Thermoelectrically cooled water trap
AssigneeThe United States of America as represented by the United States Department of Energy
InventorRonald H. Micheels
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A water trap system based on a thermoelectric cooling device is employed to remove a major fraction of the water from air samples, prior to analysis of these samples for chemical composition, by a variety of analytical techniques where water vapor interferes with the measurement process. These analytical techniques include infrared spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, ion mobility spectrometry and gas chromatography. The thermoelectric system for trapping water present in air samples can substantially improve detection sensitivity in these analytical techniques when it is necessary to measure trace analytes with concentrations in the ppm (parts per million) or ppb (parts per billion) partial pressure range. The thermoelectric trap design is compact and amenable to use in a portable gas monitoring instrumentation.
Claims27
A thermoelectrically cooled water trap, comprising:
- a metal plate having a first side, a second side, top and a bottom, the metal plate further having a continuous cavity of specified shape, the cavity having a inlet end and outlet end which extend out of the plate's cavity;
- a metal pipe having a shape that is complementary to the shape of the metal plate's cavity, the metal pipe having an inlet end and an outlet end, the metal pipe being mounted within the metal plate's cavity, the length of the pipe being in physical contact with the plate with the exception of the inlet and outlet ends which extend out of the plate's cavity;
- and
- a thermoelectric cooler assembly having a first side and a second side, the first side of the cooler assembly being coupled to the first side of the metal plate;
- and
- an analytic measuring device, the analytic measuring device having a sample line, the sample line being connected to the inlet and outlet ends of water trap's pipe so that the sample passes through the water trap before being analyzed, the analytic device having a by-pass line that by-passes the water trap when desirous;
- wherein the temperature of the pipe is between −5° and −30° C. during normal operation.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.