METHOD FOR OPERATING A CLARIFICATION SETUP

The invention is directed to a method for operating a clarification setup (1) of a bioprocess installation (2), which clarification setup comprises a fluidized bed centrifuge (3) and a pumping arrangement (4), wherein the fluidized bed centrifuge (3) comprises at least one centrifuge chamber (5) turned around a geometrical centrifuge axis (6), wherein the bioprocess installation (2) comprises an electronic process control (7) for controlling the fluidized bed centrifuge (3) and pumping arrangement (4), wherein the fluidized bed centrifuge (3) is being operated in a forward operation for a particle loading cycle (8) and/or a particle washing cycle (9) and in a backward operation for a particle discharging cycle (10), wherein in case where a particle loading cycle (8) is provided, cell broth loaded into the centrifuge chamber (5) proceeds to form a growing particle accumulation in the centrifuge chamber (5), wherein the clarification setup (1) comprises a monitoring sensor arrangement (11) with at least one optical sensor (12) for producing monitoring sensor data, which are being transmitted to the electronic process control (7). It is proposed that in a monitoring routine (13), image-related data (14) representing an optical image (15) of the centrifuge chamber content (16) are being produced by the monitoring sensor arrangement (11) and a particle filling level (17) is being calculated by the electronic process control (7) from the image-related data (14) based on a calculation model (18).