Thermo Scientific Vanquish Autosampler and Charger: Controlling

Commands and Tips for Thermo Scientific Devices
Vanquish Autosampler and Charger: Controlling

In Chromeleon, the Charger is not handled as a separate device. It is installed and controlled via the autosampler, that is, all settings made for the autosampler also apply to the Charger. For example, see the section about Temperature Control below. For detailed information about the Charger, refer to the Vanquish Charger Operating Manual.

Before Starting an Analysis

Set the target temperature and wait until the temperature has been reached (see Temperature Control).
Load the sample racks or well plates (see Loading or Exchanging Racks).
Verify that the doors of the modules in the Vanquish system are closed.
Select a rack type if applicable (see Rack Types).
Make sure that the chromatography system is properly equilibrated. Chromeleon supports procedures for automatically starting a chromatography system in the software (Smart Startup). The startup procedure includes the operations for system equilibration. For more information, see The SmartStartup Wizard.
To ensure proper transport of the racks from the Charger to the autosampler, the position of the autosampler nest and the top and bottom level position in the Charger need to be calibrated. This must be done by a trained service technician.

Sample Preparation

Chromeleon can prepare a sample for injection while another injection is still running. The following commands are available for sample preparation: PrepareNextSample, PrepareThisSample. For more information, see Autosampler Control: Overlapping Sample Preparation.

Temperature Control

Temperature control ensures that the temperature in the autosampler and Charger compartment is the same.

If you have both a Vanquish autosampler and Charger installed and use temperature control but do not use the Charger at the moment, do not turn the Charger off. If temperature control is enabled, the autosampler will be thermostatted to reach the set target termperature and the Charger will be thermostatted to reach the temperature of the autosampler, even if you do not use the Charger at the moment. This ensures that the Charger samples, which will shortly be moved into the autosampler carousel, have the same temperature as the samples which were injected before. You can manually set the temperature control in the Program, on the Control Panel or in the Commands View.

Note:

If a Charger is connected, temperature control can only be set via the sampler module. This ensures that the same nominal temperature is used for both autosampler and Charger.
The relevant commands and properties are only available if you enabled temperature control for the autosampler in the Server Configuration program.
Keep the doors closed until the target temperature has been reached.

To set the temperature control on the control panel

In the Chromeleon Client, open the Control Panel of the Vanquish sampler module (see How to: Controlling Devices from the Control Panel Opening a Control Panel).
Under Temperature Control, set Control to 'On'.
Set the target temperature (Nominal) by means of the up/down arrows. Entering a nominal temperature value automatically enables temperature control.

To set the temperature control in the Commands view

In the Chromeleon Client, open the Control Panel of the Vanquish sampler module (see How to: Controlling Devices from the Control Panel Opening a Control Panel).
Press F8 or click Command on the Control menu to open the Commands view (see The PGM Editor: The Commands View).
In the device tree, click the main sampling device (SamplerModule) to see its properties and commands.
Set the target temperature (Temperature.Nominal) for the autosampler and Charger to reach. Entering a nominal temperature value automatically enables temperature control.

The current temperature is displayed by the Temperature.Value property.

Note:

If you set the TempCtrl property to 'Off', temperature control for both the sampler and the Charger is disabled at the same time:

LPG Pump Stroke Synchronization

If the sampler is used in combination with the Vanquish Quaternary pump (LPG), the VAS can be linked to the pump which provides a stroke synchronization signal to support LPG pump stroke synchronization of the sampling and injection process.

To enable pump stroke synchronization, follow the steps below:

In the Server Configuration program, double-click the Vanquish Autosampler to open the sampler configuration.
On the Links tab, select the Vanquish Quaternary pump from the list to link the sampler to a pump synchronization port.
Save your configuration.

In Chromeleon, pump stroke synchronization is enabled by default.

If you want to disable pump stroke synchronization temporarily, follow the steps below:

Launch Chromeleon.
In the Client, select New on the File menu, and select Program File, or open an existing program file.
On the General Settings page for the sampler, disable the Enable Stroke Synchronization check box.

If LPG synchronization is configured, and activated in the VAS driver, the sampling procedure will take place in a similar fashion as for sampler preparation, that is, the VAS starts sampling when the Inject command or a sampler preparation command has been reached. As soon as the sampling procedure is complete (except for switching the valve) and the Inject command has been reached, the VAS driver waits for the next stroke sync signal from the linked pump. When the signal has been received the driver will switch the valve and send the inject response signal to the sampler.