Method and apparatus for preparative countercurrent chromatography employing a rotating column assembly

摘要

A flow-through liquid chromatography system wherein a motor directly drives a rotary frame rotatably and coaxially carrying a column assembly consisting of chromatography column segments annularly arranged around the rotational axis, which are serially connected. A countershaft journalled on the frame has a gearing arrangement which drivingly couples the column assembly to a fixed sun gear on the frame via a planetary gear on the column assembly and which is arranged to cause the column assembly to rotate twice as fast as the frame, in the same direction, and around the same axis, the arrangement being such as to avoid the need for rotating seals for the flow tubes. The column assembly is dynamically balanced so that there is also no need for counterweights.