The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jan. 16, 2024
Filed:
Apr. 04, 2019
Shell Oil Company, Houston, TX (US);
Leonardo Spanu, Houston, TX (US);
Carolus Matthias Anna Maria Mesters, Houston, TX (US);
SHELL USA, INC., Houston, TX (US);
Abstract
A method of operating a mass spectrometer vacuum interface, the vacuum interface comprising an evacuated expansion chamber downstream of a plasma ion source at atmospheric or relatively high pressure, the expansion chamber having a first aperture that interfaces with the plasma ion source to form an expanding plasma downstream of the first aperture and a second aperture downstream of the first aperture from the plasma for skimming the expanding plasma to form a skimmed expanding plasma; wherein the expansion chamber is pumped by an interface vacuum pump to provide an interface pressure in the chamber; the method comprising using a controller to automatically, or according to user input, control the throughput of the interface vacuum pump to control the interface pressure dependent on one or more operating modes of the spectrometer. A pressure gauge can be located in the expansion chamber and a feedback loop provided between the pressure gauge and controller.