Systems and methods for delivering liquid to an ion source

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9941104-B2
Application number	US-201415112478-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 18, 2014
Priority date	Jan 24, 2014
Publication date	Apr 10, 2018
Grant date	Apr 10, 2018

Abstract

Methods and systems for delivering a liquid sample to an ion source are provided herein: In various aspects, the methods and systems described herein can utilize the flow provided by an LC pump(s) to drive a calibration fluid to an ion source of a mass spectrometer system. In various aspects, methods and systems described herein can additionally or alternatively be placed upstream of an LC column for providing an elution gradient of a plurality of solvents, without requiring a plurality of pumps and/or separate mixing elements.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A system for delivering fluid to a mass spectrometry system, the system comprising:
a single displacement pump; and
a reservoir comprising an inlet port configured to receive a first fluid driven by said pump and an outlet port configured to expel an output fluid of different composition than said first fluid, the reservoir pre-filled with a second fluid, wherein the outlet port is configured to fluidly couple to an ion source of a mass spectrometry system;
the single displacement pump providing a flow of the first fluid to the pre-filled reservoir through the inlet port, the flow generated by the single displacement pump discharges the output fluid contained within the reservoir at substantially the same volumetric flow rate as the flow entering the inlet port of the reservoir;
wherein the flow rate of the output fluid is between about 10 μL/min to about 20 mL/min.

2. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a liquid chromatography (LC) column fluidly coupled to the pump.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the LC column is disposed between the pump and the reservoir and wherein the first fluid comprises an eluent from the LC column and the output fluid comprises a steady state flow of calibration fluid.

4. The system of claim 2 , wherein the reservoir is disposed between the pump and the LC column.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the second fluid has a different composition than the first fluid and the output fluid, and wherein the first fluid comprises a first LC solvent and the second fluid comprises a second LC solvent, and wherein the output fluid comprises a mixture of the first and second LC solvents.

6. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a fluid flow pathway extending between the pump and the ion source, wherein said reservoir is configured to removably couple to said fluid flow pathway, wherein the LC column is temporarily replaced by the reservoir.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the reservoir further comprises a liquid impermeable partition disposed between the inlet port and the outlet port.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the partition is movable along the axis of the reservoir, along the direction of the fluid flow, ejecting the fluid from the outlet port.

9. The system of claim 6 , further comprising a second reservoir disposed downstream of the first reservoir in the fluid flow pathway, wherein an inlet port of the second reservoir is configured to receive the output fluid of the first reservoir.

10. The system of claim 6 , further comprising a bypass conduit extending from a first end coupled to the fluid flow pathway upstream from the reservoir to a second end coupled to the fluid flow pathway downstream from the reservoir, wherein the bypass is configured to divert the first fluid flow from the reservoir.

11. A method for delivering fluid to a mass spectrometry system, the method comprising:
operating a single displacement pump to introduce a first fluid into an inlet port of a reservoir, said reservoir pre-filled with a second fluid different than said first fluid;
discharging an output fluid from an outlet port of said reservoir at substantially the same volume flow rate as the flow entering the inlet port, wherein said output fluid is of a different composition from said first fluid and the flow rate of the output fluid is between about 10 μL/min to about 20 mL/min; and
delivering a sample fluid to be ionized to an ion source of a mass spectrometer.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein said pump introduces a solvent into a liquid chromatography (LC) column, wherein the pump, LC column, reservoir, and ion source being fluidly coupled via a fluid flow pathway.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the LC column is disposed in the fluid flow pathway between the pump and the reservoir.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the first fluid comprises an eluent from the LC column and wherein said second fluid, said output fluid, and said sample fluid comprise a calibration fluid.

15. The method of claim 12 , wherein the reservoir is disposed in the fluid flow pathway between the pump and the LC column.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the first fluid comprises a first LC solvent and the second fluid comprises a second LC solvent, and wherein the solvent introduced into the LC column comprises the output fluid discharged from the reservoir.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the output fluid discharged from the reservoir is configured to provide a gradient elution of the LC column and consists of the second LC solvent during a first time duration.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the output fluid discharged from the reservoir is configured to provide a gradient elution of the LC column and comprises a mixture of the first and second LC solvents during a second time duration after the first time duration.

19. The system of claim 1 , wherein the output flow is discharged into a nebulizing gas flow, the nebulizing gas flow between about 0.1 L/min and about 20 L/min.

20. The system of claim 2 , further comprising a fluid flow pathway extending between the pump and the ion source, wherein said reservoir is configured to removably couple to said fluid flow pathway upstream of an LC column to provide an elution gradient.

Assignees

• Dh Technologies Dev Pte Ltd
• Dh Technologies Dev Pte Ltd

Inventors

• Kovarik Peter

Classifications

• G01N2030/047

  external · CPC title

• G01N30/7233

  interfaced to liquid or supercritical fluid chromatograph (interfaces in general for introducing or extracting samples to be analysed with specially adapted mass spectrometer, see H01J49/04) · CPC title

• H01J49/0431 Primary

  for liquid samples (interfaces to liquid chromatographs G01N30/7233) · CPC title

• H01J49/0009

  Calibration of the apparatus · CPC title

• G01N30/04

  Preparation or injection of sample to be analysed · CPC title