Leco Corporation

Other

Peter Markel Willis

Viatcheslav Artaev

Michael C Mason

Julie R Pitz

Mark Russell Wheeler

Gordon C Ford

Jonathan Jaloszynski

Larry S O'Brien

Bradley R Rush

Jihong Wang

Robert S Tate

Joel C Mitchell

Carlos Guerra

Charles W Berk

Kim Alvin Marshall

James H Lenke

Scott A Ponegalek

Michael P Tabbey

Ronald A Klemm

Brian W Pack

Mark A Wheeler

Joshua Allen Slavens

A time-of-flight mass spectrometer (TOF MS) comprises a mass analyzer, an ion pushing device, a filtering device, a multi-pass reflector, a detector, and a decoder. The ion pushing device is arranged to push ions into the mass analyzer. The filtering device is arranged to filter a portion of the ions based on a mass range of the ions. The multi-pass reflector is arranged to selectively reflect the ions for further passes through the mass analyzer. The detector is arranged to receive the ions. The decoder is arranged to reconstruct a mass spectrum for the entire mass range of the ions.

Methods and systems for multi-pass encoded frequency pushing

A device is provided for use in analytical instrumentation that provides continuous transfer of a known molar quantity of gas from a source having an unknown gas mixture and varying pressure. In addition to the upstream and downstream paths of typical flow control devices, the device has a midstream path to introduce a carrier gas at a known elevated pressure. The device has at least three equal-volume ballast vessels and a valve arrangement to cycle the ballasts through at least three states: fill, equilibrate, and empty. The ballasts fill with the upstream gas, pressurize and equilibrate at the midstream pressure, and empty to the downstream path. The cycle of each ballast is timed in phased relationship to the other ballasts to keep the flow relatively uninterrupted; as one fills, another equilibrates, and another empties.

Molar transfer device

A rotary dosing device for use in analytical instrumentation quickly transfers a sequence of precise molar quantities of gas from a primary stream into a secondary stream. The device has a rotating chamber with dosing ports that cycle through three states: fill, equilibrate, and transfer. The device cycles in an overlapping manner such that as one dose volume fills with gas from the primary stream, another equilibrates at a known pressure and temperature, and another transfers its contents to the secondary stream. The device initiates its operation so that the first transfer in a sequence is a properly filled and equilibrated dose from the primary stream. Rather than cycling a single dose volume through the three states multiple times, the overlapping operation of the rotary doser enables multiple precise molar quantities of gas to be transferred in one-third the time.

Rotary dosing device

A method for processing chromatographic peaks in chromatographic systems comprising comparing a first peak with a second peak; and determining whether the first peak and second peak should be grouped together.

Systems and methods to process and group chromatographic peaks

A system and method for processing data in chromatographic systems is described. In an implementation, the system and method includes processing data generated by a chromatographic system to generate processed data, analyzing the processed data, and preparing and providing results based on the processed data.

Systems and methods to process data in chromatographic systems

Implementations of methods and apparatuses are disclosed for decoding multiplexed information in a chromatographic system. Implementations may include the method of pulsing ions from an ion source through an analyzer according to a predetermined multiplexing scheme, each pulse including one or more ions corresponding to a sample, detecting a plurality of ion strikes at a detector, determining a data point for each ion strike, wherein each data point includes an intensity of a detected ion strike and a time of the detected ion strike, maintaining a multiplexed spectrum of the data points, the multiplexed spectrum including the data points, and demultiplexing the time shifted spectrum using the data points of the multiplexed spectrum.

Method and apparatus for decoding multiplexed information in a chromatographic system

An analyzer with a combustion furnace includes a flow path of byproducts of combustion coupled to a bidirectional ballast chamber by valves which are sequentially actuated for alternately filling and exhausting byproducts of combustion from opposite sides of the chamber during combustion. Alternately, a plurality of low volume ballast chambers are employed. A method of determining the concentration of elements in a sample includes the steps of combusting a sample; and alternately collecting and exhausting the byproduct gases of combustion in opposite sides of a bidirectional ballast. The bidirectional ballast chamber has an outer wall defining a chamber with sealed enclosures at opposite ends of the wall, a movable piston positioned within the chamber, and gas ports associated with the chamber on opposite sides of the piston.

