Articles techniques et présentations

Ion mobility spectrometry provides fast detection of very low concentrations of chemical substances. Simple instrumentation combined with high sensitivity and high selectivity are the advantages of this technique. One well established field of application is the detection of hazardous compounds in air, such as chemical warfare agents, explosives and pollutants. A numerical model based on finite element analysis has been developed for rapid design and optimization of ion mobility spectrometers with respect to physical and economic constraints. All significant physical effects on the ion transport in an IMS are considered within the simulation, such as diffusion, coulomb repulsion, electric fields and gas flows. For developing, studying and optimizing a new concept of a miniaturized low-cost IMS COMSOL Multiphysics has been successfully used.