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:
Jun. 17, 2003
Filed:
Jan. 08, 2002
Timothy J. Cornish, Catonsville, MD (US);
Scott A. Ecelberger, Laurel, MD (US);
The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD (US);
Abstract
A time-of-flight mass spectrometer (TOF-MS) array instrument is provided. Each TOF-MS of the array instrument includes (1) a gridless, focusing ionization extraction device allowing for the use of very high extraction energies in a maintenance-free design, (2) a fiberglass-clad flexible circuit-board reflector using rolled flexible circuit-board material, and (3) a low-noise, center-hole microchannel plate detector assembly that significantly reduces the noise (or “ringing”) inherent in the coaxial design. The miniature TOF-MS array allows for the bundling of a plurality of mass analyzers, e.g., a plurality of TOF-MSs, into a single array working in parallel fashion to greatly enhance the throughput of each TOF-MS in the array by multiplexing the data collection process. A preferred embodiment of the TOF-MS array instrument incorporates 16 TOF-MS units that are arranged in mirror-image clusters of eight units.