PATENT CLAIM ANALYSIS

Application Number: 16062936
Application Type: Utility
Filing Date: 2018-06
Publication Date: 2019-01
Patent Classification: ["250", "288000"]

Abstract:
Methods and systems are provided for reducing the occurrence of unwanted electrical discharge when operating an electrospray ion source to generate ions for mass spectrometric analysis. In accordance with various aspects of the applicant's teachings, the methods and systems described herein can provide for controlling the ion emission current so as to limit the onset of avalanche of electrical discharge between the electrospray electrode and the counter electrode under ionization conditions that typically tend to increase the likelihood of such discharge (arcing), while nonetheless providing for maximal ionization efficiency. In various aspects, emission currents between the electrospray electrode and the counter electrode through which the ions are transmitted to a downstream mass analyzer can be maintained at elevated levels, below 10 μA, for example, without the electric potential between the electrospray electrode and the counter electrode initiating the electrical discharge avalanche that results from the dielectric break-down of the air gap therebetween, which can cause sputtering and effect the long-term operation of the ESI source.

Claim (Index 12):
A mass spectrometer system, comprising:\n a liquid chromatography (LC) column for providing a liquid sample to be analyzed; an electrospray ion source in fluid communication with the LC column, the electrospray ion source comprising:\n an ion source housing defining an ionization chamber; \n at least one heater for heating the ionization chamber; \n an electrospray electrode defining an axial bore therethrough for transmitting a liquid sample received from a sample source at an inlet end of the electrospray electrode to an outlet end for discharging the liquid sample from the electrospray electrode into the ionization chamber; and \n a mass analyzer for analyzing the ions generated by the ion source, wherein the ions are received by the mass analyzer through a sampling orifice in a counter electrode, the sampling orifice being in fluid communication with the ionization chamber; a power source configured to provide an electrical voltage to an electrical circuit containing the electrospray electrode and the counter electrode so as to generate an ion emission current between the electrospray electrode and the sampling orifice as at least a portion of the liquid sample is ionized upon being discharged from the electrospray electrode; and an ion emission current controller configured to prevent arcing between the electrospray electrode and the counter electrode without substantially altering the electrical voltage provided to the electrical circuit by the power source, wherein the ion emission current controller comprises:\n a shunt electrode disposed between the LC column and the outlet end of the electrospray electrode, the shunt electrode configured to be in electrical communication with the liquid sample, wherein at least a portion of the electrical current between the power source and the electrospray electrode is diverted to the shunt electrode based on the conductivity of the portion of the liquid sample between the outlet end of the electrospray electrode and the shunt electrode; and \n one or more current limiting resistors disposed in series in the electrical circuit between the power source and the electrospray electrode, the one or more current limiting resistors exhibiting a total resistance in a range from about 20% to about 100% of the resistance of the air gap between the electrospray electrode and the counter electrode under normal, non-electrical discharge conditions of the ion source.

Metadata:
- Claim Count in Document: 32.0
- Percentile: 94.0
- Lexical Diversity: 1.76238
- Patent Class: 250.0
- Transitional Phrase Type: open
- Component Type: 1
- Foreign Priority: False
- Related Applications: ['10893427', '15581172', '13280069', '14910032', '11888914']

Analysis Scores:
- 35 USC 101 Eligibility (BERT): 0.6838595170746675
- 35 USC 102 Novelty (BERT): 0.4968661336180959
- Combined Prediction Score: 0.6651601787290103
- Mean Citation Score: 238.306706
- Max Citation Score: 253.8939
- Similarity Product: 201.55309863772987

Labels:
- Claim Label 101: 1
- Claim Label 102: 1
- Claim Label 103: 1
- Claim Label 112: 0
- Combined Label: 1
- Label 101 Adjusted: 1

Dataset: test