US Patent 9791353 Concentrator

A concentrator that is operable to concentrate particles of target material from a high flow rate sampled airflow into a low flow rate secondary airflow. The concentrator may have an array of radially arranged blades. Each blade may have a sampled airflow inlet that uses centrifugal force to concentrate the particles into a central portion of the sampled airflow passing through it. Downstream, the blade may also have primary airflow outlets and knife-edged secondary airflow inlets that divide the sampled airflow into a pair of lateral, high flow rate primary airflows from which the particles have been depleted, and a central, low flow rate secondary airflow which carries the concentrated particles.