JP2001013121A - Gas chromatograph device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To suppress the maximum power consumption below the maximum rating of a general power supply plug socket. SOLUTION: A power distribution control part 45 totally controls heating powers of first to third heaters 12, 31, 23 at the starting time of this device when power consumption becomes maximum. Namely, the control part 45 gives priority to heating of the first and the second heaters 12, 31, and supplies the maximum powers to each of them and supplies necessary powers to other circuits or the like, and then supplies a residual power in a limited power range to the third heater 23. When a sample injection part 10 and a detector 30 reach primary set temperatures, the supply powers are reduced so as only to keep the temperatures, and reduced portions are passed to the third heater 23 to improve its heating capacity.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] The present invention relates to a gas chromatograph.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A gas chromatograph is provided with a sample vaporization chamber at a column inlet, a sample vaporized in the sample vaporization chamber is loaded on a carrier gas, sent into the column, and temporally separated when passing through the column. It has a configuration in which each sample component is detected by a detector provided at the column outlet. Normally, a gas chromatograph device is equipped with a heater that can independently adjust the temperature at the sample injection section including the sample vaporization chamber, the column oven equipped with the column, and the detector, and controls each to a predetermined set temperature. It is supposed to be.

[0003]

The power consumption of the gas chromatograph apparatus is obtained by adding the power consumption of each of the above heaters to the power consumption of other circuit parts. However, the power consumed by the heaters is overwhelming in practice. Dominantly. In the conventional gas chromatograph, the power is turned on from a state in which the apparatus is completely stopped and each part is cooled down to the same level as the ambient temperature (stop state), and a standby state (RE) in which analysis can be started.
Each heater is controlled so as to operate at its maximum heating capacity at the time of starting up to (ADY state), that is, during a period in which each unit is heated to the initial set temperature. For this reason,
The greatest power is consumed during such startup.

[0004] For example, in a conventional commercially available gas chromatograph, 18 A with a 100 V power supply is used at the time of startup.
(Ampere) power supply current flows. For this reason, power cannot be taken from a general 100 V, 15 A outlet, and it is necessary to prepare a dedicated power line having a large current capacity, which is one of the restrictions on installation.

[0005] The present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to maximize the use of a general power outlet so as not to hinder the analysis. An object of the present invention is to provide a gas chromatograph device capable of suppressing power consumption.

[0006]

A gas chromatograph apparatus according to the present invention, which has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, comprises a sample injection section including a sample vaporizing chamber provided at a column inlet, a column oven having a column therein, And a detector provided at the column outlet, and in a gas chromatograph apparatus having at least the sample injection unit, column oven, and detector, each having a heater, the maximum power consumption of the entire apparatus falls within a predetermined power range. And a power distribution control means for controlling the distribution of the heating power to be supplied to each of the heaters based on a predetermined priority order of temperature rise.

[0007]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In many gas chromatographic analyses, a sample injection section and a detector are controlled at a constant temperature, and a column oven is controlled at a constant temperature or at a constant temperature. In general, a large heating power is required until a predetermined initial setting temperature is reached. However, when the temperature is maintained after the initial setting temperature is reached, a large heating power is not required. That is, as described above, the most power is consumed at the time of startup when all the components are heated.

Therefore, at the time of startup, for example, the power distribution control means gives priority to the heating power to the sample injection part and the heater attached to the detector after securing the power necessary for other circuits and the like, The remaining electric power of the predetermined electric power is sent to the heater attached to the column oven. Then, the sample injection section and the detector reach a predetermined initial set temperature, and after reducing the heating power to both heaters, the corresponding power is used for heating the column oven. Here, the priority of raising the temperature between the sample injection part and the detector is that impurities in the introduced carrier gas and impurities that have adhered to the column adhere to the inner walls of the respective flow paths and become contaminated. This is to prevent that. Of course, if necessary, power is preferentially distributed to the heater for heating the column oven, and supplied to the heater for heating the sample injection unit and the detector after the column oven reaches a predetermined initial setting temperature. The power may be increased.

[0009]

As described above, according to the gas chromatograph apparatus of the present invention, the maximum power consumption can be suppressed within the predetermined power limit.
If the power is set to be equal to or less than the maximum rated power that can be supplied by a general power outlet of V and 15 A, the power of the apparatus can be obtained from such an outlet. Accordingly, restrictions on the installation place of the gas chromatograph device are eased.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the gas chromatograph according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a main part of a gas chromatograph device according to the present embodiment.

[0011] This gas chromatograph apparatus is composed of a column 2
A sample injecting section 10 including a sample vaporization chamber 11 provided at an inlet of a column 1, a column oven 20 having a column 21 therein,
And a detector 30 provided at the outlet of the column 21. A first heater 12 and a first temperature sensor 13 are provided in the sample vaporization chamber 11, and a second heater 3 is provided in the detector 30.
The first and second temperature sensors 32 are provided. The column oven 20 has a blower fan 22 and a third heater 2.
Third, a third temperature sensor 24 is provided. The first, second, and third heaters 12, 31, and 23 have the first, second, and third heaters, respectively.
The heating current is supplied from the second and third heating current supply units 41, 42, and 43. Each of the first to third heating current supply units 41 to 43 has a configuration for controlling heating power by ON-OFF driving at zero cross of an alternating current,
The heating power to be supplied is determined by the duty ratio of the ON-OFF drive signal. When the duty ratio is 100%, the maximum rated power is reached, and when the duty ratio is 0%, the power supply is stopped.

The control unit 44 including a microcomputer and the like includes a power distribution control unit 45. The power supply unit 46 is connected to a commercial power outlet 47 by 100V.
Upon receiving the supply of the alternating current, the power supply current is supplied to each unit that requires the power supply. The power supply unit 46 detects the magnitude of the power supply current flowing at that time in real time, and sends the information to the power distribution control unit 45.

