces, and plateaus. It introduces the notion of $eta$-pseudoconvexity, which implies Gromov's $epsilon$-quasiconvexity, and illustrates the abundance of pseudoconvex sets in $delta$-hyperbolic graphs. In particular, it shows that all sets $C_{leq k}(G)={vin V : e_G(v) leq rad(G) + k}$, $kin mathbb{N}$, are $(2delta-1)$-pseudoconvex. Additionally, several bounds on the eccentricity of a vertex are obtained which yield a few approaches to efficiently approximating all eccentricities. An $O(delta |E|)$ time eccentricity approximation $hat{e}(v)$, for all $vin V$, is presented that uses distances to two mutually distant vertices and satisfies $e_G(v)-2delta leq hat{e}(v) leq {e_G}(v)$. It also shows existence of two eccentricity approximating spanning trees $T$, one constructible in $O(delta |E|)$ time and the other in $O(|E|)$ time, which satisfy ${e}_G(v) leq e_T(v) leq {e}_G(v)+4delta+1$ and ${e}_G(v) leq e_T(v) leq {e}_G(v)+6delta$, respectively. Thus, the eccentricity terrain of a tree gives a good approximation (up-to an additive error $O(delta))$ of the eccentricity terrain of a $delta$-hyperbolic graph.

We design and implement the first private and anonymous decentralized crowdsourcing system ZebraLancer, and overcome two fundamental challenges of decentralizing crowdsourcing, i.e., data leakage and identity breach.

First, our outsource-then-prove methodology resolves the tension between the blockchain transparency and the data confidentiality to guarantee the basic utilities/fairness requirements of data crowdsourcing, thus ensuring: (i) a requester will not pay more than what data deserve, according to a policy announced when her task is published via the blockchain; (ii) each worker indeed gets a payment based on the policy, if he submits data to the blockchain; (iii) the above properties are realized not only without a central arbiter, but also without leaking the data to the open blockchain. Second, the transparency of blockchain allows one to infer private information about workers and requesters through their participation history. Simply enabling anonymity is seemingly attempting but will allow malicious workers to submit multiple times to reap rewards. ZebraLancer also overcomes this problem by allowing anonymous requests/submissions without sacrificing accountability. The idea behind is a subtle linkability: if a worker submits twice to a task, anyone can link the submissions, or else he stays anonymous and unlinkable across tasks. To realize this delicate linkability, we put forward a novel cryptographic concept, i.e., the common-prefix-linkable anonymous authentication. We remark the new anonymous authentication scheme might be of independent interest. Finally, we implement our protocol for a common image annotation task and deploy it in a test net of Ethereum. The experiment results show the applicability of our protocol atop the existing real-world blockchain.

Passive optical networks (PON) can play a vital role in data centres and access fog solutions by providing scalable, cost and energy efficient architectures. This paper proposes a Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) model to optimize the placement of virtual machines (VMs) over an energy efficient WDM-TDM AWGR PON based data centre architecture. In this optimization, the use of VMs and their requirements affect the optimum number of servers utilized in the data centre when minimizing the power consumption and enabling more efficient utilization of servers is considered. Two power consumption minimization objectives were examined for up to 20 VMs with different computing and networking requirements. The results indicate that considering the minimization of the processing and networking power consumption in the allocation of VMs in the WDM-TDM AWGR PON can reduce the networking power consumption by up to 70% compared to the minimization of the processing power consumption.

