Patent ID: 11942317
Assignee: THE TRUSTEES OF INDIANA UNIVERSITY
Field: Electrical machinery, apparatus, energy (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC H | IPC H

Claim 10:
11. An instrument for analyzing charged particles, comprising:
an ion generator configured to generate charged particles from a sample of particles,
a mass spectrometer configured to receive the charged particles generated by the ion generator and to measure masses and charge magnitudes of the generated charged particles,
a thermal energy source configured to transfer thermal energy to at least one of the sample particles and the charged particles generated by the ion generator,
a processor, and
a memory having instructions stored therein executable by the processor to cause the processor to (a) control the thermal energy source to cause the charged particles to enter the mass spectrometer at each of a plurality of different temperatures within a range of temperatures over which the sample particles undergo structural changes, (b) control the mass spectrometer to measure the masses and charge magnitudes of the generated charged particles at each of the plurality of different temperatures, and (c) within a selected range of the measured masses, (i) identify all charge magnitude peaks of the measured charge magnitudes at a first one of the plurality of temperatures, and (ii) identify additional charge magnitudes of the measured charge magnitudes at each of one or more additional ones of the plurality of temperatures each having a higher temperature than that of the first one of the plurality of temperatures.