PlasmaQuant MS product family
Installation and commissioning
51
1 Nebulizer tubing
2 Pressure bars
3 Pump rollers
4 Sample tubing - to be
placed in the sample or
the autosampler tubing
5 Drain tubing from the
spray chamber
Fig. 22 Peristaltic pump - tubing connections
6.
Place the capillary that extends from the sample pump tubing into the sample or
rinse solution.
7.
Place the Nalgene tubing that extends from the drain pump tubing into the drain
vessel.
8.
Turn on the peristaltic pump by pressing [F11].
Ensure the nebulizer gas is turned off before adjusting the pressure bar. When in
operation, the concentric glass nebulizer creates a low-pressure region at the
nebulizer tip. This results in liquid flowing to the nebulizer even if the pump is not
in use, and makes it impossible to see if the pump tension is correctly set.
9.
Adjust the pressure on the pump tubing as follows:
Loosen the appropriate pressure bar screw so that no liquid is pumping.
Slowly tighten the screw until liquid just starts to move along the tubing.
Tighten the screw another half turn.
When not in use, release the pressure bars and unhook the pump tubing from the
grooves at one end. This will extend the life of the pump tubing.
10.
Adjust the pressure on the drain pump tubing.
A drain vessel is not supplied with the PlasmaQuant MS system. You should use a
chemically inert, wide-necked container with minimum of two liters (four pints)
capacity to catch the waste liquids. Place the container in full view of the operator to
prevent it being accidentally knocked over, and to ensure that it will not be allowed to
overflow.
The addition of an Internal Standard is important in ICP-MS to account for physical
and matrix interferences. Internal Standards with multiple elements can be measured
over large mass ranges to account for mass bias effects. The inline addition of an
Internal Standard minimizes sample preparation and is therefore often preferred.
Installation of the
Internal Standard line