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Drift cell with a helix-shaped electrode fabricated by 3D printing
P202431057
CIEMAT shows the fabrication by means of additive manufacturing techniques (3D printing) of a drift cell with a highly-uniform electric field, due to its helix field-shaping electrode. This invention provides a methodology for laying down the conductor and insulating materials layers, that results in a drift cell with a continuous helix electrode and also techniques for design of such helix structure so that it adapts to different manufacturing constraints (material conductivity, size and shape of the drift cell). This invention could be used in various measuring instruments such as radiation detectors and ion mobility spectrometers. These devices are widely used for the chemical analysis of ionized gaseous molecules and are common devices for the detection of explosives, drugs and chemical weapons at airports.
This drift cell is very simple to make using a 3D printer with two extrusion heads and low-cost conductive filaments. The cell can be elaborated in an integrated way by means of this 3D printing, together with other elements of the system, lowering the total cost of the whole. In addition, compared to other existing drift cells with continuous helical electrodes, the manufacture of the electrode using 3D printing improves the manufacturing process since existing solutions are based on other processes more difficult to scale. On the other hand, this cell can be created with any section, not only with a circular section, being equally valid for ion mobility spectrometers and radiation detectors. The resulting drift cell is a very effective cell, with which a highly uniform field and a great simplicity of obtaining it is achieved, through a monoblock body formed by two materials, without the need to introduce more additional elements. Thanks to this methodology, the construction is carried out in a single step, thus accelerating the process and reducing times and costs. This invention can be used in various fields such as ion mobility spectroscopy for highly sensitive detection of traces of substances, such as substances in border control (airports) or in analysis within the chemical industry; or as gaseous radiation detectors for high-energy experimental physics experiments, in geology or volcanology, among others.