Ultra-Short Path

The Ultra Short Path flow cells are intended for measurements on optically dense (highly colored) solutions. This is made possible by a design that can accommodate extremely short optical path lengths. Wetted materials on the USP flow cell are quartz, PEEK or Delrin, and PTFE. Available optical path lengths are 0.1, 0.2, 0.5, 1.0 and 2.0 mm.

Popular applications include:

• measurement of dye concentrates

• measurement of high-concentration protein solutions

Assembly Instructions

Your flow cell is shipped fully assembled and ready to use. However, there may be occasions where you want to disassemble the flow cell, for instance, to change optical paths.

1) The flowthrough “slide” needs to be oriented so that the small port holes face upwards, and lay the slide in the recessed area, as in the two photos below.

2) Screw the upper and lower slide mounting plates together with the four included screws, as shown below. WARNING: rotate from one screw to the next, gradually tightening all four. This ensures the plates are mounted level. WARNING: do not over-tighten. The plates only need to press against the slide to hold it in place. Over-tightening can crack the slide.

3) Pre-tighten/collapse the blue ferrule onto the tubing. This step is performed because it takes some force to tighten the blue ferrules, a process that could crack the slide (step 5). The blue ferrule must be pre-tightened using a different ¼-28 port.

4) Drop one Teflon gasket (included) into each of the two fluidic ports (as shown below), making sure they lay flat at the bottom.

5) Mount the tubing into the fluidic ports with the included ¼-28 flat bottom fittings and blue ferrules. Make sure the tubing does not extend past the blue ferrule’s flat bottom. WARNING: DO NOT OVER-TIGHTEN. Over-tightening will crack the slide. Just half a rotation past the point of first resistance is adequate, so the blue ferrule is pushing up against the white Teflon seal firmly but not tight. The flat bottom pushed against the white Teflon gasket makes a good seal.

USP Flow Cell Manual >