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Micro-injector for portable gas chromatograph

 

For CP-2003 micro-GC   (left)	For 490-GC micro-GC  (also right on left photo)
Click for bigger photo

Agilent (formerly: Varian) in Middelburg, The Netherlands, is a producer of gas chromatographs: instruments used to determine the composition of volatile substances such as gases.

To analyse these mixtures, a small sample is inserted in a column by means of an injector. Conventional non-portable gas chromatographs are based on stainless-steel injectors. 

Xensor, working in conjunction with Agilent, used micro-machined silicon 'channels' and synthetic micro-valves to create a micro-injector for the portable micro gas chromatograph (GC) CP-2003. Not only does it analyse small amounts of gas with a high degree of accuracy, it is also much smaller, faster and lighter than its stainless-steel counterpart.

In January 2002 Agilent introduced the new portable micro-GC 490-GC (formerly: CP-4900). This contained an improved version of the micro-injector, developed by Xensor, which gives sharper peaks.