Monitor Instruments Co LLC & Cycloid Mass Spectrometer

This Cycloid Mass Spectrometer
 from Monitor Instruments
 is only 6" x 2" x .5"
 and is very sensitive,
able to detect trace materials

Monitor Instruments Company LLC was founded in 1992 to develop chemical analysis instrumentation for emerging requirements in laboratory, industrial, biomedical and field portable applications. There is a growing unfilled need for smaller, faster, reliable and economically priced instruments with high-end performance. Mass spectrometry – specifically cycloidal designs - was identified as the technology most likely to satisfy this emerging market need.

Monitor Instruments products could be important monitoring tools at fracking sites and nuclear power plants, among numerous other applications.

Monitor Instruments has focused its resources on the development of its core linear cycloidal instrumentation base to produce a series of innovative products. Intensive research and development activity has produced portable instruments for field applications; isotope ratio instruments for clinical requirements; and application specific systems for industrial, pharmaceutical and environmental process control and monitoring as well. All can be characterized by delivering high performance at low cost.

The power of mass spectrometry has long been used to develop chemical analysis tools for laboratory, pharmaceutical, petrochemical, clinical and semiconductor applications, to name a few. Economic considerations and the perceived complexity of mass spectrometry have limited use of this technology in the past. Monitor Instruments has embarked on a research and development program to provide instruments that supply the performance, simplicity, miniaturization, and cost requirements of growing application markets. The selection of a core technology for this program, based on careful research, resulted in the adoption of cycloidal mass spectrometry.

The development of NEG-Ion pump technology is a critical accomplishment for the development of portable gas specific detectors. These miniature sensors meet emerging requirements for the industrial leak detection and personal safety markets.

The initial research and development program was focused on linear cycloidal technology. The intent was to miniaturize this design while maintaining the performance characteristics needed by the market. This effort produced a patented miniature ionizer and ion optics design, which was incorporated in prototype instruments used in field testing. Lessons learned in this extensive four-year field test and evaluation program were continuously incorporated in both hardware and software. The result was the field tested Series 3000 cycloidal mass spectrometers.