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| Griffin 824 in operation (Photo FLIR) |
Last week, I had the privilege and esteemed honor to
interview Garth Patterson from FLIR about a product I’m dying to tell you about
– the
Griffin 824. Before I begin, I’d
like to remind you I was in military law enforcement/security for 10
years. However, my knowledge of the
science behind the Griffin 824 is cursory at best. So, I called every person I knew who
understood
mass spectrometry to give me a brief tutorial. As you can tell, Garth explained things
perfectly.
Garth, can you tell
me about your background and the product?
Let’s begin with you and then what it actually does?
Well, I’m the program manager for the Griffin 824. I previously worked for Griffin before it
became a part of FLIR. The device is a
mass spectrometry device which analyzes chemical compounds at the molecular
level. It is used in a variety of field applications
ranging from corrections, law enforcement, border crossings, airports, etc. It
looks for explosives and narcotic traces from a user-gathered sample.
Wow, that sounds
pretty interesting. How exactly does it
do that? *At this point, I’m hoping Garth doesn’t go over my head.*
What happens is the user swipes a surface with a 1-inch
paper-like sheet. The sheet contains a
surface area that picks up trace elements from the surface to be examined. The user then inputs the sample in the
Griffin 824 which then inserts the sheet between two stainless steel
plates. The plates are heated to
vaporize the sheet and the elements. The
ions are then manipulated using electromagnetic fields and an analysis is
conducted using software in the Griffin 824.
The device can differentiate between “junk” and actual compounds. Something ion scanners previously weren’t so
good with.
How does a user know
they have a “hit”?
The machine will display a green light at the initial
startup and will then go to yellow when analyzing. After the analysis is complete, the light
will either go green again to signal a negative result or go red to annunciate
a positive result.
How long does it take
to start up the 824?
It takes approximately 20 minutes. Though, analysis takes
about 10 seconds.
Why mass
spectrometry?
It’s the standard for quality lab analysis for chemical
compounds. It’s also court-friendly.
So what separates
this from the lab?
It can be taken into the field. Mass spectrometry uses a lot of big expensive
equipment in a lab, as is the case with Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. Because it’s
transportable as a single unit and has many field user-friendly applications,
it’s a natural fit for field analysis.
Going over some of
the literature, it claims the 824 is equipped for both audio and visual alert
cues.
Yes. We felt there was
a need for operators not to have a loud, audible cue annunciate in front of a
subject.
Are there any other
applications that set the Griffin 824 apart from other technology?
It’s network addressable.
This means you can presumably plug the 824 into a network and have
results shared over a network to a command and control center. The 824 also has administrative and user
profiles for individual operators in addition to a USB report for flash
drives. The screen is also a touch
screen. There is also no carrier gases
needed which means no big helium tanks.
The unit is self-contained. Given
its ease of use, it takes a little under a day to train personnel on how to use
the 824.
Garth, to say I’m
impressed is an understatement. How long
from inception to production?
About 4 years. We
have another mass spectrometer, the Griffin 460 where we received feedback from
operators wanting something for field use for narcotics and explosive detection
analysis. We saw the biggest need initially
in airports for trace detection.
To see the Griffin 824 in action check out the video below (no audio)
