Laboratory Centrifuge

Overview

The laboratory centrifuge separates the components of a liquid sample by spinning it at high speed, so denser particles such as cells, organelles, or precipitates migrate outward under centrifugal force. This refrigerated benchtop model reaches 15,000 rpm and up to roughly 21,500 × g while holding samples near 4 °C, which is essential for protein, nucleic acid, and live-cell work where heat would degrade the sample. Relative centrifugal force (RCF, in units of g) rather than raw rpm defines the separation, since it accounts for the rotor radius.

Construction

The Drive Motor is a brushless DC spindle motor on precision bearings, isolated by a damped mount that absorbs the transient forces of an imperfectly balanced load. It turns an interchangeable Fixed-Angle Rotor, a bored aluminum body that seats sample tubes at a fixed angle, sealed by an aerosol-tight cap and fitted with adapters that size each bore to the tube.

Containment dominates the Housing & Lid: a heavy steel armor ring surrounds the spin bowl to arrest a rotor burst, the lid latches over a solenoid lock that holds it shut throughout a run, and an interlock switch cuts drive power the instant the lid opens.

How it works

The Drive Electronics commutate the BLDC motor and continuously watch an accelerometer-based imbalance sensor; if vibration exceeds a threshold, indicating an unevenly loaded rotor, the controller aborts the run before the rotor can damage the bearings or fail. Speed feedback comes from a Hall sensor on the spindle. To keep heat-sensitive samples cold, the Refrigeration System system runs a vapor-compression loop whose evaporator coil is bonded around the spin bowl, with a hermetic compressor, condenser, and expansion valve maintaining the chamber setpoint against the heat that windage generates at speed. The operator sets speed (or RCF), time, and temperature on the Control Panel, a front touchscreen backed by membrane start/stop keys.