Hi all,
Long-time listener, first-time caller, as they say :)
We have a perplexing issue with the SampleXpress installed on our Bruker Avance III 400 NanoBay (V1). It started out as an intermittent problem that could be "solved" by turning the power off and back on again, but as of late is now a permanent feature.
In the beginning, the first sample since power-on would be injected, run as normal and then ejected. The ejection process works as normal, with the lift air raising the sample sufficiently high such that the "sample hovering" sensor is correctly activated. Then the sample release lever is activated, the lift air is turned off, and the sample is correctly caught in the holder. So far so good, but then the SampleXpress throws a "117.410.255 Sample Stuck" error, since it thinks that there is a sample stuck between the SampleXpress and the probehead. Turning the power off gets you a "117.310.256 Stuck" error, and asks you to press yes to reset everything as long as you're happy the bore is clear. This can be repeated as many times as you like.
However, as of late the same error is thrown after the sample is successfully INjected.
While the error was still intermittent, I seemed to be able to reproduce the fault only within IconNMR 5.0.2 (the version bundled with TopSpin 3.5pl2), and that using the sx commands in TopSpin seemed to work fine, so I thought I'd narrowed it down to an obscure bug. Now this also happens within TopSpin 3.5pl2 and 3.2pl7 so I guess its not that.
Most peculiarly the complete injection test loop in the service menu still works flawlessly.
The inlet pressure into the console is 4.9 bar, and the SampleXpress air is currently at 4.12 bar (in the menus) and 4.2 bar (on the mechanical gauge). The needle valve was adjusted in a position three clockwise turns away from its minimum output flow rate, which is the right setting from trial and error that stops the odd sample being ejected in such a way that it gets wedged in the prongs.
We're running the latest firmware (and have been for some time).
Our system has to the best of my knowledge has never correctly reported the "sample up" position correctly - when the sample is up or absent TopSpin appears to report that the sample is down.
I've run out of things that I can think to try, and Bruker UK seem to be stumped on this one. Has anybody else got any good ideas?
Thanks!
Geoff
Dr. Geoffrey Akien
g.akien_at_lancaster.ac.uk
NMR Technician
Department of Chemistry
C07 (office) and A073/4/5/6 (lab), Faraday Building
Lancaster University
LA1 4YB
Office: 01524 593790
Received on Wed Aug 26 2015 - 06:58:17 MST