Despite recent progress on computer vision and natural language processing, developing video understanding intelligence is still hard to achieve due to the intrinsic difficulty of story in video. Moreover, there is not a theoretical metric for evaluating the degree of video understanding. In this paper, we propose a novel video question answering (Video QA) task, DramaQA, for a comprehensive understanding of the video story. The DramaQA focused on two perspectives: 1) hierarchical QAs as an evaluation metric based on the cognitive developmental stages of human intelligence. 2) character-centered video annotations to model local coherence of the story. Our dataset is built upon the TV drama "Another Miss Oh" and it contains 16,191 QA pairs from 23,928 various length video clips, with each QA pair belonging to one of four difficulty levels. We provide 217,308 annotated images with rich character-centered annotations, including visual bounding boxes, behaviors, and emotions of main characters, and coreference resolved scripts. Additionally, we provide analyses of the dataset as well as Dual Matching Multistream model which effectively learns character-centered representations of video to answer questions about the video. We are planning to release our dataset and model publicly for research purposes and expect that our work will provide a new perspective on video story understanding research.

Inspired by Bitcoin, many different kinds of cryptocurrencies based on blockchain technology have turned up on the market. Due to the special structure of the blockchain, it has been deemed impossible to directly trade between traditional currencies and cryptocurrencies or between different types of cryptocurrencies. Generally, trading between different currencies is conducted through a centralized third-party platform. However, it has the problem of a single point of failure, which is vulnerable to attacks and thus affects the security of the transactions. In this paper, we propose a distributed cryptocurrency trading scheme to solve the problem of centralized exchanges, which can achieve trading between different types of cryptocurrencies. Our scheme is implemented with smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain and deployed on the Ethereum test network. We not only implement transactions between individual users, but also allow transactions between multiple users. The experimental result proves that the cost of our scheme is acceptable.

In this work, we consider a group of robots working together to manipulate a rigid object to track a desired trajectory in $SE(3)$. The robots have no explicit communication network among them, and they do no know the mass or friction properties of the object, or where they are attached to the object. However, we assume they share data from a common IMU placed arbitrarily on the object. To solve this problem, we propose a decentralized adaptive control scheme wherein each agent maintains and adapts its own estimate of the object parameters in order to track a reference trajectory. We present an analysis of the controller's behavior, and show that all closed-loop signals remain bounded, and that the system trajectory will almost always (except for initial conditions on a set of measure zero) converge to the desired trajectory. We study the proposed controller's performance using numerical simulations of a manipulation task in 3D, and with hardware experiments which demonstrate our algorithm on a planar manipulation task. These studies, taken together, demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed controller even in the presence of numerous unmodelled effects, such as discretization errors and complex frictional interactions.

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The disclosed embodiments describe a method, an apparatus, an application specific integrated circuit, and a server that provides a fast and efficient look up for data analysis. The apparatus and server may be configured to obtain data segments from a plurality of input devices. The data segments may be individual unique subsets of the entire data set obtained by a plurality input devices. A hash function may be applied to an aggregated set of the data segments. A result of the hash function may be stored in a data structure. A codebook may be generated from the hash function results.

The current invention describes processes for obtaining of concentrates of esters of eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid for their use in massive and regular human consumption either as a pharmaceutical ingredient or as a food ingredient, which are characterized by having neutral and stable organoleptic properties, free of side effects, which are typical from marine oils derivatives, and with low content of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POP).

A method for analysis of an object dyed with fluorescent coloring agents. Separately fluorescing visible molecules or nanoparticles are periodically formed in different object parts, the laser produces the oscillation thereof which is sufficient for recording the non-overlapping images of the molecules or nanoparticles and for decoloring already recorded fluorescent molecules, wherein tens of thousands of pictures of recorded individual molecule or nanoparticle images, in the form of stains having a diameter on the order of a fluorescent light wavelength multiplied by a microscope amplification, are processed by a computer for searching the coordinates of the stain centers and building the object image according to millions of calculated stain center co-ordinates corresponding to the co-ordinates of the individual fluorescent molecules or nanoparticles. Two-dimensional and three-dimensional images are provided for proteins, nucleic acids and lipids with different coloring agents.

The present disclosure relates to compositions and methods for producing nanoparticles to provide relatively more rapid delivery of such particles across the blood-brain barrier. The nanoparticles may be formed from bis-quaternary pyridinium-aldoxime salts that may also be of a specific polymorphic structure and which may be formed in either hydrophobic or hydrophilic type liquid media. In addition, the nanoparticle for transport across the blood-brain barrier may comprise a polymeric resin encapsulating a bis-quaternary pyridinium-2-aldoxime salt.

