Apparatus for a mass spectrometer is disclosed comprising an ion source, a heater for heating a gas flow to the ion source, a temperature sensor for monitoring the temperature of the heater, and a control system. The control system is arranged and adapted to determine a flow rate of the gas flow by monitoring the power supplied to the heater and the temperature of the heater.

A CMV sampling device includes a thermoelectric cooler, a vacuum pump, and one or more holders for one or more capillary microextractor of volatiles (CMV) tubes. The holder thermally contacts the thermoelectric cooler and the vacuum pump is fluidly connected to the CMV tube. The CMV device is useful for sampling of volatile organic compounds from air. The sampling can be carried out rapidly to achieve a sample within the CMV tube that may be placed into a thermal desorption unit (TDU) coupled to an inlet port for introduction of the volatiles into an analytical instrument, such as, a gas chromatograph (GC), an ion mobility spectrometer (IMS), a liquid chromatograph (LC), and/or a mass spectrometer (MS) for analysis of one or more volatiles.

An ion mobility spectrometer (100) comprising a first ion source (102-1, 108-1) for providing positive ions to be analysed, an electric field applier arranged to provide an electric field configured to move the positive ions in a first direction towards a first ion detector (106-1, 110-1) adapted for detecting the positive ions, and a second ion source (102-2, 108-2) for providing negative ions to be analysed, wherein the electric field applier is arranged to move the negative ions in a direction opposite to the first direction, towards the first ion source (102-1, 108-1) and towards a second ion detector (106-1, 110-1) adapted for detecting the negative ions.

An example method for analyzing drilling fluid used in a drilling operation within a subterranean formation may comprise placing a TOF-MS in fluid communication with a drilling fluid. The drilling fluid may be flowing through a fluid conduit coupled to a drilling assembly. A chemical composition of the drilling fluid may be determined using the TOF-MS. And a formation characteristic may be determined using the determined chemical composition.

A method to measure heat damage of keratin fibers comprising eluting a peptide from a hair sample with an aqueous solution; extracting the peptide using a suitable solvent sample; analyzing the peptide samples with MALDI-MS; resulting in peptide results; identifying presence of a marker peptide and identifying the m/z ratio for the peptide.

A system and method for providing fertilizer for crop production in an aqueous solution comprising nano-sized fertilizer particles, which are free of any chemical side chain and free any micelle to protect the nano-sized particle from re-agglomeration, suspended therein for improved uptake by the population of the crop.

An analytical device includes: a mass spectrometry unit that separates ions based on flight time and detects the ions having been separated; an analysis unit that creates data corresponding to a spectrum in which an intensity of the ions having been detected and the flight time or m/z corresponding to the flight time are associated; a peak width calculation unit that calculates a first peak width at a first intensity and a second peak width at a second intensity different from the first intensity for at least one peak in the spectrum; and an adjustment unit that performs an adjustment of the mass spectrometry unit based on the first peak width and the second peak width.

A gasket seal for a mass spectrometer is disclosed. The gasket seal comprises a membrane having an outer profile and an inner profile and one or more protrusions. One or more ports are provided in the body of the membrane. In use a gas or fluid is supplied through at least one of the one or more ports via at least one of the one or more protrusions.

The present invention uses an AC voltage instead of DC voltage on an ion gate to filter/selectively pass ions. The ions that pass through the AC ion gate can be further separated in a spectrometric instrument. An ion mobility spectrometer using the AC ion gate can achieve better gating performance. For a time of flight ion mobility spectrometer with an AC ion gate, a narrow pulse of selected ions can be passed into a drift tube where they are separated based on their low field ion mobility. Moreover, when the AC voltage at the AC ion gate has a waveform as used for differential ion mobility spectrometry, the time of flight ion mobility spectrometer is converted into a two dimensional separation spectrometer, where ions are first separated based on their high field ion mobility and then further separated based on their low field ion mobility.

MRM triggered MRM, where the triggered MRM transitions make use of mobility device parameter values for the same compound, is performed. A plurality of primary MRM transitions are received and stored together with a mobility device parameter value for each transition as an MRM cycle list. Control information instructs a mobility device and a mass spectrometer to interrogate each MRM transition on the MRM cycle list within an MRM cycle of the mass spectrometer. If a product ion intensity value of an MRM transition exceeds a threshold value for a primary MRM transition, a plurality of secondary MRM transitions of the primary MRM transition with different mobility device parameter values are added to the MRM cycle list. The intensities of the measured secondary MRM transitions provide information on the optimum mobility device parameter for each compound.