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:
Sep. 07, 1999
Filed:
Sep. 30, 1997
Mahmoud F Abdel-Rahman, West Grove, PA (US);
Hewlett-Packard Company, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Abstract
Method and apparatus for purification of a discharge gas, wherein the discharge gas is selected from a group of noble gases, and most preferably is helium or argon. The purification of the discharge gas is achieved by attraction and removal of at least one ionized contaminant in the discharge gas, wherein the contaminant exhibits an ionization potential that is less than the excitation potential of the discharge gas. A discharge gas purification system may be constructed to include a discharge chamber, an inlet for supplying a pressurized flow of discharge gas into the discharge chamber, a discharge device for effecting a discharge in the discharge chamber to effect ionization of a contaminant in the discharge gas, and a bleed flow device located with respect to the discharge and to the discharge cathode for electrically attracting and removing a bleed flow of the discharge gas in the discharge chamber. A disproportionate amount of the ionized contaminants thus created are captured in the bleed flow. An outlet may be provided for directing an output flow of the discharge gas from the discharge chamber to provide purified flow of discharge gas.