A data collection unit obtains physiological data from a subject interface on a subject. The subject interface can be connected to the data collection unit. When the subject interface is connected to the data collection unit, subject interface contacts on the subject interface make contact with data collection unit contacts on the data collection unit. Some of the data collection unit contacts are for communicating physiological data from the subject interface to the data collection unit. Some of the contacts are for powering the data collection unit upon the subject interface being connected to the data collection unit and for powering down the data collection unit upon the subject interface being disconnected from the data collection unit.

The invention is drawn to fluid concentrate formulations of fatty acid monoethanolamides comprising (a) about 71-76% by weight of one or more C8-C22 fatty acid monoethanolamides, (b) about 15-17% by weight of water, and (c) about 10-12% by weight of one or more hydrotropes, based on the fluid formulation, wherein the fluid formulation is homogeneous, pumpable and color stable at a temperature of less than 55° C. A preferred embodiment is drawn to fluid concentrate formulations of cocamide monoethanolamide (CMEA) consisting of (a) about 71-76% by weight of CMEA, (b) about 15-17% by weight of water, and (c) about 10-12% by weight of glycerol, based on the fluid formulation. Methods of preparing the fluid concentrate formulations mulations are also disclosed. The fluid concentrate formulations of fatty acid monoethanolamides are useful in the preparation of cosmetic and pharmaceutical compositions.

The invention relates to a non-corrosive degreasing concentrate and ready to use formulation. In particular, non-corrosive compositions capable of removing polymerized grease as effectively as some alkali metal hydroxide (i.e. caustic) based degreasers without requiring the use of personal protective equipment are disclosed.

Techniques and systems for centralized access to multimedia content stored on or available to a computing device are disclosed. The centralized access can be provided by a media control interface that receives user inputs and interacts with media programs resident on the computing device to produce graphical user interfaces that can be presented on a display device.

The present disclosure relates to a sulfonated benzene compound emitting fluorescence by reaction with hydrogen peroxide, aqueous-dispersed fluorescent nanoprobes applicable for real-time detection of hydrogen peroxide, and a fluorescent nanoprobe fabrication method. The fluorescent nanoprobe contains the following sulfonated benzene compound and water.

A calendar watch includes a central date indicator (4). The indicator is united with a crown wheel (9) comprising teeth (11) forming a circular crown (12) arranged to be perpendicular to a face (13) of said wheel. The teeth (12) are driven by a finger (14) rotating in a plane intersecting said crown in its height. The finger is united with a date driving wheel (15). The invention permits easy transformation of a watch having its date display in a dial aperture to a watch having a date indicator rotating about the center of the movement.

In a satellite communication system comprising at least a hub and a plurality of terminals, at least one terminal may include a cache for storing data objects. The cache may be based on a detachable memory device that may be inserted to or removed from the terminal at any given time, including after the terminal is deployed. Aspects are directed to preventing a prefetching of objects already stored in a cache of a remote terminal. In some embodiments, an efficient multicasting of content to terminals over an adaptive link may occur in a manner which may benefit terminals comprising a cache while not affecting or minimally affecting the performance of terminals that may not include a cache.

Methods of producing arginine bicarbonate solutions in very high concentrations including reacting an arginine slurry containing a first portion of arginine with a source of carbon dioxide gas at elevated pressure and temperature, adding subsequent portions of arginine to the resulting solution and further reacting with compressed carbon dioxide until a final solution containing in excess of 50% by weight are provided which include preparing an arginine solution by subjecting an arginine water slurry to elevated pressure and temperature and reacting the arginine solution with a source of carbon dioxide gas to form a solution comprising arginine and bicarbonate anion and recovering arginine bicarbonate from the solution.

