Standby Valve User's Guide

Standby Valve User's Guide

General Information
Isoprime Ltd
Isoprime House
Earl Road
Cheadle Hulme
Cheadle
SK8 6PT

Tel: +44 (0) 161 488 3660

Fax: +44 (0) 161 488 3699

http://www.Isoprime.co.uk/

Assistance
If you encounter difficulties with the operation of your instrument or need
software support, please contact the customer service department.
Customer service will raise a call log to track the progress of your enquiry, which
ensures that the problem will not be forgotten. The call will be passed to the
appropriate technical people for answering. Calls will be handled locally where
possible and escalated to the factory if a local response is not possible. All logged
calls must be dealt with to a successful conclusion before they can be closed.
Contact details are provided on the Isoprime website at www.isoprime.co.uk

Software
This manual is written for users of IonVantage V1.5. If another version of
software is used user operations may differ.

If you feel that more information is required or if you would like to suggest how
the manual could be improved, then please contact the customer service
department at Isoprime Ltd. or your local Isoprime representative.

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Standby Valve User's Guide

Standby Valve User's Guide ........................................1
General Information .....................................................2
Assistance ................................................................................................ 2
Software ................................................................................................... 2

Standby Valve User's Guide ........................................3

Warranty ................................................................................................... 4
Safety Information ................................................................................... 4
Safety Symbols ........................................................................................ 4
Principle of Operation ............................................................................. 6
Standby Valve Setup ............................................................................... 7
Fitting Standby Valve ........................................................................ 7
Connecting Pump Line ...................................................................... 7
Initial Operation ....................................................................................... 8
Leak Checking ........................................................................................10
Procedure.........................................................................................10
Maintenance ............................................................................................12
Fused Silica Inlet ..............................................................................12
Transfer and Pump Line ...................................................................13

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Warranty
The information contained within this document is subject to change without
notice.

Isoprime Ltd. makes no warranty of any kind with regard to this material,
including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness
for a particular purpose.

Isoprime Ltd. shall not be liable for errors contained herein or for incidental
damages in connection with the furnishing, performance, or use of this material.

Safety Information
The IsoPrime mass spectrometer meets the following IEC (International
Electromechanical Commission) classifications:
Safety Class 1
Transient Over Voltage Category II
Pollution Degree 2

You must comply with all local and national requirements for electrical and
mechanical safety.

The instrument has been designed and tested in accordance with recognized safety
standards. If the instrument is used in a manner not specified by the manufacturer,
the protection provided by the instrument may be impaired.

Whenever the safety protection of the IsoPrime is compromised, disconnect the

instrument from all power sources and secure the unit against unintended
operation.

Suitably qualified personnel only should perform maintenance procedures.

Substituting parts or performing any unauthorized modification to the instrument
may result in a safety hazard.

Disconnect the mains supply before removing covers.

Please contact the customer service department at the above address, or your local
Isoprime representative, should you require any further information.

Safety Symbols
Warnings in this manual or on the instrument must be observed during all phases
of service, repair, installation and operation of the instrument. Failure to comply
with these precautions violates the safety standards of design and the intended use
of the instrument.

Isoprime Ltd. assumes no liability for the customer’s failure to comply with these
requirements.

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The following safety symbols are used in the manual or on the instrument.
Warnings are given to highlight situations or conditions where failure to observe
the instruction could result in injury or death to persons. Cautions are given to
highlight situations or conditions where failure to observe the instruction could
result in damage to the equipment, associated equipment or process.

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Principle of Operation
The Standby Valve provides a switching mechanism between sample analysis
mode and standby mode or used as an inlet switching device. When in sample
mode, Helium entering the Mass Spectrometer is drawn from the sample
preparation interface and the reference gas injector unit. In standby mode,
however, only Helium from the reference gas injector unit is drawn into the Mass
Spectrometer isolating the entire inlet preparation system. This ensures that only a
continuous stream of dry, clean Helium is supplied into the analyser at all times.

Thus, activities such as water trap back-flushing, furnace tube replacement or any
other intervention on the inlet system can be undertaken without interrupting the
flow of helium into the Mass Spectrometer. This therefore eliminates all possible
disruption to the Mass Spectrometer and ensures immediate stability when
returning to sample mode.

When used as an inlet switching device the Standby Valve Simply acts as a switch
to quickly change between different inlets.

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Standby Valve Setup

Fitting Standby Valve
The Standby Valve is mounted on top of the source isolation cover. To fit, simply
remove the two screws attaching the source cover to the source flange and place
the Standby Valve in position as shown below. Position the Standby Valve over
the source cover mounting and fix the screws back into position to secure the
Standby Valve.

Using the included ribbon cable, connect the Standby Valve in series with the
cable from J4 of the IsoPrime electronics unit.

