SBIR Phase I: Miniaturized, Low-Power Monitor for Particulate Matter

该小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目将研究小型化，电池供电和廉价传感器的可行性，以提供空气中颗粒物（PM）的实时质量测量。 PM是全球主要的死亡风险之一。 迫切需要廉价的设备来监测PM污染物，如柴油机废气、燃烧源、环境烟草烟雾、发电厂排放和纳米颗粒。 该技术具有重要的社会影响，使那些寻求改善环境，家庭和工作场所的空气质量的人成为可能。 PM质量监测仪提供了一个令人信服的价值主张，通过提供独立操作，直接测量PM质量，以及与现有的气溶胶监测仪相比，至少在尺寸，功率和成本上减少一个数量级。 该仪器的市场包括通风控制、工业卫生、发电厂监控、飞机和汽车中的机舱监控、物联网（IOT）应用以及室内空气质量监控。 2015年，该技术的全球潜在市场每年超过2亿美元。该项目的智力价值在于利用样品流中的颗粒热泳沉积到薄膜体声波谐振器（FBAR）上，并通过测量电子振荡器的频移来确定沉积的质量。 这项工作的成功完成将提高FBAR探测器的灵敏度和稳定性，展示收集和分析PM的变革性技术，减少监视器尺寸和功耗，并改进接口电子设备。 预期的技术成果包括检测水平的提高以及传感器的功耗和形状因数的降低。 该项目将通过研究新的PM收集技术和实现适用于环境监测和气溶胶暴露流行病学研究的高灵敏度、便携式和低成本颗粒物质量监测器，为科学知识和理解做出贡献。 将传感器耦合到手机或其他无线设备可以实现空气质量的密集时间和空间无线测量以及个人暴露评估。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will investigate the feasibility of a miniaturized, battery-powered, and inexpensive sensor to provide real-time mass measurements of airborne particulate matter (PM). PM is one of the leading global risks for mortality. There is an urgent need for inexpensive devices that monitor PM pollutants such as diesel exhaust, combustion sources, environmental tobacco smoke, power plant emissions, and nanoparticles. The proposed technology has important societal impacts by enabling those seeking to improve air quality in the environment, home, and workplace. The PM mass monitor provides a compelling value proposition by offering stand-alone operation, direct measurement of PM mass, and at least an order of magnitude reduction in size, power, and cost in comparison to existing aerosol monitors. Markets for the instrument include ventilation control, industrial hygiene, power plant monitoring, cabin monitoring in aircraft and automobiles, internet of things (IOT) applications, and indoor air quality monitoring. The 2015 worldwide addressable market for the technology is over $200 million annually.The intellectual merit of this project is in leveraging the thermophoretic deposition of particulates from a sample stream onto a thin-film bulk acoustic wave resonator (FBAR), and the determination of the mass deposited by measuring the frequency shift of an electronic oscillator. Successful completion of this work will improve the sensitivity and stability of the FBAR detector, demonstrate transformative techniques to collect and analyze PM, reduce the monitor size and power consumption, and improve the interface electronics. The anticipated technical results include an improvement in the level of detection and a reduction in power consumption and form factor of the sensor. This project will contribute to scientific knowledge and understanding by investigating novel PM collection techniques and enabling a highly-sensitive, portable, and low-cost particulate matter mass monitor suitable for environmental monitoring and epidemiological studies of aerosol exposure. Coupling the sensor to a cell-phone or other wireless device could enable dense temporal and spatial wireless measurements of air quality as well as personal exposure assessment.