Guide spacing

Rails for beef sides will be spaced 900-1200 mm apart, and the length for a side is 450 mm of rail. The height to the top of the rail may be up to 3.35 m, but may be less. The average side weight in the UK is 140 kg, with a variation of 80-225 kg throughout the world the local trend should be taken as a guide. Space is required for the service rails and junctions at the door end, possibly 1 m being taken up by this. Rails should be well clear of walls so that air can circulate and the meat cannot touch the wall. 

In the X- and y-directions (Figure 49.5b), an ion trajectory is more difficult to visualize. It is essentially the sum of two main effects one a simple oscillation caused by the rapid cyclic alternations of the RF field (Figure 49.5c), the other a more complicated drift or guided motion due to the inhomogeneity of the RF field within the space between all four rods. 

The most common ion guide is the quadrupole, in which there are four parallel metal rods spaced evenly about a central axis. 

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