Connecting Pump Line

The waste line of the Standby Valve is connected via a tee into the IsoPrime
roughing pump. A second isolation valve is connected to the rear of the
instrument. A short piece of 1/16 0.030" Stainless steel capillary is used to
connect the waste line to the roughing pump as shown below.

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Initial Operation
Once the Standby Valve is fitted, due to the pumping arrangement, careful
operation of the valves and opening of the pump line must be undertaken on first
operation:
Connect the fused silica to the standby and sample sides of the Standby
Valve and connect to desired inlet systems. For example, when
connected to a GC system the standby side will have one length of
75um feeding into the Reference Gas Injector and the sample side will
have both a 100um length from the GC and another piece of 75um again

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feeding into the Reference Gas Injector allowing for both reference gas
and sample gas to be fed into the Mass Spectrometer.
No changes to the software are required to use the Standby Valve. Once
the valve is connected to the IsoPrime electronics unit via connection to
the ribbon cable from J4, restarting the IonVantage software will
reinitialise the inlet page and the software will auto detect the new
Standby Valve and include it on the inlet page mimic.
Initial control of the Standby Valve should be done using the individual
valve controls on the Custom Inlet page > Inlet Control tab.
Ensure all Standby Valves are closed (S1, S2, G1, G2). Monitor the
instrument high and low vacuum. Slowly open the small Standby Valve
isolation valve on the back of the Mass Spectrometer. As the valve
opens there will be a fast increase in the instrument low vacuum. This is
normal and is just the initial pump out of the Standby Valve pump line.
The instrument high vacuum should not be significantly affected.

If the instrument low vacuum does not return to below 5e-2mBar close
the Standby Valve isolation valve and proceed to check all fittings and
connections are tight on the Standby Valve assembly.
Once the instrument low vacuum has stabilised open S2 and S1. This
will pump out the Standby Valve body.
Again, there will be an increase in instrument low vacuum. Once this
returns to below 5e-2mBar the valve is ready to be opened to the
IsoPrime.
Turn off the source and open the instrument Nupro isolation valve.
Monitor the instrument high and low vacuum. Once this has returned to
an acceptable level, switch the Standby Valve to both sample and
standby side by double clicking on the pink valve as shown below.

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Double click
to operate

After switching the valve, both sides of the Standby Valve will open to
waste for 10 seconds. The valve will then switch to the alternate side.
Once satisfied that the instrument high vacuum will not move above
9e-6mBar upon switching sides, the source can be switched on and the
valve can be leak checked. Note that the high vacuum should only rise
above 5e-6mBar for a short period of time during valve switching.

Leak Checking
All Standby Valves are leak checked prior to leaving the factory, however some
connections are likely to be remade upon installation and this can cause issues
with regards to leaks.

As a first course of action, it is good practice to always leak check any recently
modified fittings before checking the rest of the assembly.

Procedure
Argon leak checking is highly recommended.

Tune the IsoPrime to Mass 40 and peak centre on Argon.

Setup a 600 second time scan on the IsoPrime tune page.

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Turn the flow of Argon to a very low level and very carefully direct the
Argon over any suspected areas of leaks.
Any rise on the Mass 40 scan window will indicate a leak. Be aware
that there are many connections in a very small area so it is very easy to
identify a leak in the wrong place.

Note: High backgrounds will be observed when the fused silica is

removed/replaced or removed from the flow of Helium. This is expected and not
to be mistaken for a leak. Always leak check the valve when it is setup for
instrument operation.

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Maintenance
Fused Silica Inlet

Warning: Do not remove any fused silica connections to the

Standby Valve until all 4 valves have been closed.

Before removing any connections to the Standby Valve it is important to isolate

all valves from the pumping system. As there is a common backing line for the
IsoPrime and the Standby Valve, the removal of the fused silica will massively
increase the load on the rotary pump and can affect the IsoPrime high vacuum.

Close the 4 Standby Valve connections. To operate valves individually go to

Custom Inlet page > Inlet Control tab:

All valves are

now closed

To close each valve simply double click on each one until they are displayed as
shown above.

At this point it is safe to remove the fused silica connections.

Once the connections have been remade, open valves S2 and G2 for 30seconds.

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This will pump out the Standby Valve. The Standby Valve is now ready for use
and should be operated from the Custom Inlet page as shown below:

Transfer and Pump Line

Warning: Do not remove any stainless steel tubing connections

from the Standby Valve without closing the Nupro valve and
Speedivalve.

Before removing the transfer or pump line of the Standby Valve is it imperative
that the Nupro isolation valve and the Speedivalve isolation valve are both closed.
Removal of these lines without complete isolation will vent the IsoPrime and
could damage the instrument turbo pump.

Once the valve is isolated remove and replace the tubing and ferrules. Follow the
initial operation section on reintegrating the Standby Valve into the system.

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