Disclosed is a process for the production and purification of glycolic acid or glycolic acid derivatives by the carbonylation of aqueous formaldehyde. The water in the hydrocarboxylation zone is reduced via reaction with the ester bonds in a recycle stream comprising glycolic acid oligomers and/or methyl glycolate oligomers.

An electroluminescent display comprising semiconductor nanocrystals, wherein the semiconductor nanocrystals are selected to emit light at a predetermined wavelength and are disposed in a predetermined pattern. In certain embodiments, semiconductor nanocrystals that emit light at different predetermined wavelengths are disposed in the display to create a predetermined multi-color pattern.

Tissue slices and whole organisms offer substantial challenges to fluorescence imaging. Autofluorescence and absorption via intrinsic chromophores, such as flavins, melanin, and hemoglobins, confound and degrade output from all fluorescent tags. An “optical window,” farther red than most autofluorescence sources and in a region of low hemoglobin and water absorbance, lies between 650 and 900 nm. This valley of relative optical clarity is an attractive target for fluorescence-based studies within tissues, intact organs, and living organisms. Novel fluorescent tags were developed herein, based upon a genetically targeted fluorogen activating protein and cognate fluorogenic dye that yields emission with a peak at 733 nm exclusively when complexed as a “fluoromodule”. This tool improves substantially over previously described far-red/NIR fluorescent proteins in terms of brightness, wavelength, and flexibility by leveraging the flexibility of synthetic chemistry to produce novel chromophores.

A centrifuge concentrator bowl has feed deposited onto a base of the bowl and includes a plurality of recesses at axially spaced positions along a peripheral wall of the bowl. The peripheral wall is formed of a rigid metal skeleton frame of rings and upstanding support members on which is molded a urethane liner material to form an integral structure with the rings located at ribs between the recesses. A fluidization water injection system includes an outer container on the bowl, which also acts as a clamping assembly and a plurality of liquid entry openings through the peripheral wall at the base of the recesses allowing flexing of the peripheral wall in response to changes in pressure in the fluidizing liquid. The bowl is formed of separate sections defined by a bottom concave base section and the cast skeleton wall all clamped together to allow replacement of the separate parts.

An apparatus that allows for separating and collecting a fraction of a sample. The apparatus, when used with a centrifuge, allows for the creation of at least three fractions in the apparatus. It also provides for a new method of extracting the buffy coat phase from a whole blood sample and mesenchymal stem cells from bone reaming material. A buoy system that may include a first buoy portion and a second buoy member operably interconnected may be used to form at least three fractions from a sample during a substantially single centrifugation process. Therefore, the separation of various fractions may be substantially quick and efficient.

A centrifugal separator comprising: a driving portion; and a swing rotor including, a rotor body, a through-hole passing through the rotor body, pin insert grooves which are provided parallel to the through-hole so as to oppose each other and only partially penetrate the rotor body, and a bucket including, a bucket body that has a contact surface which is configured to contact the rotor body during centrifugal separation, and a cap assembly that seals the bucket body and has a swing shaft extending in a direction perpendicular to an longitudinal direction of the bucket, wherein the swing rotor is rotated when the bucket is inserted into the through-hole, to swing the bucket, and the swing shaft can be moved in the longitudinal direction of the bucket relative to the bucket body and rotated about a longitudinal central axis of the bucket.

Systems and methods are provided for sample processing. A device may be provided, capable of receiving the sample, and performing one or more of a sample preparation, sample assay, and detection step. The device may be capable of performing multiple assays. The device may comprise one or more modules that may be capable of performing one or more of a sample preparation, sample assay, and detection step. The device may be capable of performing the steps using a small volume of sample.

A centrifuge, including: a flange closing off one axial end of a separation chamber; a plurality of apertures that traverse axially through the flange at a radial distance from a flange axis, wherein at least one aperture is in fluid communication with a first outlet passage; a plurality of weir inserts removably disposed within the plurality of apertures to control a flow of one or more fluids from the separation chamber; wherein at least one weir insert disposed within the at least one aperture in fluid communication with the first outlet passage is changeable to prevent or allow fluid communication between the separation chamber and the first outlet passage.

