Flow rate insensitive thermal conductivity detector

We present a novel thermal conductivity detector design in which output is minimally affected by changing flow rates in a microchannel. In gas chromatography systems, pressure fluctuations can result in false peaks and an unstable baseline, reducing the systems limit of detection. Furthermore, ramping the temperature of a separation column, used in many chemical separations, changes the viscosity and thus the flow rate of carrier gas also causing an unstable baseline. Therefore, the development of a flow rate invariant detector is extremely important in reducing the complexity and increasing the portability of GC systems.