JP3028661B2 - Particle introduction device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for introducing fine particles, and more particularly, to fine particles (particles) in a plasma generating section of an element analyzer using microwave induced plasma.
The present invention relates to a fine particle introduction device for supplying the particles.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 4 is an explanatory view of a main part of a conventional example of such a particle introduction apparatus. In the figure, reference numeral 100 denotes a disperser which is a particle introduction apparatus; A carrier gas inlet for introduction, 102 is a replacement gas inlet for introducing a replacement gas such as Ar or He, 103a to 103e are on-off valves, 104 and 105 are gas outlets, 106 is a suction pump, and 107 is fine particles on the surface. Filter attached with, 108 is an aspirator, 10
9 is a discharge tube, 110 is a cavity, and 111 is a microwave induced plasma.

[0003] In the conventional particle introducing apparatus having such a main part configuration, the center of the cavity 110 is irradiated with microwaves from a microwave generator (not shown). The carrier gas in the tube 109 is excited to generate the microwave induced plasma 111. Also, the on-off valves 103a, 103
3b, 103d and 103e are open and the on-off valve 103c is closed.
03a → Aspirator 108 → Discharge tube 109 → On / off valve 1
The filter 107 flows through the flow path 03e and the filter 107
When a certain distance is approached to the suction port 8, the fine particles adhering to the surface of the filter are sucked and transported to the microwave induced plasma 111.

On the other hand, at the time of non-measurement, the on-off valves 103a, 103
03e is closed, and the on / off valves 103b to 103d are opened / closed and the suction pump 106 is driven to operate.
100 is replaced with a replacement gas (a replacement gas inlet 1).
02 or Ar introduced from 02).

[0005]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional example, there is a disadvantage that the so-called fine particle discharge line from the suction port of the aspirator 108 to the discharge tube 109 cannot be cleaned. Also, the cleaning degree of the fine particle discharge line could not be checked.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned drawbacks of the prior art, and has as its object to easily clean a fine particle discharge line from a suction port of an aspirator to a discharge tube.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a fine particle introduction device capable of cleaning and checking the degree of cleaning of the fine particle discharge line.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a disperser.
Filter with solid fine particles attached to the surface inside the filter
Aspirator for sucking solid fine particles attached to
And a carrier gas and a replacement gas in the disperser.
It has a means for introducing and discharging, and sucks with the aspirator.
Solid fine particles to a discharge tube through a fine particle discharge line
In the fine particle introduction device as described above, the disperser
Provide a clean filter with no fine particles attached inside
At the same time, the filter with the fine particles
Clean filters that are not worn alternately
To move vertically and horizontally with respect to the
A filter moving means is provided, and the clean filter and the replacement gas are provided.
Cleaning and lifting of the fine particle discharge line
It is characterized by performing an error check .

[0008]

The present invention operates as follows. That is, in addition to the filter to which the fine particles adhere, the clear
Set the appropriate filter. In this manner, the fine particle discharge line from the suction port of the aspirator to the discharge tube can be easily cleaned, and the cleaning degree of the fine particle discharge line can be checked.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 are explanatory views of the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.
In the figure, (a) shows a plan view of the embodiment of the present invention, and (b) shows a cross-sectional view of the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 shows a case in which cleaning and reference check of a particle introduction line are performed, and FIG. 2 shows a case in which a filter having particles attached thereto is brought close to a suction port of an aspirator to suction particles. I have.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, reference numeral 1 denotes a screw and O
A case configured to prevent leakage of air from the outside by a ring seal, 2 is an aspirator, 2 'is an aspirator suction port, 3 is a clean filter unit, and 4 is a tip. The first arm with a clean filter unit attached to the section, 5 is the gas replacement section,

Reference numeral 6 denotes a ball screw designed to have a backlash of, for example, 0.01 mm or less, and a motion applied from the second motor to offset the backlash (that is, a motion applied by the second motor)
The rotational motion of the motor, which is a stepping motor having an extremely high angular resolution, is transmitted via a timing belt) to a filter hold 7 described later via a ball screw.
A column composed of a fixed shaft that converts the movement of the filter mounted in the Z-axis (vertical) direction, 7 is a filter hold for fixing the filter, and 8 is a second arm having a filter hold 7 mounted on the tip. Reference numeral 9 denotes an exchange window used for removing a filter from the filter holder 7, and 10 denotes a lid attached to the exchange window 9.

When Ar gas is used as the carrier gas, the suction ratio between the carrier gas and the sample gas is, for example, 1: 3, and when He gas is used as the carrier gas, the suction ratio between the carrier gas and the sample gas is reduced. The suction characteristics of the aspirator 1 are designed so that the suction ratio is, for example, 1: 1.5. The distance between the filter mounted on the filter holder 7 and the suction port of the aspirator 1 is controlled to be, for example, 0.1 mm or less.

