A Novel Low Power, Real Time Pre-concentrator for use in Laboratory and Field Portable Chemical Detection Systems

摘要

Detection of trace compounds using field portable detectors (e.g., for security, environmental, and forensic applications) is hampered by the limited sensitivity of handheld and portable instrumentation. This abstract describes a novel, non-cryogenic, pre-concentrator design that can be utilized to improve the sensitivity of mass spectrometers and other instrumentations by several orders of magnitude compared to direct or membrane inlet mass spectrometry. Chemical concentration gains up to 10~(5) have been observed with cycle times of less than 30 seconds. The pre-concentrator design incorporates an efficient method for fast heating and cool down of the sorbent material as well as a novel step to effectively remove the unwanted dead volume of the system.