IMR-MS Reaction Chamber Sealing for Low Chemical Background
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing IMR/PTR-MS instruments face challenges in maintaining a clean reaction chamber environment due to gas exchange and contamination from electrical elements, leading to high chemical background and compromised detection limits.
Innovation Solution
A reaction chamber design with at least partly gastight sealing between adjacent ion lenses, creating a pressure gradient to prevent contamination from entering the reaction region while allowing neutral gas to exit, combined with ion lenses of varying orifice dimensions to enhance ion focusing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-generated harmful factors
If the reaction chamber is open to allow gas exchange, then neutral gas can be removed, but contamination from electrical elements enters the reaction region increasing chemical background
Solution Approach 1:
The reaction chamber is segmented into a reaction region and a drift tube region by introducing a gastight sealing between adjacent ion lenses. This segmentation allows the reaction region to be isolated from contamination sources in the drift tube while maintaining separate gas management for each region, thereby reducing chemical background without compromising overall gas exchange capability
Solution Approach 2:
The harmful factor (contamination) is extracted from the reaction region by introducing a gastight sealing that prevents contaminated gas from the drift tube from entering the reaction region. The sealing effectively removes the contamination pathway while allowing the system to maintain its gas exchange functions through controlled openings
2Object-generated harmful factors
If gastight sealing is introduced to prevent contamination, then chemical background is reduced, but neutral gas removal becomes restricted
Solution Approach 1:
A controlled opening is introduced as an intermediary element between the reaction region and drift tube. This opening allows neutral gas to pass from the reaction region to the drift tube for removal, while the gastight sealing prevents contaminated gas from flowing in the reverse direction. The intermediary enables selective gas transport in both directions without compromising the gastight barrier
Solution Approach 2:
The gastight sealing is applied locally at specific positions between adjacent ion lenses rather than throughout the entire chamber. This localized application maintains the pressure gradient and contamination barrier where needed, while leaving other regions open for necessary gas exchange and neutral gas removal
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The design achieves a significantly reduced chemical background, improving detection limits and maintaining a pure reaction environment, enhancing sensitivity and selectivity of the IMR/PTR-MS instrument.
Implementation Method 1
thereby creating a pressure gradient between an inner space, which is surrounded by the orifices and in which a reaction between ions and neutral sample gas takes place, and an outer space, which surrounds the orifices and reaction region
Implementation Method 2
a first region comprising adjacent ion lenses with gastight sealing and a second region comprising adjacent ion lenses without gastight sealing, wherein the ion lenses accelerate ionized gas toward an exit of the reaction chamber
Data Source
Figure 1a~2
Figure 3~4
Figure 5~6
AI summary
The present invention relates to a reaction chamber (12) for an IMR-MS apparatus or a PTR-MS apparatus, comprising an essentially gaslight outer housing (14), comprising at least two ion lenses (16) with essentially constant orifice dimensions and/or at least two ion lenses (17) with different orifice dimensions arranged around the reaction region (20), and at least one at least partly gaslight sealing (19), characterized in that the ion lenses (16,17) are placed inside the essentially gaslight outer housing (14), wherein between at least two adjacent ion lenses (16,17) an at least partly gaslight sealing (19) is mounted, wherein the room between at least other two ion lenses (16, 17) is such to allow a gas flow through said room from the reaction region (20) into the outer space (21). The present invention further relates to a method to operate an apparatus according to the invention.