近日，知名科学仪器制造商Sciex，已告知超过2000多个质谱仪用户：立即关闭仪器。其原因是由安捷伦科技供应的涡轮泵存在“灾难性的故障”，可能导致严重伤害或死亡。“到目前为止”Sciex表示“尚无用户因此受伤”。

英文原文报道于C&EN周刊3月27日2017年第13期第3页。（C&EN：Chemical & Engineering News，化学与工程新闻是由美国化学学会出版的周刊。覆盖欧洲、美国和亚洲的编辑和记者涵盖了科学、技术、商业、工业、政府政策，教育就业方面的化学领域咨询）

【报道还原】爆炸泵触发SCIEX质谱警报

全球安全公告建议暂时关闭作为分析化学主力的质谱工具

作者Marc S. Reisch 现就职于化学工程新闻 高级通讯员，杜克大学化学与工程新闻专业毕业

图为：可能会碎裂并高速弹出的TV801涡轮泵，来源：Sciex

知名科学仪器制造商Sciex，已告知超过2000多个质谱仪用户：立即关闭仪器。其原因是由安捷伦科技供应的涡轮泵存在“灾难性的故障”，可能导致严重伤害或死亡。“到目前为止”Sciex表示“尚无用户因此受伤”。

根据3月13日对其拥有API 4000、API 4000和API 5000 QTRAP的用户所发出的安全公告， API 系列质谱中TV801涡轮泵的转子存在突然碎裂并高速弹出。该泵用于在仪器的真空腔中产生高的负压。

停止使用API 4000，将严重损害经济效益，Bruce S. Levison说。他在在托莱多大学医药与生命科学学院担任助理教授，使用该质谱来分析药物相关化合物的组织样本。他表示：“我们的收入每天至少损失数千美元。”

图为：SCIEX TV801涡轮泵的单螺旋局部特写

SCIEX和安捷伦尚未确定产品隐患的根本原因。“这种情况不论是从庞大的安装规模和影响还是建议危险性，都是前所未有的” Sciex公司全球销售与服务高级副总裁，Inese Lowenstein先生，告诉C＆EN。

这些质谱仪主要应用于各种化学分析，在全球范围内的科研院所、企业和政府实验室，Sciex说。出售的仪器品牌包括SCIEX，AB SCIEX，MDS Sciex和Applied Biosystems（美国应用生物系统）。

最初的安全警告，是由于今年早些时候一个星期内产生的，两个灾难性的涡轮泵故障。SCIEX通知安捷伦故障后，双方进行了联合调查，一致建议对用户发出关机的安全警告。Lowenstein先生说，Sciex安全警告发出后没有再接到任何更多的灾难性故障报告。

这两台发生故障的TV801系列均于2002制造，Lowenstein先生说，并于2008停产，替代升级产品是采取双螺栓固定housing 的TV902。他指出：TV801只有单一的螺栓，在1500系列和2000系列的API质谱上在使用的更老型号的泵均应关闭。

SCIEX希望受影响的仪器暂时停止使用。直到四月中旬，安捷伦准备好维修工具包，SCIEX的技术人员安装开始。Lowenstein先生透露，安捷伦，SCIEX和维修客户所产生的成本还未确定。

Scott Walden先生，是奥兰多一家专业修理涡轮泵第三方公司的涡轮真空产品专员。他估算维修涡轮泵的成本，更换一个全新的TV-902泵：26000美元。翻新一套价格在12000美元和18000美元之间。

Walden的许多客户出于安全责任考虑，已经关闭了他们的SCIEX质谱仪，但迫切期盼仪器重新顺畅工作。“我们有20个客户的等待名单，要求更换902泵，”Walden说。

【报道英文原版呈现】

Volume 95 Issue 13 | p. 3 | News of The Week

Issue Date: March 27, 2017

Exploding pumps trigger Sciex mass spectrometer alert

Global safety notice recommends shutdown of workhorse analytical chemistry tools

By Marc S. Reisch

The TV 801 turbo pump, which may fail and eject fragments.

Credit: Sciex

Scientific instrument maker Sciex has told owners of more than 2,000 mass spectrometers to immediately shut down the instruments because a catastrophic failure of turbo pumps manufactured by Agilent Technologies could “result in serious injury or death.” To date, Sciex says, no one has been injured.

According to a safety notice dated March 13 for owners of API 4000, API 4000 Qtrap, and API 5000 model mass spectrometers, the rotors of the TV 801 turbo pump can suddenly fragment and be ejected at high speeds. The pumps are used to create a high negative pressure in the instrument’s vacuum chamber.

Taking his API 4000 out of service will be financially crippling, says Bruce S. Levison, an assistant professor at the University of Toledo College of Medicine & Life Sciences who uses the machine to analyze tissue samples for pharmacologically relevant compounds. “We stand to lose thousands of dollars per day in revenue,” he says.

Closeup of Sciex TV 801 turbo pump showing single-bolt arrangement.

Credit: Sciex

Sciex and Agilent have yet to determine the root cause of the failure. “This situation is unprecedented both in the sheer size of the installation base affected and in the criticality of the recommendation,” Inese Lowenstein, Sciex’s senior vice president of global sales and service, tells C&EN.

The workhorse mass spectrometers are used for a variety of chemical analyses and are in place around the world in academic, industrial, and government settings, Sciex says. The instruments were sold under brand names including Sciex, AB Sciex, MDS Sciex, and Applied Biosystems.

Two catastrophic turbo pump failures within a week of each other earlier this year led to the safety notice. Sciex notified Agilent of the failures, and the two undertook a joint investigation leading to the shutdown recommendation. Lowenstein says Sciex has not received any more catastrophic failure reports since the notice first went out.

The two TV 801 pumps that failed were manufactured in 2002, Lowenstein says. The pump was discontinued in 2008 and replaced with a new design, the TV 902, which has double bolts securing the housing. The TV 801 has single bolts. Lowenstein figures that between 1,500 and 2,000 of the API model instruments in use have the older pump and should be shut down.

Sciex expects that affected instruments will be out of service until Agilent designs and assembles a repair kit that Sciex technicians will install sometime starting in mid-April. Costs to ­Agilent, Sciex, and customers for the repairs are still undetermined, Lowenstein says.

According to Scott Walden, a product specialist at Turbo Vacuum, an Orlando-based firm that repairs turbo pumps, a brand new TV-902 pump costs $26,000. Refurbished units cost between $12,000 and $18,000.

Many of Walden’s clients have shut down their Sciex mass spectrometers for liability reasons and are desperate to get the instruments back to work. “We have a waiting list of 20 clients asking for the 902 pump,” Walden says.

Chemical & Engineering News

ISSN 0009-2347

Copyright © 2017 American Chemical Society

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