Bidirectional ballast

A pulse-width-modulated voltage is applied to an IR emitter during the on-time of a primary drive voltage having a frequency of about 2.5 Hz in order to control the power to a predetermined desired level. The secondary modulation is at about 800 Hz. The lower response time of the emitter will, in effect, filter the higher frequency, and it will appear that an average power is being applied to the emitter during the on-time.

Circuit and method for controlling an IR source for an analytical instrument

A data acquisition system and method are described that may be used with various spectrometers. The data acquisition system may include an ion detector, an initial processing module, and a spectra processing module. The initial processing module is provided for processing the ion detection signals and for supplying processed signals to the spectra processing module. The spectra processing module generates spectra from the processed signals and supplies the generated spectra to an external processor for post-processing. The spectra processing module may include an ion statistics filter and/or a peak histogram filtering circuit.

Data acquisition system for a spectrometer using an ion statistics filter and/or a peak histogram filtering circuit

A method of correcting time-of-flight drift in a mass spectrometer by identifying mass spectral peaks of ions in spectra, detecting ions having substantially the same mass across spectra, determining a time-of-flight drift of the detected ions, and correcting the time-of-flight drift of the detected ions by applying a correction factor to each respective time-of-flight.

Correcting time-of-flight drifts in time-of-flight mass spectrometers

A data acquisition system and method are described that may be used with various spectrometers. The data acquisition system may include an ion detector, an initial processing module, and a spectra processing module. The initial processing module is provided for processing the ion detection signals and for supplying processed signals to the spectra processing module. The spectra processing module generates spectra from the processed signals and supplies the generated spectra to an external processor for post-processing. The spectra processing module may include one or more of: a cross-spectra filter for filtering data in each spectra as a function of data in at least one prior spectra; a shaping filter for removing skew and shoulders from the processed signals; a sharpening filter for sharpening the peaks of the processed signals to effectively deconvolve and separate overlapping peaks; an ion statistics filter; and a peak histogram filtering circuit.

Data acquisition system for a spectrometer using various filters

A data acquisition system and method are described that may be used with various spectrometers. The data acquisition system may include an ion detector and a processing circuit. The processing circuit may include an initial processing module and a spectra processing module. According to one embodiment, the spectra processing module generates stick spectra and supplies the stick spectra to an external processor. The stick spectra comprise a peak intensity, resolution, and a location in the spectra for each detected peak. The stick spectra may be generated in real time.

Data acquisition system for a spectrometer that generates stick spectra

A data acquisition system and method are described that may be used with various spectrometers. The data acquisition system may include an ion detector, an initial/transient processing module, and a spectra processing module. The initial/transient processing module is provided for processing the ion detection signals and for supplying processed signals to the spectra processing module. The transient processing module may contiguously sample the ion detection signals at a rate of at least 1.5 GHz. The spectra processing module may generate spectra from the transients at a rate of at least 50 spectra per second. The initial processing module may be configured to have a sensitivity that is sufficient to detect a single ion received within one of over at least 100 transients and to detect and quantify a number of ions simultaneously striking said ion detector up to at least 10 simultaneously striking ions.

Data acquisition system for a spectrometer

A data acquisition system and method are described that may be used with various spectrometers. The data acquisition system may include an ion detector, an initial processing module, and a spectra processing module. The initial processing module is provided for receiving, sampling, and processing ion detection signals received from the ion detector, and for supplying processed signals to the spectra processing module. The initial processing module includes a horizontal accumulation circuit that combines a fractional number of adjacent samples of the ion detection signals into bins. The number of adjacent samples to combine into bins may vary as a function of: (1) the time of arrival at the ion detector corresponding to that sample; (2) the mass corresponding to that sample; (3) the resolution corresponding to that sample; and/or (4) an operational mode of the spectrometer. The spectra processing module receives the processed signals and generates spectra.

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Benton Harbor, MI, United States of America

Peter Markel Willis