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EP-4245331-B1 - CENTRIFUGE WITH CONTACTLESS POWER SOURCE FOR ELECTRONIC ACTIVE DEVICE

EP4245331B1EP 4245331 B1EP4245331 B1EP 4245331B1EP-4245331-B1

Inventors

  • WEBER, MARK C.
  • ERN, Mark
  • KAST, MICHAEL J.
  • HAN, JAMES C.

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20230314

Claims (15)

  1. A centrifuge assembly for processing blood and blood components, comprising: a stationary platform (48); a rotating component located above the stationary platform (48) and rotatable relative to the stationary platform (48), the rotating component comprising a yoke assembly (50) having a yoke base (58); a drive shaft (54) attached to a yoke base (58); a motor (66) held by the stationary platform (48), the motor (66) spinning the drive shaft (54) relative to the stationary platform (48), thereby rotating the yoke assembly (50) relative to the stationary platform (48); a contactless power source (120) including a power source transmitter (122) and a power source receiver (124), wherein the power source transmitter (122) is configured to wirelessly transmit power to the power source receiver (124), the power source transmitter (122) being below the yoke assembly (50) and associated with a surface (126) of the stationary platform (48) facing the yoke assembly (50), and the power source receiver (124) being above the stationary platform (48) and associated with a surface (128) of the yoke assembly (50) facing the stationary platform (48); and an active electronic device (103) associated with the rotating component and being above the contactless power source (120), the active electronic device (130) being operatively connected to the power source receiver (124), wherein the power source receiver (124) is configured to provide power to the active electronic device (130).
  2. The centrifuge assembly of claim 1, wherein the active electronic device (103) is configured to exchange data with another device that is not located on the rotating component.
  3. The centrifuge assembly of claim 2, wherein the active electronic device (103) is configured to wirelessly exchange data with the another device (105) not located on the rotating component.
  4. The centrifuge assembly of claim 3, wherein the electronic device (103) is configured to wirelessly exchange of data via one or more of Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and near field communication.
  5. The centrifuge assembly of any one of claims 3 and 4, wherein the active electronic device (103) includes a first wireless data exchange device (107) and the another device (105) not located on the rotating component includes a second wireless data exchange device (109), wherein the first and second wireless data exchange devices (107, 109) are configured to exchange data with one another.
  6. The centrifuge assembly of any one of claims 2-5, wherein the another device (107) not located on the rotating component comprises a controller.
  7. The centrifuge assembly of any one of claims 1-6, wherein the active electronic device (103) comprises a sensor (103a).
  8. The centrifuge assembly of claim 7, wherein the sensor (103a) is configured to sense one or more characteristics of blood and/or blood components.
  9. The centrifuge assembly of claim 8, wherein the sensor (103a) comprises an optical sensor.
  10. The centrifuge assembly of claim 7, wherein the sensor (103a) is configured to sense one or more characteristics of the centrifuge assembly.
  11. The centrifuge assembly of any one of claims 1-6, wherein the active electronic device (103) comprises one or more of a blood component detector, an interface detector, pressure sensor, temperature sensor, hemolysis sensor, weight scale and camera.
  12. The centrifuge assembly of claim 1, wherein the rotating component further comprises a rotating chamber assembly (52) carrying a processing chamber (22), wherein a fluid circuit (24) is configured to convey fluids to and from the processing chamber (22).
  13. A non-surgical and non-therapeutic method of processing blood and/or components with a centrifuge assembly of claim 1, comprising: flowing blood and/or blood components to the rotating component of the centrifuge assembly; rotating the rotating component of the centrifuge assembly relative to the stationary platform; and powering an active electronic device associated with the rotating component with a contactless power source.
  14. The non-surgical and non-therapeutic method of claim 13, further including exchanging data between the active electronic device and another device not located on the rotating component.
  15. The non-surgical and non-therapeutic method of claim 14, wherein the exchanging of data between the active electronic device and the another device comprises wirelessly exchanging data.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The invention relates to centrifugal systems and apparatus that includes a contactless power source for powering active devices on the rotating component of the centrifuge, and more particularly, for powering a sensor on a rotating component wherein the sensor has wireless data transfer capabilities. BACKGROUND Today people routinely process whole blood and blood components by centrifugation into its various therapeutic components, such as red blood cells, platelets, and plasma. For example, WO 03/000380 discloses a blood separation apparatus that includes multiple cassettes on a shaft for the simultaneous separation of multiple blood units. Conventional blood processing centrifuges use electrically conductive slip rings to provide electrical power to active devices on the rotating components of the centrifuge. Such slip rings also are used to transmit data between the active device and another device that is not located on the rotating component, such as a controller. For example, WO 2004/018021 discloses an apparatus for blood component separation, including a rotor rotated by a motor. The apparatus also includes a slip ring to supply power to elements on the rotating rotor. However, the mechanical nature of slip rings can be unreliable and limits information that can be transferred. WO 2021/148831 discloses a centrifuge rotor for centrifuging a sample. The centrifuge rotor includes a motor below it and a contactless power transmitter above it. KINAHAN DAVID J ET AL: "Wireless closed-loop control of centrifugo-pneumatic valving towards large-scale microfluidic process integration", 2018 IEEE MICRO ELECTRO MECHANICAL SYSTEMS (MEMS), IEEE, 21 January 2018 (2018-01-21), pages 1213-1216, XP033335853, DOI: 10.1109/MEMSYS.2018.8346781 discloses an electronically controlled "Lab-on-a-Disc" system with a rotating disc platform. The system includes a motor below the rotating disc platform and a wireless data and power transmitter above the rotating disc platform. There remains a need for reliable energy to and data exchange (send and/or receive) with active devices located on the rotating component of a centrifuge. SUMMARY There are several aspects of the present subject matter which may be embodied separately or together in the devices, systems, and methods described and/or claimed below. These aspects may be employed alone or in combination with other aspects of the subject matter described herein. The scope of the invention is as defined in the appended claims. For purposes of this description and claims, unless otherwise expressly indicated, "blood" is intended to include whole blood and blood components, such as concentrated red cells, plasma, platelets, and white cells, whether with or without anticoagulant or additives. The following summary is to acquaint the reader generally with various potential aspects of the present subject matter, and is non-limiting and non-exclusive with respect to the various possible aspects or combinations of aspects. Additional aspects and features may be found in the detailed description herein and/or in the accompanying Figures. The invention provides a centrifuge assembly for processing blood and/or components according to appended claim 1. The centrifuge assembly includes a base and a rotating component that rotates relative to the base. The assembly includes a contactless, such as a wireless, power source including a power source transmitter associated with the base and a power source receiver associated with the rotating component. The power source transmitter wirelessly transmits power to the power source receiver. An active electronic device is associated with the rotating component and operatively connected to the power source receiver. The power source receiver provides power to the active electronic device. The invention also provides a non-therapeutic, non-surgic method of processing blood and/or components with a centrifuge according to appended claim 13. The method includes flowing blood and/or blood components to a rotating component of a centrifuge assembly and rotating the rotating component of the centrifuge assembly relative to a base. The method further includes powering an active electronic device associated with the rotating component using a contactless power source. These and other aspects of the present subject matter are set forth in the following detailed description of the accompanying drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Fig. 1 is a side elevation view of an exemplary processing system that includes a centrifuge assembly in accordance with the present disclosure;Fig. 2 is a front perspective view of the processing system shown in Fig. 1;Fig. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the components of the centrifuge assembly;Fig. 4 is an enlarged perspective view of the rotating components of the centrifuge assembly shown in its suspended operating position;Fig. 5 is a side sectional view of the rotating components of the centrifuge