University of California

Inter Science Gmbh

Kmd Science, Inc.

Robert F Keville

Daniel D Dietrich

Daniel Dietrich

A device, system and method for detecting and measuring concentrations of elements in fluids comprises: flowing a fluid through a central flow interelectrode gap of an ionic preconcentration cell separating an upper high specific surface area electrode from a lower high specific surface area electrode of the ionic preconcentration cell by a predetermined interelectrode gap width; and applying a voltage differential between the upper high surface area electrode and the lower high surface area electrode while the fluid is flowing through the central flow interelectrode gap. As such, this cell that utilizes its inherent capacitance for double layer formation to extract ultra-trace levels of ionic contaminants from fluids in order to enhance detection by x-ray fluorescence analysis.

Ionic pre-concentration XRF identification and analysis device, system and method

A miniature piezo electric vacuum inlet valve having a fast pulse rate and is battery operated with variable flow capability. The low power (&lt;1.6 watts), high pulse rate (&lt;2 milliseconds), variable flow inlet valve is utilized for mass spectroscopic applications or other applications where pulsed or continuous flow conditions are needed. The inlet valve also has a very minimal dead volume of less than 0.01 std/cc. The valve can utilize, for example, a 12 Vdc input/750 Vdc, 3 mA output power supply compared to conventional piezo electric valves which require preloading of the crystal drive mechanism and 120 Vac, thus the valve of the present invention is smaller by a factor of three.

Miniature piezo electric vacuum inlet valve

A miniature thermo-electric cooled cryogenic pump for removing residual water molecules from an inlet sample prior to sample analysis in a mass spectroscopy system, such as ion cyclotron resonance (ICR) mass spectroscopy. The cryogenic pump is a battery operated, low power (&lt;1.6 watts) pump with a .DELTA.T=100.degree. C. characteristic. The pump operates under vacuum pressures of 5.times.10.sup.-4 Torr to ultra high vacuum (UHV) conditions in the range of 1.times.10.sup.-7 to 3.times.10.sup.-9 Torr and will typically remove partial pressure, 2.times.10.sup.-7 Torr, residual water vapor. The cryogenic pump basically consists of an inlet flange piece, a copper heat sink with a square internal bore, four two tier Peltier (TEC) chips, a copper low temperature square cross sectional tubulation, an electronic receptacle, and an exit flange piece, with the low temperature tubulation being retained in the heat sink at a bias angle of 5.degree., and with the TECs being positioned in parallel to each other with a positive potential being applied to the top tier thereof.

Miniature thermo-electric cooled cryogenic pump

An ion trap which operates in the regime between research ion traps which can detect ions with a mass resolution of better than 1:10.sup.9 and commercial mass spectrometers requiring 10.sup.4 ions with resolutions of a few hundred. The power consumption is kept to a minimum by the use of permanent magnets and a novel electron gun design. By Fourier analyzing the ion cyclotron resonance signals induced in the trap electrodes, a complete mass spectra in a single combined structure can be detected. An attribute of the ion trap mass spectrometer is that overall system size is drastically reduced due to combining a unique electron source and mass analyzer/detector in a single device. This enables portable low power mass spectrometers for the detection of environmental pollutants or illicit substances, as well as sensors for on board diagnostics to monitor engine performance or for active feedback in any process involving exhausting waste products.

Growing community of inventors

Valley Springs, CA, United States of America

Robert F Keville