A centrifuge includes a vacuum pump machine configured of an auxiliary vacuum pump and an oil diffusion pump for exhausting gas inside a rotary chamber to outside, in which a rotor rotates at high speed. In the centrifuge, a thermistor for detecting a temperature of oil and an oil surface inside a boiler of the oil diffusion pump is provided inside the boiler, and power of a heater is adjusted with the temperature detected by the thermistor, so that a degree of vacuum inside the rotary chamber is stably reduced from atmospheric pressure to a high vacuum state. Besides, when the heater does not heat, a current is carried through the thermistor for self-heating, and it is determined from variation in a resistance value whether the oil exists or not at a position at which the thermistor 8 is placed.

Centrifuges are useful to, among other things, remove red blood cells from whole blood and retain platelets and other factors in a reduced volume of plasma. Platelet rich plasma (PRP) and or platelet poor plasma (PPP) can be obtained rapidly and is ready for immediate injection into the host. Embodiments may include valves, operated manually or automatically, to open ports that discharge the excess red blood cells and the excess plasma into separate receivers while retaining the platelets and other factors in the centrifuge chamber. High speeds used allow simple and small embodiments to be used at the patient's side during surgical procedures. The embodiments can also be used for the separation of liquids or slurries in other fields such as, for example, the separation of pigments or lubricants.

The invention relates to a cartridge (1) for accommodating blood bags (35), which is provided for the separation of blood components for the application in a centrifuge. The cartridge (1) has a partition wall (3) which separates a blood bag section (5) positioned radially inside from a product section (7) positioned radially outside, and a cover (9) disposed in a mounting position above the blood bag section (5). The cover (9) is connected to the partition wall (3) pivotally in a first point (11) and detachably in a second point (13), so that the blood bag section (5) is freely accessible by means of laterally pivoting the cover (9) out of the way. The cartridge is applicable in the rotor of a centrifuge.

The spinning disc centrifuge rotor includes a sample holder formed from a cylindrical disc body and a cover plate that are made from a transparent material, such as polycarbonate. The disc-shaped body has two concentric or coaxial recesses defined therein. The first recess forms a cylindrical well or sample chamber for receiving a generally cylindrical rock sample. The second recess has a larger diameter than the first recess, and is shallower, forming a fluid collection area above the sample well, the second recess forming an annular ring extending around the top edge or rim of the sample well. An O-ring snugly within the outer wall of the second recess and forms a seal between the cover plate and the floor of the second recess, preventing fluid leakage. A rotor shaft extends from the bottom face of the cylindrical disc.

A method for controlling a centrifuge blood component separation system for separating components of a blood product, the separation system comprising a centrifuge and a separation bag and at least one transfer bag. The method comprises selecting a nominal hematocrit value such that an actual hematocrit value is expected to be less than said nominal hematocrit; centrifuging a separation bag containing a volume of composite liquid so as to cause the sedimentation of at least a first component and a second component; transferring some of the first component to a first transfer bag; detecting time of passage of a red blood cell interface at a pre-selected location in the separation bag; and adjusting a predicted processing time based on the time of passage of the red blood cell interface.

The invention refers to a centrifuge for separating whole blood into its blood components and a method for extracting a highly enriched thrombocyte concentrate out of whole blood. For this purpose, the centrifuge comprises a closed loop and/or open-loop control unit as well as a drive unit coupled to the closed loop and/or open-loop control unit, a rotor (12) having at least two container receptacles (14a, 14b; 16a, 16) for removably holding containers (18, 20, 22, 24) being in fluid communication with each other, at least one sensor arranged between the container receptacles (14a, 14b; 16a, 16b) and coupled with the closed loop and/or open-loop control unit for detecting a separation layer. Herein, a motor/gear unit (30a, 30b, 32a, 32b) coupled to the closed loop and/or open-loop control unit is associated with each of the container receptacles (14a, 14b; 16a, 16b). Each of the motor/gear units is in operational contact through means (34) with each of the containers (18, 20, 22, 24) supported in the respective container receptacle (14a, 14b; 16a, 16b) such that a transfer and back-transfer of blood components between the containers (18, 20, 22, 24) is initiated.

