1679 results about "Material Separation" patented technology

A nasal dilator comprises a laminate of vertical layers each consisting of one or more members or components. The laminated layers form a unitary, or single body, truss featuring horizontal regions adapted to engage outer wall tissues of first and second nasal passages and to traverse the bridge of a nose therebetween. When in use the dilator acts to stabilize and / or expand the nasal outer wall tissues and prevent said tissues from drawing inward during breathing. The dilator includes means to direct its resilient properties comprising one or more interior or exterior material separations, or discontinuity of shape of material, formed in at least one region of the truss and extending through at least one layer of the dilator. Said material separation or discontinuity of shape may comprise an opening, relief cut, slit or notch, and which may be configured to separate or vertically protrude, in part, from the truss when the dilator is in use on the nose of a wearer. Said separation or vertical protrusion changes the angle of focused delaminating spring biasing forces generated by the resilient layer, transforming said forces, at least in part, from primarily peel forces into primarily shear forces, and further redistributing or imparting said transformed forces to tissue engaging surface areas extending outward and beyond said material separation.

Surface enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) and related modalities offer greatly enhanced sensitivity and selectivity for detection of molecular species through the excitation of plasmon modes and their coupling to molecular vibrational modes. One of the chief obstacles to widespread application is the availability of suitable nanostructured materials that exhibit strong enhancement of Raman scattering, are inexpensive to fabricate, and are reproducible. I describe nanostructured surfaces for SERS and other photonic sensing that use semiconductor and metal surfaces fabricated using femtosecond laser processing. A noble metal film (e.g., silver or gold) is evaporated onto the resulting nanostructured surfaces for use as a substrate for SERS. These surfaces are inexpensive to produce and can have their statistical properties precisely tailored by varying the laser processing. Surfaces can be readily micropatterned and both stochastic and self-organized structures can be fabricated. This material has application to a variety of genomic, proteomic, and biosensing applications including label free applications including binding detection. Using this material, monolithic or arrayed substrates can be designed. Substrates for cell culture and microlabs incorporating microfluidics and electrochemical processing can be fabricated as well. Laser processing can be used to form channels in the substrate or a material sandwiched onto it in order to introduce reagents and drive chemical reactions. The substrate can be fabricated so application of an electric potential enables separation of materials by electrophoresis or electro-osmosis.

A collection device for collecting bone material during a spinal fusion surgical procedure so that the bone material can later be used as a graft material for the fusion procedure. The device includes a container that collects the bone and other material that is removed from the patient during the surgical procedure through a suction hose. The device includes a plunger having a filter plate sealed to the inside of the container. The plunger is pushed down into the collected material in the container so that blood and other liquids are forced through the plate to be separated from the bone material. A cover at the bottom of the container can be removed to remove the collected bone material.

A precleaner arrangement for use in separating a portion of entrained material in air from air entering an air cleaner, is provided. The precleaner arrangement includes a vane structure positioned to direct air into a circular or cyclonic pattern, to facilitate material separation. The vane structure includes one or more adjustable air deflection vanes. Each adjustable air deflection vane is constructed: to have a first position under no air flow or low air flow rate conditions; and, to deflect to import a more open, lower restriction, orientation under increased air flow rates. Preferred precleaner arrangement constructions, assemblies utilizing in the precleaner arrangement and methods are described.