Vapor induction systems

Evaporative emissions from the fuel tank and carburetor have been controlled on all 1971 and later model automobiles sold in the United States. This has been accomplished by either a vapor recovery system which uses the crankcase of the engine for the storage of the hydrocarbon vapors or an adsorption and regeneration system using a canister of activated carbon to trap the vapors and hold them until such time as a fresh air purge through the canister carries the vapors to the induction system for burning in the combustion chamber. 

As initially discussed in Section 3, carbon canisters are used in the automotive emission control system to temporarily store hydrocarbon vapors. The vapors are later purged into the air charge stream of the air induction system, thus regenerating the carbon canister. Carbon canister design is dependent on the characteristics of the vapors sent to the canister and the amount of purge air available. In the following section, factors that affect the performance of the evaporative emission control system will be discussed. 

ScHiFFER U, Krivan V (i999) A graphite furnace electrothermal vaporization system for inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry. Anal Chem 70 482-490. 

The MC-ICP-MS consists of four main parts 1) a sample introduction system that inlets the sample into the instrument as either a liquid (most common), gas, or solid (e.g., laser ablation), 2) an inductively coupled Ar plasma in which the sample is evaporated, vaporized, atomized, and ionized, 3) an ion transfer mechanism (the mass spectrometer interface) that separates the atmospheric pressure of the plasma from the vacuum of the analyzer, and 4) a mass analyzer that deals with the ion kinetic energy spread and produces a mass spectrum with flat topped peaks suitable for isotope ratio measurements. 

Gunn et al. [44] described the apphcation of a graphite-filament electrothermal vaporization apparatus as a sample introduction system for optical emission spectroscopy with an inductively coupled argon plasma source. Good detection levels were reported for the elements, and details of the interfacing requirements between the ICP and the graphite filament were explored. 

To optimize the applicability of the electrothermal vaporization technique, the most critical requirement is the design of the sample transport mechanism. The sample must be fully vaporized without any decomposition, after desolvation and matrix degradation, and transferred into the plasma. Condensation on the vessel walls or tubing must be avoided and the flow must be slow enough for elements to be atomized efficiently in the plasma itself. A commercial electrothermal vaporizer should provide flexibility and allow the necessary sample pretreatment to introduce a clean sample into the plasma. Several commercial systems are now available, primarily for the newer technique of inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy. These are often extremely expensive, so home built or cheaper systems may initially seem attractive. However, the cost of any software and hardware interfacing to couple to the existing instrument should not be underestimated. 

Concentrations lethal to humans are not expected to be encountered at room temperature because of the low volatility of cumene. If inhalation of high concentrations of the vapor did occur, dizziness, incoordination, and unconsciousness could be expected. In animals, cumene narcosis is characterized by slow induction and long duration, suggesting a cumulative action. There are no reports of systemic effects in humans. 

Various efficient devices have been utilized for sample introduction into an inductive plasma source, for example the application of several nebulizers, hyphenated techniques, hydride generation, laser ablation and electrothermal vaporization. The role of the solution introduction system in an inductively coupled plasma source is to convert the liquid sample into a suitable form (e.g.,... 

PVD reactors may use a solid, liquid, or vapor raw material in a variety of source configurations. The energy required to evaporate liquid or solid sources can be supplied in various ways. Resistive heating is common, induction heating of the source bottle is sometimes used, and electron beams are also employed. Molecular-beam-epitaxy (MBE) systems are PVD-type reactors that operate at ultrahigh vacuum. Very low growth rates are used ( 1 xm/h), and considerable attention is devoted to in situ material characterization to obtain high-purity epitaxial layers (2). 

Thermal Decomposition. Wattenburg (Ref 48) observed that NaNs must be heated to 250° before decompn starts and that formation of NajN is a necessary stage in the decompn of NaNj to Na and Na. According to Garner Marke (Ref 69) the decompn in a vac at 257-365° was similar to that of KN3, but the catalytic effect of Na vapor was small. Decompn followed an induction period and then occurred in two or three steps (Refs 89 108). Audubert (Refs 72 80) noted that intense UV radiation was emitted during slow thermal decompn of NaNj and KN, (Ref 71). In a closed system the nature of gas or its absence had no effect but in a moving current of gas UV radiation was more intense (Ref 76). Bonnemay (Ref 100) detd the effect of bases and neutral salts on decompn rate. Thermal decompn of NaN3 has been studied extensively by Yoffe (Ref 131) and by Jacobs Tompkins (Ref 139)... 

This experiment presents the measurement of uranium with an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICP-MS). In this system, a nebulizer converts the aqueous sample to an aerosol carried with argon gas. A torch heats the aerosol to vaporize and atomize the contents in quartz tubes. The atoms are ionized with an efficiency of about 95% by an RF (radiofrequency) coil. The plasma expands at a differentially-pumped air-vacuum interface into a vacuum chamber. The positive ions are focused and injected into the MS while the rest of the gas is removed by the pump. The ions are then accelerated, collected, and measured as a function of their mass. Losses at various stages, notably the vacuum interface, result in a detection efficiency of about 0.1 %, which is still sufficient to provide great sensitivity. The amounts of uranium isotopes in the sample are determined by comparisons to standards. Because different laboratories have different instruments, the instructor will provide instrument operating instmctions. Do not use the instrument until the instructor has checked the instrument and approved its use. 

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