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US 2014/0197333 A1Published application
Mass analyser interface
AssigneeIonics Mass Spectrometry Group Inc.
InventorsCharles Jolliffe, Lisa Cousins, Gholamreza Javahery
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A mass analyzer includes a desolvation chamber into which an upstream gas is injected to provide a counter-flow to said downstream flow in the chamber. The counter-flow may slow the downstream flow of solvated ionized particles in the chamber, while allowing lighter desolvated ions to travel toward an outlet aperture of the desolvation chamber.
Claims33
A mass analyser interface, comprising:
- a desolvation chamber having an inlet for receiving solvated analyte particles from a source of analyte particles, and an outlet aperture for feeding ionized particles from said desolvation chamber to downstream stages of a mass analyzer;
- an electric field source, for providing an electric field to urge ionized particles within said chamber from said inlet toward said outlet aperture, creating a downstream flow of ionized particles to said downstream stages of said mass analyzer;
- a gas injection port to inject an upstream gas proximate said outlet aperture, to provide a counter-flow to said downstream flow at said aperture, to slow solvated particles in said downstream flow more than desolvated ionized particles in said downstream flow as said ionized particles travel toward said outlet aperture;
- at least one evacuation port to allow injected gas to escape from said desolvation chamber.
1 more element
A method of providing desolvated ions in a mass analyser, said method comprising:
- providing solvated analyte particles from a source of analyte particles into a desolvation chamber having an inlet and an outlet aperture;
- providing an electric field to urge ionized particles toward said outlet aperture in a downstream flow;
- heating said desolvation chamber to aid in desolvation of solvated ionized particles within said desolvation chamber;
- injecting an upstream gas proximate said outlet aperture, to provide a counter-flow to said downstream flow at said aperture, to slow said downstream flow and any solvated particles entrained therein;
- providing ionized particles from said desolvation chamber to a downstream stage of a mass analyzer by way of said outlet aperture.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.