Chromatography Forum

Hello All,

I am a graduate student at a small liberal arts school in a heavily wooded area of the northeast. Our power seems to go out often due to storms and old infrastructure, and this has damaged our Thermo Trace 1300 GC-MS on several occasions.

My department is looking into purchasing a generator or power bank system to keep both the GC-MS and our NMR powered through these storms. I started to look into this to offer my recommendations but would love to hear what other people use, if they anything at all. I know there are uninterrupted power systems, but I do not know how good they are with sensitive systems.

All feedback is appreciated so I can take it back to the committee.

Most of the high end LCMSMS systems now come with UPCs just because power problems can damage the electronics easily. They also condition the power to make it cleaner which I think gives the instruments more stability.

I run an Agilent 5975 that has a small 500VA UPC attached which powers the MS (minus roughing pump) and computer. If I had one just a little larger I could keep running constantly since we also have a natural gas powered 150KW backup generator that comes on within 10 seconds of a power outage. I think if I had about a 3kVA system it would run the GC also. The rough pump can lose power for a few seconds without stopping the instrument so that is ok just plugged directly into the main power outlet. Our newest LCMSMS has a huge UPC that keeps everything running without any problems and I hope to use that as justification to get more of them for other equipment.

Hello,

Thanks for the feedback. I read an Aglient press release saying that they do not recommend a UPS for the GC due to the cycling nature and the special electrical requirements that produce.

With that being said would you recommend that all MS are protected using a UPS or would it be better to allow the MS to go out? If the department could afford a UPS big enough to run the GC and MS would that be a worthy investment?

I would definitely recommend one for the MS. Especially if it has the diffusion pump for high vacuum, as those can cause a lot of mess if you lose power and the valve is leaky at the rough pump allowing the fluid in the diffusion pump to backstream into the analyzer. It is also good for the electronics and the turbo molecular pumps because the sudden surges when the power returns can be hard on the turbo pumps.

The GC would need a quite large backup since the heaters draw a lot of power on startup and if heating at full ramp rates, but if you are doing a lot of production like we do, if you lose communication with the GC you lose the rest of the analytical run, especially if it happens at night. If you just want to protect the electronics then the GC is probably not as sensitive to power fluctuations as the MS is, and the parts for the GC are less expensive.

For us it is about production. I have seen a power blink that doesn't even kill the lights in the building ruin a whole days work if it happens before the end of a set of samples.

I have APC 1350 BackUPS on each of my 5973 and 5971 mass specs and their PC's and vacuum meters. I figure it keeps the power cleaner and a little blip (frequent around here) will not drop the whole system. I have the Purge and Trap, and autosampler, and printer plugged into the APC on the surge protected but not battery backup section.

However, Backing pump and GC are plugged right into the wall because they draw too much power to be backed up. The GC and Backing pump will shrug off a power spike that would crash the MS and PC.