Capillary reactor setup

The setup can be used either with U-frames, where the capillaries are glued into a steel frame, or with bare (sealed) capillaries. The connection to the U-frame is a 3/16" Swagelok connector, where the nut is located on the U-frame. The image below shows all three mounting capabitlities. The blue holder is used for the U-frames (red) and is made to insert a thin thermocouple into the capillary for precise temperature control of the sample. U-fames are available for 1, 2 and 3 mm capillaries and an epoxy glue is used to fix and seal the capillary to the U-frame. The orange holder can be used to just clamp a for example sealed capillary. Note that the capillary is first glued into an adapter made out of steel and only then clamped. The green holder is a universal mount for 3/16" swagelok connectors.

The length of the capillary and it's holder can be adjusted, as the mounts can be moved in the horizontal direction.

Two infrared heaters (pink) can heat capillaries up to a maximum temperature of 800°C, depending the size of the capillary, the gas flow through the sample, the distance between the heaters and the capillary or the air flow around the capillary. If you plan to use temperatures above 600°C, please contact the beamline staff to discuss your idea.

The PID temperature controller controls both infrared heaters and is usually using the thermocouple inside the capillary as the reference temperature. 

As visible in the picture below, the base plate (yellow) includes holes to mount the setup onto the sample manipulator of SuperXAS. By this, the setup can be aligned in all translational axis and rotated around the vertical axis.

If the standard U-frame (red) mount (blue) is used, the connection to the gas supply and exhaust system is made with 1/16" swagelok connectors.

The software for the temperature controller creates EPICS PVs, which means that for example the temperature can be logged with the usual beamline tools.