MAGNETICALLY SUSPENDED MULTIPURPOSE CENTRIFUGE

CENTRIFUGES OPERATING IN A FIELD ENVIRONMENT HAVE TO BE COMPACT, LIGHT WEIGHT, RUGGED AND RELIABLE BY DEFINITION. AVAILABLE CENTRIFUGES HAVE RELIABILITY ISSUES RELATED TO THE ROBUSTNESS OF THE MECHANISMS SUPPORTING THE CENTRIFUGE ROTOR. THE MASS IMBALANCE INTRODUCTED ON THE ROTOR BY ASYMMETRICALLY LOADED TUBES AGGRAVATES THIS PROBLEM CONSIDERABLY. THE DRIVE MOTOR AND ASSOCIATED ELECTRONICS IS ANOTHER AREA WHICH COULD BENEFIT CONSIDERABLY FROM TECHNOLOGY ENHANCEMENT. THIS PROPOSAL PUTS FORWARD AN INNOVATIVE APPROACH SYNTHESIZED FROM TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPED FOR GYROSCOPES AND SPACE RELATED ROTATING SYSTEMS TO ARRIVE AT A CENTRIFUGE DESIGN WHICH WILL BE LIGHT WEIGHT AND ROBUST TO THE PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED WITH EXISTING DESIGNS. THE ROTOR IS PROPOSED TO BE MAGNETICALLY SUSPENDED AND DRIVEN BY A MOTOR INTEGRATED INTO THE CENTRIFUGE ROTOR STRUCTURE AND POWERED BY AN ADVANCED ELECTRONIC DRIVE. THE SUSPENSION SYSTEM IS INTRINSICALLY INSENSITIVE TO MASS UNBALANCE. THE INTEGRATED STRUCTURE AND THE EFFICIENT ELECTRONICS WILL HELP REDUCE THE OVERALL WEIGHT. A PROTOTYPE MODEL IS PROPOSED TO BE DESIGNED AND CONSTRUCTED FOR PHASE I AND A PRODUCTION DESIGN CENTRIFUGE FOR PHASE II.