Transport systems belt spray system

The slot in the interfaces for passage of the belt is formed by two "L"-shaped sapphire pieces which are attached to the stainless-steel flange or vacuum closure bar by epoxy cement. The belts used are either 0.05 or 0.075 mm thick and the slot tolerance is set to be 0.075 mm greater than the belt thickness (i.e., either 0.125 or 0.15 mm). The belt width is 0.317 cm and the slot width is 0.325 cm. A ribbon 0.32 cm wide travelling at a speed of 2.5 cm/sec will carry away a liquid film 0.2 mm thick from a solvent flow of 1 ml/min and if the solvent film can be evaporated without loss of solute, then the ribbon will transport virtually 100% of the solute into the mass spectrometer. Sample utilization will then depend only on the efficiency of the flash vaporization step. In practice, some sample is lost by spray processes and the flash vaporization cannot be fully efficient for all compounds. Nevertheless, yields in the range of 25-40% have been attained with an LC/MS ribbon interface system. It follows that the quantity of column eluent taken from the ribbon will be twenty times greater than that taken by the wire and provide significantly improved sensitivity. 

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