Next, power distribution control, which is a feature of this gas chromatograph, will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a distribution state of power supply power in each operation state of the gas chromatograph device, and FIG. 3 is a graph showing an example of a temperature rise of each unit.

First, when the power is turned on from a state in which the apparatus is completely stopped and each unit is cooled down to about the same level as the ambient temperature (stop state), the power distribution control unit 45 starts to operate the first and second heaters 12. , 31 and the first and second heaters 1
The first and second heating current supply units 41 and 42 are controlled so as to supply the maximum power to the second and 31 respectively. Power required for each operation is supplied from a power supply unit 46 to portions other than the heaters (such as a control circuit). Thereby, the first and second heating current supply units 41 and 42 perform ON-OFF control at a duty ratio of 100%, and supply the maximum heating power to the heaters 12 and 31.

On the other hand, the power distribution control unit 45
From 6, information on the current consumption in the above state is received,
Calculate the remaining power for a predetermined maximum power limit (eg, 100V, 15A). Then, a third
The duty ratio of the ON-OFF control in the heating current supply unit 43 is determined. As shown in FIG. 2A, the value is, for example, 70%.

In this case, the first and second heaters 12, 31
Is supplied with the maximum heating power, the temperature of the sample injection unit 10 and the detector 30 rises quickly, but the third heater 23
Since the maximum heating power is not supplied to the column oven, the temperature of the column oven 20 rises more slowly than when the maximum heating power is supplied. Since the sample injecting unit 10 and the detector 30 have smaller heat capacities than the column oven 20, they quickly reach the initial set temperatures T1 and T2, respectively. After reaching the initial set temperatures T1 and T2, it is sufficient to maintain the temperatures. Therefore, when each reaches the initial set temperature, the power distribution control unit 45 reduces the duty ratio to 25% to reduce the heating power, and The first to third heating current supply units 41 to 43 are controlled so that the decrease is sent to the heating power of the third heater 23.

That is, as shown by the line L1 in FIG.
When the temperature of the first heater 12 reaches the initial set temperature T1 at the time t1, the reduced heating power of the first heater 12 is used for heating the third heater 23, so that the temperature in FIG. As indicated by the line L3, the temperature of the third heater 23 rises. Further, as shown by the line L2 in FIG. 3B, when the temperature of the second heater 31 reaches the initial set temperature T2 at time t2, the third heater 31 also reduces the heating power of the second heater 31 by the amount reduced. Since the heating is performed for heating the heater 23, the temperature of the third heater 23 rises more rapidly. At this time, as shown in FIG. 2 (b), the entire power consumption is maintained substantially at the maximum limit power, and the ratio of the power of the third heater 23 becomes very large. The sample injection unit 10
Which of the detector 30 and the detector 30 quickly reaches the initial set temperature depends on conditions at that time and the like.

When the temperature of the column oven 20 reaches the initial set temperature T3, the temperature may be maintained thereafter. Therefore, the power distribution control unit 45 controls the third heating current to reduce the heating power to the third heater 23. The supply unit 43 is controlled. For this reason, the overall power consumption is greatly reduced as shown in FIG. At this time, since the sample injection section 10, the column oven 20, and the detector 30 are all maintained at the initial set temperatures, the apparatus enters a standby state where analysis can be started.

Thereafter, in the temperature rising analysis, that is, in the analysis in which the column oven 20 is controlled to be heated according to a predetermined temperature rising program, the heating power required for the temperature rise is increased. As shown in (d), the heating power supplied to the third heater 23 increases. However, even in this case, in a normal heating program, the total power consumption falls within a range considerably smaller than the maximum power limit. Of course, when the sample injection unit 10 and the detector 30 are controlled at a constant temperature, the maximum heating power (that is, the duty ratio of the ON-OFF control is set to approximately 100%) is supplied to the third heater 23 if necessary. Is also possible.

In a configuration in which the maximum heating power is supplied to each heater at the time of start-up as in the conventional apparatus, the maximum power consumption as shown in FIG. 2E is required. , In the initial stage (mode 1) at startup
By limiting the heating power to the heater 23, the maximum power consumption can be kept within a predetermined limited power range.

In the conventional apparatus, the column oven 2
Since the temperature of 0 rises as shown by the line L4 in FIG. 3C, in this embodiment, the time required for starting is increased by Td.
However, such a state occurs only at the first start of the day, for example, and does not hinder the actual analysis.

In the above embodiment, the value of the power supply current actually flowing in the power supply section 46 is detected to determine the power that can be supplied to the third heater 23. Since the power and the power consumption of the first and second heaters 12 and 31 can be assumed in advance from the maximum heating power and the duty ratio, the same control can be realized without detecting the actual value of the power supply current. it can.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a main part of a gas chromatograph device according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a distribution state of power supply power in each operation state of the gas chromatograph device of the present embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a graph showing an example of a temperature rise in each part.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Sample injection part 11 ... Sample vaporization chamber 12, 23, 31 ... Heater 13, 24, 32 ... Temperature sensor 20 ... Column oven 21 ... Column 30 ... Detector 41, 42, 43 ... Heating current supply part 45 ... Power distribution Control unit 46: Power supply unit 47: Commercial power outlet

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A sample injection section including a sample vaporization chamber provided at a column inlet, a column oven having a column therein,
A gas chromatograph apparatus having a detector provided at the column outlet, and at least the sample injection unit, the column oven, and the detector each having a heater such that the maximum power consumption of the entire apparatus falls within a predetermined power range. And a power distribution control means for performing control so as to distribute the heating power supplied to each of the heaters based on a predetermined temperature rise priority.