In the embodiment of the present invention having the structure as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, when the gas in the gas replacing section 5 is replaced, the state is as shown in FIGS. The suction port 2 'of the aspirator 2 is closed by a clean filter unit 3. In this state, a filter (not shown) having solid particles adhered to the surface thereof is attached to the filter holder 7 through the exchange window 9 of the case 1, and the filter holder is attached to the second holder. -Attach it to arm 8.

Next, the replacement window lid 10 is closed. Thereafter, the air in the gas replacement unit 5 is suctioned and discarded by the suction pump (suction pump 106 in FIG. 3) and replaced with the carrier gas.
In this state, on-off valves 103a to 103a to 103 in FIG.
3c is open and the on-off valves 103d and 103e are closed.

After such replacement is sufficiently performed, the following operations (1) to (4) are performed. On-off valve 1 in FIG.
03e is opened and the on-off valve 103c is closed. The on-off valves 103a and 103b remain open, and the on-off valve 103d remains closed. The cleaner filter unit 3 is brought into close contact with the suction port 2 ′ of the aspirator, and the carrier gas is continuously supplied to the gas replacement unit 5.

When the pressure in the gas replacement section 5 reaches a certain pressure, the clean filter 3 is connected to the suction port 2 of the aspirator.
Away from ´. Therefore, a large amount of carrier gas flows from the suction port 2 'of the aspirator to the fine particle introduction line. At this time, the fine particles adhering to the fine particle introduction line are cleaned. The on-off valve 103e is open.

By adjusting the gap between the clean filter 3 and the aspirator suction port 2 ', ie, the second mode
The first arm 4 and the second arm 8 move the ball screw of the column 6 up and down to control the suction flow rate of the carrier gas. The microwave induction plasma 111 shown in FIG. 3 is ignited, the first motor is driven, and the second arm 8 is driven.
Is moved at a constant speed in the circumferential direction,
Scanning while controlling the flow rate over the effective filter 113. At this time, the microwave induced plasma 111 is turned off while confirming that no detection signal due to the clean filter 113 is generated (that is, while performing a reference check).

The sample filter is moved to the position of the aspirator 2 by rotating the first motor and rotating the first arm 4 and the second arm 8 by 90 ° in the horizontal direction. The suction flow rate is adjusted by adjusting the gap between the sample filter and the aspirator suction port 2 '. The microwave-induced plasma 111 is re-ignited, and the aspirator suction port 2 ′ scans over the sample filter to suck fine particles adhering to the surface, and introduces them into the microwave-induced plasma 111. The fine particles introduced into the microwave induced plasma 111 dissociate and emit light.
The light is detected by a monochrome meter (not shown), and then subjected to signal processing by a signal processor (not shown) to analyze fine particles and component elements contained in the fine particles.

The present invention can be modified in various ways without being limited to the above-described embodiment. For example, instead of the first and second arms 4 and 8 shown in FIGS. May be provided so that several sample filters can be set.

[0020]

According to the present invention as described in detail above, the fine particle discharge line from the suction port of the aspirator to the discharge tube can be easily cleaned, and the cleaning degree of the fine particle discharge line can be improved. A particle introduction device that can also check is realized. That is, a clean filter can be used as a substitute for the lid of the aspirator suction port when cleaning the fine particle introduction line, and a special mechanism is not required. This makes it possible to check the degree of cleaning of the fine particle introduction line, which was uneasy in the above-described conventional example.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of a configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a usage example of the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a configuration of a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Aspirator 2 'Aspirator suction port 3,113 Clean filter unit 4,8 Arm 5 Gas replacement section 7 Filter hold 9 Exchange window 100 Desparser 103a-103d Open / close valve 107 Particles Attached filter 108 Aspirator 109 Discharge tube 111 Microwave induced plasma

────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-4-326604 (JP, A) JP-A-4-5564 (JP, A) JP-A-4-5554 (JP, A) Field (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G01N 21/62-21/74 JICST file (JOIS)

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. Solid particles adhere to the surface in a disperser
Filter and the solid fine particles attached to the filter
An aspirator for pulling is placed inside the disperser.
Having means for introducing and discharging a carrier gas and a replacement gas,
The solid fine particles sucked by the aspirator are discharged into a fine particle discharge line.
Into the discharge tube through the inlet
No fine particles adhere to the disperser
A clean filter is provided and the fine particles adhere
Filter and clean fill free of particulates
Alternately perpendicular to the suction port of the aspirator.
And a filter moving means for moving the filter horizontally.
Using a clean filter and a replacement gas,
A particle introduction device characterized by performing cleaning of the inside and a reference check.