Chromatography Forum

I have a 6890 GC/5973N MSD with a Varian Archon P&T autosampler and Tekmar 3000 concentrator. The computer recently died for the system and I just got chemstation to load and communicate properly. This system was set up years ago and the people who did that work are long gone and left zero notes. How do I get the archon and tekmar to talk to the system? I see how to set the two items to send ready signals but doesn't the computer need to recognize those signals? I don't have any driver disks. Thanks!

Normally the connection from the Purge and Trap is linked to the GC, and the GC will send the ready signal to the computer. The autosampler will receive a Purge Ready signal from the concentrator and will fill the sparge tube, then it sends a signal back to the concentrator to start the purge. When the concentrator is in Desorb Ready it will send a signal to the GC. Once the GC, MS, and concentrator all are sending a ready signal, the concentrator will step to Desorb and send a start signal to the GC which will then send start signals to the MS and computer.

If you didn't change any connections between the GC/MS and the purge and trap you should be ready to go.

Of course, if someone bought the extra software for control of the purge and trap from the computer that is another story, but most people don't bother with that since it is much easier to just program the purge and trap components from their own control panels.

I use Tekmar's Teklink to control my P&T concentrator and sampler ( both Tekmar).
Check to see if your "old" setup included other software packages.

Just seeing if anyone has a copy of Teklink software you could share. I have a Aerotrap 6000/Aerocan system which i'm setting up and the hand controllor is pretty inconvenient! Any help in acquiring the software would be appreciated.
Thanks, Charles

Normally the connection from the Purge and Trap is linked to the GC, and the GC will send the ready signal to the computer. The autosampler will receive a Purge Ready signal from the concentrator and will fill the sparge tube, then it sends a signal back to the concentrator to start the purge. When the concentrator is in Desorb Ready it will send a signal to the GC. Once the GC, MS, and concentrator all are sending a ready signal, the concentrator will step to Desorb and send a start signal to the GC which will then send start signals to the MS and computer.

If you didn't change any connections between the GC/MS and the purge and trap you should be ready to go.

Of course, if someone bought the extra software for control of the purge and trap from the computer that is another story, but most people don't bother with that since it is much easier to just program the purge and trap components from their own control panels.

Does Teklink give any timing features which might allow one to shorten the P/T cycle versus using the hand controller? I figure my 3000/Archon setup wastes about 5 minutes getting the vial ready to purge once it gets the purge ready signal. It would be useful if software could shorten the process by anticipating the purge ready signal.

Normally the connection from the Purge and Trap is linked to the GC, and the GC will send the ready signal to the computer. The autosampler will receive a Purge Ready signal from the concentrator and will fill the sparge tube, then it sends a signal back to the concentrator to start the purge. When the concentrator is in Desorb Ready it will send a signal to the GC. Once the GC, MS, and concentrator all are sending a ready signal, the concentrator will step to Desorb and send a start signal to the GC which will then send start signals to the MS and computer.

If you didn't change any connections between the GC/MS and the purge and trap you should be ready to go.

Of course, if someone bought the extra software for control of the purge and trap from the computer that is another story, but most people don't bother with that since it is much easier to just program the purge and trap components from their own control panels.

Does Teklink give any timing features which might allow one to shorten the P/T cycle versus using the hand controller? I figure my 3000/Archon setup wastes about 5 minutes getting the vial ready to purge once it gets the purge ready signal. It would be useful if software could shorten the process by anticipating the purge ready signal.

Been awhile since I used the Archon, but I believe there is a GC cycle time setting that could be used in conjunction with not waiting for the purge ready but that would be risky if room temperature changes much and affects the trap cool down. Another thing you could try is raising the purge ready temperature of the trap, as it will continue to cool while the Archon is getting the next sample and preparing it to transfer to the sparge tube. See how much the trap cools during this period and adjust it up by that much and see if that works.

Thanks for responding. I do have the purge ready temperature set at 70C and have purge temp set at 0 (room temp). However, I use the moisture control loop and it is set at 40C; that seems to be the time limiting step. I get a 26 minute turn around per sample. Not horrible, but I envy users of the new P&T concentrators.