The invention is a method of processing tarry or resinous liquids. Tarry liquids include wet scrubber liquids containing tars and chars derived from gasification, pyrolysis or drying of biomass. Resinous liquids include those derived from processing coniferous biomass. Tarry or resinous liquid is processed by a horizontal axis centrifuge having a discharge chamber containing a scraper to prevent centrifuge clogging or fouling. The removed tar and char can be used as solid fuel or recycled to the gasification or pyrolysis process. Polymers, for instance cationic polymers, can be added to the tarry or resin containing liquid prior to centrifugation to assist in solids/liquids separation. Removed resin can be recycled for further use. Tar, char or resin depleted wet scrubber liquid can be recycled for further use or more easily treated prior to disposal.

A dual feed centrifuge system for separating solids from fluids in a drilling mud, the centrifuge system including: a bowl; a screw conveyor rotatably mounted within the bowl; a first feed pipe mounted within the screw conveyor for feeding a drilling mud through a first feed port in a wall of the screw conveyor to a first annular space between the bowl and the wall of the screw conveyor; and a second feed pipe mounted within the screw conveyor for feeding a drilling mud through a second feed port in the wall of the screw conveyor to a second annular space between the bowl and the wall of the screw conveyor. The multiple feed ports may allow the centrifuge to operate more efficiently with both weighted and unweighted drilling fluids.

The invention is a decanter centrifuge for separating a first substance and a second substance with different densities, comprising a bowl rotating in use around a horizontal axis of rotation in a direction of rotation, said axis of rotation extending in a longitudinal direction of said bowl, a radial direction extending perpendicular to the longitudinal direction, a base plate provided at one longitudinal end of said bowl, said base plate having an internal side and an external side, an outlet opening provided in said base plate for discharge of one of said substances. A slide valve body is adapted for covering an adjustable part of the outlet opening to delimit an effective area of the outlet opening.

The present invention relates to a centrifuge and a method for cooling a centrifuge. The centrifuge according to the invention includes a cooling device which is improved in that its required installation space is reduced such that the centrifuge can be of a more compact design with the centrifugation capacity remaining unchanged, or the centrifugation capacity can be increased with the installation space remaining unchanged. Further, the number of components can be reduced and thus cost and assembly time can be saved.

Centrifuges are useful to, among other things, remove red blood cells from whole blood and retain platelets and other factors in a reduced volume of plasma. Platelet rich plasma (PRP) and or platelet poor plasma (PPP) can be obtained rapidly and is ready for immediate injection into the host. Embodiments may include valves, operated manually or automatically, to open ports that discharge the excess red blood cells and the excess plasma into separate receivers while retaining the platelets and other factors in the centrifuge chamber. High speeds used allow simple and small embodiments to be used at the patient's side during surgical procedures. The embodiments can also be used for the separation of liquids or slurries in other fields such as, for example, the separation of pigments or lubricants.

A hand-cranked centrifuge is adapted for use in isolating autologous fat in injectible from. A number of syringes are hingeably coupled to a flywheel of the centrifuge. As the centrifuge turns, the syringe(s), which are supported at one end, move into a horizontal orientation and are centrifuged until the fats get separated from other liquids present in the syringes. A number of syringes, syringe holders and related devices are disclosed to accommodate centrifugation.

