US Patent 7201848 Methods and apparatus for separation of particles

The present invention is directed to a method and system that separates first particles from second particles, or white blood cells from red blood cells, by sedimentation in a fluid chamber with debulking of one of the first or second particles or red blood cells through the inlet of the fluid chamber. The method and system further includes fractionation of the remaining particles or white blood cells into selected subsets. In one embodiment of the instant invention a blood product containing white blood cells is loaded in a separation chamber, a diluting or sedimenting agent is added to encourage rouleaux formation of any red blood cells, the cells are sedimented and the red blood cells are removed.