Magnetic separation of magnetically responsive spheres

摘要

A method and apparatus for automated separation of fluid borne magnetically responsive spheres into different populations by carefully manipulating forces of gravity, buoyancy, fluid friction, and magnetism. Distinct homogeneous sphere populations are separated from a non-homogeneous population including a plurality of intermixed homogeneous sphere populations, without significant manual processing, by: effecting magnetic distancing of an initial non-homogeneous sphere population; facilitating enhanced separation of the non-homogeneous population in accordance with rate of descent of spheres within homogeneous populations; providing magnetic acceleration of the separation process; and effecting magnetic concentration of the separated homogeneous sphere populations. The process and apparatus provide for improved bio-sensing resulting from the automated condensing of homogeneous groups of spheres from a non-homogeneous sphere population.