Pump and injector for liquid chromatography
AssigneeValco Instruments Company, L.P.
InventorsStanley D. Stearns, Ales Plistil
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A combined pump-injector valve utilizing a single piece as the barrel of the pump and as the stator of the valve, thus eliminating any need for connections between a pump and a valve, and therefore the potential for high-pressure leaks or pressure reductions. The combined pump-injector valve permits injection of nanoliter-sized samples into a chromatographic column, which is sealed during loading of the sample and filling of the pump, such that complete analyses can be completed with microliters of mobile phase with nanoliters of a sample.
Claims14
An integral nano-scale pump and injector for high performance liquid chromatography comprising:
- an integrated stator-barrel, said integrated stator-barrel having an elongate barrel and a stator,
- said elongate barrel having a first open end at said first end and a second open end at said second end and a sidewall defining an interior chamber adapted to receive a supply of fluid,
- said stator being circular, said stator having a first side, said elongate barrel second end terminating at a center of said stator first side and providing an orifice,
- said stator having a first stator port for communication with a mobile phase supply, said stator in communication with a rotor at said orifice,
- a longitudinal plunger slidably disposed within said interior chamber, said plunger being of substantially uniform cross-section;
- and
- said rotor being circular, said rotor having a surface adjacent said stator, said rotor having a first channel in said surface, said rotor rotable with respect to said stator about said centerpoint between a load position and an injection position,
- said load position defined by said first port and said orifice communicating with said first channel, and
- said injection position defined by said orifice and said second port communicating with said first channel.
The integral nano-scale pump and injector of claim 3, further comprising a pump actuator associated with a plunger-driving piston attached to said plunger.
The integral nano-scale pump and injector of claim 4, further comprising a valve actuator associated with a driveshaft attached to said rotor.
An integral nano-scale pump and injector for high performance liquid chromatography comprising:
- an integrated stator-barrel, said integrated stator-barrel having an elongate barrel and a stator,
- said elongate barrel having a first open end at said first end and a second open end at said second end and a sidewall defining an interior chamber adapted to receive a supply of fluid,
- said stator being circular, said stator having a first side, said elongate barrel second end at the center of said stator first side at an orifice,
- said elongate barrel in communication with a rotor at said orifice, said stator having a first stator port for communication with a mobile phase supply,
- a longitudinal plunger slidably disposed within said interior chamber, said plunger being of substantially uniform cross-section;
- and
- said rotor being circular, said rotor having a surface adjacent said stator, said rotor having a first channel in said surface, said rotor rotable with respect to said stator about said centerpoint between a load position and an injection position,
- said load position defined by said first port and said orifice communicating with said first channel, and
- said injection position defined by said orifice and said second port communicating with said first channel.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.