Market Application Brief General Valve

3/12/2004 Rev 2
Market: Bio-Pharma / Analytical Instrument
Segment: Separation Instrumenation
Niche/Application: HPLC (High Performance Liquid Chromotography)

Overview: In 2000 the HPLC Instrument Market had worldwide revenues in excess of $2.5 Billion. The technology is a
chemistry based tool for quantifying and analyzing specific components contained in mixtures of chemical compounds.
For example, it can be used to find out how much caffeine there is in a cup of coffe (or tea, or cola).
HPLC is an analytical technique for separation and determination of organic and inorganic solutes in any samples
especially biological, pharmaceutical, food, environmental, industrial, etc. In a liquid process a sample must be dissolved
in a solvent (like water or alcohol). As the solvent mixture passes through the system, a detector measures response
changes between the solvent itself, and the solvent & sample. The electrical response is digitized and sent to a data
system. The graphic on page 2 shows the basic system components:

• Solvent Delivery System – pushes the solvent stream through the instrument at a constant flow rate.
• Autosampler – introduces the sample into the liquid stream of the instrument.
• Column – a tube packed with chemically derivatized beads (usually silica or rigid polymer 3 to 10 micron diameter) that
separates compounds. The bead surface consititutes the stationary phase.
• Detector – A sensor (usually optical) that detects changes in the characteristics of the solvent stream. Multiple
detector technologies may be used to analyze the sample that the LC separates. These include Mass Spectrometer,
Refractive Index, Photodiode Array, UV, Evaporative Light Scattering, Conductivity and others.
• Data System – A means of controlling the system components and storing, processing, and displaying data.

Majore OEM’s: Waters Corp., Perkin Elmer, Agilent, Varian Inc., Hitachi, Shimadzu, Dionex, Gilson, ThermoQuest,
Amersham, Beckman-Coulter, D-Star Instruments, Alltech Associates.

Common Parker Components or System: Series 18 for Solvent Delivery System for selection and mixing (S-2
Teflon Valve). Series 1 and 2 for some. (Potential Products: Series 3 and 4, Series 27, Oligo, digital valve (X-Valve) in
degasser, EPC, Tubing, Cylinger (pressure or vacuum resevoir).

Parker Technical/Product Differentiation: Solenoid to solenoid repeatability that is critical for run-to-run retention time
reproducibility. Low dead volume in the valve and manifold and fast response time.

Key Competitors & Product: Biohem, NR (Neptune Research), Valcor Scientific, Takasogo.

Links to Additional Information:

Article: HPLC and the ever popular LC/MS, Basic Liquid Chromatography

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Market Application Brief General Valve

3/12/2004 Rev 2

A high pressure pump is required to force the mobile phase through the column at typical flow rates of 0.1-2 ml/min. The
sample to be separated is introduced into the mobile phase by injection device, manual, or automatic, prior to the column.

Separation can be achieved by controlling and manipulating these interactions, which effect the relative retention times of
various sample components.