Injection valve for an analysis apparatus
View Patent ↗The present invention relates to an injection valve for an analysis apparatus comprising an analysis column, the injection valve comprising a rotative body compressed against a base by a compressive element, the rotative body comprising a lower surface in contact with the base and at least one recess on the lower surface configured to receive a fluid sample, wherein the base comprises a vaporization chamber which comprises an injection conduit having an upper end and a lower end, the vaporization chamber further comprising a carrier phase inlet in fluid communication with the injection conduit, wherein the injection conduit is configured for being in fluid communication with the analysis column of the analysis apparatus via the lower end when the injection valve is mounted on the analysis apparatus, and wherein, in an injection configuration of the rotative body, the recess is in fluid communication only with the injection conduit, via the upper end thereof. The present invention further relates to an analysis set comprising said injection valve and to a method of analyzing a fluid in said analysis set.
1. An injection valve for an analysis apparatus comprising an analysis column, the injection valve comprising a rotative body compressed against a base by a compressive element, the rotative body comprising a lower surface in contact with the base and at least one recess on the lower surface configured to receive a fluid sample, wherein the base comprises a vaporization chamber which comprises an injection conduit having an upper end and a lower end, the vaporization chamber further comprising a carrier phase inlet in fluid communication with the injection conduit, wherein the injection conduit is configured for being in fluid communication with the analysis column of the analysis apparatus via the lower end when the injection valve is mounted on the analysis apparatus, and wherein, in an injection configuration of the rotative body, the recess is in fluid communication only with the injection conduit, via the upper end thereof.
2. The injection valve according to claim 1 , wherein the recess has a diameter parallel to the lower surface of the rotative body which is equal to or lower than 1 mm and/or wherein the recess has a depth perpendicular to the lower surface of the rotative body which is from 0.1 to 1 mm.
3. The injection valve according to claim 1 , wherein the recess is configured to accommodate a volume of fluid sample from 0.05 to 0.5 μL.
4. The injection valve according to claim 1 , wherein the rotative body comprises more than one recesses, wherein, each recess is in fluid communication only with the injection conduit via the upper end thereof, in various respective injection configurations of the rotative body.
5. The injection valve according to claim 4 , wherein the more than one recesses have the same diameter parallel to the lower surface of the rotative body and different depths perpendicular to the lower surface of the rotative body.
6. The injection valve according to claim 4 , wherein the more than one recesses are configured to receive different volumes of fluid sample.
7. The injection valve according to claim 1 , wherein the compressive element comprises a plurality of washers, at least one piston and at least one rotation element.
8. The injection valve according to claim 1 , wherein, in the injection configuration, the totality of the recess faces the upper end of the injection conduit.
9. The injection valve according to claim 1 , wherein the carrier phase inlet is connected to the injection conduit adjacent to the upper end thereof.
10. The injection valve according to claim 1 , wherein the base comprises at least one sample inlet channel and at least one sample outlet channel, and wherein the recess is in fluid communication with the sample inlet channel and the sample outlet channel in a sampling configuration of the rotative body.
11. The injection valve according to claim 1 , wherein the base comprises at least one solvent inlet channel and at least one fluid solvent outlet channel, and wherein the recess is in fluid communication with the solvent inlet channel and the solvent outlet channel in a washing configuration of the rotative body.
12. An analysis set comprising an analysis apparatus comprising an analysis column, and the injection valve of claim 1 mounted thereon.
13. The analysis set according to claim 12 , wherein the analysis apparatus is a gas chromatography apparatus.
14. A method of analyzing a fluid in the analysis set of claim 12 , wherein:
a fluid sample is loaded into the recess when the rotative body is in the sampling configuration;
the injection conduit is continuously swept by a carrier phase;
the rotative body is rotated to the injection configuration;
the fluid sample is transferred to the analysis column via the injection conduit owing to the carrier phase.
15. The method according to claim 14 , wherein the carrier phase is a carrier gas.
16. The method according to claim 14 , wherein the injection conduit is at a temperature from 15 to 300° C., and/or wherein the injection conduit is heated and/or the carrier phase is preheated prior to sweeping the injection conduit.
17. The method according to claim 14 , wherein the fluid sample is at a pressure from 1 to 800 bar, when it is loaded.
18. The method according to claim 14 , wherein the pressure within the injection conduit is from 0.5 to 2.0 bar.
19. The method according to claim 14 , wherein the fluid is a hydrocarbon fluid.
20. The method according to claim 14 , which is implemented inside a well drilled in a subterranean formation, the fluid being a hydrocarbon fluid collected from the subterranean formation.