A cartridge (1) for accommodating blood bags (35) to be inserted into a centrifuge is used for the separation of blood components. Said cartridge (1) is provided with a partition wall (3) which separates a blood bag section (5) positioned radially inside from a product section (7) positioned radially outside, wherein a fixture (29) for a filter (31) is provided in the product section (7), a product transport path (36) which leads from the blood bag section (5) via the fixture (29) for the filter (31) to the product section (7). The product transport path (36) coming from the blood bag section (5) leads into the fixture (29) for the filter (31) radially from the outside and from below.

A continuous centrifuge includes: a cylindrical rotor configured to separate a specimen; a centrifuging chamber accommodating the rotor; a driving unit configured to rotate the rotor; a specimen line configured to continuously supply and discharge the specimen to and from the rotor during rotation of the rotor; and a controller configured to control the driving unit. The control unit has a cleansing mode which flows a liquid chemical through the specimen line so as to conduct sterilization and/or cleansing while rotating the rotor.

A vertical centrifugal separator includes a casing, a bowl that is rotatably housed in the casing and provided to separate a solution to be processed which is supplied to an interior of the bowl into a liquid and a solid by an action of centrifugal force and discharge the liquid and the solid, and a discharge assembly that is rotatably housed in the bowl and provided to discharge the solid in the bowl. The bowl and the discharge assembly each have an engagement portion that is engaged or disengaged when the bowl and the discharge assembly are moved relative to each other in an axial direction and a position adjustment mechanism for adjusting a phase between the discharge assembly and the bowl relative to a rotation axis, for example, at a single relative position.

Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to methods and apparatus for centrifugal separation. In one embodiment, a separator includes an outer tubular having ends sealed from the environment and an inner tubular. The inner tubular is disposed within the outer tubular, has ends in fluid communication with a bore of the outer tubular, and is attached to the outer tubular. The separator further includes an inlet. The inlet is disposed through a wall of the outer tubular, in fluid communication with a bore of the inner tubular, and tangentially attached to the inner tubular so that fluid flow from the inlet to the inner tubular is centrifugally accelerated. The separator further includes a gas outlet in fluid communication with the outer tubular bore; and a liquid outlet in fluid communication with the outer tubular bore.

In a decanter centrifuge a bowl is provided and rotates in use around a horizontal axis of rotation, a base plate provided at one longitudinal end of said bowl, the base plate having an internal side and an external side, an outlet opening provided in said base plate, the outlet opening extending through a first angular interval relative to the axis of rotation, and a wall projecting from the external side of said base plate, wherein the wall extends from the vicinity of the outlet opening towards a rim of the base plate, the wall extending through a second angular interval, the second angular interval being at least 30°, and the wall having in a radial plane perpendicular to the axis of rotation an inclination relative to the radial direction of at least 60°.

A separation cone (30) is mounted into the interior chamber of a centrifugal separator rotor (10), which comprises a cover (14) releasably connected to a base (16), in order to provide a frusto-conical wall subdividing the chamber into upper and lower regions. This slows the passage of fluid from the upper to the lower region, which takes place via openings (24) and/or via a gap between the inner rim (32) of the cone (30) and the axial inlet tube (12). The separation cone (30) is connected to the cover (14) by a releasable snap fit arrangement, such as by deflectable tabs (38) around the periphery of the separation cone (30) engaging into a groove (15) around the interior surface adjacent a lower edge of the cover (14). This allows there to be a predetermined sequence of servicing operations and ensures that the separation cone (30) will reliably stay with the cover (14) when the cover is removed.

An apparatus for use with a centrifugal cellular separation device that comprises a rotor rotatable about an axis of rotation is provided that comprises a fluid separation chamber having a first port, a second port spaced apart from the first port, and a third port located intermediate the first port and the second port. The fluid separation chamber has a cross sectional area generally transverse to a radius extending from the axis of rotation that varies between the first port and the second port. The fluid separation chamber is adapted to be mounted to the rotor so as to be rotatable therewith, with the first port located at a greater radial distance from the axis than the second port, and the third port located radially intermediate the first port and the second port.