Friday, January 30, 2009
TGIF
Today we were met with many new challenges. The goal was to re-plumb the GC helium and nitrogen gas lines and insert working traps. Before this could happen we notice the pressure regulator on the helium was not functioning correctly and leaked. I removed it and took it apart. The regulator was very corroded (rusted shut) on the inside. I pieced together and cleaned another regulator from old ones and it seems to be working properly and hold pressure well. We relocated the helium tank, which was previously kept outside, into the lab. I am positive this is why the regulator was functioning so poorly (sea air). We were successful in re-plumbing both gas systems and the nitrogen generator seems to being working well at the moment. I hope that next Monday i can bring the GC online and start trouble shooting potential contamination issues.
1/29/2009
Today was another day of GC maintenance. We put the inlets back together, trimmed and re-installed the columns. Also we got the balance in working order and verified a few pipets. The pipets we found a few days earlier are in great condition (never been used) and seem to be very accurate. I saw the stock room today with Adama's help and we found several more pipets. The volumes for each pipet are 2-20ul, 100-1000ul, and 1000-5000ul. We only have tips for the 2-20 and 100-1000 and the tips do fit just fine. Below you will see picture of the previously posted cages that should be done on monday. As you can see they are a bit smaller than the standard cages from EST. 1/30/09 we should be re-blumbing the gas lines and practice making some LFT
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
1/28/09
I was able to view the cages and the building operation. There are 32 caged being built. They do appear to be smaller in diameter (maybe 7-8 inches vs the EST cages ? inches). They all need more finishing and welding. The spiders were being made while we were there. The spiders also seems a bit small. I will post pictures later.
We did inlet maintenance on the GC today. The gold seals were both fairly dirty and the inserts were very dirty. We attempted to clean the gold seals them with some success, but we won't really know until we reconnect the columns and put the inlets back together. It would be best to order two new gold seals I believe.
There is another nitrogen generator that we will use that has much less time on the filter and had an electrician connect it to the power conditioner to keep it running when power is poor.
I met with Hama and Baba today to discuss the project and the discrepancies with the inventory survey I did yesterday.
Tomorrow, I hope to put the inlets back together on the GC and re-install the columns. Also we should be re-plumb some of the gas tubing and insert traps for the N2 and He gases. After that we should have a better idea of contamination on the GC and the condition of the columns and/or detectors.
We did inlet maintenance on the GC today. The gold seals were both fairly dirty and the inserts were very dirty. We attempted to clean the gold seals them with some success, but we won't really know until we reconnect the columns and put the inlets back together. It would be best to order two new gold seals I believe.
There is another nitrogen generator that we will use that has much less time on the filter and had an electrician connect it to the power conditioner to keep it running when power is poor.
I met with Hama and Baba today to discuss the project and the discrepancies with the inventory survey I did yesterday.
Tomorrow, I hope to put the inlets back together on the GC and re-install the columns. Also we should be re-plumb some of the gas tubing and insert traps for the N2 and He gases. After that we should have a better idea of contamination on the GC and the condition of the columns and/or detectors.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
1st day 1/27/09 overview
The focus for the day was to start GC troubleshooting and maintenance and to do an inventory of supplies that had been previously shipped to the lab in the summer of 2008. It was brought to my attention that the front column or DB-17ms was broken. at first glance it appeared to be broken in half, but I later found that only a 1-m section from the end was broken...so that is great news. We quickly took apart the GC inlet and it was found to be fairly dirty, especially the gold seals. The GC should have high purity helium for the inlet and nitrogen for the make-up gas, but both were plumbed with the He line. We fixed this problem but will not install new gas traps until we are ready to make GC runs. The outlet for the gases was venting into the lab onto the lab bench. It was discussed how to fix this and run tubing to the outside for contaminantion and health reasons.
The nitrogen generator used for nitrogen in the lab is showing a red light indicating nearest as I can tell (no manual) that the filter is bad. The members indicated that it has never been changed. I recommend we make changing the filter a priority. Without it we can't do reliable chromatography.
There is one full tank of class 2 helium.
During inventory the 2 Rainin pipets that were shipped over in the summer of 2008 were missing, but we did find 3 pipets that may work just as well. We will test them on tomorrow. Most of the glassware was present, but some beakers and flasks were missing. It became apperant that the if volumetric flasks are to be used to make standards then ground glass stoppers are needed as they very few.
I indicated to Adama that I need to see the deployment cages for the LFT asap since they are not in the lab yet....to be finished by saturday was what I was told. I hope to view them tomorrow.
Tomorrow we will be doing mostly GC maintenance and pipet verification. I will try to post tomorrow if I have internet.
The nitrogen generator used for nitrogen in the lab is showing a red light indicating nearest as I can tell (no manual) that the filter is bad. The members indicated that it has never been changed. I recommend we make changing the filter a priority. Without it we can't do reliable chromatography.
There is one full tank of class 2 helium.
During inventory the 2 Rainin pipets that were shipped over in the summer of 2008 were missing, but we did find 3 pipets that may work just as well. We will test them on tomorrow. Most of the glassware was present, but some beakers and flasks were missing. It became apperant that the if volumetric flasks are to be used to make standards then ground glass stoppers are needed as they very few.
I indicated to Adama that I need to see the deployment cages for the LFT asap since they are not in the lab yet....to be finished by saturday was what I was told. I hope to view them tomorrow.
Tomorrow we will be doing mostly GC maintenance and pipet verification. I will try to post tomorrow if I have internet.