Operating
TOPwave
38
6.3
Sample Loading
6.3.1
Handling of PM 40, PM 60 and PL 100 Pressure Vessels
CAUTION
Rupture discs and pressure vessels!
Observe the safety instructions in the sections "Safety instructions" p. 8 and "Performing
a Digestion Procedure" p. 33.
Never use more than one rupture disc per vessel!
CAUTION
Observe maximum sample quantity!
The maximum sample quantity depends on the vessel type
(see section "Technical Data" p. 71).
Observe minimum fill amount!
In each pressure vessel, at least approx. 7 ml of liquid should be employed so that the
temperature sensor can determine the sample temperature precisely.
The microwave oven requires a certain minimum load of approx. 20 ml of liquid. If lower
volumes of liquid must be used, at least 3 vessels must be used for each run in order to
achieve the required total load.
If the fluid amount employed is too small, the oven may be damaged during longer ope-
ration! An inadequate liquid load can also result in rotor overheating and, in the worst
case, in rotor damage.
The PM pressure vessels are made up of a TFM-PTFE pressure vessel, an aluminum
rupture disc, a TFM-PTFE lid, and a coupling cap. The PP rotor can hold up to 12 vessels
or 24 PM 40 vessels.
1 Coupling cap
2 Rupture disc
3 Lid
4 Vessel bottom
Weigh the sample material into the vessels. Observe the maximal sample weight of used
vessels (see section "Technical Data" p. 71).
The samples can be weighed directly into the weighing cups made from TFM to simplify
the weighing process and prevent loss of samples. The weighing cups are placed in the
Sample weight
Weighing in using TFM
weighing cups