Quadrupole mass spectrometer

A quadrupole mass spectrometer for measuring the relative amounts of mass of one or more constituents, respectively of different molecular weights, of a gas, said spectrometer comprising:

• (a) means for defining a space for containing a representative sample of said gas;
• (b) electron source means for producing electrons;
• (c) ion source means, disposed in said space, for producing ions of each of said constituents of said gas when particles of each constituent present in said ion source means are struck by electrons;
• (d) means for propelling said electrons produced by said electron source means through said space into said ion source means so that positive ions of each said constituent are produced in said space, both inside and outside said ion source means, said means for propelling said electrons including electron repeller means for repelling said electrons toward said ion source means and for collecting ions received from said space;
• and
• (e) means for generating an ion current from the ions produced inside said ion source means so that said ion current represents the relative amounts of said constituents;
• and
• (f) means for generating a signal as a function of the ions collected by said electron repeller means and representative of the total ion current produced inside said ion source means.

A mass spectrometer for measuring the relative amount of the respective constituents of a gas present in said spectrometer and including a gas analyzer, the mass spectrometer comprising:

• means for defining a space such that a representative sample of a gas present in said spectrometer is present inside and outside of said space:
• electron source means, disposed outside said space, for emitting a plurality of electrons, the plurality of electrons being accelerated towards said space so as to produce a plurality of positive ions;
• means for generating a first ion current and a second ion current from said plurality of positive ions, said first ion current tending to travel in a first direction towards said gas analyzer, and said second ion current tending to travel in a second direction different from said first direction;
• and
• current measurement means for measuring said second ion current.

A mass spectrometer for measuring the relative amounts of mass of one or more constituents of a gas, said spectrometer comprising:

• (a) means for defining a space such that a representative sample of a gas in the spectrometer is present inside and outside of said space;
• (b) electron source means, disposed outside said space, for producing electrons;
• (c) means for propelling said electrons produced by said electron source means into said space so that positive ions of each said constituent are produced both inside and outside said space;
• (d) means for generating an ion current from the ions produced inside said space so that said ion current represents the relative amounts of said constituents inside said space;
• (e) ion collector means for collecting ions generated outside said space;
• and
• (f) means for generating a signal as a function of the ions collected by said ion collector means and representative of said ion current.

A quadrupole mass spectrometer for measuring the relative amounts of the respective constituents of a gas present in said spectrometer, said spectrometer being of the type comprising a quadrupole mass filter, the quadrupole mass spectrometer comprising:

• means for defining a space for containing a representative sample of said gas;
• biased electron repeller means for repelling electrons;
• collecting means within said space for attracting and collecting positive ions contained within said space;
• electron source means disposed generally within said space for emitting a plurality of electrons, the plurality of electrons being accelerated into said space so as to produce a plurality of positive ions a fraction of the plurality of positive ions being attracted to the collecting means;
• and
• current measurement means, coupled to the collecting means, for measuring a current that results from the fraction of the plurality of positive ions that are collected by the collecting means, and for providing a signal representative of the total ion current exiting said space and entering the quadrupole mass filter.

A quadrupole mass spectrometer for measuring the relative amounts of mass of one or more constituents, respectively, of a gas, said spectrometer comprising:

• means for defining a space for containing a representative sample of said gas;
• electron source means for producing electrons;
• ion source means, disposed in said space, for producing ions of each of said constituents of said gas when particles of each constituent present in said ion source means are struck by electrons;
• means for propelling said electrons produced by said electron source means through said space into said ion source means so that positive ions of each said constituent are produced in said space, both inside and outside said ion source means, said means for propelling said electrons including electron repeller means for repelling said electrons toward said ion source means;
• collecting means for collecting ions received from said space and produced outside said ion source means;
• means for generating an ion current from the ions produced inside said ion source means so that said ion current represents the relative amounts of said constituents;
• and
• means for generating a signal as a function of the ions collected by said collecting means and representative of the total ion current produced inside said ion source means.