Pump vs Mass Flow

When looking to introduce a coating media into a stream of plasma, one has a major decision to make; do I create an introduction system made up of mass flow controllers or hose pumps? What is the chief goal of the work the system is being built for?

Mass flow controllers seem to be the slightly more common choice. They are easily bought and integrated into a control unit, they come calibrated and there is a variety available to cover almost any chemistry you can think of. They provide precise flow rates and this is essential to fine-tuning any process and verifying it continues to run consistently. The downside is that they are limited in the scope of materials they can handle; a controller designed for an organo-silicon may quickly cog up if fed with a different liquid. You do pay a premium for the precision as well, although there are more cost-effective models available if precision is not as paramount.

Hose pump systems offer a far wider range of potential liquids and typically switching between these is as simple as switching in a different length of hose and recalibrating the pump for the new liquid. This set-up time and the physical arrangement of such a pump do make it inherently less accurate, but it is a cost effective way to provide flows over a wide range of rates for a variety of liquids.

In short, the real question to be answered is whether you want a system for exploration, or are more focused on fine-tuning a known coating chemistry. Once that is known, Plasmatreat has products available that cater to either need!