What are the difference between a high pressure gradient pump and a low pressure gradient pump?
In a low pressure gradient pump, different mobile phase is mixed using a valve before entering the pump head. In a high pressure gradient pump, each different mobile phase is delivered by an individual pump head and then mixed at the pump outlet. The low-pressure gradient design is of lower cost as it only use one pump head. It can also use more types of mobile phase without significant increase of cost. The high-pressure gradient design provides a much faster gradient since solvent mixing point is much closer to the column head. This is measured using delay volume. The value can be 50-300 uL for high pressure gradient pump and can be 2 to 3 times larger for a low pressure gradient pump. A small delay volume is important when the analysis time is short or the flow rate is low. If the delay volume is too large, it become impossible to obtain reproducible gradient run since the planed composition cannot reach the column head before a run is finished.. 5. What are the important specificat
