Chromatography Forum

Hi there

I'm having problems tuning an old PerkinElmer clarus 500 MS.

I've cleaned the ion source and the pre-quadropole, but the instrument is still behaving strangely.

When i run an Auto Tune it will fail some of the times and at other come up with these strange parameters
Ref gas is HeptaCosa.
http://img9.imageshack.us/i/74077190.jpg

Looking for air I get this. (Had to turn the multiplier down)
http://img824.imageshack.us/i/17736697.jpg

I'm lost here and need a starting point for tuning/cleaning this machine.

Best regards
Rasmus

Hi Rasmus,
from what you have described, i would remove the comlumn from the ms and blank off the ms transfer line. also remove and inspect the analyser lid / detector housing for any contamination. with the system still blanked off check again for air /water, hopefully you should now only have background levels. if not, open a mass window of around 80, span 40, and spray around the analyser housing / detector housing / source flange / ref inlets etc with a compressed air cleaner . depending on the air cleaner you should see a mass of interest shoot up when you spray around.

did you remove the pre filters from the main rods when cleaning them?

double check all your connections for the outer source

if you drop the repellor to normal level ( 0.5 / 1) what happens?

what was the situation with the instrument before trouble occured? has it been vented / moved etc?

Hi Rasmus,
from what you have described, i would remove the comlumn from the ms and blank off the ms transfer line.

I have done this. Same problems.

also remove and inspect the analyser lid / detector housing for any contamination. with the system still blanked off check again for air /water, hopefully you should now only have background levels. if not, open a mass window of around 80, span 40, and spray around the analyser housing / detector housing / source flange / ref inlets etc with a compressed air cleaner . depending on the air cleaner you should see a mass of interest shoot up when you spray around.

The analyser/detector looks fine, and all o-rings look good.

did you remove the pre filters from the main rods when cleaning them?

Yes.

double check all your connections for the outer source

The electrical connections? I cleaned them of with abrasive paper. They look clean.

if you drop the repellor to normal level ( 0.5 / 1) what happens?

I will report back on this.

what was the situation with the instrument before trouble occured? has it been vented / moved etc?

The instrument have been unable to do a auto tune the last few years. The MS can produce usable spectres and do at library search, but I really don't like having to max out the parameters and running with such a high multiplier.

nkg wrote:
Hi Rasmus,
from what you have described, i would remove the comlumn from the ms and blank off the ms transfer line.

I have done this. Same problems.

what was the response from air / water, also what was the vacuum level with the ms blanked off?

i would be inclined to check the ms on it's own first (blanked off ) and then introduce the gc later. for tuning you need to see what effects the repellor and ion energy have on the ms without such a major leak. with the ms blanked off, 18/28/32 should be negligable (not off screen). because of the high background have you blanked off the feedthroughs for the ref / ci gas inlets? might have a bad solenoid on the system

Hi Rasmus,

From your second screenshot it is evident that you have a fairly big leak and I agree with nkg to perform a thorough leak check. Also if you cleaned the pre-quads you need to check the manifold lid seal and the PMT seal for leaks.

Regarding the problem in the first screenshot it could be a few different things:
1. You are out of ref gas (I guess you already checked that )
2. The solenoid valve is not opening properly.
3. You have a big leak and that will affect the response.

You should try to identify and fix the leak first of all before you tune.

You can call the PerkinElmer Customer Care (808 84236) to get in contact with me or a service engineer if you need any assistance.

Regards

Jonas Bjorklund
GC/MS Product Specialist
PerkinElmer Nordics

I installed a no-hole ferrule, put a plug in the CI gas inlet and tighten the ref gas connection.

The MS will now pump down to 4,7e-7 so I believe the leak has stopped. It was probably the CI and ref gas connections.

I had to open the MS again today to fix a problem with the filament, but hopefully i can supply a spectra tomorrow.

Thanks for the help.


Jonas:

I hope you understand we are trying to fix these issues ourselves because we want to have more hands-on experience with the equipment, NOT because we are unsatisfied with your support.

for tuning you need to see what effects the repellor and ion energy have on the ms without such a major leak. with the ms blanked off, 18/28/32 should be negligable (not off screen).

Ok. The leak has been taken care off, MS is blanked off and CI inlet is blanket off. Vacuum level with ref gas on is 8.0e-7.

Air:

Normal:

Low Repellor:

High Repellor:

Low Ion Energy:

High Ion Energy:

If I try to run the Ion Energy and the Repellor at normal values I see no signal at all. Running Auto Tune will result in what looks like random results, and will often be useless, e. g. multiplier at 600, Ion Energy at 0.0.

I recommand to tune your MS "by hand". That mean the aboundance of 69 is 100%, the aboundance of 131 and 219 is 30-50 % and finally the aboundance of 502 is les than 5 %. Looking at your picture of MS parameters it seems that they are really not in line with what I am used to have. Could you please send me recent print screen of yozu MS parameters in order I can help you ?

Regards

0.5DaVe

This is the best I can do by hand.