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Heated Helium Purifiers

Carrier gas purity is essential in any application requiring extreme sensitivity. Impurities limit detector sensitivity and can even destroy capillary columns. The Valco helium purifier (HP2) provides "point-of-use" gas purification of helium or other noble gases, such as Ar, Ne, Kr, and Xe, to sub-ppm levels of reactive gaseous impurities.

Based on 10 ppm total inlet impurities, outlet impurities are less than 10 ppb for H2O, H2, O2, N2, NO, NH3, CO, CO2, and CH4. Other impurities removed include CF4, CCl4, SiH4, and light hydrocarbons.

The purification substrate is a non-evaporable heat-activated gettering alloy. This stable alloy is contained in a welded assembly, so the purifiers can be used safely in industrial applications with minimal precautions. When the getter is heated, the oxide film on the particle surface is eliminated, allowing helium to diffuse into the bulk of the getter particles. The purifier features a self-regulating design which maintains the getter material at the optimum temperature and eliminates the possibility of thermal runaway.

The miniature version is designed to be installed in a gas chromatograph's flow path immediately upstream of the injector. The HPM will remove any contaminants introduced by flow controllers, elastomeric tube seals, pressure regulators, crude traps, or other system components that are not completely clean and leak-tight.