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Gate valve closing with plasma on

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trevorbruce

Participant

Posts: 5

Joined: Wed Oct 06, 2021 9:56 pm

Post Thu Oct 07, 2021 3:43 pm

Gate valve closing with plasma on

Hello- thank you for letting me join the forum. Has anyone had the issue of the gate valve closing while the plasma is still on? It seems to be happening after the plasma has been on for 20 minutes
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TomerWeizmann

Contributor

Posts: 43

Joined: Mon Apr 07, 2014 11:58 am

Location: Weizmann Institute of Science - Israel

Post Sat Oct 09, 2021 10:09 am

Re: Gate valve closing with plasma on

Welcome.

We have encountered a similar fault. It required Fluidigm’s on-site service and replacing of the gate valve (sometimes cleaning the mechanism and changing the o-rings may help).

As a temporary workaround, you may try opening the gate valve ‘manually’ via Service Mode (consult with your FSE). Keep a close eye that it stays open, and I also recommend to confirm that the QC (tuning and beads etc.) are normal after this procedure.

Good luck :-)
Dr. Tomer-Meir Salame
Head, Mass Cytometry Unit
Life Sciences Core Facilities
Weizmann Institute of Science
E-mail: tomer-meir.salame@weizmann.ac.il
https://www.weizmann.ac.il/LS_CoreFacil ... etry/about
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trevorbruce

Participant

Posts: 5

Joined: Wed Oct 06, 2021 9:56 pm

Post Tue Oct 12, 2021 8:26 pm

Re: Gate valve closing with plasma on

Thank you- we are scheduling a Fluidigm visit
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desireeBCRT

Contributor

Posts: 23

Joined: Mon Jan 06, 2014 11:56 am

Post Thu Oct 14, 2021 11:04 am

Re: Gate valve closing with plasma on

Hi,
we also had our gate closing about that time after plasma was lit. Sometimes with a shutdown and error "Argon supply insufficient" but most times also with plasma staying on. In our case, it was a failure at the gas manifold sitting behind the argon inlet on the side of the instrument. A loose connection of a cable, that made the instrument "think" that there was insufficient argon when it actually wasn't the case.

Good luck and please let us know what the issue was on your instrument.

Desiree
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trevorbruce

Participant

Posts: 5

Joined: Wed Oct 06, 2021 9:56 pm

Post Fri Oct 29, 2021 10:56 pm

Re: Gate valve closing with plasma on

Our field service engineer replaced the micro board, and that seems to have resolved the issue

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