Method and apparatus for rapidly concentrating particles for analysis of explosives

摘要

A fast alternative for detecting dangerous or illegal substances is taught that improves upon the relatively slow conventional batch method of collecting and concentrating particles in filters. The new method concentrates the particles on-line and almost instantaneously, taking advantage of their inertia. Particles are thus concentrated on the fly from a large gas sample flow rate into a small gas flow rate, where they are rapidly volatilized and their vapors sensed in an analytical instrument such as a mass spectrometer or an ion mobility spectrometer.